Imparfait vs passé composé

Years

French reads years as normal numbers. No German neunzehnhundert, no English twenty twenty-six:

• mille never takes an -s: deux mille.
• dix-neuf cent soixante-huit (German style) exists but sounds old-fashioned or formal.
• en + year: en 2026 = in 2026 (no article).

Dates: cardinal numbers, not ordinals

German says der vierzehnte Juli, English the fourteenth of July. French simply says le quatorze juillet: article + plain number + month.

• le 14 juillet = le quatorze juillet
• le 3 mai = le trois mai
• le 1er janvier = le premier janvier: the only ordinal.
• With the weekday: le lundi 7 mars = le lundi sept mars.
• Written short: 14/07/2026 (day/month/year, like German).
• Months and days are written lowercase: juillet, lundi.

Final consonants: six, huit, dix

These change sound depending on what follows:

Also: sept /sɛt/ (p silent), vingt /vɛ̃/ but vingt-deux /vɛ̃t dø/, cent /sɑ̃/ but cent ans /sɑ̃t‿ɑ̃/.

70, 80, 90 and other news numbers

• 70 soixante-dix (60 + 10), 80 quatre-vingts (4 × 20), 90 quatre-vingt-dix. In Belgium and Switzerland: septante, nonante (and huitante in parts of Switzerland).
• le XXe siècle = le vingtième siècle; les années 60 = les années soixante.
• Decimals use a comma: 3,5 % = trois virgule cinq pour cent.
• Thousands use a space: 1 500 = mille cinq cents; 2 millions d'euros (with de).

Every French past story mixes the two tenses. The question is always: is this the scenery or the plot?

The core contrast

1. Background vs. event

• Il pleuvait quand nous sommes sortis. = It was raining when we went out.
• Nous dînions quand l'orage a éclaté. = We were having dinner when the storm broke.
• La foule attendait devant la gare. Soudain, le train est arrivé.

The imparfait sets the stage, the passé composé moves the story forward.

2. Habit vs. single action

• D'habitude, je prenais le bus, mais ce jour-là j'ai pris un taxi. = I usually took the bus, but that day I took a taxi.
• Le dimanche, on allait chez mes grands-parents. (every Sunday)
• Dimanche, on est allés chez mes grands-parents. (last Sunday, once)

Counted repetition is an event: Je suis allé trois fois à Lyon. Il a appelé sept fois. Once you can count it, use the passé composé.

3. Duration with a clear limit

A closed period takes the passé composé, even if it was long:

• Elle a vécu à Paris pendant dix ans. = She lived in Paris for ten years (and then left).
• Elle vivait à Paris à l'époque. = She was living in Paris at the time (no limit given).

Signal words

Signal words help, but meaning decides: Hier, il faisait beau (description of yesterday) is perfectly correct.

Verbs that change meaning

With some verbs, the tense changes the meaning, much like English knew vs. found out:

In the news: reported speech

After a past reporting verb (a déclaré, a annoncé, a expliqué), a present tense becomes imparfait:

• « La situation est sous contrôle. » → Le ministre a déclaré que la situation était sous contrôle.
• « Nous avons un problème. » → Il a expliqué qu'ils avaient un problème.

German does something similar with the Konjunktiv (er sagte, die Lage sei unter Kontrolle); French simply uses the imparfait.

Test yourself: imagine a film. Camera on the scene (weather, people, what they were doing)? Imparfait. Something happens and the plot moves? Passé composé.

The rule

French nouns in -ure are almost always feminine and often identical to English -ure and German -ur. German speakers have the advantage here: Kultur, Natur, Struktur map one to one.

All are la (or l'), even where German says das Abenteuer.

False friends: watch out

In the news you will meet la fracture sociale / numérique (the social / digital divide) and une mesure (a measure, as in government measures) almost daily.