The Pluperfect in French

Quick Answer

Le plus‑que‑parfait(the pluperfect) is a temps composé(compound tense) used to describe an action that happened before another past action. It's formed with an auxiliaire(auxiliary) conjugated in the imparfait(imperfect), followed by a participe passé(past participle).

examples
Tilda était en retard à la réunion car elle avait raté le bus. Tilda was late to the meeting because she had missed the bus.
Quand nous sommes arrivés, ils avaient déjà dîné. When we arrived, they had already eaten dinner.

examples

Tilda était en retard à la réunion car elle avait raté le bus.

Tilda was late to the meeting because she had missed the bus.

Quand nous sommes arrivés, ils avaient déjà dîné.

When we arrived, they had already eaten dinner.

In this article you’ll find out how to form the pluperfect, when to use it, and how it compares to other past tenses. C’est parti !(Let’s get started!)

Questions This Article Answers

What is the plus-que-parfait?

What is the pluperfect in French?

How is the pluperfect used in sentences with if‑clauses and indirect speech?

What is the sequence of tenses with the French pluperfect?

When do you choose the plus-que-parfait instead of the passé composé or imparfait?

How to Form the Plus-Que-Parfait

Le plus‑que‑parfait(the pluperfect) is a compound tense, and all compound tenses follow the same formation rule in French.

Formation Rule for Compound Tenses in French

Choose the right auxiliary: avoir(to have) or être(to be), based on the main verb you’re using.

Conjugate the auxiliary you selected in the appropriate tense.

Add the past participle form of your verb after the auxiliary.

All you need to know is that the plus-que-parfait uses the imparfait(imperfect) for the auxiliary. There you go! You've got your verb conjugated in the plus-que-parfait!

Here's a refresher on how to conjugate avoir(to have) and être(to be) in the imparfait. You'll need this to conjugate any verb you want in the plus-que-parfait.

Auxiliaries Avoir and Être in the Imparfait

Subject	avoir	être
je	avais	étais
tu	avais	étais
il, elle, on	avait	était
nous	avions	étions
vous	aviez	étiez
ils, elles	avaient	étaient

Now that you've got your auxiliary, just add the past participle of the main verb and you're good to go!

Did you forget how to choose between avoir and être in compound tenses? No problem! Take a look at the section called "Être and Avoir as Auxiliary Verbs" in this article!

The Difference Between Être and Avoir

This article also includes agreement rules that you need to be aware of when conjugating a verb in a compound tense in French. All the examples are in the passé composé(compound past), but know that all the agreement rules that apply to the passé composé also apply to the plus-que-parfait—and, in fact, to all compound tenses!

examples
Il aurait réussi l’examen s’il avait révisé. He would have passed the exam if he had studied.
Le sol était boueux parce qu’il avait neigé la semaine d'avant. The ground was muddy because it had snowed the week before.
Comme elle était partie tôt, elle a évité les embouteillages. Since she had left early, she avoided the traffic jams.
Étant donné qu’ils étaient rentrés tard, ils n’ont pas entendu le réveil. Given that they had come home late, they didn’t hear the alarm clock.

For more details on past participle agreement rules, take a look at this article!

French Past Participles

When Is the Plus-Que-Parfait Used?

The plus‑que‑parfait(pluperfect) belongs to the mode indicatif(indicative mood) and expresses anteriority (when something happens further back in the past). It's usually used to talk about an action completed before another past action (often in the passé composé or imparfait), but it has other uses too! It can also be used in if-clauses and in indirect speech. The French plus‑que‑parfait is the equivalent of the English pluperfect (e.g., Marie had already told me the story before you mentioned it.)

#1. Anteriority

In the context of grammar, anteriority means that something happened further back in the past with respect to some other action. The plus-que-parfait expresses that some action happened further back in the past than some other past action. In any given sentence, the verb that expresses what happened further back in time will be in the plus‑que‑parfait. Consider the following sentence:

Tilda était en retard à la réunion car elle avait raté le bus.
(Tilda was late to the meeting because she had missed the bus.)

In the sentence above, Tilda was late to a meeting. Why? What happened before the meeting that caused her to be late? Whatever happened (in this case, missing the bus) is the anterior action (the one further back in time). The verb rater(to miss) is therefore conjugated in the plus‑que‑parfait. As you can see, the plus‑que‑parfait is very useful when it comes to talking about causes of past actions!

Order of the Verbs in a Sentence

In the sentences below, notice how the order in which the verbs appear doesn't necessarily match the order in which the events took place. To determine which verb should be in the plus‑que‑parfait, you need to figure out which action took place first.

examples
Sarah est rentrée trempée parce qu’elle avait oublié son parapluie. Sarah came home soaked because she had forgotten her umbrella.
Comme j’avais laissé mon téléphone à la maison, je n’ai pas pu t’appeler. Since I had left my phone at home, I couldn’t call you.

examples

Sarah est rentrée trempée parce qu’elle avait oublié son parapluie.

Sarah came home soaked because she had forgotten her umbrella.

Comme j’avais laissé mon téléphone à la maison, je n’ai pas pu t’appeler.

Since I had left my phone at home, I couldn’t call you.

The pluperfect often pairs with adverbs and conjunctions that highlight the chronology of events. The table below shows the most common ones.

Adverbs and Conjunctions Commonly Used with the Plus-Que-Parfait

Adverbs & Conjunctions	English
car	because
comme	since
déjà	already
étant donné que	given that
ne pas encore	not yet
parce que	because
puisque	since
vu que	given that

examples
Nous avions déjà terminé le repas lorsqu’il a proposé un dessert. We had already finished the meal when he offered us dessert.
Je n’avais pas encore rangé le salon quand les invités sont arrivés. I hadn't yet tidied the living room when the guests arrived.
La route était interdite à la circulation car la rivière avait débordé pendant la nuit. The road was closed to traffic because the river had flooded during the night.
Le professeur a réexpliqué sa théorie parce que les étudiants ne l'avaient pas comprise. The teacher explained his theory again because the students didn't understand it.

So Is the Plus‑Que‑Parfait Exactly like the Pluperfect in English?

If you are familiar with the pluperfect in English, you'll see that the French plus‑que‑parfait is basically the same thing. However, it is important to note that English speakers today often leave the pluperfect aside and use the simple past instead. For example, some of the English sentences above can do without the pluperfect.

You can use the pluperfect and say:

She was late to the meeting because she had missed the bus.

Or you can forget about the pluperfect and use the simple past instead:

She was late to the meeting because she missed the bus.

While both versions are acceptable in English, French has a strong tendency to mark anteriority with the plus‑que‑parfait in this sentence. Using another past tense here in French would not sound as natural as using the plus‑que‑parfait. In other words, while the French plus‑que‑parfait and the English pluperfect are almost identical in the way they are formed and in their uses, the French plus‑que‑parfait has a much stronger presence in the French language than the English pluperfect has in the English language.

#2. If-Clauses

In French, the plus‑que‑parfait can be used in if-clauses (also known as si-clauses in the context of French grammar). Specifically, if the verb in the main clause is in the passé du conditionnel(past conditional), then the verb in the if-clause will very often be conjugated in the plus‑que‑parfait. In French, we call this la concordance des temps(the sequence of tenses). La concordance des temps refers to the required tense agreement between two clauses. The table below summarizes these tendencies for sentences with an if-clause.

Concordance des Temps for If-Clauses

Tense in If-Clause	Tense in Main Clause
présent de l'indicatif (present indicative)	présent de l'indicatif (present indicative) or présent de l'impératif (present imperative) or futur simple (simple future) or futur proche (near future)
imparfait (imperfect)	présent du conditionnel (present conditional)
plus-que-parfait (pluperfect)	passé du conditionnel (past conditional)

examples
Si j’avais su la vérité, je t’aurais prévenu. If I had known the truth, I would have warned you.
Ils ne se seraient pas perdus si le GPS avait fonctionné. They wouldn’t have gotten lost if the GPS had worked.
Elle t’aurait appelé si tu lui avais donné ton numéro. She would've called you if you had given her your number.

#3. Indirect Speech

With a reporting verb in the past tense like he said, he explained, he asked, etc., French usually “backshifts” tenses when the verb introduces indirect speech: a verb that was in the passé composé in direct speech becomes the plus-que-parfait in indirect speech to show the action was already completed before that past reporting point. An original plus-que-parfait stays in plus-que-parfait.

Backshift Quick Rule

Direct speech	Indirect speech	Notes
passé composé	plus-que-parfait	After a reporting verb in the past
plus-que-parfait	plus-que-parfait	Unchanged
imparfait	imparfait	Usually unchanged / Background or scene-setting information

Here are a couple of examples. In each box, the first sentence contains direct speech in the passé composé, while the second sentence contains indirect speech that has been back-shifted to the plus-que-parfait.

examples
Il a dit : « J’ai perdu mon passeport. » He said, "I lost my passport."
Il a dit qu'il avait perdu son passeport. He said he had lost his passport.

examples
Le responsable a expliqué : « Nous avons annulé la réunion. » The manager explained, “We canceled the meeting.”
Le responsable a expliqué qu’ils avaient annulé la réunion. The manager explained they had canceled the meeting.

Need More Practice?

Try conjugating verbs in the plus‑que‑parfait with our Conjugation Drill! With a little practice, the plus‑que‑parfait will become a natural part of your conversations in French.