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Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the French pluperfect with theses fill-in-the-blanks exercises:
You would have passed the test if you had studied.Īfter certain conjunctions, French requires the future perfect where the past perfect is used in English – learn more. Tu aurais réussi à l’examen si tu avais étudié. If I had finished the work, I would have left early. Par exemple… Si j’avais fini le travail, je serais parti tôt. The past perfect is used without a subsequent action in hypothetical si clauses – when something could or would have happened if a condition, stated with the past perfect, had been met. I did the laundry and Ana mowed the lawn. J’ai fait la lessive et Ana a tondu le gazon. J’ai fini tout le travail et puis je suis parti. If you’re just making a list of two things that occurred, either one after the other or at the same time, you don’t need the past perfect. It’s important to understand that the past perfect is used when there is a relationship between the two verbs: the one in the past perfect led to or had some bearing on the one that came second. I had finished all the work before leaving. Par exemple… J’avais fini tout le travail avant de partir. The second action may be stated with avant de + infinitive or avant que + subjunctive, or the verb can even be implied with avant + noun, as long as that noun refers to something in the past. – Tu n’as pas répondu à la porte hier soir. She had finished all the work when I left. The sun had already started to set when I arrived.Įlle avait fini tout le travail quand je suis parti. Par exemple… Le soleil avait déjà commencé à se coucher quand je suis arrivé. The action that occurred second is usually stated with another past tense, such as the passé composé or imperfect. The past perfect is used for the verb that happened first, the one that is further in the past. The use of the past perfect is very similar in French and English. (He had just had lunch when I arrived.The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense that distinguishes between two related things that happened in the past, indicating which one occurred before the other. Il venait de déjeuner quand je suis arrivée.
Note that Recent past constructions, when used in the imperfect, have the meaning of a pluperfect: See Si constructions for more information. (I would not have come if I had known he was ill.) Je ne serais pas venue si j’avais su qu’il était malade. The plus-que-parfait is also commonly used in si clauses, with the past conditional: Sometimes the action the plus-que-parfait precedes will not be explicit, but will be implied in the sentence:Įlle avait déjà pensé à cela. (The children ate all the cookies that their father had bought.) Vous pourrez imprimer cet exercice sur la page de résultat. Les enfants ont mangé tous les gâteaux que leur père avait achetés. Répondez à la question qui vous est posée puis appuyez sur 'Corriger' pour voir la réponse. (When I got home, I had already heard the bad news.) Quand je suis rentré, j’avais déjà appris la mauvaise nouvelle. Frequently its use will be signaled by adverbs (such as déjà) which can heighten the sense of opposition between actions: The plus-que-parfait is used when the speaker needs to position one action with respect to another. In both sentences certain actions precede others however, only the second sentence seeks to emphasize the precedence of one action. (The alarm rang, I got up, and I had breakfast.) Compare these two sentences:ġ) Le réveil a sonné, je me suis levé, et j’ai pris mon déjeuner. However, the plus-que-parfait is not always used when one action precedes another for example, a list of actions in chronological order may well be put in the passé composé alone. The term “ plus-que-parfait” suggests “more in the past than the perfect.” The tense is used to indicate actions which took place before another action in the past, which is usually (though not always) described in the perfect ( passé composé). (See Past participle agreement for rules on agreement.) Use (I bought the book that Corinne had recommended to me.) J’ai acheté le roman que Corinne m’avait recommandé. (She had already left when Philippe arrived.) (He had always wanted to travel in Africa.)Įlle était déjà partie quand Philippe est arrivé. Il avait toujours voulu voyager en Afrique. The plus-que-parfait is a compound tense formed with the imperfect tense of the auxiliary ( avoir or être, see Auxiliaries) and the past participle: Back to INDEX Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) Formation