Passé Composé vs Imparfait: How to Choose the Right Past Tense

Choose the passé composé to present a past event as completed, and the imparfait to describe a past situation, habit, or action in progress.

What does French 2 cover?

A key French 2 topic is forming and choosing between the two past tenses. The passé composé uses a present-tense form of avoir or être plus a past participle. The imparfait uses a verb stem plus past-tense endings.

• Passé composé with avoir: j’ai parlé means “I spoke.” The participle of parler is parlé.
• Passé composé with être: elle est arrivée means “she arrived.” With être, the past participle generally agrees with the subject; reflexive verbs have additional agreement rules.
• Imparfait: take the present-tense nous form, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, or -aient. Nous parlons becomes je parlais, “I was speaking” or “I used to speak.”
• Important exception: être uses the stem ét-: j’étais, tu étais, il était, and so on.

To build the vocabulary around these examples, review basic French vocabulary.

What does intermediate French look like?

Intermediate French often involves combining past tenses to tell a story. Imparfait sets the scene or describes an action in progress; passé composé presents an event that moves the story forward.

Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné. — “I was reading when the phone rang.” Lisais describes the action already in progress; a sonné presents the ring as an event.

Il faisait froid et les rues étaient calmes. Puis, un bus est arrivé. — “It was cold and the streets were quiet. Then a bus arrived.” The first sentence describes the background; the second introduces an event.

For more language you can use in context, see these common French phrases for real conversations.

Is French 2 hard?

The distinction can take practice because the same verb can appear in either tense. The question is whether you are describing an ongoing or habitual situation, or presenting an event as completed.

• Habit: Quand j’étais enfant, je jouais au tennis. — “When I was a child, I used to play tennis.”
• Completed occasion: Hier, j’ai joué au tennis. — “Yesterday, I played tennis.”
• Completed period: J’ai vécu à Paris pendant dix ans. — “I lived in Paris for ten years.” A long action can still be presented as a completed period.

Words such as souvent and hier can suggest a tense, but they do not decide it by themselves. Read the whole sentence and ask what role the action plays.

Try it: Quand nous ___ (manger), Marie ___ (arriver). The answer is mangions and est arrivée: “While we were eating, Marie arrived.” Eating was in progress when the arrival occurred.

What level is French 102?

French 102 builds on French I and develops past-tense narration and description. For an overview of UPI Study’s French 2 course, see the details below.

Which colleges list French 2 on an equivalency chart?

These colleges show French 2 (French 102) on their equivalency charts with UPI Study. Open a college for its full chart.

See the rest of the equivalency on the French 2 course page, or open a college above for its full chart. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Frequently Asked Questions about French Grammar

Final Thoughts on French Grammar

Write three sentences about yesterday: one to set the scene, one for something you were doing, and one for an event that happened. Check whether each tense matches the role you intended.