Right you are, Nickhere! In the spoken word "had" usually gets an emphatic stress or pause which emphasizes the fact that the subject is in the past.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with ASL (American Sign Language) but it is interesting that the grammar is often shown by facial expression. You can learn a lot about language origins by taking a class or two in this fascinating field.

Signing varies from country to country so the are equivalent course somewhere near to you. You ought to see the deaf singing folk songs! It is really beautiful!