You might already know how to use the present tense of venir + de + infinitive to say that an action has just happened.
But when you are telling a story in the past and want to say that something had just happened, you need to shift the timeline backwards.
"Venir de" in the past
To describe an action that had just occurred, use the imparfait (imperfect) tense of venir, followed by de (or d' before a vowel), and then the infinitive verb.
Here is how to conjugate venir in the imparfait:
| Pronoun | Venir (Imparfait) |
|---|---|
| je | venais |
| tu | venais |
| il / elle / on | venait |
| nous | venions |
| vous | veniez |
| ils / elles | venaient |
Let's look at how this works when recounting surprising moments from a magic show:
| The magician had just started the magic show. | Le magicien venait de commencer le spectacle de magie. |
Notice how de contracts to d' when the following infinitive begins with a vowel, such as apparaître (to appear).
| The rabbit had just appeared in the hat! | Le lapin venait d'apparaître dans le chapeau ! |
| The bird had just flown thanks to an invisible thread. | L'oiseau venait de voler grâce à un fil invisible. |
Asking questions
You can also use this structure in questions to ask what had just happened.
| You had just hidden the blue scarf where? | Tu venais de cacher le foulard bleu où ? |
| You had just hidden what under the scarf? | Vous veniez de cacher quoi sous le foulard ? |
In complex sentences
You will frequently see this structure combined with other descriptive past tenses to set the scene or explain a reaction.
| The audience was impressed because she had just appeared. | Le public était impressionné parce qu'elle venait d'apparaître. |
| I was impressed, you had just done magic. | J'étais impressionné, tu venais de faire de la magie. |