Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif – Subjunctive Pluperfect (Literary)

The plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is a literary tense used to express an action that had taken place before another past action, in contexts where the subjunctive mood is required.
It is used almost exclusively in formal literature, historical narratives, and very formal speech.
In modern French, it is usually replaced by the plus-que-parfait (indicatif) or the passé composé in spoken language.

Mood:

The subjunctive mood expresses doubt, emotion, possibility, necessity, or hypothetical situations, but here it refers to past actions completed before another past reference point.

• Mood: Subjunctive (hypothetical or non-factual past action before another past action)

Usage:

• After expressions that require the subjunctive when the main verb is in a past tense:
  Il aurait fallu qu’elle eût terminé avant midi.
  (It would have been necessary that she had finished before noon.)
• In conditional or hypothetical statements in literature:
  Si j’eusse su qu’il était là…
  (If I had known he was there…)
• To maintain literary sequence of tenses when narrating in the past.

Formation:

The plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is formed with:

1. The imparfait du subjonctif of the auxiliary verb avoir or être
2. The past participle of the main verb

Avoir in imparfait du subjonctif: eusse, eusses, eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent
Être in imparfait du subjonctif: fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent

• Use être for reflexive verbs and most verbs of motion (Dr & Mrs Vandertramp verbs).
• The past participle agrees in gender and number when using être.

Conjugation Examples:

Parler (to speak) – with avoir:

Person	Form	Translation
Je	eusse parlé	that I had spoken
Tu	eusses parlé	that you had spoken
Il/Elle	eût parlé	that he/she had spoken
Nous	eussions parlé	that we had spoken
Vous	eussiez parlé	that you had spoken
Ils/Elles	eussent parlé	that they had spoken

Aller (to go) – with être:

Person	Form	Translation
Je	fusse allé(e)	that I had gone
Tu	fusses allé(e)	that you had gone
Il/Elle	fût allé(e)	that he/she had gone
Nous	fussions allé(e)s	that we had gone
Vous	fussiez allé(e)(s)	that you had gone
Ils/Elles	fussent allé(e)s	that they had gone

Irregular Past Participles:

Some common irregulars:

• être – été (been)
• avoir – eu (had)
• faire – fait (done/made)
• voir – vu (seen)
• prendre – pris (taken)
• venir – venu (come)

Examples:

• Il aurait fallu qu’elle eût terminé avant son départ.
  (It would have been necessary that she had finished before his departure.)
• Je ne croyais pas qu’il fût venu si tôt.
  (I didn’t believe that he had come so early.)
• Nous doutions qu’ils eussent compris la vérité.
  (We doubted that they had understood the truth.)

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Modern Usage Note:

Today, the plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is almost never used in conversation.
It is replaced by the plus-que-parfait (indicatif) in everyday speech.
It remains important for understanding classic literature and formal historical writing.