a) He hadn’t arrived at the restaurant before it began to rain.
b) He arrived at the restaurant before it began to rain.
Are there any differences in these two sentences?
Let's start with b). He arrived at the restaurant, and then it began to rain.
Now a). He was on his way to the restaurant, trying to get there before it began to rain. But he failed. The rain interrupted his trip to the restaurant. It started raining before he got to the restaurant.
In short, a) features an interruption, and b) is a neutral description of events in the order they happened.
CJ
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