French · Rung 21 of 26

Imparfait against passé composé

The imparfait is built on the first person plural of the present, dropping -ons and adding -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient: nous parlons gives je parlais. Only être is irregular, j'étais. The question is not forming it but choosing it: the imparfait is the scenery — what there was, what used to happen, how things were — and the passé composé is what happened once and pushed the story along. Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné: I was reading, scenery; it rang, event. With some verbs the change of tense changes the meaning: je savais is “I knew” and j'ai su is “I found out”.

Where this sits

Comes after
Passé composé
Opens up
Subjunctive

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. Quand j'étais petit, je ___ beaucoup. (lire)

    • lisais
    • lirais
    • lisai
    • ai lu

    Why The imparfait comes from the first person plural of the present without -ons: nous lisons → je lisais. Habit in the past is its natural ground.

    easier

  2. La maison ___ grande et il y ___ un jardin.

    • était … a eu
    • a été … a eu
    • fut … eut
    • était … avait

    Why Describing how things were is always the imparfait: no beginning, no end, only a state. That is why stories open in the imparfait and move forward in the passé composé.

    in between

  3. Je ne le ___ pas, on me l'a dit hier.

    • savais
    • sache
    • ai su
    • saurai

    Why With some verbs the tense changes the meaning: je savais is “I knew” (a state) and j'ai su is “I found out” (a moment). The same with pouvoir: je pouvais was able; j'ai pu managed it.

    harder