We had already started eating when he arrived. Let me give you an example to illustrate what I’m saying. It basically entitles you to express an action in the past that has been completed before another action in the past. As you would have understood, it is a tense that belongs to the past. It can either be called the pluperfect, the past perfect, the past perfective or even the past in the past. It has different names (it adds a bit of spice, don’t you think?). Here’s a quick reminder of what this tense is in … English! If unfortunately, that is not the case, I will recommend you some very interesting and easy to understand websites to learn the plus que parfait tense in French. On a more serious note, I think that after my little lesson on the plus que parfait, all your questions will be answered to. Not a problem, you have come to the right page as I will refresh your memory thanks to a quick brush-up on the notion. Luckily though, the French and the English pluperfect are rather similar.Īre you not too sure of what the plus que parfait exactly is nor when this tense should be used? I personally find the French conjugation slightly (quite a lot, let’s face it) more difficult than the English one. In that case, you will soon start to learn about the pluperfect, le plus que parfait in French. The most common equivalent in English is a subject-verb construction or the –ing form of a verb (gerund).Are you an intermediate to advanced learner? Infinitives are used after prepositons, except for the preposition enįollowing the preposition après, a past infinitive must be used. The past participle will agree in gender and number of verbs conjugated with avoir only if there is a preceding direct object.J’étais arrivé e… (subject of the verb is female, the past participle of arriver agrees in gender).
PARTIR PLUS QUE PARFAIT SERIES
Allows a series of events to be recounted out of order without loss of clarity of the sequence.The verb describing the first action will be in the pluperfect and the tense of the second verb will be in either the passé composé or the imparfait.The pluperfect tense is used when one action precedes another that happened in the past.These verbs change meaning when they are used in the passé compose:Ĭertain words/expressions that can help you decide to use the passé compose (pinpoint a definite time of occurrence):Ĭertain words/expressions that can help you decide to use the imparfait (suggest repeated occurrences): When using the consruction venir + de in the past context, it is always in the imperfectĬertain verbs usually appear in the imperfect in a past context. Was the action expressed by the verb a habitual action? Did it occur repeatedly?.What happened? What happened once? What happened next? Then what happened?.To form use the stem of the first person plural present indicative (nous) and the imperfect endings:.The imperfect tense is used to describe conditions that were taking place when another action occurred or to talk about habitual actions.Negative sentences in the passé compose have the negation around the auxiliary verb.If the direct object follows the verb, the past participle remains invariable. Past participles of verbs conjugated with the auxiliary verb avoir only agrees with preceding direct objects.The past participle of verbs conjugated with être agree in gender and number with the subject of the verb. Past participle agreement depends on the auxiliary verb used.Reflexive verbs also use être as an auxiliary verb.Verbs marked with an asterisk can also be conjugated with the auxiliary verb avoir.17 verbs use the auxiliary verb être: aller, arriver, entrer, descender*, devenir, monter*, mourir, naître, partir, passer*, rentrer*, rester, retourner*, revenir, sortir*, tomber, venir.Present indicative of auxiliary verb ( être or avoir).Used to tell what has happened in the past – the tense for narration of the past.