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We use Past perfect tense to describe Past of Past.

e.g.

When we arrived at station (2nd situation) the train had already left. (1st Situation)

But I am confused in below sentence

Last year when I had gone to my native that property was there.

In above sentence there is only one past i.e. only one situation. Then why had gone used?

If I say

Last year when I went to my native that property was there.

Is correct or not?

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    What is native? This is an adjective. It appears like it is being used as a noun, which is not usually done. Do you mean native land or native country or something? Also, who wrote the second sentence? You or someone else? Did you find it on the internet? Can you give us a link to where it is found? Almost always it is better to give more than a single sentence. Especally when asking about tenses.
    – user6951
    Jan 23, 2015 at 5:15

2 Answers 2

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Last year when I had gone to my native village that property was there.

The sentence above is unclear to me. I don't follow the time. This sentence in the simple past is clear:

Last year, when I went to my native village, that property was there.

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Assuming that the context is "native country," you use "had gone" to suggest that the speaker is not still there. "Last year, when I went to my native country, that property was there" is slightly ambiguous as to whether the speaker remained in his native country. "Last year, when I had gone to my native country" does not entirely resolve that ambiguity, but gives more of an impression that this was a trip that is now over, and the speaker has returned to their non-native country.

One could also use "had gone" in a sentence that was in an entire paragraph in the past perfect tense -- or simply because it sounded better for the cadence of the speech, or it fitted one's family dialect better.

With that one sentence, and no other clues, "went" and "had gone" seem fairly interchangeable.

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