Plus-que-parfait in reported speech

Reported speech is just repeating what someone else said. In English, we say "He said that he had eaten." In French, we do the same thing. When the main verb is in the past, everything inside changes. If the person said "I ate," that is the passé composé. When you report it, it becomes "He said he had eaten." This "had eaten" is our plus-que-parfait. It acts as a background for your main story. It explains what happened before the current moment of the story. You need two parts to build this tense. It works just like the passé composé but with a twist. The auxiliary verb changes its clothes. It moves from the present tense to the imparfait. It is like putting a vintage filter on a modern photo. It looks the same, but the vibe is older. This shift is called "backshifting." It is essential for clear communication in French.

1. 1Building this tense is like following a simple recipe. You only need three steps to get it right.
2. 2Choose your auxiliary verb: avoir or être.
3. 3Put that auxiliary verb into the imparfait tense.
4. 4Add the participe passé (past participle) of your main verb.
5. 5For most verbs, you will use j'avais, tu avais, or il avait. For movement verbs like aller, you use j'étais or tu étais. Do not forget to match the endings for être verbs! If you are talking about a girl, add an e. If it is a group, add an s. It is like matching your socks before you leave the house. Most of the time, avoir is your best friend. It does most of the heavy lifting here. Just remember: imparfait helper + participe passé = plus-que-parfait.

Use this when you are a messenger of the past. Imagine a job interview scenario. You tell the recruiter what your old boss said. "My boss told me that I had worked well." The telling happened in the past. The working happened even earlier. Use it when gossip is involved at a party. "Marie told me that she had seen Paul." You are also going to use it for explanations. "I was late because I had lost my keys." It provides the "why" for your past actions. It is perfect for ordering food if there was a mistake. "I told the waiter that I had ordered a salad." It clarifies the sequence of events perfectly. Without it, your past sounds like a messy pile of laundry. With it, everything is folded and put away in order.

Do not use this if the reporting verb is in the present. If you say "He says that...," keep the second part simple. Only use it when the "intro" verb is in the past. If you are talking about a single past action, stick to passé composé. Do not use it for things happening right now. It is strictly for the "way back" machine. Also, avoid it if the order of events is already super clear. If you use avant de (before), you might not need it. But usually, it is better to be safe than sorry. Do not use it just to sound smart. Use it because the timeline demands it. If the events happened at the exact same time, use the imparfait instead. The plus-que-parfait is for the "before" times only.

Many people use the present tense for the helper verb. They say il a dit qu'il a mangé. That is just two passé composés hanging out. It works, but it is not technically correct for reported speech. Another big mistake is forgetting the être agreement. If you say elle était allé, you forgot the extra e. It should be elle était allée. People also mix up imparfait and plus-que-parfait. Remember: one is a single verb, the other is a pair. Do not let the long name scare you. It is just a helper and a main verb. Even native speakers mess this up when they are tired. Just take a breath and check your auxiliary verb. Is it in the imparfait? If yes, you are doing great. If no, just give it a quick fix.

Compare the passé composé with the plus-que-parfait. The passé composé is "I ate" (j'ai mangé). The plus-que-parfait is "I had eaten" (j'avais mangé). One is a finished action in the past. The other is an action that happened before another past action. It is like a movie prequel. The passé composé is the main movie. The plus-que-parfait is the backstory that explains everything. The imparfait is for descriptions or habits. "I was eating" (je mangeais). Do not confuse "was eating" with "had eaten." They serve very different purposes in your story. Think of imparfait as the weather and plus-que-parfait as the history book. One sets the mood, the other sets the date.