Passé Composé vs. Imparfait in French

Quick Answer

The passé composé(compound past) and the imparfait(imperfect) are two past tenses used in French. In this article, you'll learn how and when to use them.

Questions This Article Answers

How do you conjugate verbs in the past tense in French?

What's the past tense in French?

What's the passé composé?

What's the imparfait?

The Past in French

We humans talk a lot about the past! Whether you want to talk about your childhood, past work experiences, or something funny that happened to you, knowing how and when to use the passé composéand the imparfaitwill be essential. So let's get started! First, we'll talk about how to conjugate verbs in these two tenses.

Conjugating Verbs in the Passé Composé

Passé composé literally translates into compound past, which means that any verb form in the passé composé will be made of two elements: an auxiliary verb and the past participle form of the verb.

Auxiliary Verbs in French

In French, there are two auxiliary verbs: avoirand être. You will need to choose one of them to make the passé composé. Unfortunately, you can't pick the one you like best! There are very strict rules about which auxiliary verb you need to use.

Past Participles in French

All compound tenses in French will use a past participle of a verb. There's an easy way to figure out the past participle by looking at the infinitive. If the infinitive ends with -er, the participle will end with -é. A similar rule applies to -ir verbs and -re verbs.

Past Participle Endings in French

Infinitive	Past Participle
-er	-é
-ir	-i
-re	-u

Let's take a look at some verbs and their past participles in French!

Some Verbs and Their Past Participles

Infinitive	Past Participle	English
donner	donné	to give/given
parler	parlé	to talk/talked
choisir	choisi	to choose/chosen
partir	parti	to leave/left
attendre	attendu	to wait/waited
vendre	vendu	to sell/sold

Keep in mind that there will always be irregular verbs that do not follow the regular patterns! For example, prendre(to take) is an -re verb but it has an irregular past participle: pris(taken).

Once you have figured out which auxiliary verb you need to use and what the past participle form of the verb is, you simply need to combine the two, putting the auxiliary verb first. That's how you conjugate the passé composé!

Let's take a look at some sentences where the passé composé is used:

examples
Paul a rencontré Jeanne hier. Paul met Jeanne yesterday.
Tu as pris la valise ? Did you take the suitcase?
Nous avons choisi le film ! We chose the movie!
Marc est tombé dans le jardin. Marc fell in the backyard.

Conjugating Verbs in the Imparfait

The imparfait is a simple tense, which means that you only need one word: the verb. You don't need to use an auxiliary.

To conjugate a verb in the imparfait, you first need to determine the verb's root. To do so, just follow a simple and reliable two-step rule:

Conjugate the verb in the present tense in the third-person plural (ils/elles).
Remove the -ent ending. You are left with the root you need for the imparfait!

Once you have determined the root, you just need to apply the imparfait endings!

Imparfait Endings and Conjugation of the Verb Marcher in the Imparfait

Subject	Ending	Example	English
je	-ais	je marchais	I was walking
tu	-ais	tu marchais	you were walking
il, elle, on	-ait	il marchait	he was walking
nous	-ions	nous marchions	we were walking
vous	-iez	vous marchiez	you (all) were walking
ils, elles	-aient	elles marchaient	they were walking

When You Should Use the Passé Composé and the Imparfait in French

Any verb can be conjugated in the passé composé or in the imparfait. It just depends on the context.

Let's use the verb parler(to talk) as an example:

examples
J'ai parlé à Chantal pendant trois heures hier. I talked to Chantal for three hours yesterday.
Je parlais au téléphone quand tu as sonné à la porte. I was talking on the phone when you rang the doorbell.

Here, the same verb—parler—is used in both the passé composé and the imparfait! But not in the same way.

The passé composé is used for actions and events that are perceived as completed. In the example above, the conversation with Chantal happened yesterday and is over.

The imparfait is mostly used in three different cases:

The imparfait is used to introduce background information and to provide descriptions.

examples
La ville était calme et le ciel était bleu. The city was quiet and the sky was blue.
Marine avait les yeux verts et les cheveux roux. Marine had green eyes and red hair.

The imparfait is used to talk about continuous actions or events.

examples
À 5 heures du matin, je dormais. Je me suis réveillé à 7 h 30. At 5:00 a.m., I was sleeping. I woke up at 7:30 a.m.
Jeanne lisait un livre quand un inconnu lui a demandé l'heure. Jeanne was reading a book when a stranger asked her what time it was.

The imparfait is used any time you are talking about past habits or events that occurred repeatedly.

examples
Quand j'étais enfant, j'allais souvent à la mer avec mes cousins. When I was a child, I would often go to the sea with my cousins.
À l'université, je passais plusieurs heures chaque jour à la bibliothèque. In college, I used to spend hours at the library every day.