Pluperfect tense

Question 1

when do you use the pluperfect tense?

Answer 1

to say something ‘had happened’ before another past action or event. Used to describe actions further back in the past.

E.g 1. he said that ‘he had started’ to play handball at school

=Il a dit qu’il ‘avait commencé’ à jouer au handball à l’école

2.She explained that ‘she had arrived’ too late.

=Elle a expliqué qu’elle ‘était arrivée’ trop tard.

Question 2

How do you form the pluperfect tense?

Answer 2

Take the imperfect tense of either avoir or être.
Then add the past participle (passé composé) e.g bu, changé, mangé

Reflexives- Me, te, se + imperfect of être then PP.

Question 3

Imperfect of avoir

Answer 3

J’avais
tu avais
il avait
nous avions
vous aviez
ils avaient

Question 4

imperfect of être

Answer 4

j’étais
tu étais
il était
nous étions
vous étiez
ils étaient

Question 5

She said that she had eaten

Answer 5

elle a dit qu’elle avait mangé

Question 6

i had eaten before leaving

Answer 6

j’avais mangé avant de partir

Question 7

when is pluperfect also used?

Answer 7

for reported speech.

-she told me that Marie ‘had’ ran away.
-Elle m’a dit que Marie avait fait une fugue.

Question 8

My mum told me that my grandmother had gone on holiday.

Answer 8

Maman m’a dit que ma grand-mère avait parti en vacances

Question 9

we told them that you had lost your phone

Answer 9

nous leur avons dit que vous aviez perdu votre portable.

Question 10

what is the pluperfect essentially used for?

Answer 10

to talk about one past event occurring BEFORE another past event.
Therefore used in the same sentence as a perfect tense.

e.g il est revenu au village où il était né = he came back to the village where he had been born

Question 11

when is the pluperfect also used after? - what tense?

Answer 11

the imperfect - je ne savais pas que
je pensais que
je croyais que

e.g je croyais que tu étais déjà sorti- i thought that you had already gone out.