past perfect anglais cours

Le past perfect (I had played)

Le past perfect (I had played)

Le past perfect (parfois appelé pluperfect) est utilisé lorsque l’on veut parler de deux événements passés successifs, c’est-à-dire pour parler d’une action qui s’est déroulée avant une autre action passée.

Pour la traduction en français, on peut dire que c’est l’équivalent du plus que parfait (ex: ‘Elle avait étudié…’ ‘Il était déjà parti…’ ).

 

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1/ Formation

sujet + had (have au past simple) + participe passé (worked, been, gone…)

 Affirmative Négative Question
 I / you / we / they    I had played  I had not (hadn’t) played  Had I played?_
 he / she / it   He had played_  He had not (hadn’t) played_  Had he played?_

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  • (+) She had studied Japanese before she moved to Tokyo.
  • (?) Had she studied Japanese before she moved to Tokyo?
  • (-) She had not studied Japanese before she moved to Tokyo.

2/ Utilisation

* Lorsque deux actions ont eu lieu à des moments différents dans le passé

On emploie le past perfect pour parler de l’action qui se passe en premier, et le past simple (= preterit) pour la deuxième.

  • The bus had already left when Tom arrived at the bus stop.
  • We watched a horror movie after the kids had gone to bed.
  • By the time Tina finished shopping, John had been at the bar for one hour.
  • had never eaten such a good sushi before I went to Japan.
  • I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
  • Barbara knew Sydney well because she had visited the city many times.
  • Had Tom studied english before he moved to the USA?
  • He was not able to get a ticket for the show because he hadn’t booked in advance.
  • She checked with the post office and they still hadn’t received her package.
  • I had eaten dinner before they arrived.

* Pour exprimer un passé hypothétique, avec if (pour parler de choses qui auraient pu arriver)

  • If John had been able to drive a car, he would have gone home earlier.
  • If I hadn’t drunk so much coffee, I would have slept last night.

* Pour exprimer le regret (avec ‘wish’ ou ‘If only’)

  • If only I had invited her to the cinema.
  • If I had known, I wouldn’t have come.
  • I wish he hadn’t failed his driving exam.
  • He wishes he hadn’t bought that car.
  • She wishes she had stayed in Miami longer.
  • I wish I had done scuba diving when I went to Indonesia.

* Pour le discours indirect, quand on veut raconter ce que quelqu’un a dit, pensé ou cru (souvent avec les verbes said, told, thought, explained, asked, wondered, believed…)

  • ‘I have seen…  ‘ =>    He said he had seen…
  • ‘I lost my wallet’ =>    She said she had lost her wallet.
  • She told us that the bus had left.
  • I thought we had already decided to go to Paris this summer.
  • He explained that he had locked the window because of the thieves.
  • I wondered if she had seen this movie before.
  • I asked him why he had bought this house.
  • They told me they had already paid the bill.

3/ Notes

⚠️ Past perfect + just

On utilise le past perfect avec ‘just‘ pour dire que quelque chose vient juste d’arriver récemment:

  • The train had just left when we arrived at the station.
  • She had just left the room when she heard a noise.
  • He had just washed the car when it started to rain.

⚠️ Avec ‘when’:

  • When you were born, the internet hadn’t already been created.
  • When I finished high school, I hadn’t learnt to drive a car yet.
  • When I went to the bar, they had already been drinking a lot.

⚠️ Avec ‘before’ / ‘after’:

Si l’action au past perfect s’est passée à un moment spécifique et que ‘before‘ ou ‘after‘ sont utilisés dans la phrase, on peut le remplacer par le past simple.

  • He had visited Melbourne once in 2011 before he moved there in 2013. 
  • = He visited Melbourne once in 2011 before he moved there in 2013.

MAIS si le past perfect ne correspond pas à une action passée à un moment spécifique, on ne peut pas utiliser le past simple:

  • He never saw a kangaroo before he moved to Australia. ❌
  • He had never seen a kangaroo before he moved to Australia. ✔️

⚠️ Had + had

  • We had had that car for two years before it broke down.
  • I wish I had had more girlfriends when I was young.

⚠️ La voix active / passive:

  • Nathan had created many websites before he started his business. (Active)
  • Many websites had been created by Nathan before he started his business. (Passive)

⚠️ Quelques mots utilisés souvent avec le past perfect:

already, just, before, when, by the time, once, twice, three times…

 

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One comment

  1. adorey dit :

    le plus que parfait est bien expliqué maintenant j’ai besoin du past participle je le confond beaucoup avec le preterit

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