why passé compose rather than plus-que-parfait

Rebecca L.C1Kwiziq community member

why passé compose rather than plus-que-parfait

why is:  You had your curtains changed, translated as "Tu as fait changer tes rideaux."

I understood that "had" uses the plus-que-parfait?

Asked 2 months ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Just to show that the sentence you inquire about is NOT plus-que parfait, let's reword the sentence without changing the temporal relation:

You had your curtains changed. --> You asked [someone] to change your curtains.

In the second version it becomes clear that this sentence is simply imperfect tense in English, which becomes passé composé in French. The plus-que-parfait version would be:

You had had your curtains changed --> You had asked [someone] to change your curtains.

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Rebecca, 

the use of ‘ had ‘ in English does not automatically invoke plus-que parfait in French. 

Plus-que parfait can be appropriate to describe a completed event before another later event, already known or being described. There is only one completed past action described here - so passé composé is used.

Have a look at ‘ La concordance des temps ‘ link :

 https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/glossary/verb-tense-usage/la-concordance-des-temps-sequence-of-tenses

Joseph A.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Le Plus-Que-Parfait is used when describing past actions that OCCURED BEFORE OTHER PAST ACTIONS. In French, this rule is more put in place and emphasized. Because there was no action before, le passé composé or le passé simple (depending on the context) could be used.

Rebecca L. asked:

why passé compose rather than plus-que-parfait

why is:  You had your curtains changed, translated as "Tu as fait changer tes rideaux."

I understood that "had" uses the plus-que-parfait?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Getting that for you now...