Imparfait vs passé composé: when to use each, with examples

Imparfait vs passé composé is the choice you make each time you talk about the past in French: the imparfait shows an action as it was going on, and the passé composé shows an action as done [1][3]. This page explains when to use each, how they work together in one sentence and how to form them. Every French example is copied from the Banque de dépannage linguistique of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), the Québec government’s language reference; the English glosses are ours. For what else English speakers tend to find hard, read Is French hard to learn. For how to practise with recall and spacing, see How to learn French fast. To drill the passé composé forms, use Passé composé practice.

What is the difference between the imparfait and the passé composé?

The imparfait looks at a past action from the inside, while it is under way. The OQLF says it shows a past action in progress, part done and part still to do, and does not say when it began or ended unless a word in the sentence adds that [1]. The passé composé shows an event that took place entirely in the past, or a finished action whose result still matters now [3].

When do you use the imparfait?

Use the imparfait for what was going on, what things were like, and what used to happen. The OQLF says that, in its past-time uses, the imparfait mainly shows an action or fact in progress [2].

Description and feelings. The imparfait shows an action in its duration [1]. The OQLF’s example: Elle souriait. Elle était heureuse et ne pouvait contenir sa joie. (She was smiling. She was happy and could not contain her joy.) [1]

Circumstances and things happening at the same time. The OQLF says the imparfait suits descriptions, the circumstances around an event, and facts that happen at the same time [2].

Habits and repetition. The imparfait can show something repeated or habitual [2]. Elle portait toujours des pantalons, même l’été. (She always wore trousers, even in summer.) [2]

A softer request. With a verb of wanting or moving followed by an infinitive, the imparfait makes a request more polite [2]. Je voulais vous demander votre avis. (I wanted to ask your opinion.) [2]

When do you use the passé composé?

Use the passé composé for what happened: a completed action or event. The OQLF lists several uses [3].

A past event. The passé composé can simply place an event entirely in the past [3]. Le commentaire de ce voisin a changé ma façon de voir les choses. (That neighbour’s comment changed the way I see things.) [4]

A finished action with a result now. Here the action is over and its result is tied to the moment of speaking [3]. J’ai apporté ton billet pour le spectacle de ce soir. (I have brought your ticket for tonight’s show.) [3]

A fact repeated in the past. In the same kind of context, the passé composé can show a fact that happened more than once [3]. Nous avons souvent organisé des soupers à ce restaurant. (We often organized dinners at this restaurant.) [3]

A general truth. With an adverb of time such as jamais, souvent or toujours, it can state something that happened and can still happen [3].

In books you will also meet the passé simple. The OQLF says it is closer in meaning to the passé composé, which often takes over its uses and has replaced it completely in speech [4]. Its own example gives both: C’est en 1938 que naquit ma mère. (ou encore : qu’est née ma mère) (It was in 1938 that my mother was born.) [4]

Can you use the imparfait and passé composé together?

Yes. The OQLF gives this example among the imparfait’s uses for circumstances and things happening at the same time [2]:

Marc montait les escaliers quand Isabelle l’a appelé. (Marc was going up the stairs when Isabelle called him.) [2]

Read it as a scene and an event. Marc’s climb was in progress, with no start or end given, so it takes the imparfait [1][2]. The call happened at one point within that climb, so it takes the passé composé.

The OQLF describes the same division of labour in written stories, where the imparfait gives the setting and the circumstances, and the passé simple gives the events [4]. In speech, the passé composé takes the passé simple’s place [4].

A second example mixes them the other way round, with the passé composé first: Tu as toujours dit que ce genre d’emploi ne t’intéressait pas. (You always said that kind of job did not interest you.) [3] The saying is the passé composé; what was said goes into the imparfait, as the OQLF describes for reported speech after a past verb of saying [2].

The worked sample on our TEF Canada writing page follows the same pattern, with the passé composé for events and the imparfait for background.

How do you form the imparfait and the passé composé?

The imparfait takes one stem and one set of endings. The passé composé takes a helper verb and a past participle.

Imparfait. The stem is the stem of the nous form of the present tense; only être is different, with the stem ét- [5]. The endings are always the same: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez and -aient [5].

Three spelling points from the OQLF [5]:

• Verbs in -ger add an e after the g, and verbs in -cer add a cedilla to the c, before an ending that starts with a: Je me déplaçais avec aisance. (I moved around with ease.) [5]
• In -eler and -eter verbs, the l and the t are never doubled in the imparfait [5].
• When the stem ends in i, y, ill or gn, keep the i of -ions and -iez. It is what tells the imparfait apart from the present [5]: Nous nous méfiions toujours des personnes qui posaient des questions indiscrètes. (We were always wary of people who asked nosy questions.) [5]

Passé composé. Put avoir or être in the present tense, then add the past participle [3]. Avoir is the most common helper: it serves avoir and être themselves, all transitive verbs, most intransitive verbs and verbs that are always impersonal [6]. Les enfants ont sursauté en entendant le tonnerre. (The children jumped when they heard the thunder.) [6]

Être serves all pronominal verbs and some intransitive verbs of movement or change, such as aller, arriver, devenir, entrer, mourir, naître, partir, rester, sortir, tomber and venir [6]. Je me suis fait mal. (I hurt myself.) [6]

A few verbs can take either helper, déménager among them: avoir stresses the action, être the resulting state [6]. J’ai déménagé en juillet. (ou : Je suis déménagée en juillet.) (I moved in July.) [6]

The two helpers themselves, in both tenses, from the OQLF’s conjugation tables [7][8]:

Note that être takes avoir in the passé composé: j’ai été [6][7].

Common mistakes

• Treating every repeated action as imparfait. The imparfait can show a habit [2], but the passé composé can also show a fact repeated in the past, as in the OQLF’s example with souvent [3].
• Reading every imparfait as past. After si, it often points to the present or the future [1].
• Dropping the i in the nous and vous forms. With stems ending in i, y, ill or gn, the i of -ions and -iez marks the imparfait [5].
• Using avoir with every verb. Pronominal verbs and some verbs of movement or change take être [6].
• Learning the pattern only from novels. Written stories often pair the imparfait with the passé simple; in speech, the passé composé has replaced the passé simple [4].
• Trusting a grammar page, including this one, over the reference. The OQLF pages can change. Check the OQLF page, and its date if it shows one, against the date at the top of this page.

See also: the passé composé and the imparfait.

Sources