The pluperfect tense - Easy Learning Grammar French

What is the pluperfect tense?
The pluperfect is a verb tense which describes something that had happened or had been true at a point in the past, for example, I’d forgotten to finish my homework.

1 Using the pluperfect tense

You can often recognize a pluperfect tense in English by a form like I had arrived, you’d fallen.

Elle avait essayé des dizaines de pulls.	She had tried on dozens of jumpers.
Nous avions déjà commencé à manger quand il est arrivé.	We’d already started eating when he arrived.
J’étais arrivée la première.	I had arrived first.
Mes parents s’étaient couchés tôt.	My parents had gone to bed early.

2 Forming the pluperfect tense

Like the perfect tense, the pluperfect tense in French has two parts to it:

the imperfect tense of the verb avoir (meaning to have) or être (meaning to be)
the past participle

If a verb takes avoir in the perfect tense, then it will take avoir in the pluperfect too. If a verb takes être in the perfect, then it will take être in the pluperfect too.

For more information on the Imperfect tense and the Perfect tense, see The imperfect tense and The perfect tense.

3 Verbs taking avoir

Here are the pluperfect tense forms of donner (meaning to give) in full.

Pronoun	avoir	Past participle	Meaning
j’	avais	donné	I had given
tu	avais	donné	you had given
il elle on	avait	donné	he/she/it/one had given
nous	avions	donné	we had given
vous	aviez	donné	you had given
ils elles	avaient	donné	they had given

The pluperfect tense of -ir verbs like finir (meaning to finish) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’avais fini, tu avais fini and so on.
The pluperfect tense of -re verbs like attendre (meaning to wait) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’avais attendu, tu avais attendu and so on.

4 Verbs taking être

Here are the pluperfect tense forms of tomber (meaning to fall) in full. When a verb takes être in the pluperfect tense, the past participle always agrees with the subject of the verb; that is, the endings change in the feminine and plural forms.

Pronoun	être	Past participle	Meaning
j’	étais	tombé (masculine) tombée (feminine)	I had fallen
tu	étais	tombé (masculine) tombée (feminine)	you had fallen
il	était	tombé	he/it had fallen
elle	était	tombée	she/it had fallen
on	était	tombé (singular) tombés (masculine plural) tombées (feminine plural)	one had fallen we had fallen
nous	étions	tombés (masculine) tombées (feminine)	we had fallen
vous	étiez	tombé (masculine singular) tombée (feminine singular) tombés (masculine plural) tombées (feminine plural)	you had fallen
ils	étaient	tombés	they had fallen
elles	étaient	tombées	they had fallen

The pluperfect tense of -ir verbs like partir (meaning to leave, to go) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’étais parti(e), tu étais parti(e) and so on.
The pluperfect tense of -re verbs like descendre (meaning to come down, to go down, to get off) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’étais descendu(e), tu étais descendu(e) and so on.

TipWhen on means we, the past participle can agree with the subject of the sentence, but it is optional.

On était tombées.

We had fallen. (feminine)

5 Reflexive verbs in the pluperfect tense

Reflexive verbs in the pluperfect tense are formed in the same way as in the perfect tense, but with the imperfect tense of the verb être (see The imperfect tense).

For more information on the Perfect tense of reflexive verbs, see The perfect tense.

6 Irregular verbs in the pluperfect tense

Irregular past participles are the same as for the perfect tense (see The perfect tense).

Key points

The pluperfect tense describes things that had happened or were true at a point in the past before something else happened.
It is formed with the imperfect tense of avoir or être and the past participle.
The rules for agreement of the past participle are the same as for the perfect tense.

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