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

By: Agnés Finot Fri Aug 30 2024
French
Verbs

Use the French past infinitive to describe something that happened before another event mentioned in the same sentence. The past infinitive is not a tense, but rather a form of a verb which uses the infinitive of an auxiliary verb, avoir(to have) or être(to be), along with a past participle. Let’s look at an example:

Après avoir taillé la haie, le jardinier a ramassé les branches.

After trimming the hedge, the gardener picked up the branches.

Here, the past infinitive is avoir taillé, which is a form of the verb tailler.

If you would like to know how to form a past infinitive, which words it is used with, how to translate it into English, and much more, you’ve landed at the right place! Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

    What is a past infinitive in French?

    A French past infinitive describes an action that happened before the action of the main verb. Past infinitives in French can only provide more information about the main verb in the sentence. Unlike the past infinitive verb, the main verb has its own subject and is conjugated. A past infinitive is never used on its own in a sentence!

    past infinitivemain verb

    Après avoir sorti son livre, l’auteur a commencé une tournée de promotion.

    After releasing his book, the author began a promotional tour.

    • avoir sorti, happened first

    • a commencé happened second

    Tip

    The two clauses can be in any order. For example, you can also say, L’auteur a commencé une tournée de promotion après avoir sorti son livre.

    As you will discover as you carry on reading, the main verb doesn’t have to be in the passé composé, as it is above, for a past infinitive to be used.

    How to form the past infinitive in French?

    To form the past infinitive, use an auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) in the infinitive form and a past participle of the verb you’re using. For example, to change the infinitive of the verb marcher(to walk) into the past infinitive, you use the past participle of marcher (marché), along with the correct auxiliary verb in the infinitive: avoir marché(having walked).

    How to choose the proper auxiliary: ‘avoir’ (to have) or ‘être’ (to be)?

    Choosing between the auxiliaries avoir(to have) and être(to be) for the past infinitive follows the same process as choosing an auxiliary in all French compound tenses! To make a past infinitive, c’est simple comme bonjour !(It’s easy as pie!) Use the auxiliary avoir(to have) or être(to be) in the infinitive, and add a past participle:

    avoir mangé

    having eaten

    être parti

    having left

    avoir vendu

    having sold

    For most past infinitives, you will use the auxiliary avoir. The past participles that take the auxiliary être(to be), like in the passé composé, are typically for certain verbs of motion, as well as pronominal verbs. If you need a reminder, have a look at our complete list of French verbs that take être.

    What are the rules of agreement of the past participle in the past infinitive?

    Because you are using a past participle, the rules of agreement of French past participles are exactly the same as those you would use for the passé composé or other compound tenses. Here is a quick summary of some of the most important rules to remember:

    • With the auxiliary avoir(to have), there is no agreement of the past participle…

      • …unless a direct object pronoun comes before the auxiliary avoir. In this case, the past participle must also agree with the pronoun:

        J’ai tout de suite porté mes nouvelles baskets après les avoir achetées !

        I wore my new sneakers straight after buying them!

        les is feminine plural so we add -es to acheté (the past participle).

    • If you use the auxiliary être(to be), the past participle agrees with the subject of the main verb:

      Après être arrivée à Québec, elle a cherché un petit appartement.

      After arriving in Quebec City, she looked for a small apartment.

      The subject of the main verb is elle, which is feminine singular, so we add -e to arrivé (the past participle).

    How to form sentences with the past infinitive?

    When using the past infinitive in a sentence, remember that there must also always be a main conjugated verb with a subject. There are a couple rules to remember about the sentence’s subject and the main verb aside from the past infinitive. Let’s take a look.

    • Both the past infinitive and the main conjugated verb of the sentence have the same subject:

      past infinitivemain verb

      Après avoir vu le docteur, il est allé à la pharmacie.

      After seeing the doctor, he went to the pharmacy.

      In this example, it is the same person who visited the doctor and the pharmacy (one subject).

      Exception!

      The subjects of the past infinitive and the main conjugated verb can be different if you use an object pronoun before the main verb. In this case, the object pronoun is the subject of the past infinitive instead (and now there are two subjects):

      object pronounpast infinitive

      Nous les remercions d’avoir participé à la conférence sur l’égalité des genres.

      We thank them for participating in the conference on gender equality.

      les is the object of remercions but the subject of avoir participé

      In this example, the past infinitive is triggered by the verb remercier de and not by après. Curious about this? Jump to “When to use the past infinitive?”

      In the two sentences above, you’ll see that both the passé composé (il est allé) and the present tense (nous les remercions) are used with the past infinitive. When forming sentences with the past infinitive, remember that:

    • It is most common to use the past infinitive alongside the passé composé, but it can accompany any tense. Here are a few examples:

      Past infinitive clause
      Main verb clause
      Main verb tense

      Après avoir déposé nos bagages à l’hôtel, nous …

      After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we…

      irons à l'exposition Monet.

      will visit the Monet exhibition.

      future simple

      aurions aimé déjeuner au restaurant.

      would have liked to have lunch at the restaurant.

      past conditional

      nous reposons.

      we’re having a rest.

      present

    Now, let’s take a look at how to translate the past infinitive into English.

    How to translate a French past infinitive into English?

    When translating a French past infinitive into English, the translation is not typically literal, as you might have noticed while reading the translations of the examples I have used so far. Here are two examples:

    • après avoir bavardé is translated with the “-ing” form of the verb: “after chatting.” The literal translation, however, is “after having chatted.”

    • après être sorti means, literally, “after having gone out,” but a much better English translation is “after going out.”

    You know that certain verbs need to take the auxiliary être and others need to take avoir, but does the auxiliary have an impact on the translation? The answer is not at all! Just use the “-ing” form of the English verb!

    Now you understand how to form and translate the past infinitive, so let’s move on to the prepositions that are used alongside it.

    When to use the past infinitive in French?

    Use the French past infinitive after certain prepositions, phrases, and verbs followed by de. One of the most common instances in which you will use a past infinitive is with prepositions, the most frequent being après(after). This is why après is the past infinitive trigger that I have used so far in my examples! But you can be so much more creative than me. Let’s take a look at some of these triggers for the past infinitive.

    You can use the past infinitive after certain prepositions or phrases, such as adjectival phrases:

    Preposition/phrase triggering the past infinitive
    Example sentence

    avant de

    before

    Avant d’avoir acheté un nouveau portable, elle avait comparé de nombreuses offres.

    Before buying a new cell phone, she had compared many offers.

    sans

    without

    Thomas a embauché le nouveau serveur sans m’avoir demandé mon avis !

    Thomas hired the new waiter without asking me!

    pour

    for

    (to express a cause)

    On lui a remis la médaille d’honneur pour avoir fait preuve de courage.

    He was awarded the Medal of Honor for showing courage.

    trop + adjectif + pour

    too + adjective + for

    (to express a consequence)

    Sa voiture était trop lente pour avoir eu une chance de gagner la course de voitures classiques.

    His car was too slow to have had a chance to win the classic car race.

    merci de

    thank you for

    (no subject needed)

    Merci d’être venu si rapidement !

    Thank you for coming so quickly!

    prière de

    please

    (no subject needed)

    Prière d’être préparé à payer le parking en liquide uniquement.

    Please be prepared to pay for the car park in cash only.

    désolé de

    sorry for

    Désolée de vous avoir quitté si vite !

    Sorry for leaving you so quickly!

    Important

    The prepositions après, avant de, sans, pour, trop…pour, merci de, prière de, désolé de always precede the past infinitive. However if you add a direct object pronoun or indirect object pronoun, that pronoun will go between the preposition and the past infinitive.

    past infinitive

    Merci d’avoir téléphoné !

    Thank you for calling!

    object pronounpast infinitive

    Merci de lui avoir téléphoné !

    Thank you for calling!

    But beware! When the prepositions après, avant, sans, pour, and trop…pour are used before a clause with que the subjunctive mood is required, not the past infinitive.

    subjunctive

    Il a quitté son travail sans que l’on sache pourquoi.

    He left his job without anyone knowing why.

    → Curious about the subjunctive in French? Read our post!

    Certain verbs followed by the preposition de will also necessarily be followed by the past infinitive. Here are some examples of these verbs + de:

    • être heureux de(to be happy to):

      past infinitive

      Je suis heureuse d’avoir gagné.

      I’m happy to have won.

    • être gêné de(to be embarrassed to):

      past infinitive

      Elle est gênée de ne pas t’avoir reconnu.

      She is embarrassed that she didn't recognize you.

    • regretter de(to regret to):

      past infinitive

      Ils regrettent d’avoir râté le début de son discours.

      They regretted missing the beginning of his speech.

    • promettre de(to promise to):

      past infinitive

      Elle promet d’avoir tout installé avant l’arrivée des clients.

      She promises to have everything installed before the customers arrive.

    • être déçu de(to be disappointed to):

      past infinitive

      Les archéologues sont déçus de ne pas avoir trouvé la nécropole.

      The archaeologists are disappointed not to have found the necropolis.

    Important

    However, you can never use a past infinitive after a verb + à.

    past infinitive

    ❌J’ai préparé à avoir passé l’examen hier soir.

    past infinitive

    ✅J’ai préparé à passer l’examen hier soir.

    I prepared to take the exam last night.

    This is followed by a plain infinitive!

    Now that you know how to form a past infinitive and which prepositions and verbs + de it is preceded by, let’s look at the word order of the past infinitive used with other structures.

    Are there special word order rules for the French past infinitive?

    The past infinitive has special word order rules to learn in negative structures and sentences with pronouns. Let's have a look.

    How to use the past infinitive with negative structures?

    In a negative structure, just add the entire negative phrase (ne pas(not), ne jamais(never), ne plus(no longer), etc) in front of the auxiliary of the past infinitive.

    past infinitive

    Je suis content de ne pas avoir oublié mon parapluie aujourd’hui !

    I'm glad I didn't forget my umbrella today!

    Alternatively, you could also use the less common form ne + auxiliary + pas + past participle:

    past infinitive

    Je suis désolé de n’être pas venu.

    I'm glad I didn't forget my umbrella today!

    Exception!

    You must split the negation phrases ne…aucun(not any), ne…personne(no one), and ne…nulle part(not anywhere) so that one part appears on each side of the past infinitive:

    ❌J’étais surprise de ne personne avoir vu.

    ✅J’étais surprise de n'avoir vu personne.

    How to use the past infinitive with pronouns?

    If you use an object pronoun, it will always come before the past infinitive:

    past infinitiveobject pronoun

    Après les avoir aperçus, ils ont eu peur et ils se sont enfuis.

    After seeing them, they got scared and ran away.

    Last but not least, if you use a reflexive pronoun, it will be before the past infinitive too!

    past infinitivereflexive pronoun

    Après vous être promenés, vous avez pris un café en amoureux ?

    After having a walk, did you have a romantic coffee?

    By the way, do you remember that reflexive verbs take the auxiliary être?

    In a nutshell

    When using the past infinitive in French, keep these tips we’ve learned in mind:

    • You will use the past infinitive as one part of your sentence, but the other part will use a main verb. Both parts almost always will have the same subject.

    • The action described by the past infinitive happens before the action of the main verb.

    • The past infinitive is always formed with the infinitive forms of the auxiliary verbs avoir or être + a past participle.

    • The rules for the auxiliaries and the past participle agreements are the same as when using other compound tenses.

    • A past infinitive is mainly used after the preposition après, but is also used with avant de, sans, pour, merci de, prière de, désolé de, or trop + adj. + pour. Similarly, certain verbs + de will be followed by the past infinitive.

    • Negative structures and pronouns (including reflexive pronouns) go before the past infinitive.

    Now you’ve read all the rules, are you ready to test your skills? Head over to our French past infinitive activities! We hope you enjoy them!

    Downloadable Resources

    Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.

    The past infinitive-How to use and form it in French~Verbs that take the auxilary êtreThe past infinitive-How to use and form it in French~Activities

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