What is the le plus-que-parfait? Le plus-que-parfait corresponds to the past perfect tense in English. We use it to talk about an action or situation that took place before another past action. The plus-que-parfait is often used when telling stories and anecdotes to provide background information on situations that occurred prior to the main action of the story. Learn everything you need to know about the plus-que-parfait tense in French grammar with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then test your knowledge in the exercises. Example Lors du concours de talents, Louise a joué sans fautes un morceau difficile à la flûte. Elle avait beaucoup travaillé avant de pouvoir jouer le morceau parfaitement. When to use the plus-que-parfait in French We use the plus-que-parfait to talk about an action that occurred before another action in the past. This tense is usually used together with another past tense such as the imparfait, the passé composé or the passé simple and establishes the order of events the action expressed in the plus-que-parfairt always occurred before the action expressed by the other past tenses. Example Elle avait beaucoup travaillé avant de pouvoir jouer le morceau had practised for a long time before she could play the piece so perfectly. How to conjugate the plus-que-parfait in French To conjugate the plus-que-parfait we use the imperfect forms of avoir and être as auxiliary verbs, followed by the participe passé past participle of the main verb. In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation pas. Example J’avais rigolé. → Je n’avais pas had laughed.→ I had not parti.→ Je n’étais pas parti. I had left.→ I had not left. For reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun comes after the first part of the negation ne and before the auxiliary verb avoir/être. Example Je ne m’étais pas trompé dans mon had not miscalculated. Avoir or être Most verbs construct the plus-que-parfait using avoir, however être is used as the auxiliary verb in the following cases with reflexive verbs Example Je m’étais trompée dans mon had miscalculated. with the following verbs of movement and their related forms naître/mourirto be born/to die, aller/venirto go/to come, monter/descendreto go up/to go down, arriver/partirto arrive/to leave, entrer/sortirto enter/to go out, apparaîtreto appear, resterto stay, retournerto return, tomberto fall and their related forms such as revenirto come back, rentrerto go back in, remonterto go back up, redescendreto go back down, repartirto leave again. Example J’étais partie en vacances en had gone to Brittany on holiday. Check out our page on avoir/être to pick up some tips on remembering which verbs take être as their auxiliary in the compound tenses. Info We use avoir when descendre, rentrer, remonter, retourner and sortir are followed by a direct object. In this case, the meaning of the verb often changes. Example À quelle heure étais-tu sorti ce matin-là ? What time had you left that morning? no direct object, sortir = leave but Avais-tu sorti les carottes du frigo hier soir ? Had you taken the carrots out of the fridge yesterday evening? direct object les carottes, sortir = take out Participe passé the past participle For the regular -er/-ir/-re verbs, the participe passé is easy to construct If the infinitive ends in -er, the participle ends in é Example aimer – aimé If the infinitive ends in -ir, the participle ends in i Example finir – fini If the infinitive ends in -re, the participle ends in u Example vendre - vendu For the irregular verbs, however, we have to look up the participle forms in the list of irregular verbs or check the verb conjugator – or simply learn the correct forms by heart. Agreement of the participe passé For some verbs, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or the object of the sentence. This agreement is necessary in the following cases When a verb takes être as a help verb, the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject. Example Il était allé à l’école de had gone to music était allée à l’école de had gone to music étaient allés à l’école de had gone to music étaient allées à l’école de only women had gone to music school. For verbs that take avoir in the plus-que-parfait, the participle only agrees in gender and number with a direct object that comes before the verb. This direct object can take three possible forms a personal pronoun me, te, la, nous, vous, les, the relative pronoun que, or a noun placed before the verb usually in questions and exclamations. Example Elle avait acheté un tambour. → Elle l’avait had bought a avait acheté une flûte. → Elle l’avait had bought a avait rencontré d’autres artistes. → Elle les avait had met other père avait acheté des places ce concert. → Son père les avait father had bought concert tickets. In the case of reflexive verbs which always take être as their auxiliary in the plus-que-parfait, the participle generally agrees with the subject. Example Nous nous étions levés très had got up very early. The exception to this concerns direct objects the participle does not agree if the reflexive verb is followed by a direct object. Example Elle s’était lavé les had washed her hands. → but Elle s’était had washed herself. Remember the participe passé never agrees with an indirect object. Example Marie et Laurent s’étaient and Laurent had called each other on the phone. → se = indirect object téléphoné à qui? – who did they call? The participe passé does not agree with the subject of the following verbs se téléphonerto phone each other, se parlerto talk to each other, se mentirto lie to each other, se plaire complaire/déplaireto like each other, se sourireto smile at each other, se rireto laugh at each other, se nuireto hurt each other, se succéderto succeed each other, se suffireto be enough, se ressemblerto look like each other, s’en vouloirto be annoyed with each other. This is because the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object. It is used in the sense of “each other” for these verbs. se rendre compte Although it is reflexive, the past participle of the verb se rendre compte to realise does not agree with the subject of the sentence. This is because the word compte acts as a direct object se rendre quoi? → compte. Example Elle s’était rendu compte de son had realised her mistake. Online exercises to improve your French Improve your French with Lingolia. Each grammar topic comes with one free exercise where you can review the basics, as well as many more Lingolia Plus exercises where you can practise according to your level. Check your understanding by hovering over the info bubbles for simple explanations and handy tips. Le plus-que-parfait – Free Exercise Le plus-que-parfait – mixed exercises Need more practice? With Lingolia Plus you can access 17 additional exercises about Plus-que-parfait, as well as 629 online exercises to improve your French. Get 3 months membership for just € ≈ $ Le plus-que-parfait – Lingolia Plus Exercises Become a Lingolia Plus member to access these additional exercises. Le plus-que-parfait – tableaux de conjugaison -er avec avoir B1 Le plus-que-parfait – tableaux de conjugaison -ir avec avoir B1 Le plus-que-parfait – tableaux de conjugaison -re avec avoir/regelmäßig B1 Le plus-que-parfait – tableaux de conjugaison -re avec avoir/réguliers B1 Le plus-que-parfait – tableaux de conjugaison avec être B1 Le plus-que-parfait – verbes fréquents B1 Le plus-que-parfait – avec avoir ou être B1 Le plus-que-parfait – avec avoir verbes en -er B1 Le plus-que-parfait – verbes irréguliers avec avoir B1 Le plus-que-parfait – verbes irréguliers avec avoir B2 Le plus-que-parfait – avec être verbes typiques B1 Le plus-que-parfait – avec être mélange B1 Le plus-que-parfait – avec avoir ou être verbes de mouvement B1 Le plus-que-parfait – négation 1 B1 Le plus-que-parfait – négation 2 B1 Le plus-que-parfait – négation verbes pronominaux B1 Le plus-que-parfait – Tristan en Allemagne B1 A1Beginner A2Elementary B1Intermediate B2Upper intermediate C1Advanced