French/Grammar/Tenses/Pluperfect of the indicative

In French the pluperfect is called le plus-que-parfait. In English, it is also called the more than perfect. Formation The pluperfect is a compound tense - it consists of two verbs, the auxiliary verb and the past participle of the verb one seeks to use in this tense. The auxiliary verb is conjugated as if it were being used in the imperfect. The past participle is added immediately after the auxiliary verb. A negative structure such as ne ... pas is always placed around the auxiliary verb, immediately before the past participle. All past participle agreement rules that apply to composed tenses apply to the pluperfect. Usage The pluperfect is used to describe a past action that occurred before a second past action that is in the passé composé or imparfait. Elle était vieille, mais elle avait été jeune. - She was old, but she had been young. Je l'aurais aidé si j'avais su. - I would've helped him if I had known. J'étais parti(e) quand tu m'as téléphoné. - I had already left when you called (me). es:Francés/Gramática/El verbo/Tiempos/Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif