3.17. Past perfect

 
1. Past perfect имеет два употребления.

1. Past perfect фактически выражает «перенос» Present perfect в прошлое – т.е. связь с каким-то моментом времени в прошлом:

By three o'clock he [had answered] only half the letters (логическая связь между действием и последующим моментом).

По отношению к типу действия можно применить ту же классификацию, что и раньше.

1.2. «Одиночное» действие:

Had they visited Brazil before? (хотя бы один раз до момента в прошлом)
The goalkeeper [had injured] his leg, and couldn’t play. (с четко выраженным результатом к моменту в прошлом)

1.2. Привычное действие:

Mr. Phipps [had sung] in that choir for fifty years. (до момента в прошлом)

1.3. Состояние:

The house [had been] empty for ages. (до момента в прошлом)

2. И Past Perfect может быть «переносом» в прошлое и Past Simple. Возьмем два предложения:

They tell me that the parcel [has already arrived].
They tell me that the parcel arrived on April 15th.

При преобразовании этих предложений в прошедшее в обоих случаях получается Past Perfect:

They told me that the parcel [had already arrived].
The told me that the parcel [had arrived] on April 15th.

Таким образом предложение ‘The parcel had arrived on April 15th’ не имеет соответствия в Present Perfect (нельзя сказать ‘The parcel has arrived on April 15th’), так как является фактически аспектом от предложения в простом прошедшем.
Когда в прошлое «переносится» не present perfect, а past simple, то речь идет уже еще об одном моменте в прошлом, которой предшествует другому, поэтому и можно употреблять обстоятельства времени, выражающие определенное время в прошлом:

We arrived to find that the train had left two minutes ago/at 10.25.

Мы прибыли на вокзал в момент времени А, в то время как поезд ушел в момент времени В (в 10.25 или за две минуты до момента А). Выразить такие временные отношения с помощью Present Perfect нельзя.

Чаще всего Past Perfect употребляется именно в таком смысле, чтобы подчеркнуть последовательность действий: какое было раньше, а какое – позже.

I opened my eyes again. The snake disappeared.
I opened my eyes again. The snake had disappeared.

(В первом случае змея уползла после того, как я открыл глаза, а в втором к этому моменту змея уже исчезла).

Примеры:

During our conversation, I realised that we had met before. (неправильно: ‘ I realized that we met before/... have met before’).
When I arrived at the party, Lucy had already gone home. (неправильно: ‘ ... already went home/... has already gone home’).

Don Jose was a wealthy Cuban landowner who emigrated to Mexico in 1959. The agricultural reforms had begun a few months before this. He moved again in 1965 and made his home in the United States. He had made his fortune in growing sugar cane as a young man in Cuba, and he brought his expertise to his new home.

As soon as the teacher entered the classroom, he saw that one of the boys had drawn a sketch of him on the blackboard.
When Brown came to the school in 1980, Green had already been teaching there for five years.
When we arrived on the field, the match had already started.
On reaching the station, he found that his friends had just arrived.
When Ali came to England in 1982, he had already learnt to speak English well.
The bus driver was just about to start when he remembered that he had not filled the petrol tank.
We had got everything ready for them long before they arrived.
They had been to several parties during the Christmas holidays.

■ Если последовательность ясна из контекста (например, при употреблении союза ‘after’) можно употреблять и Past Simple:

We arrived at the station after the train had left / left.

■ Past perfect часто употребляется после глаголов, выражающих размышления о чем-то, что было раньше:

I wondered who had left the door open.
I thought I had sent the cheque a week before.

■ В косвенной речи Present perfect заменяется на Past perfect (при этом наречие ‘ago’ меняется на ‘before’ или ‘earlier’:

"I have already read that book."
She told me that she had already read that book.

"They left the district a few months ago."
I was told that they had left the district a few months before/earlier.

"Where have you been? What have you been doing?"
Не asked me where I had been and what I had been doing.

"I visited Naples two years ago."
Mary told me that she had visited Naples two years before.

■ После ‘if’, ‘wish’ и ‘would rather’ Past Perfect выражает события, которые не произошли:

If I had gone to university I would have studied medicine.
I wish you had told me the truth.
I'd rather she had asked me before borrowing the car.
If sally had studied harder, she would have passed the exam.

■ С глаголами ‘hope’, ‘expect’, ‘think’, ‘intend’, ‘mean’ (в значении намереваться), ‘suppose’, ‘want’ Past Perfect выражает неосуществившиеся надежды и намерения:

We had hoped that you would be able to visit us.
I had meant/had intended to call on you, but was prevented from doing so.
She had thought of paying us a visit but the bad weather made her change her plans.
I hadn't expected that. That was something I hadn't expected.
They had wanted to, help but couldn't get here in time.
I hadn't for a minute supposed/expected that I should get the first prize (не ожидал, но получил).
We had intended to go to Wales this summer.

(Может употребляться и сочетание с перфектным инфинитивом: ‘I meant to have called on you but...’ , ‘We intended to have gone to Wales...’)

■ Past Perfect употребляется после выражений ‘it was the first’/’second that’ ... и им подобным:

It was the first time that I had heard her sing. (неправильно: ‘ ... that I heard ... ’)
It was the fifth time she had asked the same question. (неправильно: ‘he asked ... ’)
It was only the second opera I had seen in my life. (неправильно: ‘ I saw... )