The Pluperfect Indicative
The pluperfect tense, indicative mood describes an action in the past that happened before another action in the past. In English we form the pluperfect by using the word "had" plus the past participle. For example:
I had finished my homework.
We had already washed the dishes.
He told me what had happened.
While the sentence that uses the pluperfect may not always mention that another past action that occurred after the action in the pluperfect, it is always implied that the action in the pluperfect happened before another action in the past. For example:
I had finished my homework [when my mom called me for dinner, by the time my sister called, etc.].
We had already washed the dishes [when my brother told us he would wash them, etc.].
Some examples of the pluperfect in French:
Il avait rang� sa chambre avant de sortir avec ses amis.
He had cleaned his room before he went out with his friends.
Nous avons cru qu'elles l'avaient d�j� fait.
We thought that they had already done that.
Nous avions d�j� quitt� la maison quand elle a decouvert que nous avions oubli� les billets.
We had already left the house when she realized that we had forgotten the tickets.
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19.3.05