How to Tell the Difference Between the Imparfait and Passe Compose in French

Delineating the differences between the Imperfect tense vs. the Passe' Compose' in French would have to begin with what and how it is wish to say something in the past. Similar to the Spanish, since they are both Latin based, the French has a completed action in the past, the Passe' Compose' and the Imparfait which is an on-going action in the past.The Passe'Compose' is probably the most problematic as it has two parts to deal with: a helping verb and a past participle.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acknowledge what it is you wish to say or write in the past tense in French. Look seriously at the endings for each tense and whether you wish to say a completed action in the past or: the Passe' Comp

How to Tell the Difference Between the Imparfait vs. the Passe' Compose' in French

1. Be well aware what it is you wish to say with regards to the past tense: a completed past action which is the Passe' Compose" consisting of two parts, the helping verb or auxilary, plus its past participle vs. the Imparfait which is an on-going action in the past and is only one basic verb form with a presecribed set of endings.

2. To say, for example, "I spoke yesterday" translates: "J'ai parle' hier." You have two parts: the auxilary AVOIR conjugated in the present, -ai,-as,-a,-avons,-avez,-ont plus the past participle of PARLER, or parle', all becomes: J'ai parle' hier. Without going through the irregular past participle forms, suffice it to include these forms here as in the above.

3. The Imparfait encompasses a number of translations. To say: I spoke French, I was speaking yesterday, I used to speak yesterday, all becomes one thing: Je parlais hier, with the endings: -ais,-ais,-ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

4. To sum up: there are two distinct forms to understand when considering the usage of thepast and the Passe' Compose' with AVOIR or ETRE auxilaries, plus their past participles and a completed past action or: the Imparfait with the endings: -ais,-ais, -ait, -ions, -aient and an on-going action in the past.

Tips & Warnings

• Know up front that there are two separate and distinct verb forms to use in the past in French, the Passe' Compose' vs. the Imparfait or the Imperfect.
• Pay close attention to the separate parts of the Passe' Compose', its auxilary verb, or helping verb, followed by its past participle, these can all be memorized. As to the auxilaries, use either AVOIR or ETRE, in the present tense. Just know that those with ETRE are to be learned separately. All this new knowledge is a far cry from just knowing how to say or write things in the present tense. You get into this and it will catapult you into some serious French knowledge. With a little help from your dictionary you could translate the original version of Albert Camus', L'Etranger,as it is full of these two tenses.