Breakdown of Ils avaient partagé la cagnotte.
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
avoir
to have
partager
to share
la cagnotte
the jackpot
Questions & Answers about Ils avaient partagé la cagnotte.
Why is avaient partagé used here instead of ont partagé?
Avaient partagé is the plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) tense, meaning "had shared." It describes a past action that happened before another past action in a broader story. The passé composé (ont partagé) would simply mean "They shared" or "They have shared."
What exactly is a cagnotte?
A cagnotte is a shared pool of money, a jackpot, or a "kitty." It is commonly used when friends chip in together to buy a gift, or to describe the accumulated prize money in a lottery or game.
How would this sentence change if I added pourvu que (let's hope that) from the current lesson?
Because pourvu que requires the subjunctive, you would use the past subjunctive here: Pourvu qu'ils aient partagé la cagnotte (Let's hope they shared the jackpot). The auxiliary verb avaient changes to the subjunctive aient.