Every French learner will have to know when and how to use the two most common French past tenses: the passé composé and the imparfait. These aren’t the only French past tenses, but they’re by far the most widely used, and unsurprisingly, the two most widely confused!

In this article, we’re answering the question of when to use imparfait vs passé composé. We’ll start by taking a look at each tense in turn, exploring the most common ways to use them and some examples. We’ll then compare the two side by side, highlighting when and how to choose between imparfait vs passé composé.

Let’s jump in!

Passé composé: when do we use it?

You’ll hear the passé composé used constantly in spoken French. In English, the equivalent is the simple past, or the present perfect, and in both languages, it’s used to talk about completed past actions.

To conjugate the passé composé, we use the auxiliary verb avoir or être, followed by the past participle of the verb. The presence of the auxiliary verb makes it easy to tell when somebody is using the passé composé vs imparfait (although it does mean you’ll need to know your avoir and être conjugations like the back of your hand!).

We won’t go into the full conjugations of passé composé in this article, so if you’d like to refresh your memory, click here and come back.

In practice, the passé composé looks like this:

• I have practised / I practised. – J’ai pratiqué.
• We have played / We played. – Nous avons joué.

Now let’s look at some examples of when to use it.

To describe past events that aren’t happening now

The most common way to use the passé composé is to talk about events that happened in the past and that are finished – that is to say, they’re not still happening now. This is true whether it’s just the one event you’re describing or a series of successive actions that all happened one after the other.

• She ran a marathon. – Elle a couru un marathon.
• This morning, I woke up, I ate breakfast, and I went to work. – Ce matin, je me suis réveillé, j’ai pris mon petit-déjeuner et je suis allé travailler.
• We watched the film. – Nous avons regardé le film.

Whenever you’d say ‘I have…’

You might have spotted in the initial examples the translation included the English construction ‘I have +ed’ in the phrase ‘I have practised’. If you’d use this construction in English, it’s a sure fire sign you should choose the passé composé in French.

• I’ve finished my homework already. – J’ai déjà fini mes devoirs.
• They have decided – Ils ont décidé

As you can see, both examples refer to actions that occurred in the past and are completed – the homework is finished, the decision is not still being made – so the passé composé is the right choice.

Depending on just how recently the action was completed, you might want to use the immediate past instead of the passé composé. This simple tense uses venir de + infinitive, and we cover it briefly here.

Other uses for passé composé

These are the primary usages for passé composé that we need to understand to compare with the imparfait, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. For example, it’s possible to combine the passé composé with other tenses to form complex sentence structures, such as making a hypothesis with a future tense or imperative or referring to statements that were true in the past and are still correct now. If you’d like to explore other uses for passé composé in depth, check out our dedicated blog post here, where we list nine different uses!

What about imparfait?

An imperfect tense is a combination of the past tense and a continuous or repeating aspect, which often leads to some sense of the action being unfinished.

It’s relatively easy to conjugate the imparfait in French, with all verb endings remaining the same. If you’d like to brush up on imparfait conjugations before reading the rest of the article, you can take a look at our guide here.

Now, let’s take a look at the common situations we use the imparfait in.

To describe things we did continuously

We use the imparfait to talk about past actions that we did continuously or frequently; things that we used to do, such as habits. This is particularly true of actions that don’t have specific start or end times, where we’re not sure when (or even if!) they ended.

• I visited Italy often. – Je visitais souvent en Italie.
• You used to walk to school every day. – Tu allais à l’école à pied tous les jours.
• When I was younger, I played the violin every Tuesday. – Quand j’étais plus jeune, je jouais du violon tous les mardis.
• He used to believe in Santa Clause – Il croyait au Père Noël.

Whenever you’d use the past progressive in English

The past progressive is easy to recognise because it takes the construction ‘was/were +ing’. If you’d use this in English, you’ll want to translate it to the imparfait in French. This could be to describe an action that was interrupted by another, or to talk about two things that were happening at the same time.

• The baby was sleeping when he knocked. – Le bébé dormait quand il a frappé.
• I was cooking breakfast while you were cleaning. – Je préparais le petit-déjeuner pendant que tu faisais le ménage.

To set the scene

You can also use the imparfait to provide background details of a past event. This includes when you’re talking about the emotions you were feeling at the time, the physical appearance of something or someone, and the weather, date, or time.

• I felt awful. – Je me sentais mal.
• She looked beautiful. – Elle était magnifique.
• It was hot and the park was full. – Il faisait chaud et le parc était plein.

When to use passé composé vs imparfait

We’ve now covered the basics of when to use imparfait vs passé composé. If we’re using constructions like ‘I have +ed’, ‘I used to’, or ‘I was +ing’, it’s pretty clear cut which one we should be choosing. Now let’s look at some ways you can tell the difference when it’s not so obvious.

Is the action finished?

As you’ll have seen above, whether or not the action is finished is one of the main differences of when to use imparfait vs passé composé. Completed actions take the passé composé; uncompleted, the imparfait.

• Pierre played football yesterday. – Pierre a joué au football hier.
• Pierre played football when he was younger. –  Pierre jouait au football.

In the first example, we know that Pierre finished playing football yesterday. However, in the second, we don’t know exactly when he stopped playing; he might even still play today. That’s why we use passé composé for the first, and imparfait for the second.

When did it happen?

Another factor in your decision of when to use passé composé vs imparfait is the timing of the past action. As we’ve mentioned, the imparfait is used to describe what happened on a regular basis for an indefinite number of times. It can be somewhat vague. By contrast, when we use the passé composé, we’re expressing something that happened a specific number of times (even if it’s just once).

• I used to work on weekends. – Je travaillais le weekend.
• I worked this weekend. – J’ai travaillé ce weekend.

• You cooked for us all the time. – Tu cuisinais pour nous tout le temps.
• You cooked for us twice. – Tu as cuisiné pour nous deux fois.

You’ll find that some words and phrases naturally lend themselves to either passé composé or imparfait, depending on whether they signal a vague time frame or a specific event. Here’s a few words for each:

How long did it last for?

A second question to ask yourself if you’re wondering when to use passé composé vs imparfait is how long the action lasted for. When you know the exact period of time in which the action took place, you’ll want to use the passé composé. In situations where the length of time is unspecified or vague, the imparfait is the better choice.

• I worked there from 2000 to 2002. – J’y ai travaillé de 2000 à 2002.
• I used to work there. – J‘y travaillais.

• We dated for a year. – Nous sommes sortis ensemble pendant un an.
• We dated ages ago.  – Nous sortions ensemble il y a bien longtemps.

Something’s changed!

When one past action interrupts another one, you’ll need to use both the imparfait and passé composé. But in which order?

As we explored above, we use the imparfait to set the scene and provide background information. The event that changes this background scene should be expressed in the passé composé.

• I was watching TV when the phone rang. – Je regardais la télévision lorsque le téléphone a sonné.
• You loved school until you failed that class. – Vous aimiez l’école jusqu’à ce que vous avez échoué à ce cours.
• She told us while we were at dinner. – Elle nous l’a dit pendant que nous étions en train de dîner.

Passé composé v imparfait quiz

Want some passé composé vs imparfait practice? Put your new knowledge to the test with these passé composé vs imparfait exercises!

For the following questions, select which you think is the correct translation for each phrase. Make a note of your answers and compare them with the answer sheet and explanation at the bottom of this section.

1. He built it in 1987.

a) Il l’a construit en 1987.

b) Il le construisait en 1987.

2. It rained.

a) Il a plu.

b) Il pleuvait.

3. You used to love cake!

a) Tu aimais les gâteaux!

b) Tu as aimé les gâteaux!

4. She walked the dog every Monday.

a) Elle promenait le chien tous les lundis.

b) Elle a promené le chien tous les lundis.

5. I’ve eaten already.

a) Je déjà mangais.

b) J’ai déjà mangé.

And finally, two bonus passé composé vs imparfait exercises:

6. I felt optimistic, but then I saw the time.

a) Je me sentais optimiste mais ensuite je voyais l’heure.

b) J’ai senti optimiste mais ensuite je voyais l’heure.

c) Je me sentais optimiste mais ensuite j’ai vu l’heure.

d) J’ai senti optimiste mais ensuite j’ai vu l’heure.

7. They were gardening while we cleaned the house.

a) Ils jardinaient pendant que nous avons nettoyé la maison.

b) Ils jardinaient pendant que nous nettoyions la maison.

c) Ils ont jardiné pendant que nous nettoyions la maison.

d) Ils ont jardiné pendant que nous avons nettoyé la maison.

Passé composé vs imparfait quiz answers

1a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5b, 6c, 7b

Conclusion

There we have it! You now have a complete guide to help you decide when to use passé composé vs imparfait. We’ve covered a lot in this article, introducing each verb, considering when to use each and why, and even squeezed in some passé composé vs imparfait practice questions. So, next time you find yourself wondering which is the right past tense to use, you know where to turn!