French past tense uses two main forms: the passé composé and the imparfait. Students need this cheat sheet because English often uses one past tense where French requires a choice. Knowing the difference helps you write clear stories, answer questions, and understand reading passages.
This reference focuses on formation, usage, and common signal words.
Key Facts
- The passé composé is formed with subject + avoir or être in the present tense + past participle, such as j'ai parlé or je suis allé.
- Regular -er past participles end in -é, regular -ir past participles end in -i, and regular -re past participles end in -u.
- Use the passé composé for completed actions, specific events, and actions that happened once, such as Hier, j'ai fini mes devoirs.
- The imparfait is formed from the nous form of the present tense, minus -ons, plus -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
- Use the imparfait for descriptions, background information, repeated habits, ongoing actions, and states of being in the past.
- Most verbs use avoir in the passé composé, but motion and change-of-state verbs such as aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, naître, mourir, monter, descendre, rester, retourner, tomber, and devenir use être.
- With être verbs, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, such as elle est allée and ils sont partis.
- Common signal words for the passé composé include hier, soudain, une fois, puis, and tout à coup, while imparfait signals include toujours, souvent, d'habitude, quand j'étais petit, and pendant que.
Vocabulary
- Passé composé
- A French past tense used for completed actions, specific events, and actions that moved a story forward.
- Imparfait
- A French past tense used for descriptions, habits, ongoing actions, and background information in the past.
- Auxiliary verb
- The helping verb avoir or être used with a past participle to form the passé composé.
- Past participle
- The verb form used after avoir or être in the passé composé, such as parlé, fini, vendu, allé, or fait.
- Agreement
- The change made to a past participle to match gender and number, usually with être verbs or a preceding direct object.
- Time expression
- A word or phrase that gives clues about tense, such as hier for passé composé or souvent for imparfait.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using imparfait for a single completed action is wrong because specific finished events usually need passé composé, such as J'ai mangé à huit heures.
- Forgetting être with movement verbs is wrong because verbs like aller, venir, arriver, and partir usually form the passé composé with être.
- Skipping agreement with être verbs is wrong because the past participle must match the subject, as in elle est arrivée and ils sont sortis.
- Using the present tense auxiliary incorrectly is wrong because passé composé needs avoir or être in the present tense, such as nous avons vu, not nous avions vu for passé composé.
- Choosing tense only from English translation is wrong because English past forms do not always show whether French needs a completed event or background description.
Practice Questions
- 1 Conjugate in the passé composé: Hier, nous (finir) le projet.
- 2 Choose passé composé or imparfait and conjugate: Quand j'étais petit, je (jouer) au foot tous les samedis.
- 3 Conjugate in the passé composé with agreement: Elles (aller) au cinéma vendredi soir.
- 4 Explain why this sentence uses both tenses: Il pleuvait quand j'ai quitté la maison.