All compound tenses are built the same way: avoir or être in a simple tense + past participle. The choice of auxiliary and the agreement are the same as in the passé composé.
| auxiliary in the… | compound tense | example |
|---|---|---|
| present | passé composé | j'ai fini, je suis parti (I finished, I left) |
| imparfait | plus-que-parfait (past perfect) | j'avais fini, j'étais parti (I had finished, I had left) |
| future | futur antérieur (future perfect) | j'aurai fini, je serai parti (I will have finished, I will have left) |
| conditional | past conditional | j'aurais fini, je serais parti (I would have finished, I would have left) |
| subjunctive | past subjunctive | que j'aie fini, que je sois parti |
| passé simple (books) | passé antérieur | j'eus fini, je fus parti |
| infinitive / participle | past infinitive, perfect participle | avoir fini, être parti (to have finished / left); ayant fini, étant parti (having finished / left) |
Plus-que-parfait: a past action before another past action. Quand je suis arrivé, le train était déjà parti. (When I arrived, the train had already left.)
Futur antérieur: a future action finished before another. Dès que j'aurai fini, je t'appellerai. (As soon as I have finished, I'll call you. English uses the present perfect here, French the future.) Also for a guess: Il est en retard, il aura raté son bus. (He's late, he must have missed his bus.)
Past conditional: a regret or a hypothesis about the past. J'aurais dû partir plus tôt. (I should have left earlier.) In the news, unconfirmed information: L'incendie aurait fait trois victimes. (The fire reportedly killed three people.)
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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