L'imparfait

Louiseh714

Hi is there anyone that can help me with the imparfait? I know the imparfait but when it comes to trying to decide whether to use the imparfait or passé compose I'm lost

Daniel2590

Passé composé is used for an action you did in the past and is completed (such as "I went to the shop" - it's a finished action) whereas l'imparfait is used for a continuous action that you used to do in the past (such as "I used to play football for 6 years"). I find it difficult sometimes to tell which I should use so I just guess, I don't think it really makes a massive difference which is used (open to correction here!).

Canard

The main question to ask yourself is "Can I pinpoint what I'm talking about?"
As a result of this, verbs like pouvoir / savoir / etre / avoir are very rarely used in the passé composé.

Here's an example where it changes the meaning completely:

"Je savais skier, et donc..." = I knew how to ski, so...
"J'ai su skier, et alors..." = I (suddenly) knew how to ski, and then...

With j'ai su, it means you suddenly gained the knowledge at that EXACT moment and you can pinpoint it. With je savais it's more "I knew at that point, but also before that point", if that makes sense.

That's why you use it with emotions and the weather - "il faisait beau". If you said il a fait beau, it means it got sunny / nice at that specific point in time. Generally you would say "J'étais content" to say you were happy, but if you say something happened and it made you happy, then you can pinpoint the moment where you became happy and it would be like this:

"Mon ami m'a donné un cadeau, et j'ai été content".

I hope some of that makes sense, it's so tricky until it finally clicks! :P

A7XGirl

http://www.francais.ie/grammar/

Go to the L'imparfait part, it's explained quickly and very understandably