Passé composé — a completed event

The passé composé narrates single, completed events in the past. It is built from a present-tense auxiliary (avoir or être) plus a past participle:

• J'ai mangé une pizza. — I ate a pizza. (one finished event)
• Elle est arrivée à huit heures. — She arrived at eight. (être verb → agreement: arrivée)

Remember: the être verbs (movement / change of state) and all reflexives make the participle agree with the subject.

Imparfait — ongoing, habitual, description

The imparfait paints the background: things that were going on, used to happen, or describe a state. Endings on the nous-stem: -ais/-ais/-ait/-ions/-iez/-aient.

• Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot. — I used to play. (habit)
• Il faisait beau. — It was fine. (description)
• Pendant que je lisais… — While I was reading… (ongoing)

The tell: "used to", "was …-ing", weather, feelings, age and scene-setting almost always want the imparfait.

Used to play

Passé composé vs imparfait

The two tenses work together. The imparfait sets the scene; the passé composé drops in the event that interrupts it:

• Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné. — I was reading (scene) when the phone rang (event).
• Il faisait nuit et elle est partie. — It was dark (description) and she left (event).

Rule of thumb: a completed, one-off action → passé composé; a background, a habit, or a description → imparfait.

Which tense fits?

Your turn — passé composé

Irregular past participles

The passé composé and the pluperfect both need the past participle. The regular ones are easy (-er → -é, -ir → -i, -re → -u), but the common irregulars must be memorised:

Note: avoir → eu and être → été come up constantly — j'ai eu ("I had"), j'ai été ("I was / have been").

Which participle?

Match the infinitive to its participle

Tap an infinitive on the left, then its past participle on the right.

The pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)

The pluperfect means "had done" — a past action before another past action. Build it from the imperfect of the auxiliary plus the past participle:

• J'avais mangé avant de partir. — I had eaten before leaving.
• Elle était partie quand je suis arrivé. — She had left when I arrived. (être → partie agrees)

Agreement holds: exactly as in the passé composé, être verbs and reflexives agree — ils étaient partis, elle s'était levée.

"I had eaten"

Your turn — imperfect of être

avoir or être?

The auxiliary in the pluperfect is chosen exactly as in the passé composé. Most verbs take avoir; the movement / change-of-state verbs and reflexives take être and agree:

• J'avais fini mes devoirs. — I had finished. (avoir)
• Ils étaient partis déjà. — They had already left. (être → partis)
• Quand je suis arrivé, ils étaient déjà partis. — When I arrived, they had already gone.

Watch: "when I arrived, they had already left" needs the pluperfect for the earlier action (étaient partis) and the passé composé for the later one (je suis arrivé).

Pluperfect with être

Your turn — pluperfect with être

Passé composé or imparfait?

Sort each sentence by the tense it uses: a completed event, or an ongoing / habitual / descriptive backdrop.

Your turn — a participle

Three tenses in one story

A polished A-Level narration weaves all three. Watch how they layer:

• J'avais déjà dîné (pluperfect — earlier) quand il pleuvait encore (imparfait — backdrop) et soudain le courant a coupé (passé composé — the event).

= "I had already dined while it was still raining, and suddenly the power cut out."

Exam gold: a well-placed pluperfect (j'avais fait, elle était partie) shows the examiner you can sequence the past — a reliable mark-earner.

A single event

Your turn — pluperfect production

Your past-tense toolkit

Cluster 2 builds forwards: the future, the conditional, and their compound "perfect" partners. Press Finish.