The past infinitive — après avoir fait

In one line

avoir or être in the infinitive, plus a past participle — and its commonest home is after après.

The forms on this page

The table

Which auxiliary? The same one the verb takes in the passé composé. manger → avoir · partir → être.

English has this form too — "having eaten", "to have finished" — so the idea is familiar; the difference is that French requires it where English does not.

Where it appears

1. After après — the only option

après never takes a plain infinitive:

Après avoir mangé, je suis sorti. — after eating, I went out

This is the rule English speakers break most often, because English says "after eating" — a plain -ing with no auxiliary. French demands the compound form. The bridge is that English can say "after having eaten"; it just usually does not. In French that longer version is the only version.

And if there are two different subjects, a full clause is needed:

Après qu'il est parti, je suis sorti. — see temps-subordonnee

2. After pour — meaning a cause

Here pour means "because of", not "in order to". With a plain infinitive it means purpose: pour réussir = in order to succeed.

English marks the same difference with "for" versus "to" — "punished for lying" against "worked to succeed".

3. After verbs of feeling and stating

4. After sans and avant de

Participle agreement — the usual rules

The detail is in accord-participe-passe.

The negative — both parts before the auxiliary

Je regrette de ne pas être venu. — I regret not coming

In an infinitive, ne and pas stay together in front of the verb — unlike with a conjugated verb.

Why this structure is worth having

It turns a whole clause into a phrase:

In written exams this structure earns marks directly — it is more compact and it signals control.

And the third row makes an important point: with the same subject, que + subjunctive is wrong:

❌ Je regrette que j'aie dit ça. ✅ Je regrette d'avoir dit ça.

English follows the same instinct — "I regret saying that", not "I regret that I said that" — so this needs no learning, only remembering that the French form is an infinitive rather than an -ing.

Examples

Common mistakes

Why après refuses a plain infinitive