Prenominal verbs

Question 1

When to use the imparfait

(was doing, were working …) or the structures used to and would

Answer 1

Use the imparfait to:

• answer the question qu’est-ce que /comment c’était? – what was something like? (e.g., weather, landscape, person)
  Example:
  Le temps était horrible à la mer.
• express a repeated past action (used to, would)
  Example:
  Souvent, je m’arrêtais pour parler avec les villageois.
• talk about a past action whose beginning and end is unknown
  Example:
  Ils passaient leurs journées à l’intérieur.
• express simultaneously occurring past actions (while)
  Example:
  Donc, pendant que je pédalais, ils étaient sûrement assis sur le sable.
• describe a continuous past action that were already in progress when another action (usually in the passé composé) interrupted
  Example:
  Mais un jour, pendant que je parlais avec un agriculteur, j’ai reçu un appel.

Question 1

When to use the passé composé

Answer 1

• express a past action that happened on a specific occasion (usually with a specific time marker)
• express a one-time past action
• list sequential past actions that happened one after another
• introduce a new past action that interrupted another that was already in progress (expressed in the imparfait)