I have just eaten my breakfast = I just ate my breakfast?

Question

In terms of translating into French, it seems that the two phrases above are equivalent in meaning. All the examples use a construction in English that is correct but not necessarily how people would say it. It would be quite normal and grammatically correct to say the simpler phrase, "I just ate my breakfast." Would someone ever use the passe compose in the "venir de + infinitive", and if so, what does it mean in English? I expect that the venir in the pluperfect + infinitive would mean "I HAD just [done something]."

Accepted Answer

Hi Leslie, 
This is an interesting question regarding the use of 'venir de' to say, you have just done something, a very near past.
In fact you can only use two tenses in French -
The présent :
Je viens de vous le dire = I have just said it to you 
or in a story , the imparfait -
She had just said it to her/him = elle venait de lui dire 
Bonne Continuation!