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:
| โavoirโ or โรชtreโ in the imperfect indicative + past participle |
Depending on the verb, the pluperfect indicative uses the auxiliary โavoirโ or โรชtreโ in the imperfect, which we conjugate as follows:
| โavoirโ in the imperfect indicative | โรชtreโ in the imperfect indicative | |
| jโ | avais | รฉtais |
| tu | avais | รฉtais |
| il/elle/on | avait | รฉtait |
| nous | avions | รฉtions |
| vous | aviez | รฉtiez |
| ils/elles | avaient | รฉtaient |
Examples
| Avant notre rencontre, je nโรฉtais jamais allรฉ en Espagne. | Before we met, I had never been to Spain. |
| Quand je suis allรฉ voir ma mรจre, ma sลur รฉtait dรฉjร arrivรฉe. | When I visited my mom, my sister had already arrived. |
| Aprรจs que la sรฉcuritรฉ avait fermรฉ la porte, la foule est rentrรฉe 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 โsiโ (if). Here are some examples:
| Si jโavais รฉtudiรฉ la mรฉdecine, โฆ | If I had studied medicine, โฆ |
| Si mon grand-pรจre nโรฉtait pas mort,โฆ | If my grandfather hadnโt died, โฆ |
The conditional statements above are usually followed by
- a verb in simple conditional, or
- โwould haveโ + past participle
| Si jโavais รฉtudiรฉ la mรฉdecine, je serais riche aujourdโhui. | If I had studied medicine, I would be rich today. |
| Si mon grand-pรจre nโรฉtait pas mort, jโaurais passรฉ du temps avec lui. | If my grandfather hadnโt died, I would have spent time with him. |
Another way to describe a hypothetical or impossible past is using the expression โcomme si,โ translated as โas if,โ for example:
| Il parle comme sโil avait รฉtudiรฉ la mรฉdecine. | He talks as if he had studied medicine. |
| Il a pleurรฉ comme si son grand-pรจre รฉtait 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.
Quiz: Pluperfect Indicative Tense
Next: Idiomatic Pronominal Verbs
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