The past form of the infinitive in French

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The past form of the infinitive

When two past actions are described in a sentence, we use l'infinitif passé to indicate the action which occurs first.
AprÚs avoir fermé les volets, Victor monta se coucher. After closing the shutters, Victor went up to bed OR After having closed the shutters, Victor went up to bed (first Victor closes the shutters, then goes up to bed).
Je suis dĂ©solĂ© de ne pas ĂȘtre venu hier (ne pas ĂȘtre venu a eu lieu avant je suis dĂ©solĂ©). I'm sorry for not coming yesterday OR I'm sorry for not having come yesterday (the act of not coming occurred before the apology).
L'infinitif passĂ© is formed with the auxiliary ÊTRE or AVOIR in the infinitive form + the past participle of the verb.
manger → avoir mangĂ© to eat → eating / having eaten
finir → avoir fini to finish → finishing / having finished
aller → ĂȘtre allĂ© to go → going / having gone
se coucher → s’ĂȘtre couchĂ© to go to bed → going to bed / having gone to bed
Note:
‱ L'infinitif passĂ© is used to describe a finished action while l'infinitif prĂ©sent is used to to describe an action in progress or a future action.
C’est une bonne idĂ©e d’aller au cinĂ©ma (= nous allons au cinĂ©ma maintenant). It's a good idea to go the movies (= we're going to the cinema now or soon).
C’est une bonne idĂ©e d’ĂȘtre allĂ©s au cinĂ©ma (= nous sommes dĂ©jĂ  allĂ©s au cinĂ©ma). It was a good idea to go to the movies / to have gone to the movies (= we went to the movies already).
‱ We use l'infinitif passĂ© when the subject remains the same for both actions. Repeating the same subject twice in the sentence is unnatural.
Je pensais avoir fermĂ© la porte Ă  clef (rather than je pensais que j’avais fermĂ© la porte Ă  clef). I thought (I) had closed the door.

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