Usage of participle passe, imparfait, and passe compose

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Guest 000
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Usage of participle passe, imparfait, and passe compose

Post by Guest 000 »

can anyone tell me when do i use these three things (past participle, imperfect, and perfect tense)??? i need to know the similarities, and differences between them, and may i please get some examples in french???

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est-ce que n'importe qui peut m'indiquer quand j'emploie ces trois choses (le participle passe, l'imparfait, et le passe compose)??? est-ce que je savoir les similitudes, et des différences entre elles, et je dois peux satisfaire obtiens quelques exemples en francais???
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Beaumont
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Post by Beaumont »

The "participe passé" is a verbal form used to make the "passé composé", it's like "gone" and "have gone" in English. So the main problem is when to use "imparfait" and when to use "passé composé", and there is no easy answer.

The passé composé is used to express something that took place in the past and is now finished. The imparfait is used to express something in the past like a habit, a circumstance, a feeling, a situation...

When both tenses are used together, the imparfait is like the background, whereas the passé composé is for the action ("Il était minuit quand le téléphone a sonné.")

I gave you a simple and rough explanation, you can find many situations in which the above doesn't seem true. You must read a lot in order to get familiar with the use of those tenses.

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frantsuz
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Re: Usage of participle passe, imparfait, and passe compose

Post by frantsuz »

Guest 000 wrote:
est-ce que quelqu'un peut m'indiquer quand j'emploie (or "quand je dois employer") ces trois choses (le participe passé, l'imparfait, et le passé composé)??? est-ce que je peux savoir les similitudes, et des différences entre elles, et puis-je obtenir quelques exemples en francais???
I dunno how to explain better, but here's some correction of your question in french :
anyone in an affirmative sentence is n'importe qui, but in this question it should be "quelqu'un".

In fact the simple past (passé simple) is easier to use than the passé composé (especially you don't have to wonder what to do with "ne ... pas" in a negative sentence : "n'a pas fait" Vs "ne fit pas" = "didn't make", and it's closer to english preterit), and it's usually more correct (Beaumont's example could be "Il était minuit quand le téléphone sonna"), but hardly used in common speech...
Kto ne kurit i ne p'yot, tot zdoroven'kim pomret.
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Post by Guest »

The "passé composé" ( avoir or ^etre + past participle) was originally used( and is still used) for a past action with present consequences: j' ai fini de manger= my plate is empty, I can leave the table. In this case it corresponds to the English present perfect : I've finished, I've arrived...The "passé simple" ( j' allai, je vis) is the tense used for narration. It corresponds exactly to the English "simple past". However the "passé composé" has gradually replaced "the passé simple" ( je vis, j' allai) in narrations.: "He died in 1956": "il mourut en 1956" (passé simple) = "Il est mort en 1956" (passé composé)."The imparfait" (j' allais, j' étais) is used for: 1) two simultaneous actions: "Pendant que Tom prenait le bain, sa femme faisait la vaisselle": "while Tom was having a bath, his wife was doing the washing up" 2) hypothesis: "Si j' avais de l' argent, j' achèterais une maison": "If I had money I would buy a house" 3: for past actions with a frequent occurence (habits): "Quand il était jeune, il fumait des cigares": "when he was young he used to smoke cigars" or "Il s' asseyait souvent sous le vieux pommier près du moulin...": "He would sit under the old apple-tree near the mill and..."

Karine
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