When Do You Use Passé Composé vs Imparfait?
Use the passé composé for completed actions, things that happened and finished. Use the imparfait for ongoing states, descriptions, habits and background.
English does not force this choice. I ate can be either one in French depending on whether you mean a specific meal or something you used to do regularly.
How to form each tense
Passé composé
Auxiliary verb in the present tense, then the past participle. Most verbs take avoir. A small group takes être, and those agree with the subject.
| With avoir | With être |
|---|---|
| j'ai parlé | je suis allé(e) |
| tu as parlé | tu es allé(e) |
| il a parlé | il est allé |
| elle a parlé | elle est allée |
| nous avons parlé | nous sommes allé(e)s |
| vous avez parlé | vous êtes allé(e)(s) |
| ils ont parlé | ils sont allés |
| elles ont parlé | elles sont allées |
Past participle endings by verb group: er verbs become é (parler, parlé), ir verbs become i (finir, fini), re verbs become u (vendre, vendu). Irregular participles have to be learned individually.
Imparfait
Take the nous form of the present tense, remove ons, add the endings. This works for every verb in French except être.
| Person | Ending | parler | finir | être |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | ais | je parlais | je finissais | j'étais |
| tu | ais | tu parlais | tu finissais | tu étais |
| il, elle, on | ait | il parlait | il finissait | il était |
| nous | ions | nous parlions | nous finissions | nous étions |
| vous | iez | vous parliez | vous finissiez | vous étiez |
| ils, elles | aient | ils parlaient | ils finissaient | ils étaient |
The imparfait is the easier of the two. One set of endings, one irregular verb.
You can drill both tenses in LanguaCards, which has conjugation practice across four tenses with every form spoken aloud.
The two tenses side by side
| Passé composé | Imparfait |
|---|---|
| J'ai mangé une pomme. I ate an apple. | Je mangeais quand il a téléphoné. I was eating when he phoned. |
| Elle est arrivée à huit heures. She arrived at eight. | Il faisait beau. The weather was nice. |
| Nous avons vu le film. We saw the film. | Elle avait dix ans. She was ten years old. |
| Il a plu hier. It rained yesterday. | Il pleuvait souvent. It often used to rain. |
In the first imparfait example both tenses appear in one sentence. The eating was the background, the phone call interrupted it. Background takes imparfait, interruption takes passé composé.
When to use imparfait
| Use | Example |
|---|---|
| Descriptions and states | Il pleuvait. Elle était fatiguée. J'avais peur. |
| Habits and repeated actions | Je jouais au foot tous les samedis. |
| Actions in progress | Je lisais quand tu es entré. |
| Setting a scene | Il faisait nuit. La rue était vide. |
| Age, time, weather, feelings | Elle avait vingt ans. Il était midi. |
When to use passé composé
| Use | Example |
|---|---|
| Completed single events | J'ai fermé la porte. |
| A sequence of events | Je me suis levé, j'ai pris une douche et je suis parti. |
| Actions with a defined duration | J'ai habité à Paris pendant cinq ans. |
| A specific number of times | Je suis allé en France trois fois. |
| Something that interrupts | Elle dormait quand le téléphone a sonné. |
Signal words
These are not infallible. They are useful while the instinct develops.
| Usually imparfait | Usually passé composé |
|---|---|
| toujours | soudain |
| souvent | tout à coup |
| tous les jours | un jour |
| chaque semaine | hier |
| d'habitude | ce matin |
| autrefois | une fois, deux fois |
| pendant que | enfin |
| le week-end | tout de suite |
The verbs that change meaning
A handful of verbs mean something different depending on the tense, and they catch learners well past B1.
| Verb | Imparfait | Passé composé |
|---|---|---|
| savoir | je savais, I knew | j'ai su, I found out |
| vouloir | je voulais, I wanted | j'ai voulu, I tried to |
| pouvoir | je pouvais, I was able to | j'ai pu, I managed to |
| devoir | je devais, I was supposed to | j'ai dû, I had to |
| connaître | je connaissais, I knew | j'ai connu, I met |
Imparfait gives the ongoing state, passé composé gives the moment it changed.
All five of these verbs are in the LanguaCards verb packs with both tenses side by side.
Mistakes English speakers make
Using passé composé for everything
English past simple maps most naturally onto passé composé, so learners default to it and end up describing the weather as an event. Il a fait beau means the weather turned nice, which is rarely the intended meaning.
Assuming duration decides it
It does not. J'ai habité à Paris pendant dix ans takes passé composé despite covering a decade, because it is bounded and finished. What matters is completion, not length.
Forgetting agreement
Verbs taking être agree with the subject: elle est allée, ils sont partis. Verbs taking avoir agree with a preceding direct object, which is the rule most learners forget.
Translating was as imparfait automatically
Usually right, sometimes not. I was born is je suis né, passé composé, because being born is a completed event.
A quick test
Two questions when you are unsure:
- Could you say used to or was doing in English? Imparfait.
- Is it a thing that happened, with a start and an end? Passé composé.
If both feel true, the sentence probably needs both, with imparfait as the background and passé composé as the event that lands in it.
Getting the forms automatic
Speaking at normal speed needs the forms to arrive without thinking, and that comes from repetition rather than from understanding the rule.
LanguaCards has verb conjugation practice across four tenses, so you drill the forms directly instead of reading tables. Every card is spoken aloud, which matters here because je parlais and j'ai parlé sound closer than they look.
Free packs and conjugation practice are included at no cost, with no ads, and the first 24 hours after downloading are fully unlocked.
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