FR 3

Passé Composé ou Imparfait?

In French, when talking about the past, you may use EITHER the PASSÉ COMPOSÉ or the IMPARFAIT

Choice of tense reflects the TYPE of action or events being described

Passé Composé

Completed action or stateSuccession/series of past events (story line) NO idea of lasting/repeated actionSpecific point in timeSpecific number of times (can count them)interruptING action in the past

Passé Composé – clue words

Un jour/an // une mois = one day/year/monthLe ____(name of day) = on [day of week]La semaine dernière/l’année dernière/le mois

dernier = last [week, year, month]Il y a + time frame = [time frame] “ago”____(name of day) soir/après-midi = [“name of day”

night/afternoon – ex = lundi soir = Monday night]Tout à coup = all of a suddenSoudain = suddenlyUne (deux, trois, #) fois = # timesenfin = finally

Hier = yesterday(name of day of the week) dernier = last

“name of day” [ex = lundi dernier = last Monday]

Avant = beforeAprès = afterPendant =- duringD’abord = firstEnsuite = thenFinalement = finally

Imparfait

Continuous/repeated action in the past (‘used to”) *can’t count the # of times

Condition or prolonged action in the pastinterruptED action in the past (was/were ing)Setting scene/description in the past/sceneryDate, time, weatherAge, appearance, physical traits, health,

feelings

Imparfait – CLUE WORDS

Quelquefois = sometimesSouvent = oftenAutrefois = previouslyD’habitude = usuallyEn général = generallyTous les jours = every dayToujours = alwaysFréquemment = frequentlyDe temps en temps = from time to timeTout le temps = all the timeParfois = sometimes/at times

COMPARE

Hier à 9 heures, nous dînions [yesterday, at nine we were eating dinner] – setting scene

Hier nous avons dîné à 9 heures [yesterday we ate dinner at 9] – specific point in time

COMPARE

Tous les jours j’allais à la plage [every day I used to go to the beach] – repeated action – what’s important is that I did it MULTIPLE time

Tous les jours je suis allée à la plage [every day I WENT to the beach] – completed – not doing it any more – what’s important is that it’s in THE PAST, over and done

PC et IMP – dans la même phrase

It is possible to have the Passé Composé and Imparfait together, in the same sentence

In this case, one action is a SPECIFIC (pin point) action while the other is a PROGRESSIVE action (taking place over a long period of time)

OR an action (PC) interruptING another action (IMP – being interruptED)

example

J’ai vu un accident pendant que j’attendais le bus.

[I saw (specific action) an accident while I was waiting (progressive action) for the bus]

J’ai observé un oiseau qui chantait dans un arbre.

[I noticed (PC-sp act) a bird that was singing (IMP – prog act) in a tree]

NOTICE?

Did you notice that the verb in the IMPARFAIT in English translated as WAS/WERE (verb)ING??

Connector words

When using the PC and IMP in the same sentence, you will often join the phrases with:

Au moment où – just asLorsque – whenPendant que - whileQuand – when