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Forming the pluperfect tense

To form the pluperfect, use the imperfect tense of avoir and tre and add the past
participle. The agreements of the perfect tense apply here too:
tu tais partie quand je suis arriv (You had left when I arrived)
j'avais mang avant de partir (I had eaten before leaving)
Pluperfect tense - regular verbs with avoir
avoir -er verbs parler(to
talk)
-ir verbs choisir (to
choose)
-re verbs vendre(to
sell)
j'avais parl choisi vendu
tu avais parl choisi vendu
il avait parl choisi vendu
nous avions parl choisi vendu
vous aviez parl choisi vendu
ils/elles
avaient
parl choisi vendu
Pluperfect with tre
The pluperfect tense with tre also takes the past participle and agrees with the subject,
eg tre with aller (to go):
tu tais all(e)
il tait all
elle tait alle
on tait all(e)(s)
nous tions all(e)(s)
vous tiez all(e)(s)
ils taient alls
elles taient alles
When to use the pluperfect tense
The pluperfect is used to talk about actions further back in the past - events that had
happened:
Elle avait habit en France avant de venir en Angleterre (She had lived in France before
coming to England)
It's also used to report what somebody said:
'Marie est partie en vacances' ('Marie went on holidays') --> Il a dit que Marie tait partie en
vacances (He said that Marie had been on holidays)

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