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The passé surcomposé (double compound past)The passé surcomposé, or double compound past as it is sometimes called in English, has a function similar to the pluperfect in English. However, the main difference is that the passé surcomposé represents an event as being "bounded" in time or "punctual". The French pluperfect tense, on the other hand, tends to represent something that is "not bounded", or "general background". In other words, the French pluperfect portrays time in a similar way to the imperfect*, whereas the passé surcomposé portrays time in a similar way to the perfect (but still "one step back in the past", as with the pluperfect). * In more technical jargon, we might say that the pluperfect has imperfective aspect. How to form the passé surcomposéThe passé surcomposé is formed in a similar way to the regular perfect tense. But, instead of using the present tense of the auxiliary, you use the perfect tense of the auxiliary (followed by the past participle as usual). Here are some examples, showing the passé composé for various verbs along with the corresponding perfect tense:
[TO ADD : NOTE ABOUT PASSIVE/REFLEXIVES] When to use the passé composéThe passé surcomposé is not actually used much in standard French and not all grammars mention it. Where it is used at all, it tends to be in sentences of the type "When X had happened, Y happened" when the main verb (the one explaining that "Y happened") is in the perfect tense:
Quand il a eu terminé son repas, Jean est parti.
"When he had finished his meal, Jean left." Dès que l'ai eu vu qu'elle ne me concernait pas, je te l'ai renvoyée. [Dutourd, quoted in Colin (2006).] "As soon as I'd seen that it [the letter] had nothing to do with me, I sent it back to you."  Suggest a change / proposez une modificationBut in reality, most French speakers would simply phrase the sentence in a different way. For example: French speakers would not generally use a pluperfect in such a case (unlike English):
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