Lesson - Section 5: Plus-que-parfait Past Tense

[garçoncanadien]

PART 2: PAST TENSE VERBS

Lesson - Section 5:
Plus-que-parfait Past Tense
Le Français Quotidien Partie 2
The Vocabulary of Clothes

The Plus-que-parfait corresponds to the English Past Perfect tense. It means things like: he had made, she had said. The Plus-que-parfait is formed by a compound conjugation:

conjugated avoir/être in the imparfait + the participe passé of the verb you want.

How do you choose avoir/être? The same way as in Passé Composé. A quick flip back to those rules would be helpful for all those who want it. If you want to say the negative of the plus-que-parfait, you should put ne...pas around the avoir/or être. Generally, we use the plus-que-parfait to describe an action that happened before a primary action, that has already passed. Ok hahah I see that this sentence is confusing but an example will illustrate

Jeanne est rentrée à dix-neuf heures; elle était partie à 13H00.

As you have noticed, agreement after être is still necessary here.

Now, you might be wondering, now that you know about three different past tenses, which one to pick? Use the rules that I mentioned in the last lesson to choose between Passé Composé and Imparfait, but use the Plus-que-parfait when you want to describe an action that happened before a primary action, that has already passed.

Finally, here are several examples of the Plus-que-parfait in action.

Elles sont rentrées hier soir puisque leur aéréport avait été fermé pendant plusieurs heures à cause de la neige.
They returned last night because their airport had been closed for several hours due to snow.

Ils ne s'étaient pas rendus compte du fait qu'il est interdit de fumer dans les lieux publics.
They had not understood the fact that it is forbidden to smoke in public places.

Nous avions [NB avions used as a noun means planes!! context will help distinguish] assisté au concert le mois dernier à Bercy, et nous avons vu la chanson incroyable "Avant que l'ombre".
We had gone to the concert last month at Bercy, and we saw the unbelievable song "Avant que l'ombre" [hey RMJ i did not translate Avant que l'ombre ].

Le Français Quotidien Partie 2
Welcome back to the next edition of Le Français Quotidien Partie 2, with your host, garçoncanadien ! Today you will see some idiomatic expressions with avoir. Avoir means "to have" in French, but you will notice that almost none of these expressions have the meaning "to have" in them. Please do not let this confuse you - please learn that these expressions actually use avoir.

<TABLE CELLPADDING="2"><TR><TD>avoir besoin de</TD><TD>to need</TD><TD>avoir tort</TD><TD>to be wrong</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir peur</TD><TD>to be afraid</TD><TD>avoir soif</TD><TD>to be thirsty</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir l'intention de</TD><TD>to intend to</TD><TD>en avoir marre </TD><TD>to be fed up</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir chaud</TD><TD>to be hot(not "good looking" hot )</TD><TD>avoir sommeil</TD><TD>to be tired</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir envie de</TD><TD>to feel like</TD><TD>avoir ____ ans</TD><TD>to be ___ years old</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir faim</TD><TD>to be hungry</TD><TD>avoir raison</TD><TD>to be correct</TD></TR><TR><TD>avoir froid</TD><TD>to be cold</TD><TD>avoir l'air de</TD><TD>to look like</TD></TR></TABLE>

Here are some examples of these expressions in action:

J'ai peur de ce lapin de Pâques, maman!
I'm scared of this Easter rabbit, mommy!

Ce sujet m'ennuie. J'ai sommeil quand je lis le texte pour cette classe.
This subject bores me. I'm tired when I read the text for this class.

Tu as raison - tu dois faire des boîtes de Pétri à l'agar antibiotique chaque fois que tu fais des transformations bactériques.
You are right - you must make Petri dishes with antibiotic agar each time you do bacterial transformations.

J'ai envie d'acheter une bouteille d'Alizé .
I feel like buying a bottle of Alizé.

J'en ai marre de ceux qui pleurent...
I'm fed up of those who cry...

Finally, you may have heard from some people that there is a tense called Le Passé Simple. This is true, I am not forgetting to mention this tense to you but I simply think at this point it is a low priority for you to learn it. This tense is only used in extra extra formal writing and old novels, so just keep it in the back of your mind for now. Don't worry too much about it. If you want to see it I will be happy to conjugate verbs in the Passé Simple for you. In addition, you rarely hear this tense spoken unless it is a very formal situation.

The Vocabulary of Clothes
Welcome back to your regular sampling of French Vocabulary. As you all know, Paris is the world's "fashion capital" - the French are known worldwide for making magnificent clothes. Alizée and Mylène are great examples of how magnificent French fashion is so without further ado let's get down to business. All pictures courtesy of their respective websites and all items are shown in singular to tell you what gender the nouns are despite the fact they may be plural in the picture.

un pantalon


une chaussette


une chaussure


une jupe


un pull


le gant


une chemise


un tee-shirt


un manteau


un chapeau (any type)


un short

And that is it! Please PM me the answers to the following questions.

1. Please explain to me the difference between Imparfait, Passé Composé, and plus-que-parfait.
2. Le Passé Simple should be used in which of the following cases (select the letters)?
a: a kindergarten alphabet book
b: a presidential address from the Elysée Palace
c: talking to Alizée
d: talking to the cashier
e: the novel Les Misérables

3. Please conjugate the following verb in the plus-que-parfait, showing agreement if necessary: rêver.
4. Please conjugate the following verb in the plus-que-parfait, showing agreement if necessary: se déranger.
5. Please conjugate the following verb in the plus-que-parfait, showing agreement if necessary: être.
6. Please conjugate the following verb in the plus-que-parfait, showing agreement if necessary: finir.
7. Name all the clothes that Alizée is wearing in this picture:

8. Describe the weather to me using a short sentence, and tell me whether you feel hot or cold today.
9. Please translate into French : "This steak has the air of perfection".
10.The following is a short story that I have written for you. I have converted most verbs into the infinitive. Please tell me whether these infinitive verbs should be in the présent, passé composé, imparfait, or plus-que-parfait. Some blanks can have multiple answers, so it is fine if you are not sure Finally, translate into English the resulting story.

A l'époque, il faire très beau dans le parc. Nous se promener avec toute sa famille, et il y avoir même son chien Topaze. Son petit frère être très très amicable, et après la brève rencontre dans le parc au centre-ville d'Ajaccio nous assister à une belle pièce de théatre - La Traviata. Après avoir partir nous dire au revoir et nous lui souhaiter beaucoup de succès pour son dernier album.

11. Please translate the following into French: "I had not finished my homework".
12. Please translate the following into French: "If I had known, I would have went to his house to watch Alizée en Concert". I would have went = j'aurais allé. to watch = pour regarder.
13. Please translate the following into French: "She had not finished the cassoulet".
14. Please translate the following into French: "We had not finished the startup (démarrage)".
15. Please translate the following into French: "He had not thrown the stone into the pond". stone = pierre. pond = étang.