Pluperfect
This compound tense is used for flashbacks or anything that had happened
before the time of the narration. It's formed with the imperfect tense
of avoir or être and the past participle of the main verb. This
tense is comparable to the passé composé.
| Imperfect of avoir or être | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| avais | avions | étais | étions | |||
| avais | aviez | étais | étiez | + past participle | ||
| avait | avaient | était | étaient | |||
Je n'avais pas fini mon travail quand il est arrivé.
I had not finished my work when he arrived.
Vous aviez faim parce que vous n'aviez pas du tout mangé. You
were hungry because you hadn't eaten at all.
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages