Notice in the English translations you see the word HAD followed by the past participle. Plus-que-parfait with AVOIR + NEGATION Je n’avais pas mangé.
#HOW TO FORM PLUS QUE PARFAIT HOW TO#
It is important to understand when to use the plus-que-parfait before we begin to look at how to form it. Here are some examples of actions that happened before something else did. Plus-que-parfait with AVOIR as helping verb Included in this lesson: 6 examples using the plus-que-parfait with AVOIR as helping verbĦ examples using the plus-que-parfait with AVOIR + NEGATIONĦ examples using the plus-que-parfait with AVOIR and the adverbs DÉJÀ and BIENįormation of the plus-que-parfait with AVOIR as helping verbĦ examples using the plus-que-parfait with ÊTRE as helping verbĦ examples using the plus-que-parfait with ÊTRE + NEGATIONĦ examples using the plus-que-parfait with REFLEXIVE VERBS + DÉJÀ and BIENįormation of the plus-que-parfait with ÊTRE as helping verb Click here for a lesson on how to use the plus-que-parfait in third conditional si clauses. In English, this tense is called the PAST PERFECT or PLUPERFECT. In this lesson all of my examples will be short and simple so that you can really focus on this new French tense rather than a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary. Use the French PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT tense when you want to say that an action happened at some point in the past and it happened before something else did. Practice and master forming the plus-que-parfait with this Quizlet study set To summarize: plus-que-parfait is something done in the past, translated "had done" and is formed with the imperfect avoir/être and the past participle of the verb.SUPPORT LLL’S WORK AND GET FRENCH REWARDS If you're not sure which verbs take avoir and être, that's a different question. First you take the auxiliary verb "avoir" or "être" and put it into the imperfect.Īnd then add the past participle - that's the second bit from the passé composé that you already learned - the "-ed" form of the word Just like English, French uses two words to form the plus-que-parfait. (For grammarians, "perfect" / "parfait" just means "done" - so the PLUperfect is "more-done" - something done before something else in the past.) So the homework had been done before the dog ate it. It describes something that was done before something else. I had written the essay, but the teacher hated it.
For example, I had done my homework, but then the dog ate it. "Pluperfect / plus que parfait" is just the "had done" form of the verb. You already know tenses like "past," "future," and "present" in English, and you probably know the "présent," "passé composé," "futur" in French. (Where is the receipt? I need (of) the receipt.) Borrowing a few more examples from this page: "Dont" is a lot like "que," except you'll see a preposition in front (like "de/du/des" or "avec"). Qui is used here, because "it" (the cat) is the subject. (Find the cat that lives in the basement.) Qui is used here, because "he" is the subject. (I'm looking for the artist who is studying in Paris.) Que is used here, because "him" is the object. (Where does the painter whom I saw today live?) Où habite le peintre que j'ai vu aujourd'hui? (Where does the painter live? I saw him today.) Où habite le peintre? Je l'ai vu aujourd'hui. Que is used here, because "it" (the book) is the object. (I bought the book that my sister wrote.)
J'ai acheté le livre que ma sœur a écrit. Basically, "qui" is used to replace the subject of the sentence (which is often a person, but not always), and "que" is used to replace the object of the sentence (which is often a thing, but not always).