subjonctif plus-que-parfait in french

06 oct. 2017 12:44 - language-swap

Niveau expert

Like the indicative and the conditional, the subjunctive is a mode. It has four different conjugations in order to respect a certain time-line.
The “subjonctif plus-que-parfait” which is not used anymore in French was used to talk about uncertain things supposedly over when spoken.
Example:
Je ne pensais pas qu'il eût fini son assiette de petits pois.
When the pat subjunctive is used in a relative proposition, the principal proposition is in the indicative mode in past tense. The major part of the time, it is introduced by the relative pronoun “que”.
In order to conjugate the past subjunctive, you have to put the auxiliaries “être” (to be) and “avoir” to have conjugated in the “subjonctif imparfait” and the past participle of the verb concerned.
Let's see:


AVOIR AVOIR MANGER ETRE ETRE TOMBER
Eusse Eusse mangé Fusse Fusse tombé
Eusses Eusses mangé Fusses Fusses tombé
Eût Eût mangé Fût Fût tombé
Eussions Eussions mangé Fussions Fussions tombés
Eussiez Eussiez mangé Fussiez Fussiez tombés
Eussent Eussent mangé Fussent Fussent tombés

To know how to put the verbs in their past participle form, you can check the lesson on it.
However here is some tips:
the verbs finishing in -é are the verbs of the first group (couper, coupé)
the verbs finishing in -i are the verbs finishing in -IR (franchir, franchi)
the verbs finishing in -u are the verbs finishing in -Re (attendre, attendu – entendre, entendu)
the verbs composed with the verb prendre finish in -is (prendre, pris – surprendre, supris – reprendre, repris)

/!\ Warning, remember that the past participle has to agree with the noun when used with the auxiliary “être” or when the direct object is put before the verb with the auxiliary “avoir”.
In order to know which auxiliary you should use, see the lesson