ightsoboom.

[high zinc]

Please be patient

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[mint crest]

jsuis confus a cause du traduction en anglais

[whole idol]

est-ce que ça t'aide?

ou même ça

[mint crest]

why is PC just a dot

like what determines it

[hoary pendant]

it's something that happens at a specific time

[mint crest]

specific time and ending?

[hoary pendant]

If you're describing routine in the past it's imparfait. For a specific event it's pc

[whole idol]

j'ai mangé → I ate (fact, no nuance of time)
je mangeais → I was eating (nuance of an action that took place through time, not instantaneous)

[hoary pendant]

In the sense that if you were to draw a timeline it would be a dot.

[hoary pendant]

For the routine example:
"Je me brossais tout le temps les dents après le déjeuner. " implies that it's no longer the case (otherwise you'd use présent)
"Je me suis brossé les dents après le déjeuner." is talking about one spécific time you brushed your teeth after lunch

[mint crest]

how would i know which one to use tho

thats whats confusing me

imp = more than once?
pc = 1 specific time?

[hoary pendant]

Are you making a description, talking about an old routine or repetitive action? Then you'd use imparfait.

Are you calling back a specific event? Then PC

[mint crest]

so i can still be doing the action but im just describing 1 time in particular that it happened?

[hoary pendant]

That's pretty much it. It's a bit more nuanced ( like in reiwa's example, where it nuances the action through time, for example if you want to explain something that happened while you were eating "Je mangeais quand ma mère est rentrée" I was eating when my mum came in". And imparfait for desciptions as well)

[toxic arrow]

If it’s still happening you use the present tense

[hoary pendant]

If you want to call back to a time in particular it happened you would use the PC. You wake up every morning but if you want to talk about that time you woke up on christmas you'd use PC "Je me suis levé le matin de Noël"

[toxic arrow]

Je me brosse les dents chaque soir
-> You've been brushing your teeth every evening and you're still keeping the habit

Je me brossais les dents chaque soir
-> You used to brush your teeth every evening but now you no longer do that, maybe you stopped brushing your teeth or just changed the time

Je me suis brossé les dents le matin de Noël (to borrow Aquatic's example)
-> This describes the one specific instance of you brushing your teeth, that being on the morning of Christmas, because it only happened once and not every time

[mint crest]

why do ppl say «j'ai mangé.» if u always eat? wouldnt it be IMP bc nothing in particular happened?

[grand valve]

J'ai mangé is a started and finished action that happened at a specific time in the past.

[mint crest]

so je mangeais means im not finished?

im so slow omg

[grand valve]

You were not done eating yet in the past.

[whole idol]

mangeais → was eating

[grand valve]

It was a continuous action, the action was incomplete, i.e. not finished.

[whole idol]

no, don't beat yourself up about it, it can be difficult to get your head around, but when you do, it will just make sense ☺️