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Deciding between the imparfait and the passé composé can be tricky; although both are past tenses, they are used in very different contexts and cannot be used interchangeably. Master the difference between these tenses with the examples and explanations below, then put your knowledge to the test in the free interactive exercises.
- Exercises
Conjugate the verbs in brackets in the imparfait or the...
- Pronouns and Determiners
Pronouns replace a noun, while determiners describe a noun....
- Exercises
Imparfait vs Passé composé. 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.
- What Is The French Imperfect Tense?
- What Is The French Passé composé?
- Why You Cannot Translate Imparfait Or Passé Composé Literally
- Passé Composé vs Imparfait Shortcut
- Passé Composé vs Imparfait – Detailed Explanations + Examples
- List of Expressions Using Imparfait
- Passé Composé – List of Expressions
- 3 Imparfait vs passé-composé Practice Stories
- A Deeper Analysis of passé-composé vs Imparfait
- French People Rely on Their French Ear
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
The French imperfect is a French tense used for the past. It’s called l’imparfait in French. The imparfait is a great French tense because it is very regular. Most of the time, if you have a past progressive tense, so a verb + ING in English like in “I was speaking”, you can translate this past progressive into imparfait. However, the imperfect can...
The passé composé is a French tense used for the past. The passé composé corresponds mostly to the English simple past or the present perfect. In spoken Frenchlanguage, the passé composé is always used instead of the passé simple. We conjugate the passé composé using the auxiliary verbs avoir or être followed by the past participle (le participe pa...
“I was singing” or verbs in past progressive are going to be imperfect. For those, you can rely on translation 90% of the time. The problem is “I sang” or verbs in the English perfect tense… They can be translated as “je chantais” or “j’ai chanté”: it is the rest of the sentence that tells, so there is no way you can just translate. You need to und...
I suggest you learn by heart the 2 sentences below. Don’t think in term of actions: actions can be in both PC or imperfect. Now let’s be more specific about Passé Composé vs Imparfait
Story telling
What French past tense should you chose when you are telling a story?
In the same sentence
1. The Imparfait describes ongoing background actions, what was happening at that time (often with a “to be + ing” construction in English) – these actions had started before, and may continue after. Nous dormions – we were sleeping. 2. The PC will describe a specific action that took place at a precise time. Ils sont entrés – they came in. 3. When used in the same sentence, Imparfait will be used for the background action, the longer action that’s going on, and Passé-composé for the specific...
Habits versus specific events
The imperfect describes habitual actions in the past: Le lundi, je dînais chez ma soeur Every Mondays, I used to have dinner at my sister’s The passé composé describes what took place, specific events. Un lundi, nous avons dîné au restaurant. One Monday, we dined in a restaurant. In this case, what you need to look for are the time setting words: “le lundi” (habit) versus “un lundi”(specific). Here is a list that may help.
Some French “time” expressions are usually followed by the imperfect since they introduce habitual events: I suggest you memorize them, it’s a big help. 1. le lundi, le soir, le matin… On Mondays, in the evening, in the morning… 2. tous les lundis (tous les matins, tous les soirs, tous les jours…) Every Monday, every morning, every evening, every d...
Some expressions of time tend tobe followed by the Passé Composé since they usually introduce specific events. Again, this is not set in stone. It’s not the expression that dictates the use of Imparfait or Passé-Composé; it’s the context.
When it comes to understanding imparfait vs passé-composé, there is the theory and then the practice. It’s time to practice! Below, I will give you some examples and even videos featuring imparfait vs passé-composé. Imparfait vs passé-composéis explained clearly in my French audiobook method. 1. Understand how you build and when to use the tenses o...
Now, I would like to give you a feeling of the difference in ‘dynamics’ between passé-composé and imparfait. This is more advanced of course, and may be a bit confusing, so beginner French studentsmay want to skip it and go directly to the related links I suggest below :-) Let’s take that sentence “tu es rentrée quand je suis sortie“. First, let’s ...
Sometimes, I just cannot explain to my students why I used Passé Composé over Imparfait or Imparfait versus Passé Composé. One or the other just “sounded” better to me. The choice of Passé Composé over Imparfait is the kind of thing where grammar cannot explain everything, you need to develop an ear for it. To achieve this, only one solution: work ...
Learn how to use passé composé and imparfait, two French past tenses, with examples and explanations. Passé composé describes specific events, imparfait describes background or ongoing actions.
- Camille Chevalier-Karfis
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Learn how to use the two most common French past tenses: the passé composé and the imparfait. Find out when to choose between them with examples, explanations and tips.
Oct 25, 2023 · Learn how to form and use the imparfait and passé composé, two past tenses in French. See examples, rules and tips for each tense and how to combine them.
Mar 19, 2024 · Learn the differences between passé composé and imparfait, two important tenses in French grammar. See how to form, use and conjugate them with examples and tips.
Jan 4, 2022 · Learn the difference between passé composé and imparfait, two common past tenses in French. See examples, rules, exceptions and tips to use them correctly.
