How to form and use the passé composé vs. the imparfait

When it comes to French tenses, learning the difference between the passé composé and the imparfait is an essential step to reaching an intermediate level. While these are both past tenses, they differ in their forms and use. The passé composé is a compound tense used to describe unique events completed in the past. Meanwhile, the imparfait is a simple, very regular tense that expresses past habits or repeated actions and describes people, objects or places in the past. In this article, we’ll review all you need to know about the passé composé vs. imparfait.

• How to form the passé composé
• How to form the imparfait
• When to use the passé composé vs. the imparfait

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How to form the passé composé

In French, the passé composé is a compound tense made of two elements: the auxiliary verb avoir (to have) or être (to be) in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the verb. Let’s review the structure and rules for each auxiliary verb.

The passé composé with the auxiliary verb avoir

Most verbs in the passé composé require the auxiliary verb avoir in the present tense. Only the form of the past participle may differ according to the category of the verb. 

The past participle of French -er verbs ends in -é. For -ir verbs like finir (to finish), the past participle ends with -i. The endings of the past participles of -re verbs vary, but a common ending is -u. The following table gives you an overview of the passé composé for the three categories of verbs:

-er verbs(parler)		-ir verbs(finir)		-re verbs(attendre)
French	English	French	English	French	English
J’ai parlé	I spoke	J’ai fini	I finished	J’ai attendu	I waited
Tu as parlé	You spoke	Tu as fini	You finished	Tu as attendu	You waited
Il/elle a parlé	He/she spoke	Il/elle a fini	He/she finished	Il/elle a attendu	He/she waited
Nous avons parlé	We spoke	Nous avons fini	We finished	Nous avons attendu	We waited
Vous avez parlé	You spoke	Vous avez fini	You finished	Vous avez attendu	You waited
Ils/elles ont parlé	They spoke	Ils/elles ont fini	They finished	Ils/elles ont attendu	They waited

The passé composé with the auxiliary verb être

In comparison, only a handful of verbs required être in the passé composé. Fortunately, these are easy to remember with the mnemonic name “Dr. Mrs. Van Der Tramp.” Each letter of this name corresponds to the first letter of a verb that requires être in the passé composé. Here is the full list, including each verb’s past participle: 

Verb	Past Participle
Devenir (to become)  Revenir (to come back)	Devenu  Revenu
Monter (to go up) Retourner (to return) Sortir (to go out)	Monté Retourné Sorti
Venir (to come) Aller (to go) Naître (to be born)	Venu Allé Né
Descendre (to go down) Entrer (to enter) Rentrer (to go home/to return)	Descendu Entré Rentré
Tomber (to fall) Rester (to remain) Arriver (to arrive) Mourir (to die) Partir (to leave)	Tombé Resté Arrivé Mort Parti

As they are used with être, these past participles work in a similar way to adjectives in French and take on different endings depending on the gender and the number of the subject they are linked to. The feminine form requires the addition of an -e, while the plural form is signaled by an extra final -s. The table below illustrates this with the example of the verb aller (to go):

French	English
Je suis allé (for a male) Je suis allée (for a female)	I went
Tu es allé (for a male) Tu es allée (for a female)	You went
Il est allé Elle est allée	He went  She went
Nous sommes allés (for a male or mixed group) Nous sommes allées (for an all-female group)	We went
Vous êtes allé (formal for a male) Vous êtes allée (formal for a female) Vous êtes allés (for a male or mixed group) Vous êtes allées (for an all-female group)	You went
Ils sont allés (for a male or mixed group) Elles sont allées (for an all-female group)	They went  They went

How to form the imparfait

The imparfait is one of the simplest and most regular French tenses. Here is the recipe you need to follow:

1. Take the nous form of the verb in the present tense
2. Remove the -ons ending
3. Add the ending for the relevant subject pronoun, like so:

Je (I) >> -ais

Tu (you) >> -ais 

Il/elle (heshe) >> -ait

Nous (we) >> -ions

Vous (you) >> -iez

Ils/elles (they) >> -aient

Let’s see this in action with the same -er, -ir and -re verb examples as before:

parler (to speak)		finir (to finish)		attendre (to wait)
nous form in the present tense: nous parlons		nous form in the present tense: nous finissons		nous form in the present tense: nous attendons
French	English	French	English	French	English
Je parlais	I was speaking	Je finissais	I was finishing	J’attendais	I was waiting
Tu parlais	You were speaking	Tu finissais	You were finishing	Tu attendais	You were waiting
Il/elle parlait	He/she was speaking	Il/elle finissait	He/she was finishing	Il/elle attendait	He/she was waiting
Nous parlions	We were speaking	Nous finissions	We were finishing	Nous attendons	We were waiting
Vous parliez	You were speaking	Vous finissiez	You were finishing	Vous attendiez	You were waiting
Ils/elles parlaient	They were speaking	Ils/elles finissaient	They were finishing	Ils/elles attendaient	They were waiting

Even verbs that are commonly irregular follow the same pattern in the imparfait. The verb être (to be) is the only exception. It doesn’t take its stem from its nous form in the present tense — nous sommes (we are) — in order to form the imparfait. But once you know its stem is -ét, you can attach the standard endings for the imparfait:

French	English
J’étais	I was
Tu étais	You were
Il/elle était	He/she was
Nous étions	We were
Vous étiez	You were
Ils/elles étaient	They were

When to use the passé composé vs. the imparfait

It’s one thing to know how to conjugate the two main past tenses in French. It’s quite another to decide which one you need, depending on what you want to say. Let’s look at the usage and examples that oppose the passé composé vs. the imparfait.

The role of the passé composé

The passé composé is used to talk about completed one-time actions. As such, it corresponds either to the simple past tense or to the present perfect in English:

• J’ai mangé au restaurant hier soir. (I ate at the restaurant yesterday evening.)
• J’ai vu Marc au bureau. ( I’ve seen Mark in the office.)

The roles of the imparfait

By opposition, the imparfait is used to talk about anything in the past that’s not a one-time action. This translates into three main use cases.

1. To talk about past habits or repeated actions

First, the imparfait can be used to talk about past habits or repeated actions, as opposed to the unique actions expressed by the passé composé. This is why you’ll often notice adverbs of frequency being used with the imparfait:

Dans mon enfance, j’allais souvent au cinéma avec mes parents. (In my childhood, I often used to go to the cinema with my parents.)

2. To talk about continuous actions or actions taking place over a certain period of time

In a similar way, continuous actions or actions taking place over a certain period of time in the past are expressed by the imparfait. This is often translated into the past progressive tense in English:

• À l’université, j’étudiais la finance. (At university, I was studying finance.)

This is a scenario in which you’ll regularly find the imparfait and the passé composé together. The imparfait refers to what you were doing when the unique action expressed by the passé composé occurred:

• Je mangeais quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was eating when the phone rang.)

3. To describe a past event or action

Finally, the imparfait can be used not just to talk about a past action, but also to provide a description. It’s very useful to paint the setting when telling a story in the past, for instance by depicting the weather, a physical state or emotions.

• Après le marathon, j’étais très fatigué mais j’étais heureux d’avoir participé. (After the marathon, I was very tired but I was happy to have taken part.)
• Il pleuvait beaucoup hier et il y avait peu de monde dans les rues. (It was raining a lot yesterday and there were few people in the streets.)

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Be it the imparfait or the passé composé, it’s all a thing of the past

Contrary to what you may have feared, the passé composé and (even more so) the imparfait are fairly easy tenses to conjugate in French. But once you master their forms, you’ll need to learn how to use them. In the passé composé vs. imparfait face-off, the former relates one-time actions in the past, while the latter expresses continuous, repeated or habitual actions as well as descriptions. Just one thing is sure: It’s all a thing of the past!

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