sashabasha

[dusty osprey]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[stray smelt]

The general rule is imparfait for continuous past actions or for past context, passé composé for one-off actions.

If you can use past continuous in English ("was doing") then it's almost always imparfait. Like "I was eating"

General rules can only get you so far though, reading a book that uses passé composé is a good way to learn through experience and build your intuition.

[next lantern]

Yes. You can usually translate the past continuous (was/were verb-ing) into the imparfait and the present perfect (have/has verb-ed) into the passé composé, but it’s the simple past (verb-ed) that’s the issue