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.
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_case
Example_text
Past_of_past
How to conjugate the plus-que-parfait
Formula_text
| Person_label | Avoir_imp_label | Etre_imp_label |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
Aux_title
Aux_rules
• Aux_reflex
• Aux_move
• Aux_others
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:
Elle était allée.
How to form the negative with the plus-que-parfait
ne + auxiliary + pas + past participlePlace the negation around the auxiliary verb.
Elle n'avait pas travaillé.