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Is didn't or hadn't correct below? What is the difference?

Please do not dock my pay as I was in the office but didn't brought my ID card.

or

Please do not dock my pay as I was in the office but hadn't brought my ID card.

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    If you are going to use "didn't" then you should say "didn't bring my ID card". More generally, the sentence as a whole could do with some tweaks to improve understandability. I think what you are trying to say is something like: "Please don't consider docking my pay, as I was in the office, but did not have my ID card with me."
    – Graham
    Commented Nov 17, 2014 at 8:37
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    @Graham probably something more like "Please consider not docking my pay, as I was in the office but did not have my ID card".
    – jimsug
    Commented Nov 17, 2014 at 11:37
  • Sorry, but I don't understand the whole sentences despite correcting the grammar mistakes. Why does the boss dock your pay for forgetting to bring your ID card? Or you're trying to connote not to dock your pay as you didn't bring your ID card?
    – XPMai
    Commented Apr 18, 2015 at 7:29
  • If you're trying to connote not to dock your pay as you didn't bring your ID card, then replacement of "although" with "but" makes the sentence flow better becoming Please do not dock my pay as I was in the office although I did not bring my ID card."
    – XPMai
    Commented Apr 18, 2015 at 7:32

2 Answers 2

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"I didn't bring..." The past tense describes an action which happened in the past.
" I hadn't brought... 'The past perfect tense describes an action which happened before another action in the past, or before a stated time in the past. So in the second sentence you're stressing the fact that you had forgotten to take your ID card before you went to the office, whereas in the first you're just stating that you didn't bring your ID card.
As for your sentence it would be better to say, "Please do not consider docking my pay, as I was in the office, but I dind't have or / I hadn't brought my ID card."
One more thing. When you have a negative or interrogative sentence in the Past Simple remember that the verb is in its affirmative form. e.g. I didn't bring. Did you bring?

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    Note that past simple besides of describing an action which happened in the past, it also says when happened at a specific time.
    – Schwale
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 18:30
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It depends on a tense:


1) Past Simple
I bought a car. -- I didn't buy a car.
I had a car some time ago. -- I didn't have a car some time ago.
Passive
A car was bought by me. -- A car wasn't bought by me.


2) Past Perfect Tense
Before I passed to a college I had already bought a car. -- Before I passed to a college I hadn't already bought a car.
Before I passed to a college I had already had a car. -- Before I passed to a college I hadn't already had a car.
Passive
A car had been bought by me before... -- A car hadn't been bought by me before...

So, the difference between hadn't and didn't is that they are used in different tenses and have different meaning. In this case the sentence

Please do not dock my pay as I was in the office but hadn't brought my ID card.

is a correct Past Perfect sentence.

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