What is the pluperfect tense?
The pluperfect is a verb tense which describes something that had happened or had been true at a point in the past, for example, I’d forgotten to finish my homework.
1 Using the pluperfect tense
- You can often recognize a pluperfect tense in English by a form like I had arrived, you’d fallen.
| Elle avait essayé des dizaines de pulls. | She had tried on dozens of jumpers. |
| Nous avions déjà commencé à manger quand il est arrivé. | We’d already started eating when he arrived. |
| J’étais arrivée la première. | I had arrived first. |
| Mes parents s’étaient couchés tôt. | My parents had gone to bed early. |
2 Forming the pluperfect tense
- Like the perfect tense, the pluperfect tense in French has two parts to it:
- the imperfect tense of the verb avoir (meaning to have) or être (meaning to be)
- the past participle
- If a verb takes avoir in the perfect tense, then it will take avoir in the pluperfect too. If a verb takes être in the perfect, then it will take être in the pluperfect too.
- For more information on the Imperfect tense and the Perfect tense, see The imperfect tense and The perfect tense.
3 Verbs taking avoir
- Here are the pluperfect tense forms of donner (meaning to give) in full.
| Pronoun | avoir | Past participle | Meaning |
| j’ | avais | donné | I had given |
| tu | avais | donné | you had given |
| il elle on | avait | donné | he/she/it/one had given |
| nous | avions | donné | we had given |
| vous | aviez | donné | you had given |
| ils elles | avaient | donné | they had given |
- The pluperfect tense of -ir verbs like finir (meaning to finish) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’avais fini, tu avais fini and so on.
- The pluperfect tense of -re verbs like attendre (meaning to wait) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’avais attendu, tu avais attendu and so on.
4 Verbs taking être
- Here are the pluperfect tense forms of tomber (meaning to fall) in full. When a verb takes être in the pluperfect tense, the past participle always agrees with the subject of the verb; that is, the endings change in the feminine and plural forms.
| Pronoun | être | Past participle | Meaning |
| j’ | étais | tombé (masculine) tombée (feminine) | I had fallen |
| tu | étais | tombé (masculine) tombée (feminine) | you had fallen |
| il | était | tombé | he/it had fallen |
| elle | était | tombée | she/it had fallen |
| on | était | tombé (singular) tombés (masculine plural) tombées (feminine plural) | one had fallen we had fallen |
| nous | étions | tombés (masculine) tombées (feminine) | we had fallen |
| vous | étiez | tombé (masculine singular) tombée (feminine singular) tombés (masculine plural) tombées (feminine plural) | you had fallen |
| ils | étaient | tombés | they had fallen |
| elles | étaient | tombées | they had fallen |
- The pluperfect tense of -ir verbs like partir (meaning to leave, to go) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’étais parti(e), tu étais parti(e) and so on.
- The pluperfect tense of -re verbs like descendre (meaning to come down, to go down, to get off) is formed in the same way, except for the past participle: j’étais descendu(e), tu étais descendu(e) and so on.
TipWhen on means we, the past participle can agree with the subject of the sentence, but it is optional.
| On était tombées. | We had fallen. (feminine) |
5 Reflexive verbs in the pluperfect tense
- Reflexive verbs in the pluperfect tense are formed in the same way as in the perfect tense, but with the imperfect tense of the verb être (see The imperfect tense).
6 Irregular verbs in the pluperfect tense
- Irregular past participles are the same as for the perfect tense (see The perfect tense).
Key points
- The pluperfect tense describes things that had happened or were true at a point in the past before something else happened.
- It is formed with the imperfect tense of avoir or être and the past participle.
- The rules for agreement of the past participle are the same as for the perfect tense.