Past anterior – passé antérieur
Let's Define It!
What's the *past anterior*?
In French, the past anterior is called passé intérieur.
It's a compound tense, which means it uses an auxiliary (avoir or être) followed by a past participle. This auxiliary must be conjugated in the passé simple.
The passé antérieur is used with conjunctions of time such as dès que, aussitôt que, quand, lorsque, après que, etc. It is mainly used in subordinate clauses.
The passé antérieur serves to reference the anteriority of a past action. It is more literary and more formal than the pluperfect tense.
Elles sortirent rapidement du restaurant dès qu'elles eurent mangé leurs repas. / They got out quickly as soon as they ate their meals.
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Let's Pronounce It!
What does it sound like in French?
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Let's Have an Example or Two!
Can a little reinforcement do the trick?
Below, we'll give a few examples of verbs used in the past anterior. These verbs will be in bold and underlined for your convenience.
- Le voleur changea de vêtement aussitôt qu'il eut cambriolé la banque. / The thief changed his clothes as soon as he robbed the bank.
- Nous partîmes après que nous eûmes dit au revoir à toute la famille. / We left after we said good bye to the entire family.
- Claude prit un ticket au hasard dès qu'il eut entendu son nom. / Claude randomly picked a ticket as soon as he heard his name.
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