The French Past Perfect (Pluperfect) Le Plus-Que-Parfait

The French past perfect, or pluperfect—known in French as le plus-que-parfait—is used to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past. The latter use can be either mentioned in the same sentence or implied. Le Plus-Que-Parfait The  plus†que†parfait  is the compound form of the  imparfait  (imperfect)  and is formed by using the imperfect of the appropriate helping verb,  avoir  or  Ãƒ ªtre (have or be)  and the  participe  passà ©Ã‚  (past participle) of the verb. Its English equivalent is â€Å"had† and the past participle. The table provides some example; for clarity, the prior action is listed in parentheses in some cases. French Pluperfect English Translation Il navait pas mang (avant de faire ses devoirs). He hadnt eaten (before doing his homework). Jai fait du shopping ce matin. Javais dj fait la lessive. I went shopping this morning. I had already done the laundry. Jtais dj sorti (quand tu as tlphon). I had already left (when you called). Nous voulions te parler parce que nous ne tavions pas vu hier. We wanted to talk to you because we didnt see you yesterday. Expressing Hypotheticals The pluperfect is also used in si clauses to express a hypothetical situation in the past contrary to what actually happened.  Si  clauses or conditionals produce conditional sentences, with one clause stating a condition or possibility and a second clause naming a result produced by that condition. In English, such sentences are called if/then constructions. The French  si  means if in English. There is no equivalent for then per se in  French conditional sentences. French Pluperfect With Si Clause English Translation Si tu mavais demand, jaurais rpondu. If you had asked me, I would have answered. Nous y serions alls si nous avions su. We would have gone if we had known. Other  Plus-Que-Parfait Information The French past perfect is a  compound conjugation, which means it has two parts: Imperfect  of the  auxiliary verb  (either  avoir  or  Ãƒ ªtre)Past participle  of the main verb Like all French compound conjugations, the past perfect may be subject to  grammatical  agreement, as follows: When the auxiliary verb is  Ãƒ ªtre, the past participle must agree with the subject.When the auxiliary verb is  avoir, the past participle may have to agree with its direct object. French Past Perfect Conjugations Conjugating the French  le plus-que-parfait  (the past perfect or pluperfect) requires knowing when to use  avoir,  Ãƒ ªtre, or a  pronominal, as the table demonstrates for the verbs  aimer  (to love),  devenir  (to become), and  lavar  (to wash). Aimer (auxiliary verb is avoir) j avais aim tu avais aim il,elle avait aim nous avions aim vous aviez aim ils,elles avaient aim Devenir (tre verb) j tais devenu(e) tu tais devenu(e) il tait devenu nous tions devenu(e)s vous tiez devenu(e)(s) ils taient devenus elle tait devenue elles taient devenues Se Laver (pronominal verb) je mtais lav(e) tu ttais lav(e) il stait lav ils staient lavs nous nous tions lav(e)s vous vous tiez lav(e)(s) elle stait lave elles staient laves French  pronominal verbs are accompanied by the reflexive pronoun  se  or  s  preceding the infinitive, hence  the grammatical term pronominal, which means relating to a pronoun. All conjugated  verbs, with the exception of the  imperative  form, require a  subject pronoun.