Passé Anterieur An Important French Literary Tense

The French passà © antà ©rieur (anterior past) is the literary  and historical equivalent of the past perfect  (in French, the plus-que-parfait). It is used in literature, journalism, and historical accounts, for narration, and to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past. Because its a literary tense, you dont need to practice conjugating it, but it is important for you to be able to recognize it. French Literary Tenses Le passà © antà ©rieur  is one of five literary tenses in French. They have virtually disappeared from spoken language unless the speaker wishes to sound erudite, and so are relegated primarily to written text. All five  French literary tenses  include: P​assà © simplePassà © antà ©rieurLimparfait du subjonctif  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plus-que-parfait  du subjonctif  Seconde  forme du conditionnel passà ©Ã¢â‚¬â€¹ A Formal Compound Tense Like the Past Perfect The French anterior past is a compound conjugation, which means it has two parts: Passà © simple  of the  auxiliary verb  (either  avoir  or  Ãƒ ªtre)Past participle  of the main verb The auxiliary verb is conjugated as if it were being used in the  passà © simple  (aka preterite), which is  the  literary  and historical equivalent of the  passà © composà ©. Like all French compound conjugations, the past anterior can be subject to grammatical  agreement: When the auxiliary verb is  Ãƒ ªtre, the past participle must agree with the subject.When the auxiliary verb is  avoir, the past participle may have to agree with its direct object. The French anterior past  commonly occurs in subordinate clauses and is  introduced by one of these conjunctions: aprà ¨s que, aussità ´t que, dà ¨s que, lorsque, or quand.  In this case, the main clause is in the passà © simple. The English equivalent is usually but not always had and a past participle. In everyday speech, the literary past anterior is usually replaced by an everyday tense or mood: either the  pluperfect  (for habitual actions), the  past ​infinitive, or the  perfect participle. Examples of the Passà © Antà ©rieure Quand nous eà »mes fini, nous mangeà ¢mes.   When we had finished, we ate.Dà ¨s quelle fut arrivà ©e, le tà ©là ©phone sonna.   As soon as she arrived, the phone rang.Je partis aprà ¨s que vous fà »tes tombà ©.   I left after you fell.Le maire et le prà ©sident lui firent la premià ¨re visite, et lui de son cà ´tà © fit la premià ¨re visite au gà ©nà ©ral et au prà ©fet. (Les Misà ©rables)  Ã‚  The mayor and the president were the first to visit him, and he, in turn, was the first to visit the general and the prefect.Elle rencontra Candide en revenant  au chà ¢teau, et rougit  ; Candide  rougit aussi  ; elle lui dit bonjour d’une voix entrecoupà ©e, et Candide lui parla sans savoir ce qu’il disait.  (Candide)  Ã‚  She met Candide on her way back to the castle and blushed; Candide blushed, too. She said hello with a catch in her voice, and Candide spoke to her without knowing what he was saying.Aussità ´t que le prà ©sident eut s ignà © le document, sa secrà ©taire lemporta. (CliffsNotes)   As soon as the president had signed the document, his secretary took it away.Quand elle  eut publià ©Ã‚  son premier recueil de poà ¨mes, elle devint un grand  succà ¨s. After she had published her first collection of poems, she became a big success.Aprà ¨s quelle  eut và ©cu  quelques annà ©es à   Paris,  Anne  retourna  dans son pays dorigine. After she had lived several years in Paris, Anne returned to home to her country. How to Conjugate the French  Passà © Anterieur   AIMER (auxiliary verb is avoir) j' eus aimà © nous eà »mes aimà © tu eus aimà © vous eà »tes aimà © il,elle eut aimà © ils,elles eurent aimà © DEVENIR (auxiliary verb is à ªtre) je fus devenu(e) nous fà »mes devenu(e)s tu fus devenu(e) vous fà »tes devenu(e)(s) il fut devenu ils furent devenus elle fut devenue elles furent devenues SE LAVER (pronominal verb) je me fus lavà ©(e) nous nous fà »mes lavà ©(e)s tu te fus lavà ©(e) vous vous fà »tes lavà ©(e)(s) il se fut lavà © ils se furent lavà ©s elle se fut lavà ©e elles se furent lavà ©es