Passé Composé vs Imparfait - Specific vs Habitual

This grammar works by dividing the past into two categories: "The Event" and "The Setting." The passé composé is for the events. These are things you can check off a to-do list. They have a clear beginning and a clear end. If you can put it on a calendar or a clock, it is likely passé composé. The imparfait is for the setting. It describes what was happening, how things looked, or how you felt. It is the "vibe" of the past. Imagine you are describing a crime scene to a detective. The weather, the time, and the color of the car are all imparfait. The moment the thief broke the window? That is passé composé. You are essentially layering your sentences. You use the imparfait to paint the walls and the passé composé to hang the pictures.

1. 1For the passé composé, you need two parts. First, pick your auxiliary verb: avoir or être. Most verbs use avoir. Use être for the "house of être" verbs and reflexives. Second, add the past participle. For -er verbs, it is -é. For -ir verbs, it is -i. For -re verbs, it is -u.
2. 2For the imparfait, the process is even simpler. Take the nous form of the present tense. Drop the -ons ending. This gives you your stem. Now, add the magic endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
3. 3The only irregular stem for the imparfait is être, which uses ét-. Everything else follows the nous rule. It is remarkably consistent, unlike your favorite coffee shop's Wi-Fi.

Use the passé composé for a series of completed actions. "I woke up, I drank coffee, I left." These are consecutive steps. Use it for actions that interrupt something else. "I was sleeping (Imp) when the phone rang (PC)." Use it for a specific number of times. "I went to Paris three times."

Use the imparfait for descriptions. This includes weather, age, and physical appearance. "It was cold and I was ten years old." Use it for habits. "Every Sunday, we visited my grandmother." Use it for ongoing states of mind. "I was happy." Use it to set the scene. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing."

Do not use the passé composé for background descriptions. Saying J'ai eu faim (I was hungry) sounds like a sudden, sharp pang of hunger that started and ended instantly. Usually, you want J'avais faim because hunger is a state. Do not use the imparfait for the main actions of a story. If you say Je fermais la porte (I was closing the door) instead of J'ai fermé la porte (I closed the door), the listener is waiting for something else to happen. It feels unfinished. Do not use passé composé for your age in the past. In English, we say "I was 20." In French, use the imparfait: J'avais 20 ans. Using J'ai eu 20 ans actually means "I turned 20" on my birthday.

One big mistake is using the passé composé for the weather. You might want to say Il a fait beau for "The weather was nice." While technically possible for a specific duration, Il faisait beau is almost always better for storytelling. Another mistake is forgetting that some verbs change meaning. J'ai su means "I found out." Je savais means "I knew." J'ai connu means "I met (for the first time)." Je connaissais means "I was acquainted with." It is a subtle shift, but it changes the whole vibe of your sentence. Think of it like salt in a recipe. A little change makes a big difference. Also, watch out for the "interruption" trap. Both tenses often live in the same sentence. Don't try to force the whole sentence into just one tense.

In English, we often use "was -ing" for the imparfait and the simple past for the passé composé. "I was eating (Imp) when he arrived (PC)." This is a great starting point. However, English is lazy with habits. We say "I went there every day." French is strict. If it is a habit, you must use the imparfait. If you use the passé composé for a habit, a French person might look at you like you just put pineapple on a pizza. It's not "wrong" in a way that breaks the language, but it feels "off." The imparfait is the tense of nostalgia and routine. The passé composé is the tense of the news report and the history book.