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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.
PronounavoirPast participleMeaning
j’avaisdonnéI had given
tuavaisdonnéyou had given
il
elle
on
avaitdonnéhe/she/it/one had given
nousavionsdonnéwe had given
vousaviezdonnéyou had given
ils
elles
avaientdonnéthey 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.
PronounêtrePast participleMeaning
j’étaistombé (masculine)
tombée (feminine)
I had fallen
tuétaistombé (masculine)
tombée (feminine)
you had fallen
ilétaittombéhe/it had fallen
elleétaittombéeshe/it had fallen
onétaittombé (singular)
tombés (masculine plural)
tombées (feminine plural)
one had fallen
we had fallen
nousétionstombés (masculine)
tombées (feminine)
we had fallen
vousétieztombé (masculine singular)
tombée (feminine singular)
tombés (masculine plural)
tombées (feminine plural)
you had fallen
ilsétaienttombésthey had fallen
ellesétaienttombéesthey 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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Table of contents
  • Nouns
    • Using nouns
    • Gender
    • Forming plurals
  • Articles
    • Different types of article
    • The definite article: le, la, l’ and les
    • The indefinite article: un, une and des
    • The partitive article: du, de la, de l’ and des
  • Adjectives
    • Using adjectives
    • Making adjectives agree
    • Word order with adjectives
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives
    • Demonstrative adjectives: ce, cette, cet and ces
    • Possessive adjectives
    • Indefinite adjectives
  • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns: subject
    • Personal pronouns: direct object
    • Personal pronouns: indirect object
    • Emphatic pronouns
    • Possessive pronouns
    • en and y
    • Using different types of pronoun together
    • Indefinite pronouns
    • Relative pronouns: qui, que, lequel, auquel, duquel
    • Demonstrative pronouns: ce, cela/ça, ceci, celui
  • Verbs
    • The three conjugations
    • The present tense
    • The present tense: regular -er (first conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: regular -ir (second conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: regular -re (third conjugation) verbs
    • The present tense: spelling changes in -er verbs
    • The present tense: irregular verbs
    • The imperative
    • Reflexive verbs
    • The imperfect tense
    • The future tense
    • The conditional
    • The perfect tense
    • The pluperfect tense
    • The passive
    • The present participle
    • Impersonal verbs
    • The subjunctive
    • Verbs followed by an infinitive
    • Other uses of the infinitive
  • Negatives
  • Questions
    • How to ask a question in French
    • Question words
  • Adverbs
    • How adverbs are used
    • How adverbs are formed
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs
    • Some common adverbs
    • Word order with adverbs
  • Prepositions
    • Using prepositions
    • à, de and en
    • Some other common prepositions
    • Prepositions consisting of more than one word
    • Prepositions after verbs
    • Prepositions after adjectives
  • Conjunctions
    • et, mais, ou, parce que and si
    • Some other common conjunctions
    • The conjunction que
  • Numbers
  • Time and Date
  • Some common difficulties
  • The Alphabet
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