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French past infinitive: useful patterns and eight sentence questions

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Practise après avoir fini, être arrivées and nous être levés. A compact reference, actor checks and eight questions make the past infinitive usable.

In short

Build the past infinitive with avoir or être in the infinitive plus a past participle: avoir fini, être arrivée. Put it inside an expression such as après avoir fini or merci d’avoir attendu.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A woman washes her hands at a kitchen sink.
The preparation begins apr’s s’être lavé les mains. Illustration: Atelier

L’infinitif passé · five useful patterns

1 · Keep the auxiliary in the infinitive

Choose the auxiliary used by the verb in a compound tense. The main verb supplies the participle.

Après avoir fini, je me repose.After finishing, I rest.

Après être arrivées, elles ont appelé leurs parents.After arriving, they called their parents.

2 · Choose the surrounding preposition

Use après directly before the past infinitive. Expressions with de give d’avoir or d’être.

Merci d’avoir attendu.Thank you for waiting.

Elle regrette d’avoir répondu si vite.She regrets replying so quickly.

3 · Keep the reflexive pronoun

The pronoun matches the person doing the action. Agreement follows the actual construction.

Après nous être levés, nous avons déjeuné.After getting up, we had lunch.

Après s’être lavé les mains, elle a commencé.After washing her hands, she began.

4 · Identify the actor

With après, the understood actor normally matches the main subject. With remercier quelqu’un de, it is the person being thanked.

Après avoir attendu, nous sommes partis.After waiting, we left.

Je remercie Luc d’avoir attendu.I thank Luc for waiting.

5 · Place the negative before the auxiliary

Learn the whole negative group: ne pas avoir or ne pas être.

Je regrette de ne pas avoir répondu.I regret not replying.

Elle regrette de ne pas être venue.She regrets not coming.

Completed before which moment?

Je voudrais avoir terminé avant vendredi.

I would like to have finished before Friday.

The completion is before a future deadline. The name “past infinitive” describes relative completion, not necessarily an event before today.

For the exercises, write the whole missing group. Arriver and partir use être here. The subject tells you whether the participle needs a feminine or plural ending. In the first-person plural sentence, the named speakers are two men.

Question 1No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of aider.Merci d’___ notre équipe.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

avoir aidé. Aider uses avoir in this construction. The past infinitive is avoir aidé.

Question 2No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of prendre.Après ___ une pause, il a repris son travail.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

avoir pris. Prendre uses avoir and has the irregular participle pris: avoir pris.

Question 3No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of partir.Léa regrette d’___ si tôt.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

être partie. Partir uses être. Léa is feminine singular, so the group is être partie.

Question 4No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of se lever.Après ___, Ana a appelé sa sœur.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

s’être levée. The action belongs to Ana: s’être levée. Keep the reflexive pronoun and feminine singular agreement.

Question 5No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of se reposer.Paul et Marc disent : « Après ___, nous avons continué. »

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

nous être reposés. Paul and Marc use nous. Two male speakers give nous être reposés, with masculine plural agreement.

Question 6No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of arriver.Elles sont contentes d’___ à l’heure.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

être arrivées. Arriver uses être. The feminine plural subject gives être arrivées.

Question 7No account needed
Complete with the negative past infinitive of répondre.Je regrette de ___ à ton message.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

ne pas avoir répondu. Put ne pas before the auxiliary infinitive: ne pas avoir répondu.

Question 8No account needed
Complete with the past infinitive of attendre.Je remercie Zoé d’___ aussi longtemps.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

avoir attendu. Zoé is the person being thanked and the person who waited. Attendre gives avoir attendu.

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