Breakdown of J'ai déclaré que la voiture avait percuté l'arbre.
je
I
la voiture
the car
l'arbre
the tree (m)
avoir
to have
que
that (introducing a clause)
déclarer
to declare
percuter
to strike
Questions & Answers about J'ai déclaré que la voiture avait percuté l'arbre.
Why is the second verb in the plus-que-parfait (avait percuté) instead of the passé composé (a percuté)?
This is the rule of sequence of tenses in reported speech. Because your reporting verb (ai déclaré) is in the past, the action you are reporting must shift further back in time. The original direct quote was in the passé composé (La voiture a percuté l'arbre). When reported in the past, the passé composé always shifts back to the plus-que-parfait (avait percuté).
Would it be wrong to use the imparfait (percutait) here?
Yes, because it changes the meaning. The imparfait (percutait) would mean the car was in the middle of striking the tree, or used to strike it repeatedly. Hitting a tree is a sudden, completed action, so the original direct statement used the passé composé, which must become the plus-que-parfait here.
Is there a difference between using déclaré and dit in this sentence?
Since la voiture is feminine, shouldn't percuté have an extra e at the end?
No, because la voiture is the subject of that clause, not the direct object. The verb percuter uses the auxiliary avoir, and with avoir, the past participle only agrees with a direct object if it is placed before the verb. Since the direct object (l'arbre) comes after the verb, percuté doesn't change.
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