Le plus-que-parfait (The Pluperfect tense)

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Le plus-que-parfait

The French past perfect, or pluperfect, is used to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past. The latter can be either mentioned in the same sentence or implied.

J'ai fait du shopping ce matin ; j'avais déjà fait la lessive.

I went shopping this morning; I had already done the laundry.

J'étais déjà sorti (quand tu as téléphoné).

I had already left (when you called).

Formation

It is formed in almost the same way as the 'passé composé' and exactly the same rules of agreement apply to both tenses

However, in the 'plus-que-parfait' the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) is in the 'imparfait' form.

Nous voulions te parler parce que nous ne t'avions pas vu hier.

We wanted to talk to you because we didn't see you yesterday.

Il n'avait pas mangé (avant de faire ses devoirs).

He hadn't eaten (before doing his homework).

Examples

Finir to finish

j'avais fini I had finished

tu avais fini you had finished

il/elle/on avait fini he/she/one had finished

nous avions fini we had finished

vous aviez fini you had finished

ils/elles avaient fini they had finished

aller to go

j'étais allé(e) I had gone

tu étais allé(e) you had gone

il/elle/on était allé(e)s he/she/one had gone

nous étions allé(e)s we had gone

vous étiez allé(e)(s) you had gone

ils/elles étaient allé(e)s they had gone

Marie avait lu tous les romans Marie had read all the novels

Ils avaient perdu trop de matchs They had lost too many matches

Elle était arrivée un peu avant midi She had arrived just before noon

Ils étaient partis quand tu es arrivé(e) They had left when you arrived

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