The French past perfect, or pluperfect—known in French as le plus-que-parfait—is used to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past. The latter use can be either mentioned in the same sentence or implied.
Kentucky Derby hopeful Plus Que Parfait is ridden during a workout at Churchill Downs Monday, April 29, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. The 145th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday.
'Le Plus-Que-Parfait'
The plus‐que‐parfait is the compound form of the imparfait (imperfect) and is formed by using the imperfect of the appropriate helping verb, avoir or être (have or be) and the participe passé(past participle) of the verb. Its English equivalent is “had” and the past participle. The table provides some example; for clarity, the prior action is listed in parentheses in some cases.
Expressing Hypotheticals
The pluperfect is also used in si clauses to express a hypothetical situation in the past contrary to what actually happened. Si clauses or conditionals produce conditional sentences, with one clause stating a condition or possibility and a second clause naming a result produced by that condition. In English, such sentences are called 'if/then' constructions. The French si means 'if' in English. There is no equivalent for 'then' per se in French conditional sentences.
Other Plus-Que-Parfait Information
The French past perfect is a compound conjugation, which means it has two parts:
- Imperfect of the auxiliary verb (either avoir or être)
- Past participle of the main verb
Like all French compound conjugations, the past perfect may be subject to grammatical agreement, as follows:
- When the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject.
- When the auxiliary verb is avoir, the past participle may have to agree with its direct object.
French Past Perfect Conjugations
Conjugating the French le plus-que-parfait (the past perfect or pluperfect) requires knowing when to use avoir, être, or a pronominal, as the table demonstrates for the verbs aimer (to love), devenir (to become), and lavar (to wash).
Frenchpronominal verbs are accompanied by the reflexive pronoun se or s' preceding the infinitive, hence the grammatical term 'pronominal,' which means 'relating to a pronoun.' All conjugated verbs, with the exception of the imperative form, require a subject pronoun.