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The passé antérieur is rarely used today – we mostly find it in literary texts. It is the literary equivalent of the plus-que-parfait and is used in relation to the passé simple to indicate that an action occurred before another action in the past.
The passé antérieur is a literary compound tense formed with the passé simple of avoir/être + the past participle. It expresses an action completed immediately before another past action in formal written French, typically used after quand, lorsque, dès que, and après que.
Example
Formula
| Person | avoir (passé simple) | être (passé simple) |
|---|---|---|
| je | eus ...lu | fus ...parti(e) |
| tu | eus ...lu | fus ...parti(e) |
| il/elle | eut ...lu | fut ...parti(e) |
| nous | eûmes ...lu | fûmes ...parti(e) |
| vous | eûtes ...lu | fûtes ...parti(e) |
| ils/elles | eurent ...lu | furent ...parti(e) |
The passé antérieur is extremely rare in spoken French. It appears almost exclusively in formal literature, historical writing, and very formal speeches.
Practice recognizing the passé antérieur in French literature with 15 interactive questions. Instant scoring with explanations from PrepMyFrench.
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