L'infinitif passé

This grammar point is all about the sequence of events. Imagine you are building a Lego set. First, you open the box. Then, you build the car. The infinitif passé focuses on that first step being totally done. In English, we often use "after" followed by "-ing" (like "after eating"). But French is a bit more precise. It insists on saying "after having eaten." It uses two pieces: an auxiliary verb (the helper) and a past participle (the main action). The coolest part? The subject stays the same for both actions. If *you* ate and then *you* left, this is your best friend. It’s like a grammar traffic light. It tells the listener, "Wait, this first thing is finished! Now we move to the next part."

1. 1Creating the infinitif passé is like making a sandwich. You only need two ingredients. Here is the recipe:
2. 2Pick your helper (Auxiliary): Use either avoir (to have) or être (to be). Most verbs use avoir. Use être for those special "house of être" verbs like aller (to go) or venir (to come), and all reflexive verbs (the ones with se). Keep these in their infinitive form. Don't change them!
3. 3Add the main verb (Past Participle): Take your main action and turn it into a past participle. For -er verbs, it ends in -é. For -ir verbs, it’s often -i. For -re verbs, it’s often -u.
4. 4So, "to have eaten" becomes avoir mangé. "To have gone" becomes être allé. If you’re using être, remember to add an e or s to the participle if the person doing the action is female or plural. It’s like matching your socks to your outfit!

The most common place you'll see this is right after the word après (after). In French, you cannot say après manger. It sounds like "after to eat," which makes locals tilt their heads in confusion. You must say après avoir mangé.

• Ordering Food: Après avoir mangé mon dessert, je voudrais l'addition. (After having eaten my dessert, I would like the bill.)
• Saying Thanks: It’s perfect for polite notes. Merci de m'avoir aidé. (Thank you for having helped me.) This is way better than just saying "thanks for help."
• Job Interviews: Show off your organization. Après être allé à l'université, j'ai travaillé à Paris. (After having gone to university, I worked in Paris.)
• Giving Directions: Après être tourné à gauche, vous verrez la tour. (After having turned left, you will see the tower.)

It’s basically the "polite and organized" tense. Use it whenever you want to show that step A is complete before step B starts.

There is one big rule you can't break. You only use the infinitif passé when the same person does both actions. If I ate and I left, it works perfectly. But if *I* ate and then *you* left, the infinitif passé goes on strike. You can't use it there. In that case, you’d need a full sentence with que and a different tense.

Also, don't use it after avant de (before). Avant de likes the simple present infinitive. So, avant de manger (before eating) is correct, but après avoir mangé (after having eaten) is the rule. It’s a bit like driving—different rules for different signs. Think of après as the one that demands the "completed" version of the verb.

The biggest trip-up is picking the wrong helper. Yes, even native speakers mess this up when they’re in a rush! Remember, verbs of movement (like aller, entrer, partir) and reflexive verbs (like se doucher) always need être. If you say après avoir allé, a French person will still understand you, but they might give you a gentle "Ooh la la" correction.

Another mistake is forgetting to agree the past participle when using être. If a girl says "After having gone," she must write après être allée. It’s a tiny detail, but it’s the "chef’s kiss" of good grammar. Finally, don't use the simple infinitive after après. Après manger is a classic learner mistake. It’s like wearing sandals with socks—people know what you're doing, but it just looks a bit off!

How does this differ from the normal infinitif?

• Present Infinitive: manger (to eat). Use this for general actions or after avant de. "I like to eat."
• Past Infinitive: avoir mangé (to have eaten). Use this for completed actions. "After having eaten."

It’s also different from the passé composé. While j'ai mangé means "I ate," the infinitif passé doesn't have a "subject" (like je or tu) attached directly to it. It floats there, waiting for the main sentence to tell us who is doing the action. It's the "lightweight" version of the past tense. No conjugation stress, just two simple words.