Дезактуализиращата същност на плусквамперфекта във френския и българския език

The paper deals with some characteristics of the French plus-que-parfait in contrast with Bulgarian. After analysing the morphological similarities and differences of the corresponding tenses in the contrasted languages, the author dwells on a specific, though limited in use, function of the plus-que-parfait to set up a secondary narrative line. Its tendency to merge with the aorist is considered as closely related to and dependent on the merger of the aorist and passé composé observed in the spoken language. The translation problems arising from the incongruence of the contrasted language systems have also been discussed.