The past subjunctive: How to form and use it in French?

The French past subjunctive expresses an action that may have happened before the time of speaking. It is a compound tense formed with the auxiliaries avoir (meaning to have) and être (meaning to be) conjugated in the present subjunctive, followed by a past participle.

The subjunctive mood in French is triggered by certain phrases, such as il faut que (meaning it is necessary that) or il est important que (meaning it is important that), and by some conjunctions, such as bien que (meaning although) and pour que (meaning so that).

In this post, we’ll cover when to use the present subjunctive versus the past subjunctive, when and how to use the past subjunctive, other structures used with the past subjunctive, and the literary imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive. Are you ready to find out more? Do “subjunctive imperfect” and “subjunctive pluperfect” sound like alien words to you? Then keep reading!

To form the French past subjunctive, you will use an auxiliary verb conjugated in the present subjunctive, along with a past participle.

This means the past subjunctive is a compound tense in French! Here’s the basic structure the past subjunctive:

Let’s break it down:

• The auxiliary verb avoir (meaning to have) or être (meaning to be) is conjugated in the present subjunctive.

  • Here’s a refresher on the present subjunctive conjugations of avoir and être:

    avoir (meaning to have)
    j’aie
    tu aies
    il/elle/on ait
    nous ayons
    vous ayez
    ils/elles aient

    être (meaning to be)
    je sois
    tu sois
    il/elle/on soit
    nous soyons
    vous soyez
    ils/elles soient

  • When choosing between the auxiliary verbs, remember that only a handful of verbs take the auxiliary être. Check out this list of verbs that take the auxiliary verb être in French if you need a refresher.

• The second part of the tense is a past participle. Here is a reminder of the endings of the past participles:

  • verbs ending in -er → é (aller → allé)

  • verbs ending in -ir → i (finir → fini)

  • verbs ending in -re → u (vendre → vendu)

  • There are also some common irregular past participles.

• If the subjunctive mood is required, the main clause and the subordinate clause must always have two different subjects. If the two clauses have the same subject, we use an infinitive verb instead of the subjunctive. Here are two examples to illustrate this. They use je n’ai pas pensé, a structure that calls for the subjunctive mood:

  Two different subjects → subjunctive mood	One subject → infinitive
  subjunctive Je n’ai pas pensé que tu aies pu épeler ce mot. Translation: I didn’t think you could spell that word.	infinitive ✅Je n’ai pas pensé pouvoir épeler ce mot. Translation: I didn’t think I could spell that word.

  And you can’t even just repeat the subject and use the subjunctive:

  subjunctive

  ❌Je n’ai pas pensé que j’aie pu épeler ce mot.

Does this ring any bells 🔔? Indeed, the past subjunctive is formed in a similar way as the passé composé, and the rules of agreement of the participle are identical too. If you need a full refresher, check out our article on the rules of agreement of the past participle in French.

Otherwise, read on for the main points about past participle agreement:

• With the auxiliary être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.

  subject

  Bien qu’elle soit née en 1993, elle connaît tous les hits des années 70.

  Translation: Although she was born in 1993, she knows all the hits of the 70s.

  subject

  Il fallait que nous soyons rentrés avant minuit !

  Translation: We had to be home before midnight!

• With the auxiliary avoir, there is no past participle agreement, unless the direct object is before the verb:

  Ses parents veulent qu’il ait passé son bac avant de prendre une année sabbatique.

  Translation: His parents want him to have passed his high school diploma before taking a year off.

  Est-ce que les travaux seront terminés avant qu’ils n’aient emménagé ?

  Translation: Will the work be completed before they move in?

  direct object

  Tu cherches ses chaussures ? C’est possible qu’elle les ait laissées dans le garage ?

  Translation: Are you looking for her shoes? Is it possible she left them in the garage?

The past subjunctive is used in the exact same circumstances as the subjunctive present. Although the present and past subjunctive are both used in the same contexts, the tense you need to use will be determined by the timing of the actions in the sentence. Let’s first review when the subjunctive mood is required in French, and then we’ll get into when to use the present versus the past subjunctive.

🤔If both the present and past subjunctive are used in the same situations, how do I know which one to use? Keep reading!

The imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive are literary forms of the subjunctive, and they are not tenses that you will use in speaking, and you probably will also not use them in writing. But you might come across them when reading classical literature, like the work of Rabelais (1483-1553), or sometimes in songs, like those by singer-songwriter Charles Trenet (1913-2001). Fewer and fewer contemporary French authors are using these forms, but if you pick up a book by Éric-Emmanuel Schmidt, you will be able to spot a handful of verbs in the subjunctive imperfect.

L’imparfait du subjonctif (meaning imperfect subjunctive) is a simple tense (meaning it is not formed with an auxiliary verb and past participle). It is used when the main clause is in the imperfect and the action in the subordinate clause is uncertain and has still not yet happened at the moment of speaking:

On the other hand, le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (meaning pluperfect subjunctive) is a compound tense. It is also used when the main clause is in the imperfect, but for uncertain actions that are supposed to have happened by the time of speaking.

Are you feeling inquisitive about the conjugation of these literary tenses? Have a look at these more extensive explanations of the French imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive (p. 2-3)!

You’re all set up to use the past subjunctive. Time to wrap up.

Sometimes, you will need to use the past subjunctive to discuss actions that may have happened in the past – or before the event in the main clause. When using and forming the past subjunctive, keep in mind what you’ve learned here:

• To figure out when to use the subjunctive mood, look for the triggers:

  • verbs expressing uncertainty, doubt, emotions, or regrets

  • impersonal verbs, the most common being il faut que je… (meaning I must…)

  • conjunctions like à condition que (meaning on the condition that)

• To form the past subjunctive, conjugate the auxiliary avoir (meaning to have) or être (meaning to be) in the present subjunctive, and add the past participle of the verb.

• Remember that the rules for choosing the auxiliary and for making the past participle agree are the same as when we form the passé composé.

• Use the past subjunctive when the action of the subordinate clause with que happens before the main clause. If the action of the subordinate clause happens after or at the same time as the main clause, then you should be using the present subjunctive instead.

How confident are you about using le subjonctif passé? Test your skills with our French past subjunctive activities (p. 4-9)! Or study what you’ve learned using the charts on the right!