{"id":118877,"date":"2023-05-10T19:12:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T23:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/french-imparfait-vs-passe-compose\/"},"modified":"2025-02-03T09:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T14:10:15","slug":"french-imparfait-vs-passe-compose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/french-imparfait-vs-passe-compose\/","title":{"rendered":"Imparfait vs. Pass\u00e9 Compos\u00e9: What Are The Differences?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past tense in French will come up often and what can be difficult for French learners is that there are different tenses to talk about the past and each tense describes a certain kind of action that happened.<\/p>\n

Below we’ll show you what you need to know about French’s two main past tenses: the imparfait<\/em> (imperfect tense) and\u00a0pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/em> (perfect tense).<\/em>\u00a0You’ll see\u00a0how to form them and when to use them <\/strong>with examples.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc skip=4]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Imparfait<\/em><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0imparfait<\/em>, or imperfect past, is used to describe conditions and continual\/repeated actions<\/strong>, which we’ll explain in greater depth later on.<\/p>\n

First, let’s look at how to form the\u00a0imparfait.<\/em><\/p>\n

Conjugating (Most) Verbs<\/h3>\n

The\u00a0imparfait<\/em>\u00a0isn’t\u00a0difficult to conjugate<\/strong>. All verbs follow the same pattern, with the sole exception of \u00eatre\u00a0<\/em>(to be), which we’ll cover separately below.<\/p>\n

That means that whether the ending of the verb’s infinitive is -re, -ir or -er, the endings are the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can check out this video to learn how to conjugate -er verbs in French:<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

All we have to do is simply:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify the verb’s nous<\/em> form<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. Remove the -ons<\/em>\u00a0ending<\/strong> from the\u00a0nous<\/em> form.<\/li>\n
  3. Add the ending for the appropriate subject, following the pattern below.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Je\u00a0<\/em>(I):\u00a0-ais<\/em>
    \nTu\u00a0<\/em>(You):\u00a0-ais<\/em>
    \nIl\/Elle\/On\u00a0<\/em>(He\/She\/One):\u00a0-ait<\/em>
    \nNous<\/em> (We):\u00a0-ions<\/em>
    \nVous<\/em> (You):\u00a0-iez<\/em>
    \nIls\/Elles<\/em> (They):\u00a0-aient<\/em><\/p>\n

    Not quite sure what we mean?<\/p>\n

    Let’s say you want to describe one of your hobbies from high school\u2014playing violin. The verb you need here is\u00a0jouer<\/em> (to play), as in,\u00a0je joue du violin<\/em> (I play violin).<\/p>\n

    Following the steps above, we would get:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The nous\u00a0<\/em>form for the verb\u00a0jouer<\/em> is\u00a0jouons<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(we play).<\/li>\n
    2. Removing the\u00a0-ons<\/em> ending from that form, we come up with\u00a0jou<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    3. Since you’re talking about yourself, the subject is\u00a0je<\/em>. That means we must add the ending -ais<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Thus, the verb form we get is\u00a0jouais\u00a0<\/em>and our new sentence is:<\/p>\n

      Au lyc\u00e9e, je\u00a0jouais<\/strong>\u00a0du violin.<\/i> (In high school, I played the violin.)<\/p>\n

      Starting to get the idea? Let’s take a look at what the\u00a0imparfait<\/em> for other common verbs would be.<\/p>\n

      For\u00a0regarder\u00a0<\/i>(to watch), all the forms would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
      Je regardais\u00a0<\/td>I watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Tu regardais\u00a0<\/td>You watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Il\/Elle\/On regardait<\/td>He\/She\/One watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Nous regardions<\/td>We watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Vous regardiez\u00a0<\/td>You watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Ils\/Elles regardaient<\/td>They watched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

      Similarly, the full\u00a0imparfait<\/em> conjugation for\u00a0devenir<\/em> (to become) is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
      Je devenais\u00a0<\/td>I became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Tu devenais\u00a0<\/td>You became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Il\/Elle\/On devenait<\/td>He\/She\/One became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Nous devenions<\/td>We became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Vous deveniez\u00a0<\/td>You became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Ils\/Elles devenaient<\/td>They became<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

      Now you’re well on your way to smoothly forming the imparfait<\/em>. You may need to think about it at first, but as you practice, it’ll become more natural<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      Conjugating \u00catre<\/em><\/h3>\n

      To conjugate the exception verb \u00eatre<\/em> (to be), instead of modifying the nous<\/em> form (sommes<\/em>),\u00a0we modify the stem \u00e9t-<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Then, you can use the same endings as above.<\/p>\n

      The full conjugation would look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
      J'\u00e9tais\u00a0<\/td>I was<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Tu \u00e9tais\u00a0<\/td>You were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Il\/Elle\/On \u00e9tait<\/td>He\/She\/One was<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Nous \u00e9tions<\/td>We were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Vous \u00e9tiez\u00a0<\/td>You were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Ils\/Elles \u00e9taient<\/td>They were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

      When to Use the\u00a0Imparfait<\/em><\/h3>\n

      So, now we know how to form the imparfait<\/em>, but how do we know when to use it?<\/p>\n

      There are four main situations in which we’ll use the\u00a0imparfait:<\/i><\/p>\n