Choosing Past Tenses in French

For someone learning French, it is often a nightmare to try and decide which form of the past tenses to use. There are so many of them in the French language! Passé composé, imparfait, plus-que-parfait, even the unknown and rarely used passé simple… This article will try and make some sense of it.

Passé Composé

Passé composé is associated with actions completed and limited in the time. Passé composé tends to convey immediacy, finality and progression.

In a story, it is used to tell the succession of actions forming the body of the story. Passé composé is used to give the idea that the actions are completed and took place at a precise moment in the past. It also conveys the idea that this action was limited in the time:

• Hier, Julie est arrivée en retard. Elle s’est précipitée à l’intérieur. Pendant deux heures, elle a attendu
• Yesterday, Julie arrived late. She ran inside. During two hours, she waited.

You could tell a story using only passé composé and it would make sense. It might lack a little context or even poetry, but your reader could easily follow the progression of the story and the actions of the characters.

Compound past is also used to talk about actions that took place before the present action. The passé composé here indicates not only that the action took place in the past, but also that it was limited in time. The present tense indicates that the character is currently wearing the dress.

• Je lui ai donné la robe qu’elle porte
• I gave her the dress she is wearing.

This type of sentences would probably be used in a predominantly present context, where you briefly refer to actions of the past to explain the present or provide background information.

Imparfait

L’imparfait is the tense of description, background information, continuity, and habitual and ongoing actions, of repetition. In a story, all information about the character’s surroundings, outfits, physical appearance, feelings would be conveyed using imparfait.

• C’était une magnifique journée. Le soleil brillait et l’air était frais. Marie portait une jupe bleue et un chemisier blanc qui la faisait se sentir très séduisante.
• It was a glorious day, the sun was high in the sky and the air was fresh. Marie was wearing a blue skirt and a white blouse that was making her feel very attractive.

This paragraph does not tell anything about Marie’s actions, but provides plenty of background information. A story written only in the imperfect tense might not be very exciting and may have the reader wondering where it is going.

Imparfait is also used to describe a habit of the past or actions not situated at a precise moment in the past.

• Enfant, je promenais mon chien chaque matin.
• As a kid, every morning, I walked my dog.

This example conveys the idea that the action was repeated over and over for an indefinite period of time. It also gives the idea of continuity. There is no indication of when the action started or when it ended. It is not delimited in time. It only indicates that it was a habit of the past.

Imparfait is also used to describe actions that took place at the same time that another past action happened. Another rule of tense agreement is at play here.

• Je mangeais une pizza quand le téléphone a sonné.
• I was eating a pizza when the phone rang

You will use the imparfait in the main part of the sentence to indicate that the action was ongoing when the action second verb happened. This second action is limited in time.

Carefully used imparfait and passé composé can add a world of meaning to any text. Remember that each tense carries more meaning than the one imparted by its relation to time.

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