Le past perfect en anglais (qu’on appelle également pluperfect) est employé quand on veut parler d’un événement antérieur à un autre au passé. C’est l’équivalent français du plus que parfait en anglais (ex: Elle avait déjà lu ce livre).
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1/ Formation du past perfect en anglais
Sujet + had (have au past simple) + Participe passé (worked, been, gone…)
Exemples:
- Affirmative: I had played
- Négative: I had not (hadn’t) played
- Interrogative: Had I played ?
2/ Utilisation du past perfect anglais
Pour exprimer l’antériorité de deux événements l’une par rapport à l’autre au passé:
On utilise le past perfect pour parler de la première action passée, et le past simple (le preterit) pour la deuxième action qui est arrivé après:
- He had studied spanish before he travelled to Mexico.
- She hadn’t booked in advance so we were not able to get a ttable at the restaurant.
- Had Sam eaten sushi before she moved to Japan?
Avec IF, pour exprimer un passé hypothétique:
- If I hadn’t spent so much money, I would have bought that guitar.
Avec ‘wish’ ou ‘If only’ pour exprimer le regret:
- If only I had sky diving when I went to New Zealand.
- I wish I hadn’t seen that movie.
On utilise aussi très souvent le past perfect au discours indirect (avec said, told, thought, explained, asked, wondered, believed…)
- I wondered if she had been to the zoo before.
- She said she had lost her watch.
- He told me that the train had left when I arrived.
Avec just, pour dire que quelque chose vient juste de se passer:
- It had just started to rain when we left the house.
Avec when:
- When I went to the supermarket, it had already snowed a lot.
Avec Had suivi de had:
- He had had that computer for three months years before he changed it.
Le past perfect à la voix active et passive:
- Actif => Jack had built many houses before he constructed his own.
- Passif => Many houses had been built by Jack before he constructed his own.
Avec before et 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.
- She had visited Tokyo twice in 2003 before she decided to live there.
- => She visited Tokyo twice in 2003 before she decided to live there.
cependant si le past perfect ne correspond pas à une action passée à un moment précis, il ne faut pas employer le past simple:
- She
never sawan elephant before she moved to South Africa. FAUX
- She had never seen an elephant before she moved to South Africa. CORRECT