Passé Composé

The passé composé is one of the most essential past tenses in French, used to express actions that are seen as completed events. Unlike the imparfait — which sets the scene or describes ongoing states — the passé composé pinpoints specific moments in time.

When to use this tense:

1. An action or event in the past that is finished or completed → J'ai mangé une pomme. I ate an apple.
2. Series of Actions → Il est arrivé, a pris son manteau, et est parti. He arrived, grabbed his coat, and left.
3. Specific Moments in Time → Nous avons commencé à travailler à neuf heures. We started working at nine o'clock.
4. To describe sudden changes or emotional reactions → Elle a ri quand elle a entendu la blague. She laughed when she heard the joke.

How to Form the Passé Composé:

The passé composé is formed by combining an auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) with the past participle of the main verb. To know which auxiliary verb to use checkout the Maison d'être.

For most verbs, avoir is used. Here’s a quick reference with regular verbs that end in -er like parler, -ir like finir, or -re like vendre:

(Side note: The past participle of regular verbs is formed by removing the infinitive ending -er/-ir/-re and adding the appropriate ending as displayed above.)

Some verbs, particularly those that denote movement or change of state (more information in the Maison d'être article), use être. For instance, with aller:

(Side note: When using être, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.)

Tips and Triggers for the Passé Composé

Most often you will see the passé composé used with time expressions - words and phrases that signal completed actions or interruptions in the past. Here are some common ones:

• hier (yesterday)
• ce matin (this morning)
• soudain (suddenly)
• tout à coup (all of a sudden)
• une fois (once)
• ...

Imparfait

The imparfait is a tense to express actions that are seen as ongoing or habitual in the past.

When to use this tense:

1. Habitual Actions → Quand j'étais petit, je regardais la télé. When I was little, I used to watch TV.
2. Ongoing Actions in the Past → Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné. I was reading when the phone rang.
3. Descriptions → Il faisait beau et elle était heureuse. It was nice out, and she was happy.
4. Descriptions of Simultaneous Actions → Pendant que je lisais, il regardait la télé. While I was reading, he was watching TV.
5. Emotions & Mental States → Elle pensait à son enfance. She was thinking about her childhood.
6. Background Information → Il y avait beaucoup de monde à la fête. There were a lot of people at the party.

How to Form the Imparfait:

Use those endings to conjugate regular verbs in the imparfait tense:

(Side note: in most cases the stem of the verb is the "nous" form of the present tense so for bouvoir → nous bouvons → stem is therefore "buv-")

Trigger Warning !

Here are some triggers that can help you identify when to use the imparfait tense: