Learn French: C'est important de faire une sauvegarde parce que nous avions égaré les fichiers. - It is important to make a backup because we had misplaced the files.

C'est important de faire une sauvegarde parce que nous avions égaré les fichiers.

It is important to make a backup because we had misplaced the files.

Breakdown of C'est important de faire une sauvegarde parce que nous avions égaré les fichiers.

être

to be

a / an (masculine)

it / this (with être)

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

Questions & Answers about C'est important de faire une sauvegarde parce que nous avions égaré les fichiers.

How do we form the plus-que-parfait in the phrase nous avions égaré?

The plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) is formed by taking the imparfait form of the helping verb (avoir or être) and adding the past participle. Here, we use the imparfait of avoir for the nous form (avions) and add the past participle of égarer (égaré). This gives us the meaning of "had misplaced" in English.

Why isn't there an "s" on the end of égaré since les fichiers is plural?

Because the helping verb is avoir, the past participle (égaré) only changes to match the direct object if that object comes before the verb. Since the direct object (les fichiers) comes after the verb here, the past participle stays in its default form.

Why do we use de in C'est important de faire?

When you use a general, impersonal statement like C'est + [adjective] followed by an action, you must connect the adjective and the infinitive verb with de. Without de, the sentence is grammatically incorrect.

Could I use perdu instead of égaré here?

You could, but they have slightly different meanings. Perdre (past participle: perdu) means to lose something entirely. Égarer means to misplace something. Using égaré implies that the files were likely just temporarily lost or put in the wrong folder.