French Past Tenses - Passé composé vs Imperfect

Generally speaking, the imperfect describes past situations, while the passé composé narrates specific events. In addition, the imperfect can set the stage for an event expressed with the passé composé. Compare the uses of these two tenses:

1. Incomplete vs Complete

The imperfect describes an ongoing action with no specified completion:

   J'allais en France. - I was going to France.

   Je visitais des monuments et prenais des photos. - I was visiting monuments and taking pictures

The passé composé expresses one or more events or actions that began and ended in the past:

   Je suis allé en France. - I went to France.

   J'ai visité des monuments et pris des photos. - I visited some monuments and took some pictures.


2. Habitual vs Occasional

The imperfect is used for habitual or repeated actions, something that happened an uncounted number of times:

   Je voyageais en France tous les ans. - I traveled (used to travel) to France every year.

   Je visitais souvent le Louvre. - I often visited the Louvre.

The passé composé talks about a single event, or an event that happened a specific number of times:

   J'ai voyagé en France l'année dernière. - I traveled in France last year.

   J'ai visité le Louvre trois fois. - I've visited the Louvre three times.


3. Ongoing vs New

The imperfect describes a general physical or mental state of being:

   J'avais peur des chiens. - I was afraid of dogs.

   J'aimais les épinards. - I used to like spinach.

The passé composé indicates a change in physical or mental state at a precise moment or for an isolated cause:

   J'ai eu peur quand le chien a aboyé. - I was scared when the dog barked.

   Pour la première fois, j'ai aimé les épinards. - For the first time, I liked spinach.


4. Background + Interruption

The imperfect and passé composé sometimes work together - the imperfect provides a description/background info, to set the scene of how things were or what was happening (past tense of "be" + verb with -ing usually indicates this) when something (expressed with the passé composé) interrupted.

   J'étais à la banque quand Chirac est arrivé. - I was at the bank when Chirac arrived.

   Je vivais en Espagne quand je l'ai trouvé. - I was living in Spain when I found it.


Introduction
Uses of the passé composé and imperfect
Compare passages and discover key words and phrases
Test: Passé composé vs Imperfect


Note: There is a third tense, the passé simple, which technically translates to the English simple past tense, but is now used primarily in writing, in place of the passé composé - learn more.

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