A2–B1 · Past
Imparfait vs passé composé
English has “I was working” and “I worked”. French splits the past the same way, but more strictly. Passé composé is the event. Imparfait is the scenery, the habit, the “while”. Mix them and you still get understood. Get them right and a story finally has a camera.
Event versus scenery
Passé composé — what happened
A completed action. You can point to it.
Le téléphone a sonné.
The phone rang.
J’ai dit non.
I said no.
Imparfait — what was going on
A state, a habit, a background action.
Je travaillais.
I was working. / I used to work.
Il faisait beau.
The weather was nice.
The two in one sentence
Je travaillais quand le téléphone a sonné.
I was working when the phone rang. On habitait à Lyon. Après, on a déménagé.
We were living / used to live in Lyon. Then we moved.
How imparfait is built
Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons, add: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Nous parlons → je parlais. Être is the odd one: j’étais, tu étais, il était.
parler in the imparfait
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | parlais |
| tu | parlais |
| il / elle / on | parlait |
| nous | parlions |
| vous | parliez |
| ils / elles | parlaient |
je parlais / tu parlais / il parlait / ils parlaient often sound the same. The subject still has to be there.
Habits, feelings, weather, age
Quand j’étais petit, on parlait arabe à la maison.
When I was little, we spoke Arabic at home. — habit + state J’avais peur.
I was afraid. — a feeling, not a one-off event Il était 20 heures.
It was 8 p.m. Soudain, j’ai eu peur.
Suddenly I got scared. — the feeling hits: passé composé
Try this out loud
One background, one event. Say them as one breath.
Je dormais quand tu as appelé.
I was sleeping when you called.
On se voyait souvent. Un jour, ça a changé.
We used to see each other often. One day that changed.
Questions this page usually raises
Keep going
Next grammar pages — same English, next rule.
A2 · Past
The passé composé: talking about what happened
How the passé composé works: avoir or être + past participle, agreement, and the sentences you actually need.
Read this resourceA1 · Verbs
The French present tense
How the French present tense works for regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs, and when it covers English “I am doing”.
Read this resourceA1 · Verbs
Être, avoir, aller, faire
The four French verbs you cannot skip: to be, to have, to go, and to do — with full present forms and when to use each.
Read this resource
If you want a lesson around this
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