You already have the passé composé for events. The imparfait does something different: it paints the background. If the passé composé is the action on screen, the imparfait is the set, the weather, the mood and the music playing behind it.
Il pleuvait et je marchais dans la rue — camera pans across a rainy street, someone walking. That's the imparfait: no beginning, no end, just a scene in progress.
Soudain, une voiture s'est arrêtée — something happens. That's the passé composé: one completed event that moves the story forward.
Take the nous form of the present tense, remove -ons, and add the endings. That's it — for every verb in the language except être.
| Verb | nous form | Stem | je form |
|---|---|---|---|
| parler | nous parlons | parl- | je parlais |
| finir | nous finissons | finiss- | je finissais |
| vendre | nous vendons | vend- | je vendais |
| faire | nous faisons | fais- | je faisais |
| prendre | nous prenons | pren- | je prenais |
| boire | nous buvons | buv- | je buvais |
| être (exception) | — | ét- | j'étais |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| je parlais | zhuh par-LAY | I was speaking / I used to speak |
| tu parlais | tĂĽ par-LAY | you were speaking |
| il / elle parlait | eel par-LAY | he / she was speaking |
| nous parlions | noo par-lee-OHN | we were speaking |
| vous parliez | voo par-lee-AY | you were speaking |
| ils / elles parlaient | eel par-LAY | they were speaking |
parlais, parlais, parlait, parlaient are all "par-LAY". Only nous (-ions) and vous (-iez) break the pattern — exactly like the present tense. The good news: one set of endings covers every verb in French.
| Job | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing action in the past | Je regardais la télé. | I was watching TV. |
| Habit or repeated action | Chaque été, on allait en Bretagne. | Every summer we used to go to Brittany. |
| Description / setting | Il faisait froid et il n'y avait personne. | It was cold and there was nobody. |
| Age, time, weather in the past | J'avais dix ans. Il Ă©tait minuit. | I was ten. It was midnight. |
| Mental and physical states | Elle était fatiguée. Je voulais dormir. | She was tired. I wanted to sleep. |
| Polite suggestion | Si on allait au cinéma ? | How about going to the cinema? |
| Question to ask | Passé composé | Imparfait |
|---|---|---|
| Did it start and finish? | Yes — one completed event | No — it was simply going on |
| How many times? | Once, twice, a countable number | Repeatedly, as a habit |
| Is it action or background? | Action that moves the story | Background, description, mood |
| Typical companions | hier, soudain, une fois, Ă 8 h | souvent, toujours, tous les jours, quand j'Ă©tais petit |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Je regardais la télé quand il a téléphoné. | zhuh ruh-gar-DAY lah tay-LAY | I was watching TV when he called. |
| Quand j'Ă©tais petit, j'habitais Ă Lyon. | kahn zhay-TAY puh-TEE | When I was little, I lived in Lyon. |
| Hier, j'ai mangé au restaurant. | ee-air zhay mahn-ZHAY | Yesterday I ate at a restaurant. |
| Il pleuvait, alors je suis rentré. | eel pluh-VAY, ah-LOR | It was raining, so I went home. |
Whenever one past action interrupts another, French splits the tenses cleanly:
imparfait (what was going on) + quand + passé composé (what cut in).
Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was sleeping when the phone rang.)
Get this one pattern automatic and most of your past-tense choices fall out of it.
| Verb | Imparfait | Passé composé |
|---|---|---|
| savoir | je savais = I knew | j'ai su = I found out |
| vouloir | je voulais = I wanted | j'ai voulu = I tried / I decided to |
| pouvoir | je pouvais = I was able to | j'ai pu = I managed to |
| avoir | j'avais peur = I was afraid | j'ai eu peur = I got a fright |
| connaître | je connaissais = I knew (someone) | j'ai connu = I met |
The imparfait describes a state that was simply there; the passé composé marks the moment it began. Je savais = the knowledge was in my head. J'ai su = the instant I learned it. Once you see that, you never have to memorise these pairs separately.
Real narration alternates constantly between the two. Read this aloud and notice how the imparfait sets each scene and the passé composé keeps the plot moving:
C'était un samedi matin. Il faisait beau et je n'avais rien à faire. Je suis allé au marché, j'ai acheté du pain et du fromage, et je suis rentré. Pendant que je préparais le déjeuner, mon voisin a frappé à la porte. Il voulait du sel. Nous avons parlé pendant une heure.
It was a Saturday morning. The weather was nice and I had nothing to do. I went to the market, bought some bread and cheese, and came home. While I was making lunch, my neighbour knocked at the door. He wanted some salt. We talked for an hour.
Pendant que (while) introduces two things going on at once — both usually imparfait: Pendant qu'il lisait, elle cuisinait.
Quand (when) usually introduces the interruption: Il lisait quand elle est arrivée.
Si on allait...? is the standard way to float a plan, and the imparfait softens requests in shops: Je voulais juste demander... ("I just wanted to ask...") — it sounds gentler than the present.
Same tense, same rules. In Québécois storytelling you'll hear j'étais reduced to "j'tais" and il y avait to "y'avait". Nostalgic narration — Dans mon temps, on jouait dehors tout l'hiver — is a favourite register.
Write imparfait or passé composé for the verb in each sentence.
1. "When I was young, I played tennis every Saturday" uses:
2. How do you build the imparfait stem?
3. "I was sleeping when the phone rang" is:
4. J'ai su la vérité means: