French plus-que-parfait: explain what had happened before

Level B1

French plus-que-parfait: explain what had happened before

A past account sometimes needs a step further back: why was the meal ready when Marc called? You will describe the background, locate the call and say what had already happened. The plus-que-parfait marks that earlier action, using avoir or être in the imparfait followed by a past participle.

Two ways to look at the past

Je travaillais quand Marc a appelé means I was working when Marc called. Travaillais is the background activity in progress; a appelé is the completed call that gives us a reference point. Quand means when here and joins the two parts. Marc is a man's name, and appeler means to call by phone.

Now compare J'avais fait la cuisine quand Marc a appelé: I had done the cooking when Marc called. The cooking was already finished at the time of the call. This is the earlier-past form you will now use yourself. Faire la cuisine means to do the cooking, not to build a kitchen.

Keep familiar verbs and add déjà

Faire gives the participle fait; arriver (to arrive) gives arrivé. You already know their passé composé: j'ai fait (I did) and il est arrivé (he arrived). To move those actions further back, change the auxiliary to the imparfait: j'avais fait and il était arrivé. The same choice of auxiliary stays with these verbs.

Déjà means already; in our models it goes between the auxiliary and the participle: avais déjà fait, était déjà arrivé. Listen to the word cards. Cuisine here is the activity of cooking; quand links times, rather than asking a question.

Anne explains Marc's call

Anne is telling a friend about Marc's call yesterday. Before that call, Anne had finished cooking and Leo, a man, had arrived at her home. At the moment Marc called, Anne was working at home. After the call, Anne and Leo ate together.

Listen to the six lines. Tu addresses one friend; its question uses everyday statement order with a questioning voice. À la maison means at home. Et la cuisine ? asks about the cooking, and Et Leo ? asks about Leo's situation. Il refers to Leo. The earlier cooking explains why they could have their meal after the call: it was ready.

Avoir or être in the imparfait + past participle

The pattern says: choose j'avais or il était here, then add the past participle. J'avais déjà fait la cuisine means I'd already done the cooking; il était déjà arrivé means he'd already arrived. English uses had for both. French keeps avoir with faire and être with arriver: avait or était alone does not express the completed earlier action.

With être, keep the agreement already used in the passé composé: il était arrivé for Leo, elle était arrivée for a woman. For the sentences with avoir here, the object follows the verb: fait la cuisine, with fait unchanged. Other agreement cases stay for later study. Déjà makes the timing explicit, but it is optional: j'avais fait still places the cooking before the call.

J'avais / il était + participe passé

Background, reference event and an earlier cause

Read the three examples as parts of one account. Je travaillais gives the background in the imparfait. Marc a appelé is the call in the passé composé. J'avais déjà fait la cuisine goes back to the completed cooking before that call: the plus-que-parfait. Ensuite, nous avons mangé means Then we ate; avons mangé brings the account forward to the meal after the call. Nous includes Anne and Leo.

The order of events is not the order in which the sentences must be told. Anne can mention the call, then explain the earlier cooking. Quand only links the times: it does not automatically require a particular tense. Here, compare the ongoing work in je travaillais quand… with the already completed cooking in j'avais fait… quand….

Retell Anne's account

Be Anne, speaking in the first person. The facts are given: you had cooked before Marc's call; Leo had also arrived before it; you were working when the call came; you and Leo ate afterward. Before reading the four examples, say these four meanings in French: I was working when Marc called; I'd already done the cooking; he'd already arrived (he = Leo); then we ate (we = Anne and Leo).

Use je travaillais, j'avais…fait, il était…arrivé and nous avons…mangé. Put déjà in the two earlier-past sentences. Then check the four sentences in order and listen. You are choosing which action was earlier, rather than putting every verb into the same past tense.

Say what had happened before; recognize a different agreement

For this account: the imparfait sets the background, the passé composé gives the past reference event, and the plus-que-parfait puts an action before it. Form the last one with the imparfait of avoir or être plus the past participle; keep the auxiliary used by the verb, and use déjà to stress that it was already done.

The final sentence is for recognition only: Les livres que j'avais lus étaient sur la table means The books I'd read were on the table. Lus comes from lire, to read; livres means books and sur la table means on the table. Its final -s is an agreement linked to the books placed before the verb. That is a different case from fait la cuisine here. You do not need to produce that agreement or memorize its rules in this lesson.

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