Il est, Il était

[faint jackal]

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Il est, Il était

[hazy laurel]

He is
He was

[river linden]

He/it is/was

[hazy laurel]

You might need to learn about conjugation

[river linden]

To be more specific, both are conjugations of the verb « être » (« to be ») for « il/elle/on ».

• « est » is présent
• « était » is imparfait

[grand nebula]

Oh yeah my bad. Those I seem to have a lot of problems with those times you know.

[severe rover]

Il est = he is right now

il etait = he was, but in a longer period of past time

[summer dock]

wym longer period of time?

[river linden]

Maybe he meant a past incomplete action ?

[summer dock]

thats not possible

[river linden]

Wdym

« He was writing »

[summer dock]

bro like
'he was expecting it'
'he was talking thru the mic'

lke i get confused

how are these imparfait?

[hazy laurel]

Because they're actions in progress (in the past). He was in the process of talking through the mic, it was not over

[summer dock]

okkk

but then

sometimes we use present tense for thee types of things

not exactly for 2 sentcnes i mentioned above, but lke

we use present tense

[river linden]

The earth was round yesterday

Still is today, it didn’t finish being round

You might be looking for passé composé

[summer dock]

what bout

a bag was there on the table

we use present here or imparfait?

[summer dock]

this is written in present tense?

[river linden]

Both imparfait

They’re not present tense even in the English sentences you have.

Un sac était là sur la table
La terre était ronde

It’s kind of the difference between « was going » and « went »