Passé composé vs imparfait: when to use each one
By Thierry Gustin
Published
Updated
5 min read
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Choosing between the passé composé and the imparfait is one of the most common questions for learners of French. The difficulty for English speakers is that English often uses a single form, the simple past, where French has to choose: "I lived in Lyon" can be j'ai habité or j'habitais, depending on what you mean. Once you see the logic, the choice becomes much easier.
What is the difference between the passé composé and the imparfait?
Think of a film. The imparfait is the set and the context: what the weather was like, what people were like, what was going on. The passé composé is the actions that move the story forward: what happened, once, at a specific moment.
| Passé composé | Imparfait | |
|---|---|---|
| Function | Finished, bounded action | Description, habit or action in progress |
| Usual English equivalent | Simple past or present perfect for an event (I saw, I have seen) | "Was ...ing", "used to", "would" (habit), or a simple past that describes (it was cold) |
| Example | Hier, j'ai vu Paul. | Quand j'étais petit, je voyais Paul tous les jours. |
| Common time markers | hier, soudain, un jour, deux fois, en 2020 | souvent, toujours, d'habitude, tous les jours, quand j'étais… |
When do you use the passé composé?
Use the passé composé for:
- A single, completed action: Hier soir, j'ai regardé un film. (Last night I watched a film.)
- A sequence of actions: Il s'est levé, il a pris un café et il est parti. (He got up, had a coffee and left.)
- An action with a set duration: J'ai habité à Lyon pendant trois ans. (I lived in Lyon for three years, and no longer do.)
- A sudden change: Soudain, le téléphone a sonné. (Suddenly the phone rang.)
It is formed with the auxiliary avoir or être in the present tense plus the past participle: j'ai parlé, elle est arrivée. Verbs of movement and reflexive verbs take être (je suis allé, je me suis levé).
When do you use the imparfait?
Use the imparfait to:
- Describe people, places or situations in the past: La maison était grande et il faisait froid. (The house was big and it was cold.)
- Talk about habits, where English says "used to" or "would": Le dimanche, nous allions chez ma grand-mère. (On Sundays we used to go to my grandmother's.)
- Describe an action in progress that is interrupted: Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was sleeping when the phone rang.)
- Express feelings or states: J'étais fatigué, je voulais rentrer. (I was tired, I wanted to go home.)
It is formed from the stem of the nous form of the present tense (nous parlons → parl-) with the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient: je parlais, nous parlions. The only exception is être: j'étais.
A complete example
Il était huit heures et il pleuvait. Je marchais vers le bureau quand, soudain, j'ai vu un vieil ami. Nous avons pris un café et nous avons parlé pendant une heure.
(It was eight o'clock and it was raining. I was walking to the office when suddenly I saw an old friend. We had a coffee and talked for an hour.)
Il était, il pleuvait and je marchais form the background (imparfait). J'ai vu, nous avons pris and nous avons parlé are the events that move the story forward (passé composé). Note that pendant une heure does not rule out the passé composé: the action has a beginning and an end.
What mistakes do English speakers make?
- Using the passé composé for every English simple past: "When I was a child, I played tennis" describes a habit, so ✗ Quand j'étais petit, j'ai joué au tennis → ✓ Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au tennis.
- Using the imparfait with a set duration: ✗ J'habitais à Paris pendant deux ans → ✓ J'ai habité à Paris pendant deux ans.
- Translating "was ...ing" with the passé composé: "I was eating when you called" → ✓ Je mangeais quand tu as appelé. (You can also say j'étais en train de manger.)
- Choosing the wrong auxiliary: ✗ J'ai allé → ✓ Je suis allé.
- Forgetting agreement with être: ✓ Elle est partie, ils sont arrivés.
What about state verbs like être or avoir?
With verbs that express states (être, avoir, savoir, vouloir, pouvoir), the imparfait is the most common choice, because they describe a situation: Je voulais partir (I wanted to leave). But the passé composé is possible when the state changes or is limited in time: J'ai eu peur (I got scared, at a specific moment), J'ai su la vérité hier (I found out the truth yesterday). English often marks this shift with a different verb: "I knew" versus "I found out", "I was scared" versus "I got scared".
To conjugate any verb in both tenses, you can use the Le Figaro conjugation tool, a very thorough reference. And if you want to review the verbs that give you the most trouble, see my guide to French irregular verbs.
Frequently asked questions
Is the passé composé the same as the English present perfect?
In form, yes (auxiliary plus past participle), but in spoken French it is also used where English uses the simple past: Hier, j'ai mangé (yesterday I ate). The passé simple, the literary past tense, is hardly ever used in speech.
Can you use the imparfait for a finished action?
Yes, when it was a habit: Chaque été, nous allions à la mer. (Every summer we used to go to the seaside.) What counts is not whether the action is over, but whether you present it as a one-off event or as a habit or background.
Which tense comes after "quand"?
It depends on the meaning: Quand j'étais petit… (context, imparfait), Quand il est arrivé, nous avons dîné (sequence of events, passé composé).
Does it matter for the DELF?
A great deal. The contrast between the two tenses is assessed from A2 onwards and is a key criterion in the writing paper of the DELF B1.
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