Le Plus-que-parfait in French Grammar
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.
When to use the plus-que-parfait in French
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
Example
How to conjugate the plus-que-parfait
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) |
Choosing the Auxiliary / Agreement of the participe passé
Choosing the Auxiliary
Same rules as the passé composé
- Reflexive/reciprocal → être
- Movement/change of state → être (Vandertramp)
- All others → avoir
Agreement of the participe passé
In some situations, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or direct object of the sentence:
How to form the negative with the plus-que-parfait
Le Plus-que-parfait — Free Exercise
FREE EXERCISESTest yourself with 20 interactive questions on tenses/plus-que-parfait. Get instant scoring with detailed explanations for every answer. Track your progress on PrepMyFrench.
AI Writing Evaluator — Past Narration
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