Past Perfect – Grammar
1. Form
Le past perfect se forme avec had + past participle du verbe (3e colonne).
| Sujet | had | Verbe (participe passé) | Exemple |
|---|
| I / you / he / she / it / we / they | had | eaten, gone, lived | She had left before 8. |
Negative
| Sujet | had not (hadn’t) | Verbe (pp) | Exemple |
|---|
| They | hadn’t | arrived | They hadn’t arrived yet. |
Interrogative
| Forme | Exemple |
|---|
| Had + sujet + past participle ? | Had you seen the film ? |
Past participle – rappel
| Base verbale | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|
| go | went | gone |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| be | was/were | been |
| play | played | played (verbe régulier) |
3. Use
Action passée antérieure à une autre
She had already eaten when we arrived.
→ Le past perfect indique qu’une action s’est passée avant une autre action dans le passé.
4. Time markers fréquents
| Marqueur | Exemple |
|---|
| before | They had left before I arrived. |
| after | I went home after she had called me. |
| already / just / never / yet | He had just finished. / They had never seen snow. |
5. Past perfect vs. Past simple
| Phrase avec past simple | Version avec past perfect |
|---|
| I went to the cinema. Then I ate. | I had eaten before I went to the cinema. |
| He left. Then she arrived. | She arrived after he had left. |
6. Remarques
- Le past perfect est rarement utilisé seul : il est presque toujours associé à un autre événement au passé.
- Contrairement au present perfect, il ne lie pas au présent mais à un moment passé.
- On utilise had pour tous les sujets, sans exception.