The Pluperfect Tense (Le Plus-que-parfait)
The pluperfect tense describes an action that happened before another action in the past. Just as you say "I had missed" or "they had warned" in English, French uses the plus-que-parfait. It is especially useful for explaining the background of past mistakes or oversights.
Formation with "avoir"
To form the pluperfect for most verbs, combine the imparfait of avoir with the past participle of the main verb.
| Pronoun | Imparfait of avoir | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| j' | avais | raté |
| tu | avais | raté |
| il / elle / on | avait | raté |
| nous | avions | raté |
| vous | aviez | raté |
| ils / elles | avaient | raté |
| He had missed the train because he had not heard the alarm. | Il avait raté le train parce qu'il n'avait pas entendu l'alarme. |
| We had misplaced the backup of the document. | Nous avions égaré la sauvegarde du document. |
| They had warned the team to avoid the disaster. | Ils avaient prévenu l'équipe pour éviter le désastre. |
Formation with "être"
Just like in the passé composé, certain verbs of motion and all reflexive verbs (like se tromper) use être instead of avoir.
Use the imparfait of être (j'étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient) plus the past participle. Remember that when using être, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject!
| I had made a mistake and I had confused the files. | Je m'étais trompé et j'avais confondu les fichiers. |
| She had misplaced the keys because she had made a mistake. | Elle avait égaré les clés parce qu'elle s'était trompée. |
Telling a story in the past
You will often see the pluperfect paired with other past tenses (like the passé composé or imparfait) to establish a sequence of events. The action in the pluperfect always happened first.
| When they (f) arrived, he had already ruined the surprise. | Quand elles sont arrivées, il avait déjà gâché la surprise. |
| The mistake was serious because I had confused the dates. | L'erreur était grave parce que j'avais confondu les dates. |