Le past perfect anglais: cours complet

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, en 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 ?

_

  • (+) 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.
  • I 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

1388147642_208272 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.

1388147642_208272 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.

1388147642_208272 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. faux
  • He had never seen a kangaroo before he moved to Australia. ok

1388147642_208272 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.

1388147642_208272 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)

1388147642_208272 Quelques mots utilisés souvent avec le past perfect:

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

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