The past before the past: le plus-que-parfait
CEFR B2 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
Compound relatives: lequel, auquel, ce dontChoosing the relative when a preposition comes first, contracting with à and de, and…Negation beyond ne… pasChoosing the second half of the negation, placing it correctly with infinitives and the…Present participle, gérondif and verbal adjectiveTelling apart the three -ant forms: the gérondif with en, the present participle that…Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans, enChoosing among the five depending on whether you mean a starting point, a finished…Stressed pronouns and pronoun orderUsing moi, toi, lui, eux after prepositions, in comparisons and for emphasis; and…Accents and the cedillaPlacing é, è, ê and ç correctly, and knowing that in French an accent changes the sound…The rule, in three lines
The plus-que-parfait is the imperfect of avoir or être plus the participle: j'avais mangé, j'étais parti. It is used for what had already happened before another past event.
The usual slip. Telling the whole story in the passé composé. «Quand je suis arrivé, il est parti» does not say he had already gone: it says he left afterwards.
Why it catches you out. English has the past perfect and puts it in the same places, so the idea is familiar. What is new is that French chooses between avoir and être, and that the participle then has to agree.