The past perfect tense: how we form it and why we use it
过去完成时:我们如何形成它和为什么我们使用它
Hi, everyone! I'm James and today we're going to talk about the past perfect tense - how we form it and why we use it.
嗨,大家好!我是詹姆斯,今天我们要讨论过去完成时——我们如何形成它以及为什么要使用它。
By the time I arrived at the airport, the plane had already left. In this example, had left is the past perfect tense.
当我到达机场时,飞机已经离开了。在这个例子中,had left是过去完成时。
The structure for the past perfect tense is had + a past participle.
过去完成时的结构是+过去分词。
There are two past actions: arriving at the airport and the plane leaving. But which of these happened first?
这里有两个过去完成的动作:到达机场和飞机离开。但到底是哪一个先发生的呢?
The clue is the past perfect tense. The action in the past perfect is the action that always happens first. Because the verb 'leave' is in the past perfect - had left - we know that this action happened first. The action that happened second is often in the past simple tense - in this example: 'I arrived'.
线索是过去完成时。过去完成时的动作总是先发生。因为动词leave是过去完成时had left,我们知道这个动作首先发生。第二种动作通常用一般过去时,例如:I arrived。
When you want to talk about two past actions, one which happened before the other, remember to use the past perfect for the first action and the past simple for the second.
当你想谈论两个过去的动作,一个发生在另一个之前,记住第一个动作用过去完成时,第二个动作用一般过去时。
Thanks for joining us for this English In A Minute.
感谢收听《一分钟w88中文》。