183 - Passé Composé vs. Imparfait: Which One to Use?
In this episode, you'll learn the difference between le passé composé and l’imparfait, and when to use each one.
After the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practice!
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Transcript
Bonjour à tous, and welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast!
This is episode number 183 — numéro cent quatre-vingt-trois.
In today’s episode, we’re looking at the difference between two past tenses in French that often get mixed up: le passé composé and l’imparfait.
So — when should you use one, and when should you use the other? That’s what we are going to talk about today.
Before we start, if you’re new here — welcome! Make sure to grab your lesson cheat sheet so you can follow along and see how the words are written.
And after the episode, head to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to download your free practice exercises for this lesson.
The link is in the episode notes — and yes, it’s completely free.
Alright — let’s get started!
So, what’s the difference between the passé composé and the imparfait?
Both passé composé and imparfait are used to talk about the past in French — but they are not used in the same way.
Let’s look at them one by one. I’ll explain each tense first, and then we’ll compare them.
1️⃣ Let’s start with the passé composé
You use the passé composé when you’re talking about:
Something that happened once in the past
Something that is finished
Something that happened a specific number of times in the past
Or a list of past actions, one after the other
Think of it as the tense that answers the question: “What happened?”
Let’s look at a few examples:
Hier, j’ai regardé un film d’horreur. 🧟 (Yesterday, I watched a horror movie.) → I use the passé composé here because it’s one action that happened once in the past and is completely finished.
J’ai déjà visité Paris deux fois. 🇫🇷 (I’ve already visited Paris twice.) → I use the passé composé here because it’s something that happened a specific number of times — two times, to be exact.
Il a mangé chez nous, puis il est rentré chez lui. 🍽️ (He ate at our place, then he went back home.) → I use the passé composé here because it’s a sequence of two actions — first he ate, then he left. Each action happened once and is finished.
We use the passé composé to talk about past events that happened once, or a specific number of times, and are finished.
Now, about the structure of the passé composé — you may have noticed it’s built with two parts:
The verb avoir or être (conjugated), plus a past participle.
We won’t go into how to form it in this episode, but if you want to learn that step by step, I teach it inside my beginner course, French Grammar Made Easy.
2️⃣ Now let’s look at the imparfait
You use the imparfait to:
Talk about habits or repeated actions in the past
Describe how things used to be
Or set the scene in the past — like the weather, feelings, or what someone looked like
Think of it as the tense that answers the questions: “What was it like?” or “What was happening?”
Examples:
Quand j’étais petit, je jouais au foot tous les samedis. ⚽️ (When I was little, I used to play soccer every Saturday.) → I use the imparfait here because it’s a habit in the past — it happened every Saturday.
Ma chambre était rose et il y avait des posters partout. 🎀 (My room was pink and there were posters everywhere.) → I use the imparfait here because I’m describing how something used to be — what my room looked like in the past.
La semaine dernière, il faisait très froid et il neigeait. ❄️ (Last week, it was very cold and it was snowing.) → I use the imparfait here because I’m describing the weather in the past — it helps set the scene.
So we use the imparfait to talk about past habits, descriptions, and things that were happening over time.
Same thing here — I won’t go into how to form the imparfait, but if you want to learn that, it’s all inside French Grammar Made Easy.
Alright, so now you have an idea of what each tense is used for… let’s compare them.
Look at this sentence:
Hier, j’ai regardé un film. (Yesterday, I watched a movie.) → I use the passé composé because it’s a one-time, completed action.
Now look at this sentence:
Quand j’étais petit, je regardais un film tous les soirs. (When I was little, I used to watch a movie every night.) → I use the imparfait because it’s a repeated habit in the past.
See the difference?
The first one — “Yesterday, I watched a movie” — tells us what happened yesterday. Just once, and it’s finished. The second one — “I used to watch a movie every night” — tells us about something that happened regularly in the past. It was a habit.
So hopefully, that’s starting to make sense!
Now, let’s do a quick practice together right now on the podcast.
I’ll say 4 sentences in English. You can pause the episode and think about which tense you would use in French — the passé composé or the imparfait.
I used to walk to school every day. 🏫 *I’ll give you a few seconds...*→ That’s a habit → Imparfait → Je marchais à l’école tous les jours.
I broke my phone last night. 📱 → One-time event → Passé composé → J’ai cassé mon téléphone hier soir.
She entered the room and she sat down. 🛋️ → Sequence of actions → Passé composé → Elle est entrée dans la pièce et elle s’est assise.
It was sunny and warm. ☀️ → Description (setting the scene) → Imparfait → Il faisait beau et chaud.
🔁 Quick Recap
Alright — let’s quickly recap what we’ve learned today:
Use the passé composé when you’re talking about things that happened once, or a specific number of times, and are finished.
Use the imparfait when you’re talking about habits, descriptions, or things that were happening over time in the past.
That’s it for today! I hope this helped you understand the difference between these two past tenses. I know this is a tricky topic.
Merci for listening — and I’ll talk to you soon! À bientôt, bye.