Past perfect 過去完成時

When we talk about something that happened in the past we sometimes want to refer back to something that happened before that time. We can use the past perfect tense ( had + past participle ) to do this.

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當我們談論過去已經發生的某事，經常是指之前已經發生過的某事，我們可以用過去完成時態（had + 過去分詞 ）來表示。

Look at these two sentences.

看一下這兩句。

Both actions happened in the past so we use the past simple tense. But look at how we can combine the sentences.

這兩個動作都發生在過去所以我們用了一半過去時態，但是，看看我們如何把兩個句子結合在一起。

We use the past perfect (had left) because the action happened before another action in the past (Mary rang the doorbell.)

had left用過去完成時，是因為該動作在過去發生的另外一個動作Mary rang the doorbell.之前發生的。

Look at some more examples of the past perfect.

看看過去完成時的更多例子。

The past perfect is used because they were at school before he received the letter. It refers to an earlier past.

使用過去完成時是因為在收到信之前，他們在學校。這是更早的過去。

Look at these 2 sentences.

看下這兩句。

In the first sentence, the past perfect tells us that James cooked breakfast before we got up. In the second sentence, first we got up and then James cooked breakfast.

在第一句，過去完成時告訴我們James在我們起牀之前做的早餐。而第二句，首先是我們起牀，然後才是James做早餐。

Past perfect continuous

過去完成進行時

The past perfect can also be used in the continuous.

過去完成時也可以用於進行時。

NOTE

備註

The most common mistake with the past perfect is to overuse it or to use it simply because we are talking about a time in the distant past.

最常見的過度使用過去完成時的錯誤，就是僅僅是用它形容遙遠的過去的時間。

Remember that we only use the past perfect when we want to refer to a past that is earlier than another time in the narrative.

請記住，我們用過去完成時只是用它來特指一個早於敍述的過去某時間的時間。