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The plus-que-parfait corresponds to the past perfect tense in English. We use it to talk about an action or situation that took place before another past action.
The plus-que-parfait expresses an action that happened before another past action — the past of the past. It is formed with the imparfait of avoir or être + the past participle: J'avais déjà mangé quand il est arrivé. It is also essential in Type 3 si-clauses for past hypotheticals.
We use the plus-que-parfait to talk about an action that occurred before another action in the past.. This tense is usually used together with another past tense (such as the imparfait, the passé composé or the passé simple) and establishes the order of events: the action expressed in the plus-que-parfairt always occurred before the action expressed by the other past tenses.
Example
Formula
| Person | avoir (imparfait) | être (imparfait) |
|---|---|---|
| je | avais ...aimé | étais ...parti(e) |
| tu | avais ...aimé | étais ...parti(e) |
| il/elle | avait ...aimé | était ...parti(e) |
| nous | avions ...aimé | étions ...parti(e) |
| vous | aviez ...aimé | étiez ...parti(e) |
| ils/elles | avaient ...aimé | étaient ...parti(e) |
Same rules as the passé composé
In some situations, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or direct object of the sentence:
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