Passé composé vs imparfait

Il faisait beau, alors nous sommes sortis.The weather was nice, so we went out.

French relies on two key past tenses for everyday narration, and choosing between them is about the kind of past you're describing, not just when it happened. The passé composé tells what happened — a single, completed event. The imparfait describes the background — what things were like, or what used to happen.

Quick shortcut: ask "did this move the story forward?" If yes, passé composé. If it's scene-setting, a habit, or an ongoing state, imparfait.

The basic decision rule

Use the passé composé for:

• A single event that happened and is finished: Elle est arrivée à midi.
• What happened next in a sequence: Il s'est levé, il a pris son café, et il est parti.
• Something that happened a specific number of times: Nous sommes allés trois fois à Paris.

Use the imparfait for:

• A description of how things were: Il faisait beau. Elle était fatiguée.
• An ongoing state or action, viewed from within rather than focused on its boundaries: Je lisais un livre.
• A habit or something that happened repeatedly: Le samedi, nous allions au marché.

Signal words

Certain words tend to go with one tense or the other:

Quand can go either way: Quand elle est arrivée, je suis parti. (a sequence of two events — passé composé) vs Quand j'étais petit, j'habitais à Lyon. (a background state — imparfait). The word itself isn't the rule; the kind of action it introduces is.

Interrupted actions

A very common pattern combines both tenses in one sentence: the imparfait sets the background scene, and the passé composé is the single event that interrupts it.

• Je regardais la télé quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was watching TV when the phone rang.)
• Il dormait quand nous sommes arrivés. (He was sleeping when we arrived.)
• Elle traversait la rue quand elle a vu son ami. (She was crossing the street when she saw her friend.)

In each case, the imparfait describes what was already going on, and the passé composé is the single event that happened at that moment and interrupted it.

A sequence vs a description

Compare these two short passages built from the same events:

• Hier, je me suis réveillé tard, j'ai pris un café et je suis sorti. (Yesterday I woke up late, had a coffee and went out. — a sequence of finished events: passé composé throughout.)
• Ce matin-là, il faisait froid, le café était encore chaud, et la rue était silencieuse. (That morning, it was cold, the coffee was still hot, and the street was quiet. — a description of how things were: imparfait throughout.)

Most real narration mixes the two: imparfait paints the scene, passé composé tells what happened in it.

Verbs that change meaning depending on the tense

A handful of common verbs are usually translated differently in English depending on which past tense they're in. The imparfait keeps a general, ongoing sense; the passé composé marks a specific moment or a change.

• Je savais qu'elle habitait à Paris. (I knew she lived in Paris — an existing fact.) vs J'ai su la vérité hier. (I found out the truth yesterday — a specific moment.)
• Je connaissais déjà son frère. (I already knew her brother.) vs J'ai connu son frère à une fête. (I met her brother at a party.)

These are strong tendencies, not absolute rules — context still matters, and both tenses of these verbs are grammatically possible in other situations. But when the English translation itself seems to shift, this is usually why.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Hier, je faisais mes devoirs et je regardais un film. for a plain sequence of two finished actions → ✅ Hier, j'ai fait mes devoirs et j'ai regardé un film. (two completed events, one after the other — passé composé)
• ❌ Quand j'ai été petit, j'ai habité à Lyon. → ✅ Quand j'étais petit, j'habitais à Lyon. (an ongoing childhood state — imparfait)
• ❌ Tous les étés, nous sommes allés à la plage for a repeated, open-ended childhood habit → ✅ Tous les étés, nous allions à la plage. (a recurring pattern with no fixed count — imparfait; the passé composé version would suggest a specific, limited number of summers, e.g. Nous sommes allés à la plage trois étés de suite)
• ❌ Je connaissais son frère à une fête for meeting someone for the first time → ✅ J'ai connu son frère à une fête. (a specific first encounter — passé composé)

Quick check

Choose passé composé or imparfait for the verb in brackets.

1. Quand elle ____ (être) jeune, elle ____ (jouer) du piano tous les jours.
2. Soudain, la porte ____ (s'ouvrir).
3. Il ____ (faire) nuit quand nous ____ (rentrer).
4. Je ne ____ (savoir) pas la réponse, alors j'____ (chercher) sur Internet.

Key takeaways

• Passé composé = a completed event, or what happened next in a sequence. Imparfait = background description, an ongoing state, or a habit with no clear end.
• Signal words like soudain and plusieurs fois tend to go with the passé composé; tous les jours and autrefois tend to go with the imparfait — but the underlying kind of action is what really decides it.
• The imparfait often sets the scene, and a single passé composé event interrupts it: Je lisais quand il a appelé.
• A few verbs — savoir, vouloir, pouvoir, connaître — tend to translate differently depending on the tense (e.g. j'ai su = "I found out" vs je savais = "I knew"), as a strong tendency rather than a fixed rule.