What is the difference between the past and the imperfect tense?

French has two commonly used past tenses. These are the past (passé composé) and the imperfect (imparfait). Although they can be used in similar situations, there are some differences between them, and understanding these will help to give an extra level of flair to your written and spoken French. The imperfect is used to describe events that are ongoing in the past. This is similar to the English use of 'was' and 'were'. An example would be, 'I was eating', which would translate as 'Je mangeais'. The imperfect is also used to translate the English 'used to', so 'I used to eat chips' would be 'Je mangeais des frites'. The past tense is used to describe events that are completed, not ongoing. For example, 'I ate' in English, which would translate as 'J'ai mangé'. A good example to remember is a sentence that includes both the imperfect and the past tense, which would be something like 'I was sleeping (ongoing) when my sister phoned me (completed, one time event). This would be 'je dormais (imperfect) quand ma soeur m'a téléphoné (past)'.