She knew/had known it before I did

[Rickyrocky]

Hi,

1.She knew it before I did.
vs.
2.She had known it before I did.

If we are comparing person A's "action" occurred before person B's "action" in the past, shouldn't person A's "action" be in the past perfect tense?
(I hope I'm making sense here.)

Therefore, is statement 1 wrong?
But I hear people say it this way all the time; even the natives. I have a feeling that I'm wrong again this time ;)

Care to enlighten?

Thanks. ^

[Thredder]

Past perfect is used when there are two actions in the past to show which happened first... if you have words like 'before' then the order is clear and you dont need the past perfect.

Statement 1 is correct.

Statement 2 sounds unnatural, but close... "She had known it for months before I found out," would be ok.
I dont like the use of 'did' in statement 2, but I'm not sure why.

"I found out long after she did" (use of "after", no need for past perfect)

enlightened?

[Rickyrocky]

Hi Thredder,

I have to admit that I haven't really got the gist of it yet, but I really appreciate your reply.
At least I know statement 1 is correct. But after I've read what you've written, I'm suspecting it has something to do with the types of verbs we use. E.g. mixed verbs, normal verbs, etc...
Sorry... I would say I'm still rather "noob" in English...
Thanks for your time !)