Kilo Lingo
French grammar Part of Chapter 25

CEFR B2

5 min read

Test yourself (30 questions)

Sequencing French Past Tenses: How to Tell a Story

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026

A French story runs three past tenses at once, and each has one job. The moves the story on, the imparfait holds it still, and the -- steps back to something already over.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Which tense does the job need: an event that moves the story on, a background that does not, or something already finished before this point?

  1. Il huit heures et il pleuvait. (être, setting the scene)

  2. Soudain, une voiture . (s'arrêter, a sudden event)

  3. Quand je suis entré, tout le monde déjà. (partir, before I came in)

The three jobs on one screen

imparfait, the scenepassé composé, the eventplus-que-parfait, before thatWhat do the colours mean?
TenseIts jobExample
imparfaitholds the story still .
moves the story on .
plus--goes back before the scene .
  • . - It was raining.
  • . - A car stopped.
  • . - She had forgotten her coat.

  • elle avait oublié son manteau (before the scene)

  • il pleuvait (the scene, still)

  • une voiture s’est arrêtée (event 1)

  • son frère a baissé la vitre (event 2)

Timeline from past to now, with now marked.

Each tense on its own is on its own page: passé composé or imparfait and the plus-que-parfait. This page puts them in one paragraph.

The story clock

imparfait, the scenepassé composé, the eventplus-que-parfait, before thatWhat do the colours mean?

Picture a clock running through your story. Every verb does one of three things to it.

The story...TenseExample
moves on .
stands stillimparfait .
goes backplus-- .

String ten imperfects together and the story has not moved at all. Three verbs are three ticks of the clock: , , . - She went out, took the bus and arrived.

A first story, annotated

imparfait, the scenepassé composé, the eventplus-que-parfait, before thatWhat do the colours mean?

Read the French line by line, and watch the clock column.

ClockFrenchEnglish
still .It was eight and raining.
stillMarie .Marie had been waiting.
back .She had forgotten her coat.
moves , .Suddenly a car stopped.
still .It was her brother.
moves .He wound down the window.
moves .She got into the car.

The first three lines move nothing. French is happy to open on a scene and let it sit; a story that fires a from the first line reads like a police statement.

sits in the middle of the action and is still imparfait: who it was is a state, not an event.

Signal words, and quand

imparfait, the scenepassé composé, the eventplus-que-parfait, before thatWhat do the colours mean?

Some words tell you which tense is coming. They are a guide, not a law.

SignalEnglishUsually
, suddenly
, then
usuallyimparfait
in the old daysimparfait

sits on the join and can meet all three. The other clause decides the timeline:

TimelineFrenchEnglish
one, then next , souri.When he arrived, she smiled.
cuts into it , .When he arrived, she was reading.
already over , .When he arrived, she had already left.

Same , three timelines: one after the other, an event cutting into a background, and something already over before he came.

A flashback

imparfait, the scenepassé composé, the eventplus-que-parfait, before thatWhat do the colours mean?

A flashback steps off the clock for more than one verb. Here the anchor is the moment I get to the party.

ClockFrenchEnglish
moves .I got to the party at ten.
still .The guests were talking loudly.
moves Sophie .I looked for Sophie in the garden.
back .She had already left.
back .She had left me a note.
back .She had waited an hour.

The three -- verbs all happened before I arrived, so they all go back. In a long flashback, novelists often mark the step back with a -- or two, then slip into a simpler past (in literary prose, usually the ) once the reader knows where they are. In your own French, keep the -- for everything before the anchor.

Reported speech moves back the same way: . - He told me he had seen her. The plus-que-parfait page has the rest.

depuis + imparfait: had been doing

imparfait, still going onplus-que-parfait, already overWhat do the colours mean?

English had been waiting looks like a --. French disagrees: if it was still going on at that past moment, it is imparfait, with for how long.

  • Marie . - Marie had been waiting for the bus for twenty minutes.
  • . - He had been working there for ten years when the factory closed.
  • Lyon 2015. - We had been living in Lyon since 2015.

  • il avait travaillé là pendant dix ans (over)

  • il travaillait là depuis dix ans (still going)

  • l’usine a fermé

Timeline from past to now, with now marked.

At that momentFrench
still there .
ten years over .

Two other ways to say it keep the imparfait too: . and, more formal, . The depuis page covers the present-tense version.

venir de + imparfait: had just

venir de, had justpassé composé, the eventWhat do the colours mean?

+ infinitive means have just done. In the imparfait it means had just done: the moment right before the next event lands.

  • . - I had just gone out when the phone rang.
  • . - She had just fallen asleep when the neighbours shouted.
  • . - We had just finished when they arrived.
FrenchEnglish
.I have just gone out.
.I had just gone out.
.I had gone out (when, unknown).

carries the tense and the action stays an infinitive: . The venir de page has the present-tense uses.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
still going on: imparfait
had just: , imparfait
the time of day is the scene
verbs agree

A story told entirely in the is grammatical and reads like a list; one told entirely in the imparfait never quite happens. Most good paragraphs need both, and a -- only where something came before.

What to do next

  1. Write five lines about your morning: events first, then the scene around them.
  2. Add one sentence with and one with + imparfait.
  3. Review passé composé or imparfait if the two-way choice still wobbles.

Practise: test yourself

Complete the story

0/7

Choose the tense for each gap: does the story move on, stand still or go back?

Marie at the bus stop

Il nuit et la rue était déserte. Marie le bus depuis vingt minutes. Elle avait froid : elle son manteau chez elle. Tout à coup, une voiture devant elle. C' son frère. Il la vitre et lui a proposé de la déposer. Elle de fermer la portière quand il a démarré.

Gap 1 of 7

Pick the right one

0/7

Which tense does the job need: an event that moves the story on, a background that does not, or something already finished before this point?

  1. Il huit heures et il pleuvait. (être, setting the scene)

  2. Soudain, une voiture . (s'arrêter, a sudden event)

  3. Quand je suis entré, tout le monde déjà. (partir, before I came in)

  4. Les invités fort et la musique jouait. (parler, ongoing background)

  5. Je la porte et je suis sorti. (fermer, the next event)

  6. En voyant le chien, elle peur et elle a crié. (avoir, the moment fear struck)

  7. Quand nous sommes arrivés à la gare, le train déjà. (partir, before we got there)

Sort into groups

0/4

In a story, which tense does each word usually call for?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Fill in the blank

0/6

Complete the story with the right past tense of the verb in brackets.

  1. Il nuit et la rue était déserte. (faire) (imparfait, the scene)

  2. Marie le bus depuis vingt minutes. (attendre) (imparfait with depuis)

  3. Elle son manteau chez elle. (oublier) (plus-que-parfait, before the scene)

  4. Tout à coup, une voiture devant elle. (s'arrêter) (passé composé, an event)

  5. Elle dans la voiture. (monter) (passé composé, être verb, agreement)

  6. Elle de fermer la portière quand il a démarré. (venir, she had just done it) (venir de in the imparfait)

Translation drill

0/6

Translate into French, keeping each tense in its job. Watch had been and had just.

  1. It was cold and I had forgotten my coat.

  2. When we arrived, the film had already started.

  3. He had been working there for ten years when the factory closed.

  4. I had just gone out when the phone rang.

  5. She was tired because she had not slept.

  6. The guests were talking loudly when the lights went out.

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Frequently asked questions

How do the three French past tenses divide the work in a story?
The carries the events, one after another: , a . The imparfait carries what was simply true while they happened: the weather, the setting, moods, actions already under way, habits. The -- steps back to something already finished before that point: . Ask of each verb whether the story moves on ( ), stands still (imparfait) or goes back (--).
How do you say 'had been doing something for ten years' in French?
With the imparfait and , not the --: a (he had been working there for ten years when the factory closed). He was still working there at that moment, and something still going on in the past is the imparfait's job. says the same. means the ten years were already over.
What is in the imperfect used for?
It means had just: a (I had just gone out when the phone rang). The -- is true but says nothing about how recently; puts it moments before. carries the imparfait and the action stays an infinitive: .
Which tense goes after in a French story?
Any of the three; the meaning decides. , a souri: two events in a row. , : he arrived in the middle of something already going on. , : she had left before he got there. In all three the clause is the event, and the other clause tells you the timeline. (With the imparfait, sets a scene instead: , when I was little.)
Can you tell a whole French story in the --?
No. The -- only makes sense against a past moment it reaches back from. With no such moment in the story, there is nothing for it to be earlier than, and you want the . In a long flashback, novelists often mark the step back with a -- or two and then slip into a simpler past (in literary prose, usually the ) once the reader knows where they are.