Passé composé vs Imparfait

To talk about habitual or repetitive actions in the past

To describe a one-time completed action

To discuss future plans

To express wishes

Start with the infinitive, conjugate to nous form, remove -ons, add imparfait endings

Start with the past participle, add endings, conjugate to nous form, remove -ons

Start with the infinitive, add endings, conjugate to ils form, remove -ent

Start with the present tense, remove -ez, add imparfait endings

Describing the weather yesterday

Talking about a completed action

Mentioning a specific event that happened once

Reporting a sudden interruption

généralement

souvent

hier

toujours

aller, partir, arriver, tomber, sortir

être, avoir, finir, choisir

manger, boire, lire, écrire

voir, savoir, pouvoir, vouloir

To describe actions that interrupt another action

To describe a series of events that advance a story

To describe ongoing habitual actions in the past

To talk about holidays or one-time events at a specific time

Imparfait for both actions

Passé composé for both actions

Imparfait for the interrupted action, passé composé for the interrupting action

Passé composé for the interrupted action, imparfait for the interrupting action

Using the past continuous and past simple to describe interrupted actions

Describing future plans

Forming questions in French

Using the present tense for daily routines

The imparfait is used for habitual or repetitive actions, while the passé composé is used for one-time actions.

The imparfait is used for future actions, while the passé composé is used for present actions.

The imparfait is used for commands, while the passé composé is used for questions.

The imparfait is used for negative sentences, while the passé composé is used for positive sentences.