Passé composé vs Imparfait

French past tenses


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The most important French past tenses are the passé composé and the imparfait, and they can be difficult 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.

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.

J’étais à l’école.	I was at school.
Je faisais mes devoirs.	I was doing my homework.

Passé composé announces what happened, actions that were completed.

Je suis arrivé tôt.	I arrived early.
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.

J’étudiais le lundi.	I used to study on Mondays.
Je perdais constamment mon livre.	I was always losing my book.

Passé composé expresses what happened a specific number of times.

J’ai étudié lundi.	I studied on (a specific) Monday.
J’ai perdu mon livre deux fois.	I lost my book twice.

Ongoing vs New

Imparfait indicates an ongoing state of being or feeling.

J’aimais l’école.	I liked school.
J’étais toujours inspiré par mes profs.	I was always inspired by my teachers.

Passé composé reports a change in a state of being, a new feeling.

À ce moment, j’ai détesté l’école.	At that moment, I hated school.
J’ai été inspiré par ton succès.	I was (became) inspired by your success.

All in the past vs Relevance to present

Imparfait describes something that is entirely in the past.

Il voulait toujours être médecin.	He always wanted (used to want) to be a doctor.
J’y mangeais souvent.	I often ate there / I used to eat there often (but never again).

Passé composé explains something that started in the past and continues today.

Il a toujours voulu être médecin.	He has always wanted to be a doctor.
J’y ai souvent mangé.	I have often eaten there (and might again).

Background + Event

Imparfait describes what was happening or how something was …

J’étais à l’école …	I was at school …
J’essayais d’étudier …	I was trying to study …

… when the passé composé interrupted with news of some occurrence.

… quand il a commencé à pleuvoir.	… when it started raining.
… mais mon ami m’a posé une question.	… but 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 chaque mois chaque année	every week every month every year	une semaine un mois un an	one week one month one 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…
parfois quelquefois	sometimes	soudain soudainement	suddenly
de temps en temps	from time to time	tout à coup	all of a sudden
rarement	rarely	tout d’un coup	in one fell swoop
autrefois	formerly	d’abord	first
		ensuite, puis	next, then
		enfin	finally
		finalement	in the end

Remember that in French literature and other formal writing, the passé simple takes the place of the passé composé.

More imparfait vs passé composé

Introduction
Verbs usually in the imperfect
Verbs with different meanings depending on tense

Video: Passé composé vs imparfait