The pluperfect indicative tense, literally meaning the more than perfect tense, describes the past before the simple past in French. If two actions took place in the past, the one that occurred before is often described in the pluperfect indicative.
Conjugation
The structure of the pluperfect indicative in French is as follows:
| “avoir” or “être” in the imperfect indicative + past participle |
Depending on the verb, the pluperfect indicative uses the auxiliary “avoir” or “être” in the imperfect, which we conjugate as follows:
| “avoir” in the imperfect indicative | “être” in the imperfect indicative | |
| j’ | avais | étais |
| tu | avais | étais |
| il/elle/on | avait | était |
| nous | avions | étions |
| vous | aviez | étiez |
| ils/elles | avaient | étaient |
Examples
| Avant notre rencontre, je n’étais jamais allé en Espagne. | Before we met, I had never been to Spain. |
| Quand je suis allé voir ma mère, ma sœur était déjà arrivée. | When I visited my mom, my sister had already arrived. |
| Après que la sécurité avait fermé la porte, la foule est rentrée chez elle. | After the security had closed the door, the crowd went home. |
Hypothetical Expressions in the Past
Hypothetical expressions in the past generally use the pluperfect. The pluperfect tense in such expressions is often preceded by the conditional “si” (if). Here are some examples:
| Si j’avais étudié la médecine, … | If I had studied medicine, … |
| Si mon grand-père n’était pas mort,… | If my grandfather hadn’t died, … |
The conditional statements above are usually followed by
- a verb in simple conditional, or
- “would have” + past participle
| Si j’avais étudié la médecine, je serais riche aujourd’hui. | If I had studied medicine, I would be rich today. |
| Si mon grand-père n’était pas mort, j’aurais passé du temps avec lui. | If my grandfather hadn’t died, I would have spent time with him. |
Another way to describe a hypothetical or impossible past is using the expression “comme si,” translated as “as if,” for example:
| Il parle comme s’il avait étudié la médecine. | He talks as if he had studied medicine. |
| Il a pleuré comme si son grand-père était mort. | He cried as if his grandfather had died. |
The Pluperfect Subjunctive Tense in French
Although the pluperfect subjunctive tense exists in formal written French, it remains mostly a literary tense.
Next: Idiomatic Pronominal Verbs
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