Lesson 7 - Grammar 3 - Pluperfect and Past conditional
- Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
In lesson 2, Grammar 1, we studied the ‘passé composé’ (il a téléphoné) and the imperfect (il téléphonait quand je suis arrivée).
To express that an action was anterior to a past action we use a compound tense, the pluperfect, called in French 'plus-que-parfait'.
The pluperfect is formed by using the past participle of the verb preceded by the imperfect of the auxiliary.
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
Il avait déjà téléphoné quand je suis arrivée. | He had already telephoned when I arrived. |
Il était déjà parti quand je suis arrivée. | He had already left when I arrived. |
- Past conditional
(le conditionnel passé)
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
S'il faisait beau, nous sortirions. | If the weather were nice, we would go out. |
To express that same idea in the past, we have to use:
Si + verb in the
pluperfect, verb in the past conditional
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
S'il avait fait beau, nous serions sortis. | If the weather had been nice, we would have gone out. |
The past conditional is formed by using the past participle of the verb preceded by the present conditional of the auxiliary.
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
Nous aurions téléphoné. | We would have phoned. |
Nous serions partis. | We would have left. |