the imparfait, french help?

Question

I heard there is some imparfait thing like with

location
age
appearance
physical condition
attitude, emotions, and desires
time
weather

is this some kind of order for sentences im not sure what it is, if it is a order they are supposed to go in, can someone please give me the correct order?

thanks!

Answer 1

This sounds far too complicated! The Imparfait/imperfect tense is used for things which were happening continuously in the past: I was walking down the road, you were reading a book, he was looking a the sky... or things which used to happen: when we were small, we used to visit the zoo, when he was rich he used to buy valuable antiques......or to describe things in the past tense. Here's a sample passage: "Mon âme détergeait les vitres du tram pour se noyer dans le brouillard mobile des réverbères. Brouillard, mon frère incontaminé... Un brouillard épais, opaque, qui emmitouflait les bruits, et faisait surgir des fantômes sans forme... A la fin, j’arrivais à un ravin immense et je voyais une silhouette très grande, enveloppée dans un suaire, le visage d’une blancheur immaculée de neige. Je m’appelle Arthur Gardon Pym.
Je mâchais le brouillard. Les fantômes passaient, m’effleuraient, s’évanouissaient. Au loin, les quinquets luisaient comme les feux follets dans un cimetière..."

Those are the rules, as I recall them. Things that were happening, things that used to happen and descriptions in the past.

Answer 2

This isn't an order, these are the types of scenarios in which one would use the imparfait or imperfect tense versus the passe compose.

Answer 3

those are the circumstances when you would use imparfait, as opposed to passe compose. the thing is, if one of those things changes suddenly and it is unplanned, it becomes passe compose. you basically just have to get the hang of it.

Answer 4

in case you describe you travels it may well be passé composé. And your grammer is incorect, permit me fix that for you. :o) J'ai voyagé aux États-Unis, Taiwan et beaucoup d'autres lieux au Canada. J'ai été à l. a. au États-Unis pour visiter mon oncle et ma tante and so on..