If the rain had stopped I would call Peter

[EngLearner]

Suppose it's raining. John and Samantha are standing at the window, watching the raindrops falling on the ledge. It seems like it's not going to stop raining soon. John says to her:

1. If the rain had stopped, I would call Peter and Sarah, and we would all go hiking in the forest.

2. If it had stopped raining, I would call Peter and Sarah, and we would all go hiking in the forest.

Are the bolded tenses used correctly in this context? If so, I also wonder if it would be correct to use either "stopped" or "were to stop" instead of "had stopped."

 

[tedmc]

The past tense "stopped", which comes under the second conditional, would be appropriate there, not the past perfect..

 

[jutfrank]

Present fact: It is raining

If it wasn't raining, I'd call Peter and we could all go hiking in the forest.

* Some speakers would employ the 'traditional' subjunctive verb form were instead of was.

 

[EngLearner]

Logically, if it had stopped raining, then it wasn't raining, and conversely, if it wasn't raining, then it had stopped raining (provided that it was raining before). "If it had stopped raining" and "if it wasn't raining" appear to be interchangeable. Why does "had stopped" not fit in my examples?

 

[probus]

1. Language is not logic. Often logic helps, but sometimes it does not.

2. In this case "had stopped"is the pluperfect tense. That tense is used when we are already talking about the past but need to refer to something even further in the past. Here's an example of that usage: After reading the questiion, Peter had intended to answer it, but in the end he kept silent because another teacher had beaten him to it.

 

[jutfrank]

"If it had stopped raining" and "if it wasn't raining" appear to be interchangeable. Why does "had stopped" not fit in my examples?

Because you're talking about a hypothetical present-time situation, not about the past. The fact that you mentioned John and Samantha looking out the window makes that clear.

 

[jutfrank]

In this case "had stopped"is the pluperfect tense.

That's what it's called for French, but for English we teachers call it the 'past perfect'.