Contents
- 1 How do you use plus-que-parfait?
- 2 What is the difference between passe compose and plus-que-parfait?
- 3 What is the perfect tenses in French?
- 4 What is the perfect tense in French examples?
- 5 How to conjugate the plus que parfait in French?
- 6 When to use the auxiliary etre in plus que parfait?
- 7 How is the plus que parfait codependent on other actions?
How do you use plus-que-parfait?
The plus-que-parfait is used when the speaker needs to position one action with respect to another. Frequently its use will be signaled by adverbs (such as déjà) which can heighten the sense of opposition between actions: Quand je suis rentré, j’avais déjà appris la mauvaise nouvelle.
What is the difference between passe compose and plus-que-parfait?
The plus-que-parfait expresses a completed action that happened before another completed action. Consider the sentence: “I had finished the laundry when you called.” “I had finished” is the plus-que-parfait tense, whereas “you called” is the passé composé.
How do you form the past perfect tense in French?
The perfect tense is formed with the present tense of avoir or être and a past participle. Most verbs take avoir in the perfect tense. All reflexive verbs and a small group of verbs referring to movement or change take être. The past participle ends in -é for -er verbs, in -i for -ir verbs, and in -u for -re verbs.
What is the perfect tenses in French?
The perfect tense is used in French to describe completed actions or events. It is made up of two parts, which is why it is called le passé composé (‘compound past’) in French. The first part is either the verb avoir or the verb être, the second part is the past participle of the main verb.
What is the perfect tense in French examples?
Example perfect tense forms
| What we want to say | Verb | Perfect tense form |
|---|---|---|
| I’ve eaten | manger to eat | j’ai mangé I’ve eaten |
| you’ve worked (talking to single friend) | travailler to work | tu as travaillé you’ve worked |
| he’s watched TV | regarder (to watch) | il a regardé la télé he’s watched TV |
Why do we use plus-que-parfait?
We use it to talk about an action or situation that took place before another past action. The plus-que-parfait is often used when telling stories and anecdotes to provide background information on situations that occurred prior to the main action of the story.
How to conjugate the plus que parfait in French?
How to conjugate the plus-que-parfait in French. To conjugate the plus-que-parfait we use the imperfect forms of avoir and être as auxiliary verbs, followed by the participe passé (past participle) of the main verb. In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation (pas).
When to use the auxiliary etre in plus que parfait?
The plus-que-parfait is made up of an auxiliary ( être or avoir) conjugated in the imparfait and the past participle of a verb. When using the auxiliary être, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.
When to use le plus que parfait in a story?
Le plus-que-parfait corresponds to the past perfect tense in English. We use it to talk about an action or situation that took place before another past action. The plus-que-parfait is often used when telling stories and anecdotes to provide background information on situations that occurred prior to the main action of the story.
How is the plus que parfait codependent on other actions?
Here is another example of how the use of the plus-que-parfait is codependent on other past actions: Quand je suis rentré hier soir, j’étais fatigué parce que j’avais travaillé toute la journée. (‘When I came back home yesterday evening, I was tired because I had worked the entire day.’)