French past tenses

The most important French past tenses are the passé composé and the imparfait, and they are troublesome for several reasons. While l’imparfait is more or less equivalent to the English past progressive, l’imparfait is more widely used, especially with verbs like avoir and être. As for the passé composé, it has three English equivalents. Be sure you fully understand these two French tenses before continuing with this lesson.

For French students, the trickiest aspect of these French verb forms is that they often work together, juxtaposed not only throughout stories, but even within individual sentences. Understanding the contrasting relationship between the passé composé and imparfait is essential to communicating in French.

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In a nutshell, the imparfait is used for incomplete actions while the passé composé is reserved for completed ones, but of course it’s more complicated than that.

Incomplete vs Complete Imparfait explains what was happening, with no indication of when or even if it ended. Passé composé announces what happened, actions that were completed. J’étais à l’école. I was at school. Je suis arrivé tôt. I arrived early. Je faisais mes devoirs. I was doing my homework. J’ai fini mes devoirs. I finished my homework. Uncounted vs Counted Imparfait details what used to happen on a regular basis, or happened an indefinite number of times. Passé composé expresses what happened a specific number of times. J’étudiais le lundi. I used to study on Mondays. J’ai étudié lundi. I studied on (a specific) Monday. Je perdais constamment mon livre. I was always losing my book. J’ai perdu mon livre deux fois. I lost my book twice. Ongoing vs New Imparfait indicates an ongoing state of being or feeling. Passé composé reports a change in a state of being, a new feeling. J’aimais l’école. I liked school. À ce moment, j’ai détesté l’école. At that moment, I hated school. J’étais toujours inspiré par mes profs. I was always inspired by my teachers. J’ai été inspiré par ton succès. I was (became) inspired by your success. Background + Event Imparfait describes what was happening or how something was when … … the passé composé interrupted with news of some occurence. J’étais à l’école quand … I was at school when … … il a commencé à pleuvoir. … it started raining. J’essayais d’étudier mais … I was trying to study but … … mon ami m’a posé une question. … my friend asked me a question.

Imparfait and passé composé in action

To give you an idea of how these tenses work, together and separately, here are three similar stories using each past tense individually and then both together.

Histoire à l’imparfait Quand j’étais lycéen, j’étudiais tous les jours. Je voulais être accepté dans une grande école parce que je souhaitais être politicien. Je lisais les journaux régulièrement et je commentais constamment l’actualité en compagnie de mes amis. When I was in high school, I studied every day. I wanted to be accepted into a prestigious university because I hoped to be a politician. I read newspapers regularly and I talked about current events all the time to my friends. Histoire au passé composé Quand j’ai décidé d’être politicien, j’ai commencé à étudier tous les jours. J’ai fait des recherches et j’ai choisi une grande école. Cependant, je n’ai lu le journal que trois fois en un an, et, un soir, quand j’ai parlé de l’actualité pendant un dîner, je me suis rendu ridicule devant tout le monde. When I decided to be a politician, I started studying every day. I did research and chose a prestigious university. However, I only read the newspaper three times in one year, and, one evening, when I talked about current events at a dinner party, I made a fool of myself in front of everyone. Histoire aux temps passés mélangés Quand j’étais lycéen, j’ai décidé que je voulais être politicien. J’étudiais tous les jours parce que je devais, pour cela, être accepté dans une grande école. Je lisais les journaux régulièrement, et, un soir, quand j’ai parlé de l’actualité pendant un dîner, j’ai impressionné tout le monde. When I was in high school, I decided that I wanted to be a politician. I studied every day because for that I needed to be accepted into a prestigious university. I read newspapers regularly and one evening, when I talked about current events at a dinner party, I impressed everyone.

Imparfait and passé composé clues

Some French words and phrases are virtually always used with the imparfait, while others seem to stick like glue to the passé composé. These lists can help you determine which tense you need in any given sentence.

Imparfait Passé composé chaque semaine, mois, année every week, month, year une semaine, un mois, un an one week, month, year le week-end on the weekends un week-end one weekend le lundi, le mardi… on Mondays, on Tuesdays… lundi, mardi… on Monday, on Tuesday tous les jours every day un jour one day le matin, le soir in the mornings, in the evenings un matin, un soir one morning, one evening toujours always (in the past) toujours always (and still now) normalement, d’habitude usually plusieurs fois several times en général, généralement in general, generally une fois, deux fois… once, twice… souvent often soudain, soudainement suddenly parfois, quelquefois sometimes tout à coup all of a sudden de temps en temps from time to time tout d’un coup in one fell swoop rarement rarely d’abord first autrefois formerly ensuite, puis next, then enfin finally finalement in the end

More imparfait vs passé composé

Remember that in French literature and other formal writing, thetakes the place of the

Video: Passé composé vs imparfait

vsquizzes

Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the difference between passé composé and imparfait with these fill-in-the-blanks exercises:

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