👉 Check out j’aurais dû, a phrase using the past conditional meaning “I should have.” In French, there are two forms of the conditional perfect (ak.a. the past conditional). This other post covers the first past conditional. The first and second conditional perfect have the same value but the second form appears like the pluperfect …
Le conditionnel passé The French conditional perfect (a.k.a. the past conditional) is used for expressing actions that should, could or would have happened. It is often used for expressing regrets. It is a compound tense that’s formed with the auxiliary verbs avoir or être conjugated in the present conditional and the past participle. For example, …
le futur antérieur The future perfect (or le futur antérieur / past future tense) is used to describe actions which will have happened in the future. For example, J’aurai mangé (I will have eaten). The future perfect often appears in sentences with an element of anteriority: Action A will have happened before action B.
le passé du subjonctif The French past subjunctive (le passé du subjonctif) is used in the same way as the present subjunctive where certain verbs, conjunctions and impersonal expressions require the subjunctive to express wishes, emotions and doubts.
le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif The pluperfect or past perfect subjunctive (le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif) is a mood used in French literature. It is equivalent to the the past subjunctive in spoken French. It differs from the imperfect subjunctive in that the past action is completed.
