#hawkta

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next flameBOT
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Please be patient

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frank garnet
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passé composée ( is for when action has taken place and has ended )

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imparfait ( is for somtehing that has started in the past but its not clear when it ended)

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heir soir, j'ai dansé dans ma chambre ( last night I had dansed in my room)

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Je danse depuis j'avais 10 dans ( I have been dancing since I was 10) ( but in this tense you are still saying, that you are still dancing in the present and the action hasn't ended)

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I hope that helps a bit

hot cedar
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« Je dansais » would imply that you no longer danced

hot cedar
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Both passé composé and imparfait describe things that started and ended in the past. The difference here is thus:
(1) Duration: PC implies the thing was instantaneous or started and ended with an exact time frame (j’ai allumé la lumière) whereas Imparfait implies that the thing lasted for some time or started and ended without a clear timeframe (il pleuvait hier soir).
(2) Habit/Uncountability: PC describes actions that you do once or a handful of times without regularity; for example, you may turn on the light only once a day. Imparfait describes actions that are habitual – things you do at a regular interval – or things that happened so many times you can’t count them and they all blur into one; for example, you may turn on the lights every day at a specific time and you kept doing that at such regular intervals it all merged into one.
(3) Relevance: PC implies that there was an action that happened in the past that continues to have relevance to the present; for example, when you turn on the light, the room goes from unlit to lit even until now even though the action of turning it on was in the past. Imparfait implies that what you did had no relevance to the present; for example, it may be raining yesterday evening (hier soir il pleuvait) but that doesn’t mean it’s still raining now and that whatever happened during that rain had no relevance to now.

frank garnet
# hot cedar It’s actually « je danse » here since you’re still dancing

Je danse depuis j’avais 10 ans ( I am dancing since I was 10 ) je danse is present tense. These two definitions are for the imparfait not passé composé

(2) Habit/Uncountability: imparfait describes actions that you do once or a handful of times without regularity; for example, you may turn on the light only once a day. Imparfait describes actions that are habitual – things you do at a regular interval – or things that happened so many times you can’t count them and they all blur into one; for example, you may turn on the lights every day at a specific time and you kept doing that at such regular intervals it all merged into one.
(3) Relevance: imparfait implies that there was an action that happened in the past that continues to have relevance to the present; for example, when you turn on the light, the room goes from unlit to lit even until now even though the action of turning it on was in the past. Imparfait implies that what you did had no relevance to the present; for example, it may be raining yesterday evening (hier soir il pleuvait) but that doesn’t mean it’s still raining now and that whatever happened during that rain had no relevance to now.

frank garnet
hot cedar
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You say « J’habite en France depuis dix ans », not « J’habitais en France depuis dix ans »

hot cedar
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Also, it’s « depuis que j’avais 10 ans »

frank garnet
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Your wrong but okay don’t listen to me

hot cedar
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lmao what

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https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-you-use-depuis-since-for-with-le-present-and-not-le-passe-compose-prepositions-of-time

Kwiziq French
Depuis with the present tense | French Grammar | Kwiziq French

Learn about Using the present tense (Le Présent) - and not the compound past (Le Passé Composé) - in sentences with "depuis" (since/for) in French (French Prepositions of Time) and get fluent faster with Kwiziq French. Access a personalised study list, thousands of test questions, grammar lessons and reading, writing and listening exercises. ...

frank garnet
hot cedar
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It’s clearly stated there

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Using depuis with Imparfait doesn’t mean that you’re still doing that until now, it just meant what you were doing at a certain point in time

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Je vivais en France depuis trois ans quand j’ai rencontré mon mari.
I had been living in France for three years when I met my husband.
We use the imparfait here to describe what had been happening when another past event happened

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It does not at all imply that what we were doing then is still what we are doing now

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The imperfect is used here as contrast to a past action like « Je travaillais quand j’ai rencontré ma copine »

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To explain a sort of ‘interruption’ in long-duration events

frank garnet
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Je danse depuis trois ans ( I have been dancing for 3 years )

Je dansais depuis j’avais 10 ans ( I have been dancing since the age of ten) habitual

hot cedar
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Which implies that you STOPPED

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You just switched the preposition into a conjunction

frank garnet
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Imparfait is the dentition of something that starting in the past and doesn’t have a end and its continuous

hot cedar
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That does not warrant a tense change

hot cedar
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If I said « Il pleuvait », I wouldn’t be implying that it started raining a few hours ago and it was still raining now

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It was no longer raining but I have zero clue when it ever stopped

frank garnet
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Yes exactly I have been dancing since the age of ten doesn’t give you clear indication to when I stopped dancing

hot cedar
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You didn’t stop

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Therefore present

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The imperfect only makes sense if you stopped

frank garnet
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Present for an action that is happening right now in present

hot cedar
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If it started in the past and continues to this day, it’s going to be present

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The imperfect is a past tense. By definition, it belongs to the past.

frank garnet
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If it starts in the past it’s a past tense no matter what

hot cedar
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YOUR OWN SOURCE literally disproves that:

DEPUIS + présent
Use DEPUIS followed by the present tense to talk about an action that started in the past but continues in the present

frank garnet
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French doesn’t have present continuous like English does that’s why you use the imparfait

hot cedar
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The imparfait cannot stand for the present perfect continuous

hot cedar
frank garnet
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I don’t think you’re understand the nuance here

hot cedar
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What am I not understanding here? If you start doing something in the past and you keep doing it to this day, it’s present. Imperfect only makes sense if you no longer do it.

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If it started and ended in the past with duration or habitual repetition, imperfect.

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If it started and ended in the past instantaneously or not habitually, passé composé.

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If it started in the past and continues to this day, present.

frank garnet
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Je vis en France depuis trois ans ( I am living in France for 3 years ) present in that point time you have lived for 3 years at that present moment ( je vivais en France depuis trois ans ( I have lived in France for 3 years ) imparfait you started living France but you haven’t left yet (durant 2015 j’ai vécu en France depuis un an )( during 2015 I lived in France for a year ) passé composé

hot cedar
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‘I have lived in France for three years’ is not the same ‘I’ve been living in France for three years’

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I have lived in France for three years
=> The whole thing has stopped with a clear time period: « J’ai habité en France pendant trois ans »

I’ve been living in France for three years
=> The whole thing has not stopped: « J’habite en France depuis trois ans »

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Imparfait with depuis needs to have a short passé composé action for contrast to portray something happening within a past timeframe

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That’s how I understood it and that’s how the very article you linked described it

frank garnet
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I figured out what was going as to why there was confusion

Present + depuis ( starts in the past and then continues in present that can be habitual ) I will give you that one

Imparfait ( a habitual action that you used to do)

hot cedar
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Right exactly

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Imparfait means that it’s over

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If I said « Je dansais quand j’étais enfant », I’m implying that I’m no longer dancing but it was something I habitually or often did

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If I said « je danse depuis que j’étais enfant », I’m implying that I still do it now

frank garnet
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I don’t usually go into the grammar of it all I just speak with my family

hot cedar
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I don’t know how your family works but to my ears « j’habitais depuis dix ans en France » without a passé composé action just sounds wrong

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Anyway, to answer OP’s question @fast linden, « à 20h » isn’t enough to determine whether a phrase should be in passé composé or imparfait, you need more.
« Je dansais à 20h quand j’ai entendu un bruit inconnu »
« J’ai éteint toutes les lumières à 20h et puis je me suis endormi »
Both of these sentences are perfectly sound; the first uses imparfait because it describes an event or action that has duration being interrupted by a shorter action whereas the second uses the passé composé because it describes a simple action that doesn’t have duration. More context is needed.

frank garnet