An Overview of the Plus-que-parfait
The plus-que-parfait is used to describe a past action that precedes another past action. In grammar the words "parfait" and "perfect" simply mean "past". So, the term plus-que-parfait simply means "further back in the past (than some other past action)". English uses this as well, for example, "When I arrived he had already finished eating".
How to form the plus-que-parfait
The plus-que-parfait is formed by using the imperfect of avoir, followed by the past participle. This is illustrated in the following table:
| plus-que-parfait |
Translation |
| j'avais parlé |
"I had spoken" |
| tu avais parlé |
"you had spoken" |
| il,elle, on avait parlé |
"he, she, one had spoken" |
| nous avions parlé |
"we had spoken" |
| vous aviez parlé |
"you had spoken" |
| ils/elles avaient parlé |
"they had spoken" |
Given the meaning of the plus-que-parfait, it is not uncommon to finding is used alongside the word déjà ("already"), e.g.: Quand il est arrivé, j'avais déjà réglé le problème.
Another common structure is the use of the past conditional verb used after an instance of the plus-que-parfait, e.g.: Si je l'avais su, je ne l'aurais pas fait.
Note that the auxiliary used for the plus-que-parfait is that same as for the passé composé. Most verbs take avoir, but a small number take être, e.g.: J'étais parti, il était allé (see here for the verbs that take être versus avoir).
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