Question

We _________ the car for ten years before it _________ down.

• A. owned – broken
• B. owned – had broken
• C. had owned – had broke
• D. had owned – broke

Answer 1

Answer:

D. had owned – broke

The sentence describes two actions in the past:

1. We owned the car for ten years → happened first.

2. The car broke down → happened later.

For the earlier past action, we use the Past Perfect:

had + past participle

So:

• had owned = Past Perfect

• broke down = Simple Past

Why the other options are wrong

owned – broken ❌

• broken cannot stand alone as the main verb here.

owned – had broken ❌

• The breaking happened later, so it should not be in Past Perfect.

had owned – had broke ❌

• After had, we need the past participle: had broken, not had broke.

had owned – broke ✅

More examples

1. She had lived in Delhi for five years before she moved to Mumbai.

2. They had finished dinner before the guests arrived.

3. I had studied the lesson before the teacher explained it.

4. He had worked there for ten years before he resigned.

5. The machine had worked perfectly before it stopped suddenly.