#unautre_avocado

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

neon thornBOT
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Please be patient

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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.

hard iron
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You may be misunderstanding what 'specific point in time' means here. One of the basic differences between the imparfait and the passé composé is a clear before/after state. If I say « j'ai allumé la lumière », we have a specific moment where something changed. Before I say this, the light is off and presumably the room is dark; after I say this, the light is on and the presumably the room is bright. This is what's meant by a specific point in time: You can pinpoint a moment where your action has caused a clear change.
Conversely, if I say « il pleuvait », this moment in time doesn't exist. There's no moment where you can say that before it was raining and after it wasn't. Rain comes and goes and doesn't stop abruptly.

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Thus for number one, it makes sense for it to be imparfait because you weren't describing being somewhere as a moment that has a before/after state, but rather that you had been somewhere, spent some time there, and moved.
Using the passé composé can work, but it implies that you went there and stayed because then the before/after dynamic works; before a specific moment in time, you weren't there and after you were, and you've been there ever since. Example: « J'ai déménagé à Paris en janvier (I moved to Paris in January) ».

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This also applies to number two because you're not describing a specific moment in time. Rather, you're describing a period of time in which the bus was late.

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In terms of resources, LawlessFrench's article on the differences between imparfait and passé composé works well
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/passe-compose-vs-imparfait/

Lingolia's article is also great
https://francais.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/imparfait-passe-compose

Lawless French
lkl
Passé composé vs Imparfait - Lawless French Past Tenses

The passé composé and imparfait (imperfect) often work together, juxtaposed not only throughout stories, but even within individual sentences.

Imparfait vs. Passé composé

Deciding between the imparfait and the passé composé can be tricky; although both are past tenses, they are used in very different contexts and cannot be used interchangeably. Master the difference between these tenses with the examples and explanations below, then put your knowledge to the test in the free interactive exercises.

charred nymph
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@karmic brook I'm a native french I can help you to understand that if you want.

My DMs are open 😁

karmic brook