EXTRA PRACTICE Point de départ You have already seen some uses of the passé composé versus the imparfait for talking about actions and events in the past. Here are some other contexts in which the choice of tense is important. • The passé composé and the imparfait are often used together to narrate a story or describe an incident. The imparfait provides the background description, such as time, weather, and location. The passé composé highlights specific events in the story. Uses of the passé composé and the imparfait Le passé composé is used to talk about: L’ imparfait is used to describe: • main facts • the framework of the story: weather, date, time, background scenery • specific, completed events • descriptions of people: age, physical and personality traits, clothing, feelings, state of mind • actions that advance the plot • background setting: what was going on, what others were doing Il était minuit et le temps était orageux. J’avais peur parce que j’étais seule dans la maison. Soudain, quelqu’un a frappé à la porte. J’ai regardé par la fenêtre et j’ai vu un vieil homme habillé en noir… It was midnight and the weather was stormy. I was afraid because I was home alone. Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. I looked through the window and I saw an old man dressed in black… • When the passé composé and the imparfait occur in the same sentence, the action in the passé composé often interrupts the ongoing action in the imparfait. ACTION IN PROGRESS Je chantais I was singing INTERRUPTING ACTION quand mon ami est arrivé. when my friend arrived. Céline et Maxime dormaient Céline and Maxime were sleeping quand le téléphone a sonné. when the phone rang. • Sometimes the use of the passé composé and the imparfait in the same sentence expresses a cause and effect. CAUSE J’avais faim, I was hungry, EFFECT alors j’ai mangé un sandwich. so I ate a sandwich. Elle est partie She left parce qu’elle était fatiguée. because she was tired. Vérifiez 3A.2 The passé composé vs. the imparfait (Part 2) and the verb vivre Leçon 3A Structures 132 cent trente-deux Communicative Goal Narrate a story and describe an incident Interactive Grammar Tutorial 132 Teacher’s Edition • Lesson 3A Section Goals In this section, students will learn: • the use of the passé composé vs. the imparfait in narration, to describe interrupted actions, and to express cause and effect • common expressions indicating the past tense • the verb vivre Scaffolding • Work with students to write the uses of the passé composé and the imparfait from pp. 128–129 on the board. Have students work in pairs to write example sentences for each use. When going over the sentences, emphasize that the passé composé is used to express completed actions in the past or a change in state or condition, and that the imparfait expresses actions with an undefined beginning or end. Then, have them explain the difference between these two sentences: J’ai téléphoné quand ma mère est arrivée. Je téléphonais quand ma mère est arrivée. (In the first case, I called after my mother arrived. In the second case, I was in the process of calling when my mother arrived.) Have students come up with other examples of sentences where the message changes based on which past tense form is used. • Go over each of the bullet points on this page. Have students explain how the examples in each point relate to the uses listed earlier. • Use timelines to illustrate an interrupted action and a cause and effect statement. The verb in the imperfect is a continuous line while the passé composé is a point on or at the end of that line. Pairs Ask students to narrate an embarrassing moment. Tell them to describe what happened and how they felt, using the passé composé and the imparfait. Then have volunteers retell their partner’s embarrassing moment using the third person. You may want to let students make up a fake embarrassing moment. Groups Have students work in groups of four to write a short article about an imaginary road trip they took last summer. Students should use the imparfait to set the scene and the passé composé to narrate events. Each student should contribute three sentences to the article. When finished, have students read their articles to the class. Grammar Tutorial
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