چگونه و کجا مي توان از اين زمان استفاده کرد :
زمان گذشته کامل بيانگر عملي در گذشته قبل از عملي ديگر در گذشته مي باشد. که به آن گذشته در گذشته (past in past) مي گويند. به عنوان مثال:
The train left at 9am. We arrived at 9:15am. When we arrived, the train had left.
| The train had left when we arrived. | ||||||||
| past | present | future | ||||||
| Train leaves in past at 9am. | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| We arrive in past at 9.15am. | ||||||||
به مثال هاي زير توجه کنيد:
I wasn’t hungry. I had just eaten.
They were hungry. They had not eaten for five hours.
I didn’t know who he was. I had never seem him before.
Mary wasn’t at home when I arrived. Really? where had she gone?
مي توانيد زمان گذشته کامل را مانند زمان حال کامل در نظربگيريد با اين تفاوت که به جاي زمان حال گذشته است.
مثالي مي زنيم. فرض کنيد شما ساعت 9:15 صبح به ايستگاه قطار رسيده ايد. رئيس ايستگاه به شما مي گويد:
You are too late. The train has left. (present perfect tense).
فرداي آن روز شما به دوست خود مي گوييد:
We were too late. The train had left. (past perfect tense).
ما اغلب از زمان گذشته کامل براي مکالمات گزارشي (reported speech) ، بعد از افعالي چون :
told, said, asked, thought, wondered:
He told us that the train had left.
I thought, I had met her before. But I was wrong.
He explained that he had closed the window because of the rain.
I wondered if I had been there before.
I asked them why they had not finished.