French grammar · Advanced
The French Past Infinitive: Avoir Mangé, Être Parti, S'être Trompé
The past infinitive is avoir or être in the infinitive plus a past participle: avoir mangé, être parti, s'être trompé. It names an action already finished at the moment the sentence is talking about, and French requires it after après and after any verb of thanking, regretting, or admitting.
Après avoir mangé, nous sommes sortis.
After eating, we went out.
What it is
An ordinary infinitive names an action with no time attached. The past infinitive attaches one piece of information: the action is over by the time of the main verb. It is built the way every compound tense in French is built, with an auxiliary and a participle, except that the auxiliary stays in the infinitive and never conjugates.
Je regrette d'avoir accepté. — I regret having accepted.
How to spot it
Look for avoir or être sitting in front of a participle with no ending of its own. Whatever the subject is, the auxiliary keeps its dictionary form.
- après avoir fini — after finishing
- après être rentrée — after getting home (feminine subject)
- sans avoir prévenu — without having warned anyone
- merci de m'avoir aidé — thank you for helping me
Être-verbs and pronominal verbs still make their participle agree with the subject, even though nothing is conjugated.
Past Infinitive Conjugations Quick Reference
How each type of verb builds its past infinitive
| Verb type | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ordinary verbs | avoir + participle | avoir parlé — to have spoken |
| movement / change of state | être + participle (agreeing) | être parti — to have left |
| pronominal verbs | reflexive pronoun + être + participle | s'être levé — to have got up |
| negative | ne pas + avoir / être + participle | ne pas avoir compris — not to have understood |
| with an object pronoun | pronoun + avoir / être + participle | l'avoir vu — to have seen it |
| passive | avoir été + participle | avoir été choisi — to have been chosen |
| after après | always the past infinitive | après avoir mangé — after eating |
Common Past Infinitive Conjugations Examples in French
Where the past infinitive turns up in real French:
After Après
- Après avoir lu le contrat, il a signé.
- After reading the contract, he signed.
- Après être arrivés, nous avons déposé nos valises.
- After arriving, we dropped off our bags.
- Après s'être douchée, elle est descendue.
- After showering, she came downstairs.
- Après avoir hésité longtemps, j'ai dit oui.
- After hesitating for a long time, I said yes.
This is not optional. Après takes the past infinitive and nothing else when the two actions share a subject.
Thanking, Regretting, Admitting
- Merci d'avoir attendu.
- Thank you for waiting.
- Je regrette d'avoir été si dur.
- I regret having been so harsh.
- Il admet avoir menti.
- He admits having lied.
- Elle s'excuse d'être arrivée en retard.
- She apologises for arriving late.
These verbs point backwards by nature, so the infinitive after them is almost always the past one.
After Other Prepositions
- Il est parti sans avoir dit au revoir.
- He left without having said goodbye.
- Je suis content de vous avoir rencontrés.
- I'm glad to have met you.
- Elle est fière d'avoir terminé la course.
- She's proud of having finished the race.
- Pour avoir triché, il a été exclu.
- For having cheated, he was expelled.
Pour plus a past infinitive means because of having done something, not in order to.
Reporting and Accusing
- On le soupçonne d'avoir volé la voiture.
- He's suspected of having stolen the car.
- Elle prétend ne rien avoir vu.
- She claims to have seen nothing.
- Ils nient s'être disputés.
- They deny having argued.
- Il est accusé d'avoir falsifié les comptes.
- He's accused of having falsified the accounts.
In legal and journalistic French this structure replaces a whole subordinate clause.
How the Past Infinitive Is Built and Placed
The construction is short, but three details decide whether it looks right on the page.
The Auxiliary Stays in the Infinitive
Whatever the subject and whatever the tense of the main verb, avoir and être do not conjugate here. Après avoir mangé works for je, for nous, and for ils alike.
Après avoir mangé, ils sont partis.
After eating, they left.
avoir / être, never conjugated.
The Auxiliary Is the Same One the Verb Always Takes
If the verb builds its passé composé with être, its past infinitive uses être too. Aller gives être allé, and every pronominal verb gives s'être plus a participle.
Après être descendue, elle a fermé la porte.
After coming downstairs, she closed the door.
Same auxiliary as the passé composé.
Agreement Still Applies
With être the participle agrees with the subject of the main clause, which is the only thing in the sentence telling you the gender and number. With avoir it agrees only with a preceding direct object.
Après s'être excusés, ils sont repartis.
After apologising, they left again.
être → agree with the subject.
Negation Goes in Front, Both Words Together
Before an infinitive, ne and pas stay side by side and precede the whole group. Ne pas avoir compris, not ne avoir pas compris.
Il s'excuse de ne pas avoir répondu.
He apologises for not having replied.
ne pas + avoir + participle.
The Subject Must Be Shared
The infinitive has no subject of its own, so it borrows the one from the main clause. If the two actions belong to different people, you need après que and a conjugated verb instead.
Après qu'il est parti, j'ai fermé à clé.
After he left, I locked up.
Different subjects → après que.
Common Mistakes with Past Infinitive Conjugations
Incorrect: Après manger, nous sommes sortis. — After eating, we went out.
Correct: Après avoir mangé, nous sommes sortis. — After eating, we went out.
English after eating uses a plain -ing form, so learners reach for the plain infinitive. French marks the fact that the eating is already over, which requires the past infinitive.
Incorrect: Après avoir parti, il a fermé la porte. — After leaving, he closed the door.
Correct: Après être parti, il a fermé la porte. — After leaving, he closed the door.
Partir builds its compound forms with être, and the past infinitive uses whichever auxiliary the verb normally takes. If the passé composé is il est parti, the infinitive is être parti.
Incorrect: Après être arrivé, elle a téléphoné. — After arriving, she phoned.
Correct: Après être arrivée, elle a téléphoné. — After arriving, she phoned.
With être the participle agrees with the subject of the main clause, and that subject is elle. The infinitive itself is invariable, but the participle attached to it is not.
Incorrect: Il s'excuse de n'avoir pas pu venir. — He apologises for not being able to come.
Correct: Il s'excuse de ne pas avoir pu venir. — He apologises for not being able to come.
In front of an infinitive, ne and pas stay together. Splitting them around the auxiliary is a literary construction that sounds oddly elevated in ordinary prose.
The Past Infinitive Across Verb Types
Nothing in these tables is conjugated. The pronouns are there because the participle looks back at the subject of the main clause, which is what decides the spelling.
The Three Patterns
Ordinary verbs take avoir and never change. Être-verbs and pronominal verbs agree with whoever the subject is.
| Pronoun | avoir + parlé | être + parti | s'être + levé |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | avoir parlé | être parti(e) | m'être levé(e) |
| tu | avoir parlé | être parti(e) | t'être levé(e) |
| il / elle / on | avoir parlé | être parti(e) | s'être levé(e) |
| nous | avoir parlé | être parti(e)s | nous être levé(e)s |
| vous | avoir parlé | être parti(e)(s) | vous être levé(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | avoir parlé | être parti(e)s | s'être levé(e)s |
The first column is identical all the way down, which is the whole point of an infinitive.
Être Agreement Spelled Out
The same form written once for a masculine subject and once for a feminine one, so you can see exactly which letters are added.
| Pronoun | masculine subject | feminine subject |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | être parti | être partie |
| tu | être parti | être partie |
| il / elle / on | être parti | être partie |
| nous | être partis | être parties |
| vous | être parti(s) | être partie(s) |
| ils / elles | être partis | être parties |
Après être partie tells the reader the subject is a woman before the main clause has even started.
Pronominal Verbs
The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject and sits in front of être. This is the one part of the structure that is not fixed.
| Pronoun | se lever | s'excuser |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | m'être levé(e) | m'être excusé(e) |
| tu | t'être levé(e) | t'être excusé(e) |
| il / elle / on | s'être levé(e) | s'être excusé(e) |
| nous | nous être levé(e)s | nous être excusé(e)s |
| vous | vous être levé(e)(s) | vous être excusé(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | s'être levé(e)s | s'être excusé(e)s |
Writing après s'être levé when the subject is je is a common slip; the pronoun has to match.
Après Versus Avant De
The two prepositions sit either side of the same event and take opposite forms of the infinitive. Getting them the wrong way round is the single most frequent error with this structure.
Après takes the past infinitive
The action is finished before the main verb happens, so the infinitive has to be a past one. There is no version of this with a plain infinitive.
- Après avoir signé, il a rangé le stylo.
- After signing, he put the pen away.
- Après être sortis, nous avons pris un taxi.
- After going out, we took a taxi.
- Après avoir tout vérifié, envoie le dossier.
- After checking everything, send the file.
Après manger exists only as a very casual shortcut and is avoided in writing.
Avant de takes the plain infinitive
Here the action has not happened yet at the point the sentence describes, so the simple infinitive is correct and a past one would be nonsense.
- Avant de partir, ferme les fenêtres.
- Before leaving, close the windows.
- Réfléchis avant de répondre.
- Think before answering.
- Avant de te coucher, prends ton médicament.
- Before going to bed, take your medicine.
The pronoun in avant de te coucher changes with the subject, exactly as in the past infinitive.
The perfect participle as an alternative
Ayant or étant plus a participle expresses the same anteriority in a more formal, more written register, and does not need a preposition.
- Ayant terminé son travail, elle est rentrée.
- Having finished her work, she went home.
- Étant arrivés en avance, nous avons attendu.
- Having arrived early, we waited.
- S'étant trompé, il a recommencé.
- Having made a mistake, he started again.
This form often carries a hint of cause, close to since she had finished, which après does not.
Past Infinitive Conjugations FAQs
- What is the past infinitive in French?
- It is avoir or être in the infinitive followed by a past participle, as in avoir fini or être venu. It expresses an action already completed relative to the main verb, and it never conjugates for person.
- Why does French say après avoir mangé instead of après manger?
- Because après places the eating before the main action, and French insists on marking that with the past infinitive. Après manger turns up in casual speech but is treated as an error in writing.
- Which auxiliary does the past infinitive use?
- The same one the verb takes in the passé composé. Parler gives avoir parlé, aller gives être allé, and se lever gives s'être levé. If you know how a verb forms its compound past, you already know its past infinitive.
- Where do ne and pas go with a past infinitive?
- Both in front of the auxiliary, side by side: ne pas avoir compris, ne pas être venu. This differs from a conjugated verb, where ne and pas sit on either side.
- Can I use the past infinitive if the two actions have different subjects?
- No. The infinitive borrows the subject of the main clause, so both actions must belong to the same person. When they do not, use après que with a conjugated verb: après qu'elle est partie, j'ai fermé.