Grammar (4)
Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto
Uso:
a. When we are talking about the past, sometimes we want to refer to an earlier past. / Quan parlem del passat, de vegades volem referir-nos a un passat anterior. / Cuando hablamos del pasado, a veces queremos referirnos a un pasado anterior.
When I phoned Susan, she had gone out.
The past perfect (e.g., she had gone out) is used to refer to something that had happened before the past moment we are thinking about (e.g., when I telephoned). / El plusquamperfet (p. ex., she had gone out) s’utilitza per referir-se a alguna cosa que havia passat abans del moment passat en què estem pensant (p. ex., when I telephoned). / El pluscuamperfecto (p. ej., she had gone out) se utiliza para referirse a algo que había ocurrido antes del momento pasado en el que estamos pensando (p. ej., when I telephoned).
Otros ejemplos:
We arrived at the cinema at 8:00, but the film had started at 7:45.
When I spoke to the woman I realized I had met her somewhere before.
b. The past perfect is the past form of the present perfect. / El plusquamperfet és la forma en passat del present perfecte. / El pluscuamperfecto es la forma en pasado del pretérito perfecto.
PRETÉRITO PERFECTO – I haven’t eaten all day today, so I’m very hungry now.
PLUSCUAMPERFECTO – I hadn’t eaten all day yesterday, so I was very hungry when I got home.
c. Compare the uses of the past perfect and the simple past: / Compara els usos del plusquamperfet i del passat simple: / Compara los usos del pluscuamperfecto y del pasado simple:
We got to the station at 8:00, but the train had left at 7:45.
We got to the station at 7:30 and the train left at 7:45.
When Mary arrived, we had eaten dinner. (Cenamos antes de que llagase Mary.)
When Mary arrived, we ate dinner. (Cenamos después de llegar Mary.)