Compound Past or Imperfect: How Do You Choose?

When you tell a story in the past, the imparfait¹a past tense that describes: "il faisait beau", "je dormais" sets the scene and the passé composé²a past tense that tells an action: "j'ai glissé", "il est arrivé" tells the action. That's the rule I give my students.

This choice gives almost all my students a hard time. That's normal. In this article, I explain the rule, show you four situations to help you choose, and then we read a short story together.

The rule: the scene and the action

Imagine a film.

• The imparfait is the scene : the situation, what was going on, habits.
• The passé composé is the action : what happens at a specific moment, events that follow one another.

Il pleuvait quand j'ai glissé.

Il pleuvait : that's the scene. The rain was already there, it was going on. J'ai glissé : that's the action. It happens at a specific moment, in the middle of that scene.

When you hesitate, ask yourself this question: am I describing the scene, or am I saying what happened?

Four situations to help you choose

1. Describing or making something happen

Il faisait beau. Soudain, il a commencé à pleuvoir.

Il faisait beau describes the weather, with no precise beginning or end. Il a commencé à pleuvoir is an event: at one moment, something changes. The word soudain shows it.

2. An action in progress, interrupted by another

Je marchais dans la rue quand j'ai vu Paul.

Je marchais : the action was in progress. J'ai vu Paul : another action happens and interrupts it. The imparfait for what was going on, the passé composé for what happens.

The same here:

Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné.

On était au café quand il est arrivé.

3. A habit or a single time

Tous les jours, je prenais le bus. Un jour, j'ai pris un taxi.

Je prenais le bus : it's a habit, something that was repeated. J'ai pris un taxi : it happened once. Tous les jours and un jour help you choose.

That's also why we use the imparfait to talk about our childhood:

Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot.

4. A state or a change

J'étais calme. Tout à coup, j'ai eu peur.

J'étais calme describes a state that was going on. J'ai eu peur says that at a specific moment, something changed. With tout à coup, we move from the scene to the action.

Signal words

Some words put you on the right track.

With the imparfait, often: d'habitude, souvent, tous les jours, pendant que, avant, autrefois, quand j'étais petit(e), le samedi.

With the passé composé, often: soudain, tout à coup, un jour, hier, ce matin.

Be careful: these are clues, not automatic rules. The meaning of the sentence is still what matters most.

A short story, sentence by sentence

Here's a little mishap told in the past:

Samedi, il pleuvait. J'étais en retard et je courais vers la gare. Tout à coup, j'ai glissé sur le trottoir ! Mon téléphone est tombé et l'écran s'est cassé. Et bien sûr, j'ai raté le train !

Let's look at it together.

• Il pleuvait, j'étais en retard, je courais : that's the scene. The situation, what was going on. Imparfait.
• Tout à coup, j'ai glissé : the action begins. Passé composé.
• Mon téléphone est tombé, l'écran s'est cassé, j'ai raté le train : the events follow one another, one after the other. Passé composé.

Do you see the movement? First we set the scene, then we tell what happens.

Common mistakes

Here are three common mistakes.

Using two imparfaits when one action interrupts another.

Je lisais quand le téléphone sonnait.

The phone rang once, at a specific moment. Correct:

Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné.

Using the imparfait for a single event.

Hier, j'allais au cinéma.

Yesterday, you went there once. Correct:

Hier, je suis allé au cinéma.

Using the passé composé to describe your childhood.

Quand j'ai été petit…

Childhood is a scene, a period that lasted. Correct:

Quand j'étais petit…

Quick reminder: forming the two tenses

The imparfait

Take the verb with nous in the present tense, remove -ons and add the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

nous parlons → je parlais

Only one exception: être becomes j'étais.

The passé composé

Take avoir or être in the present tense, then the participe passé³the form of the verb that follows "avoir" or "être": "mangé", "fini", "allé".

j'ai mangé · je suis allé

Almost all verbs take avoir. Two families take être : a few verbs of movement and change of state, such as aller, venir, partir, arriver, naître, tomber, and all verbes pronominaux⁴verbs conjugated with "me, te, se": "se lever", "se perdre" : je me suis levé.

When speaking, listen to the end of the verb

j'ai chanté · je chantais

The two forms sound very similar. J'ai chanté ends with a closed sound, « é ». Je chantais ends with a more open sound, « è ». And be careful: je faisais is pronounced « je fe-zè », with an e.

How people tell stories in speech

In conversation, you'll often hear these two phrases:

J'étais en train de cuisiner quand mon frère est arrivé.

J'étais en train de… emphasizes the action in progress, the scene. Then the passé composé makes the event happen.

Et là, le bus est parti !

Et là announces the action, the moment when everything changes. You often hear it when someone tells an anecdote.

Your turn!

Imparfait or passé composé? Put the verb in brackets in the right tense.

1. Je (dormir) … quand le réveil a sonné.
2. Soudain, la lumière (s'éteindre) … .
3. Petit, je (aller) … à la plage tous les étés.
4. Hier, nous (rater) … le train.
5. Il (faire) … froid et la route était glissante.
6. Tout à coup, mon téléphone (tomber) … .

Answers : 1. dormais · 2. s'est éteinte · 3. allais · 4. avons raté · 5. faisait · 6. est tombé

Want to keep going? Find more sentences to complete on the A2 e-book exercise page.

My tip for making progress

Tell the story of your last weekend out loud, in three sentences in the passé composé and two in the imparfait. You can even record yourself on your phone, to listen to yourself again later.

This choice between imparfait and passé composé isn't learned all at once. It comes by telling stories, little by little, one story after another. And we keep working on it at level B1.

This rule, these examples and other exercises are in my free e-book for level A2, Les mignardises – L'apéro. To find out whether this level is yours, see the levels page. And to work on the past tenses with me, in lessons, write to me from the contact page.