Difference between Passé Composé and Imparfait

Difference between “Le Passé Composé” and “L’Imparfait”

For those of you just starting to learn French, “Passé Composé” and “Imparfait” may still sound like pretty names of birds or of cute little pets.

For others who’ve been studying French for a while, the nightmare has already been unveiled…

So what are the “Composed Past” and the “Imperfect” – not so sexy when translated into English and brought back to a dramatic grammatical reality… Oh well… Passé Composé and Imparfait are the two major tenses used to talk about past events in French. In English you guys deal with different animals called Preterit, Present Perfect or Past Continuous. Well, to be able to say what you did yesterday in French, you gotta embrace a new logic!

In linguistics (please don’t panic when you hear this word!!), we say that the Passé Composé is used for narratives. Most grammatical books will express the idea in a simplified way by saying that it corresponds to punctual actions in the past.  Let’s take an example:

Ex.       Hier matin, Fred est allé chez Eric. Ils ont parlé et puis Fred est reparti.   - Yesterday morning, Fred went to Eric’s. They talked and then Fred left again.

Here we’re dealing with a series of punctual actions that happened one after another, in the past – notice the use of “hier matin” as an indication of something punctual.

As for the Imparfait, in linguistics (yes, again!) we say that it is used for commentaries in the past. Again, grammatical books will simplify the idea by saying that the Imparfait is used for descriptions, to set the background of a past story, to give the time in the past, to express repetitive actions in the past or actions that lasted a while. Examples:

Ex.    Quand les oiseaux chantaient, je parlais aux inconnus et je riais. (habit in the past) – When the birds were singing, I would talk to strangers and laugh.

Il était quatre heures, et il regardait encore les voitures. (time/background story) – It was four o’clock and he was still looking at the cars.

Avant, Chloë faisait la fête tous les jours. (repetitive action in the past) – Before, Chloe would party every day.

Elle portait une robe qui lui allait très mal. (description in the past) – She was wearing a dress that fitted her very badly.

Now let’s have a look at a sentence mixing both beasts,    and let’s see what happens:

  Ex.       Patricia faisait la folle quand un inconnu est arrivé sans faire de bruit. – Patricia was being crazy when a stranger arrived stealthily.

The Imparfait establishes what was going on when the Passé Composé action interrupted the Imparfait action. Yep, the two tenses fight for the spotlights sometimes! Just make sure to pick the one that will make your sentence shine with grammatical perfection!

A plus et bon français à tous!

Mlle Soso

BONNE ANNEE 2012!!!!!!

What, you got lazy and didn’t send any Christmas cards this year? Good news! You still have time to grab pens and papers and start showering your friends with beautiful greetings. The French actually send out greeting cards the whole month of January!!

You’ll never guess how the tradition first started… The French stole the idea from their darling friends… the British!! Well, actually, the real origins of the ‘Cartes de voeux’, take us back to ancient China and Egypt where people would scribble their greetings on what looked a bit like today’s business cards. They would physically deliver the cards themselves – the postal service being what it was at the time…

Around 1840, the British came up with that wonderful little invention called ‘a stamp’ and quickly stopped visiting their so-called “loved ones” and other acquaintances – too tiresome!! Instead, they started mailing Christmas cards. The tradition was adopted by most European countries.

As to the French, up to the early 1900s, they continued to both pay a formal visit to relatives, colleagues and even to their bosses but also to send greeting cards, for the New Year rather than Christmas though. Today, visits are not so common anymore! Actually, children are working hard to keep up the tradition since that day can be a very productive one for them because of another tradition the French originally got from the Romans: “les étrennes”. On January 1st, Children go around wishing adults (relatives and whoever they can think of), a ‘Bonne Année’!! The grown-ups, touched by the thoughtful gesture, happily go to their purses to give the little ones their ‘étrennes’ (in other words, money!). The cute and innocent little beings can thus start the year with a big smile of their faces.

Having said that, the OhLaLaFrench team wishes you all a fantastic new year, free of charge!!!

UNE TRÈS BELLE ANNÉE À TOUS!!!!!!!!!

Poser des Questions

Pluriel des mots en ‘-al’ et ‘-ail’

Do you guys know any words ending with –al? I’m sure you’ve heard of “le festival” or “le carnaval” or maybe even “le journal”.You’ve also learned that, to form the plural of nouns in French, just like in English actually, you add an –s at the end. 

Well, for words ending in –al, only the exceptions have embraced the general rule with the usual ‘–s’… So let’s start with the exceptions for once: le bal/les bals, le carnaval/les carnavals, le festival/les festivals, le chacal/les chacals, le régal/les régals, le cal/les cals. Every other ‘–al’ words take ‘–aux’ in the plural. Ex.: le journal/les journaux, le canal/les canaux, le mal/les maux, le cheval/les chevaux.

Got that? Awesome! Now let’s look at the plural of words ending with ‘–ail’. They are much more conformist than their ‘–al counterparts’ since they take an ‘–s’ in the plural form. So why mention them? Well, you know… there are always those who don’t wanna do like everybody else, the extravagant exceptions that want a little place in your memory. So they and remember them.

Here they are: bail/baux – corail/coraux – émail/émaux – soupirail/soupiraux – travail/travaux – ventail/ventaux – vitrail/vitraux.

Careful not to mix up the 2 types of words mentioned here. The confusion is easy. The only difference between the 2 is that cheeky “i” nestled in between the ‘a’ and the ‘l’.

Bon travail! Essayez d’éviter les maux de tête! (Good work! Try to avoid headaches!)

Mlle Soso

Halloween or Hallo…win in France?

Bad pun? Maybe. Interesting question? I think so… Is Halloween winning in France?

Apparently Halloween originated thousands of years ago among the Celts. At that time, people celebrated the passage into the new year, the new season.
Growing up in France, I first heard of ‘Halloween’ when watching American movies. What we celebrated and still celebrate on November 1st in France is “la Toussaint” (literally all Saints’ day and in other words, the ‘day of the dead’). It’s a day of remembrance and that day, people go to decorate the tombs of their loved ones, bringing them flowers – traditionally chrysantemums.
In the 1990s, Halloween started to grow into something in France, despite a strong reluctance coming from French culture lovers who showed a hint of anti-americanism, let’s admit it! However the influence of the American culture over young French minds eager to have fun couldn’t be ignored. Plus, businesses found their interest in the whole “tra-la-la” (song-and-dance). A pretext to make money? Hell yeah! These two groups of people having found a common interest, Halloween parties started to pop up all over the country. But beware! The French like to keep it spooky and creepy. Boo!! No little princesses or super heroes around, just mean, threatening ghosts, witches and vampires…

So, does Hallow…win today? The celebrations are common somehow they have not been fully integrated into the French way of life so to speak. Yes, it is the occasion for some people to party and have fun, but many still don’t celebrate the occasion still showing some resistance to the anglo-saxon cultural influence. So, Halloween yes, but does Hallow..win? Not really… Not yet anyways..

In the meantime… BON HALLOWEEN!!!!

Mlle Soso.

Pluriel des mots en -ou

In general, the plural of words ending with -ou is very simple: you just add an -s.
Example: un bisou – des bisous (a kiss – kisses)
BUT… of course there’s a but, otherwise you wouldn’t be learning French!
There are a few exceptions.
BUT (again, yes!)… lucky you, there is a simple sentence you can memorize and that includes all the -ou words which take an -x in the plural form, instead of the usual -s (they’re a bunch of originals, yes… what can we do…) Here’s the sentence:
“Mon chou, bijou, viens sur mes genoux, laisse tes joujoux, prends ces cailloux et jette les sur ce hibou plein de poux.”
(My darling, jewel, come on my lap, leave your toys, take those stones and throw them on that owl full of lice.)
Not the most peaceful request coming from a mother, but it does the trick!
You may hear different variations of this same sentence, but in there are the 7 exceptions to memorize.
Alors bonne chance!!

Trailer of Webisode 9 “Oh La La, I’m Getting Around!”

Les Antonymes

One major task when learning a foreign language is to keep enriching one’s vocabulary. The traditional method is to learn list of words thematically. It does get tedious, but it’s hard not to go through this process. But how about adding a little research game. When learning a new word, check if you know its antonym (word with the opposite meaning). Example: ‘noir’ vs ‘blanc’; ‘enseigner’ vs ‘apprendre’; ‘courir’ vs ‘marcher’; ‘être debout’ vs ‘être assis(e)’.
Here are a few more for you to figure out. Do your little research if necessary and fill up the blanks!
‘chercher’ vs __________ ;
‘se lever’ vs _________ ;
‘dessus’ vs ________ ;
‘devant’ vs ___________ ;
‘content’ vs ___________ ;
‘gros’ vs __________ ;
‘sombre’ vs ___________
Do you know them all? ) Let us know…

Conjugaison des verbes qui se terminent en -ER (Aimer)

Conjugaison du verbe “Etre” (To Be)