Question

What English helping verb is always used to translate the pluperfect tense?

Answer 1

While there is a simple past tense in French, it is mostly used in formal narrative writing, so verbs conjugated in the passé composé can also be used to mean the English simple tense. For example, the passé composé form of parler (to speak), [avoir] parlé, literally means has/have spoken, but also means spoke.