Pluperfect indicative tense is used to express an action that had happened. An example in English:
- He had gone out.
To form it, you need to be familiar with the imperfect and the passé composé, which you can review on this site. That said, you take the imperfect indicative form of your helping verb (avoir or être), conjugate it to fit your subject, and add the past participle. It’s very much like the passé composé, only the helping verb is conjugated in the imperfect instead of the present. Here are some verbs conjugated in the pluperfect indicative:
venir (to come)
j’étais venu=I had come
tu étais venu=you had come
il était venu=he had come
nous étions venus=we had come
vous étiez venus=you had come
ils étaient venus=they had come
se laver (to wash oneself)
je m’étais lavé=I had washed myself
tu t’étais lavé=you had washed yourself
il s’était lavé=he had washed himself
nous nous étions lavés=we had washed ourselves
vous vous étiez lavés=you had washed yourselves
ils s’étaient lavés=they had washed themselves
avoir (to have)
j’avais eu=I had had
tu avais eu=you had had
il avait eu=he had had
nous avions eu=we had had
vous aviez eu=you had had
ils avaient eu=they had had
Here’s how it can be translated:
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they had [verb]ed
