French Past Infinitive Conjugations

Conjugaisons de l’infinitif passé


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The past infinitive is a compound verb form, which means its conjugation has two components:

	verb	conjugation
1.	auxiliary (avoir or être)	infinitive
2.	main verb	past participle

Par exemple…

Avoir verb: donner (to give)

avoir donné

Être verb: sortir (to go out)

être sorti(e)(s)

Pronominal verb: s’habiller (to get dressed)

s’être habillé(e)(s)

Since the auxiliary verb stays in the infinitive, the conjugation for avoir verbs is the same for all subject pronouns.

Par exemple…

Après avoir donné du sang, je suis parti.		After having given blood, I left. After giving blood, I left.
Après avoir donné du sang, nous sommes partis.		After having given blood, we left. After giving blood, we left.

However, in the case of être and pronominal verbs, agreement of the past participle is required, and the reflexive pronoun must agree with the implied subject.

Par exemple…

Après être partie, elle a attrapé le bus.		After having left, she caught the bus. After leaving, she caught the bus.
Il faut nous être levés avant midi.		We have to have gotten up by noon. We have to be up by noon.

Past participle agreement

As in all compound conjugations, the past participle in the past infinitive may need to agree in gender and number with the word it modifies – learn more.