When you tell stories in French, it's important to know when to use two different tenses: the passé composé and the imparfait. Each helps create the right feel and details for your story.
Passé Composé
You should use the passé composé when you want to talk about:
Finished actions: These are events that have a clear start and end.
Specific times: For when something happened at a certain moment.
A sequence of events: When telling about actions that happened one after another.
Imparfait
On the other hand, you use the imparfait for:
Ongoing actions: These are things that were happening over time in the past.
Background details: This is for setting the scene with descriptions from the past.
Regular actions: For things that happened repeatedly in the past.
By getting a good grip on these two tenses, you can make your stories more interesting and enjoyable to listen to!
When you tell stories in French, it's important to know when to use two different tenses: the passé composé and the imparfait. Each helps create the right feel and details for your story.
Passé Composé
You should use the passé composé when you want to talk about:
Finished actions: These are events that have a clear start and end.
Specific times: For when something happened at a certain moment.
A sequence of events: When telling about actions that happened one after another.
Imparfait
On the other hand, you use the imparfait for:
Ongoing actions: These are things that were happening over time in the past.
Background details: This is for setting the scene with descriptions from the past.
Regular actions: For things that happened repeatedly in the past.
By getting a good grip on these two tenses, you can make your stories more interesting and enjoyable to listen to!