How to Form and Use the French Past Tenses: Passé Composé vs. Imparfait
Introduction
Learning to express the past in French is a significant milestone for any language learner. The challenge? French doesn’t just have one past tense—it has two main ones: passé composé and imparfait. Each serves a different purpose, and mastering them will allow you to tell stories, describe past events, and communicate fluently in French.
Think about how we use past tenses in English. You wouldn’t say, I was going to the store and I bought some bread if you meant I went to the store and bought some bread. The difference may seem subtle, but it changes the entire meaning of the sentence. The same principle applies in French: knowing when to use passé composé versus imparfait is key to sounding natural.
In this comprehensive guide, we will break down the formation, usage, and common pitfalls of these two essential past tenses. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of when to use each one, along with practical examples to reinforce your learning.
Understanding Passé Composé: The Completed Past
1. How to Form Passé Composé
Passé composé is used for completed actions in the past. It corresponds closely to the English simple past (e.g., I ate, she traveled, they finished).
To form passé composé, you need two components:
Auxiliary verb (avoir or être in the present tense)
Past participle of the main verb
Formation Structure:
Subject + Auxiliary Verb + Past Participle
Examples:
J’ai mangé une pizza. (I ate a pizza.)
Elle a fini son travail. (She finished her work.)
Nous sommes allés au cinéma. (We went to the cinema.)
2. Choosing Between "Avoir" and "Être" as Auxiliary Verbs
Most verbs use avoir as their auxiliary verb, but a select group of verbs—primarily verbs of movement and reflexive verbs—use être instead.
Common verbs that use "être":
Verb (Infinitive)Past ParticipleMeaningAlleralléTo goVenirvenuTo comeNaîtrenéTo be bornMourirmortTo diePartirpartiTo leaveResterrestéTo stay
When using être, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject:
Marie est allée en France. (Marie went to France.)
Les étudiants sont arrivés tard. (The students arrived late.)
Understanding Imparfait: The Descriptive Past
1. How to Form Imparfait
Imparfait is used to describe ongoing actions, habitual past events, or background descriptions.
Formation Structure:
Take the nous form of the present tense, remove the -ons ending, and add these imparfait endings:
SubjectEndingJe-aisTu-aisIl/Elle/On-aitNous-ionsVous-iezIls/Elles-aient
Examples:
Je regardais la télévision quand tu es arrivé. (I was watching TV when you arrived.)
Quand j’étais enfant, je jouais dans le jardin. (When I was a child, I used to play in the garden.)
Il faisait beau hier. (The weather was nice yesterday.)
2. When to Use Imparfait
Use imparfait for:
Habitual actions in the past (Quand j’étais petit, je lisais chaque soir. / When I was little, I used to read every night.)
Descriptions of people, places, emotions, or weather (Elle était gentille. / She was kind.)
Ongoing actions interrupted by a completed action (Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné. / I was sleeping when the phone rang.)
Passé Composé vs. Imparfait: The Key Differences
1. Completed vs. Ongoing Actions
SituationPassé ComposéImparfaitOne-time actionJ’ai visité Paris l’année dernière. (I visited Paris last year.)❌Ongoing/habitual action❌Je visitais Paris chaque été. (I used to visit Paris every summer.)
2. Setting the Scene vs. Events
Imparfait sets the scene: Il pleuvait et il faisait froid. (It was raining and it was cold.)
Passé composé describes actions: Soudain, il a commencé à neiger. (Suddenly, it started snowing.)
3. Interruption of an Ongoing Action
Ongoing action (imparfait): Je lisais un livre... (I was reading a book...)
Interrupting event (passé composé): ...quand mon ami a appelé. (...when my friend called.)
Common Pitfalls and Mistakes
1. Using Passé Composé for Habitual Actions
❌ Quand j’étais enfant, j’ai joué au football chaque samedi. ✅ Quand j’étais enfant, je jouais au football chaque samedi.
2. Overusing "Être" Instead of "Avoir"
❌ J’ai allé au marché. ✅ Je suis allé au marché.
3. Forgetting Agreement with "Être" Verbs
❌ Elles sont allé en France. ✅ Elles sont allées en France.
Conclusion
Mastering passé composé and imparfait is essential for fluency in French. Understanding their differences will allow you to tell richer stories and describe past events more precisely.
To solidify your knowledge, try practicing with past-tense storytelling: describe a childhood memory using imparfait for setting and passé composé for specific actions. The more you use these tenses in context, the more naturally they will come to you.
Bonne chance et bon apprentissage! 🇫🇷