How to Teach French Avant de, Après avoir and Après être – A French Teacher’s Guide
When students first learn how to connect two actions in French, they often want to conjugate every verb they see. This is a good opportunity to show them that French has several useful constructions with infinitives that allow us to connect actions without creating another conjugated verb.
In this lesson, I teach three constructions together:
- avant de + infinitive
- après avoir + past participle
- après être + past participle
The goal is to help students recognize when to use each construction and understand what happens when pronouns or reflexive verbs are involved.
French Avant de /Après Avoir/ Après Être Reference Guide – Foldable Handout Book
Looking for more resources to help you teach avant de, après avoir, and après être? Scroll down to the section at the end of this post to see my ready-to-use resources for this topic.
Start with AVANT DE + infinitive
I begin with avant de + infinitive because the construction is relatively straightforward.
I explain that we use avant de + infinitive when one action takes place before another action.
There is nothing to conjugate because the infinitive is not the main verb of the sentence.
For example:
Je ferme la porte à clé avant de partir pour la journée.
I lock the door before leaving for the day.
And:
Nous dînons avant d’aller au cinéma.
We are having dinner before going to the cinema.
I point out that de becomes d’ before a vowel sound, as in avant d’aller.
This gives students a simple pattern to recognize:
avant de + infinitive
Move on to APRÈS AVOIR + past participle
Once students understand avant de, I introduce après avoir + past participle.
I explain that we use this construction when one action happens after another action has been completed by the same person.
The important thing here is that students need the whole infinitive avoir, followed by the past participle.
For example:
Nous partirons après avoir fini le dessert et le café.
We will leave after having finished dessert and coffee.
And:
Je suis allé(e) me coucher après avoir lu quelques chapitres.
I went to bed after having read a few chapters.
Another example is:
Elle est rentrée après avoir dit au revoir à tout le monde.
She went home after having said goodbye to everyone.
I want students to see that the main verb is still conjugated normally. The après avoir + past participle construction tells us what happened first.
Show students what happens with pronouns
This is where I slow down a little because pronoun placement can be confusing.
When a pronoun is used with après avoir, I teach students to put the pronoun between après and avoir.
For example:
J’ai rangé les assiettes après les avoir nettoyées.
I put away the plates after having washed them.
The structure is:
après + pronoun + avoir + past participle
I also point out that when a direct object pronoun comes before the past participle, students need to think about agreement.
In:
après les avoir nettoyées
les refers to les assiettes, so the past participle agrees with the direct object.
I contrast this with an indirect object:
Il est parti après m’avoir parlé.
He left after having spoken to me.
There is no agreement here because me is an indirect object.
This gives students an opportunity to connect something they already know about past participle agreement with this new construction.
Introduce APRÈS ÊTRE + past participle
Next, I introduce après être + past participle.
I explain that we use après être + past participle with verbs that take être as their helping verb in the passé composé.
The construction follows the same basic idea as après avoir, but students use the whole infinitive être instead of avoir.
For example:
Elle m’appellera après être rentrée.
She will call me after having returned home.
And:
Après être allé à la plage, il avait un vilain coup de soleil.
After having gone to the beach, he had a bad sunburn.
I remind students that they need to pay attention to agreement with the past participle when using être.
I also give them an example with a plural subject:
Après être arrivés, nous avons commencé à vider nos valises.
After having arrived, we started to empty our suitcases.
This reinforces the agreement they have already learned with verbs that use être in the passé composé.
Introduce reflexive verbs with APRÈS ÊTRE
The next step is using après être with reflexive verbs.
I remind students that reflexive verbs use être as their helping verb, so they need to use:
après + reflexive pronoun + être + past participle
For example:
Elle s’est séché les cheveux après s’être douchée.
She dried her hair after having showered.
And:
Après m’être fait à manger, je me suis mise à table.
After having made myself something to eat, I sat down at the table.
I also give students:
Tu t’es changée de chemise après t’être regardée dans la glace.
You changed shirts after having looked at yourself in the mirror.
The placement of the reflexive pronoun is important here, so I make sure students can see the structure rather than simply memorizing the entire sentence.
I have students compare the three constructions
At this point, I bring the three constructions together so students can see the difference.
AVANT DE + infinitive
avant de partir
before leaving
APRÈS AVOIR + past participle
après avoir fini
after having finished
APRÈS ÊTRE + past participle
après être rentré(e)
after having returned
I want students to recognize that avant de is followed by a regular infinitive, while après avoir and après être are followed by a past participle.
The choice between avoir and être follows the same helping-verb distinction students already know from the passé composé.
French Avant de – Après avoir – Après être – French Grammar Activity
Make sure students understand that the subject stays the same
One of the important ideas in this lesson is that these constructions describe two actions performed by the same person.
For example:
Je suis allé(e) me coucher après avoir lu quelques chapitres.
The person who read the chapters is the same person who went to bed.
Likewise:
Nous partirons après avoir fini le dessert et le café.
The people who finish dessert and coffee are the same people who will leave.
I keep the explanation simple and use examples where the relationship between the two actions is easy to understand.
Give students plenty of examples with everyday actions
I find that these constructions become much easier when students work with actions they can easily picture.
I use examples involving things like leaving, eating, going to bed, calling someone, getting dressed, taking a shower, and going to the beach.
For example:
Je ferme la porte à clé avant de partir pour la journée.
Nous dînons avant d’aller au cinéma.
Je suis allé(e) me coucher après avoir lu quelques chapitres.
Elle est rentrée après avoir dit au revoir à tout le monde.
Après être arrivés, nous avons commencé à vider nos valises.
Après m’être fait à manger, je me suis mise à table.
These examples give students repeated exposure to the three patterns while also letting them see the constructions in natural sentences.
Have students pay attention to what comes after APRÈS
I particularly want students to notice that après is not simply followed by an infinitive in these examples.
They need to distinguish between:
après avoir + past participle
and
après être + past participle
So rather than teaching students to translate word for word from English, I have them look for the structure they need in French.
For example:
after having read → après avoir lu
after having returned → après être rentré(e)
after having arrived → après être arrivé(e)(s)
This helps them start recognizing the constructions as complete patterns.
Finish by bringing everything back to the main idea
By the end of the lesson, I want students to be comfortable with these three patterns:
Avant de + infinitive
One action happens before another.
Après avoir + past participle
One action happens after another action performed by the same person, using avoir as the helping verb.
Après être + past participle
One action happens after another action performed by the same person, using être as the helping verb.
Then I have students practice creating their own sentences so that they are making decisions about which construction to use rather than simply filling in isolated blanks.
Practice French Avant de, Après avoir and Après être!
If you’re looking for ready-to-use materials to teach avant de, après avoir, and après être, I’ve created a complete resource that walks students through these constructions with explanations and examples, including pronoun placement, past participle agreement, and reflexive verbs.
French Après Avoir Après Être Avant De | Grammar Activities | Quiz
