Passé composé vs imparfait: choosing the French past tense

Use the passé composé for completed past events: what happened, started, ended or moved the story forward. Use the imparfait for background, habits, descriptions and ongoing situations in the past. J’ai appelé Marie means “I called Marie” as a completed event. J’appelais Marie tous les soirs means “I used to call Marie every evening” or “I was calling Marie every evening”.

Passé composé: events in the story

The passé composé presents an action as complete. It often answers “what happened?”.

Hier, j’ai acheté un billet et j’ai pris le train.
Yesterday, I bought a ticket and took the train.

It is the tense for one-time actions, sequence, results and changes.

Elle a ouvert la fenêtre.
She opened the window.

Imparfait: background, habits and ongoing situations

The imparfait presents a past action or state as ongoing, repeated or descriptive. It often answers “what was it like?” or “what used to happen?”.

Quand j’étais petit, je jouais dehors tous les jours.
When I was little, I used to play outside every day.

Il pleuvait et la rue était vide.
It was raining and the street was empty.

Use it for age, weather, feelings, time, repeated habits and scene-setting unless the sentence is focusing on a completed event.

The classic combination

Very often, the imparfait sets the background and the passé composé gives the event.

Je lisais quand tu as appelé.
I was reading when you called.

Il faisait nuit quand nous sommes arrivés.
It was dark when we arrived.

The first verb describes the ongoing scene; the second verb marks what happened inside that scene.

Some verbs change feel by tense

With verbs like savoir, connaître, vouloir and pouvoir, the tense can change the English feel.

At B1, do not memorize every nuance at once. Start with aspect: ongoing state vs completed event.

Common mistakes

Using passé composé for every English past verb

English simple past can map to either tense.

Quand j’étais petit, j’ai joué dehors tous les jours. -> Quand j’étais petit, je jouais dehors tous les jours.
When I was little, I used to play outside every day.

Using imparfait for a single completed event

When the action is the event, use passé composé.

Hier, je fermais la porte à huit heures. -> Hier, j’ai fermé la porte à huit heures.
Yesterday, I closed the door at eight.

Forgetting the background/event split

Use imparfait for the scene and passé composé for what happened.

Je lisais quand tu appelais. -> Je lisais quand tu as appelé.
I was reading when you called.

This choice builds on the form work in passé composé with être and past participle agreement. Fluera practices the tense inside short scenes, so you decide whether a verb is background or event before choosing the form. Try it when you practice French.

Practice