What tense?

Question

Après qu’il fut parti, tu détruisis toutes ses affaires. What tense is “il fut parti”?  It appears to be a compound tense with the auxiliary verb in passé simple.

Accepted Answer

Hi Heather,
It is indeed the 'passé antérieur' ( past perfect /indicative ), mainly used in literature. 
Here is a link for a conjugation table of partir :
https://bescherelle.com/conjugueur.php
N. B. the indicative mood after 'après que' unlike 'avant que' which is followed by a subjunctive.
Bonne Continuation!

Answer

Je suis parti. -- I left. (passé simple)J'étais parti. -- I had left. (plus-que parfait)Je fut parti. -- I had left. (passé anterieur)The passé antérieur is, as Alan pointed out, a literary equivalent to the more mainstream plus-que-parfait. It isn't normally used in spoken French.Note that parti is not the participle, so it's deceptive but the last line is NOT a strange Frankenstein tense of passé simple and participle.

Answer

You're thinking of "faire partie", Chris.

There is indeed a strange Frankenstein tense of passé simple + participle - it's called the "passé antérieur". It's the literary equivalent of the plus-que-parfait.

Answer

Thanks, Alan. That's what you get when you don't pay close attention. I'll edit my answer to reflect that.