The indicative pluperfect is a past tense which allows the expression of accomplished facts of indefinite duration and which is situated before another action generally expressed in the imperfect, the present perfect tense or the simple past tense. One can clearly see the anteriority of the action of receiving the message before being able to read it in the sentences below.
Il a lu les messages qu'il avait reçus de sa fiancée.
Il lisait les messages qu'il avait reçus de sa fiancée.
Il lut les messages qu'il avait reçus de sa fiancée.
The pluperfect can also express a habit or repeated action. When preceded by "if", it expresses a fact that has not occurred in the past.
Pendant de longs mois, il avait cherché la solution sans jamais la trouver.
Si tu étais venu, nous aurions visité la ville.
In order to form the indicative pluperfect, it is necessary to know how to conjugate the auxiliaries "avoir" and "être" in the indicative imperfect and to know how to form the past participle. The main difficulty of the indicative pluperfect comes from the agreements with the past participle.
Here is an example of a verb conjugated in the indicative pluperfect with auxiliaries "avoir" and "être":
Subject | Auxiliary (avoir) | Past participle (finir) |
---|---|---|
J' | avais | fini |
Tu | avais | fini |
Il | avait | fini |
Nous | avions | fini |
Vous | aviez | fini |
Ils | avaient | fini |
Subject | Auxiliary (être) | Past participle (venir) |
---|---|---|
J' | étais | venu |
Tu | étais | venu |
Il | était | venu |
Nous | étions | venus |
Vous | étiez | venus |
Ils | étaient | venus |