How/Where can I learn about the past tense in French?

Question

I'm struggling with things as simple as "How was your day?" because I don't understand what's supposed to be different. Yes, I know how to say "How is your day?" and "How was your day?", but I don't understand WHY they're different in the way they are.

Would someone please help me figure out how past tense works in French, or tell me where I can get help?

Ok, so now I still know "How is your day?" and "How was your day?", but I still don't understand the differences in the verbs, and how it works. Thus, I cannot apply what you told me to anything else, because you didn't tell me how it works, only how to use it.
It's not hard to figure out what to ask someone while the football game they're watching is still in progress, but it is very hard to use that example to figure out anything else.

Answer 1

for the past tense, you have the passe compose and the imparfait. passe compose is for quick actions that happen once while the imparfait is used for repeated habitual actions in the past. first learn the passe compose. thats like saying. I eat an orange-->I ate an orange. im assuming you know je mange un orange so you take the verb 'manger' and you want to put it in the past tense. with the passe compose you use the verb avoir (to have) + the past participle of any verb (in most cases..) so for instance we have j'ai tu as il a nous avons vous avez ils ont. so take je mange un orange. you just insert the avoir form before the verb --> j'AI _____ un orange. so were are saying i have (eaten) an orange. or, i ate an orange. now, in this blank space is where things get slightly more complicated. the past participles of verbs differ depending on the verb ending. there are exceptions of course. but generally speaking, verbs ending in ER (such as manger) drop the ending ER and turn to an é. so you have mangé. this is the past participle of to eat, so you insert it into j'ai mangé un orange. you can think of this as i (have) eaten an orange or just i ate an orange. other verbs like those which end in IR will change to a 'i' in the past participle form. for instance, finir will change to fini (drop the IR add i) finally, verbs ending in RE such as perdre, will drop the RE and add a u. So you can say j'ai fini( i finished). j'ai perdu. (i lost) and j'ai mangé. (i ate). by using avoir + the infinitive you form the passe compose or this simple past tense. this is used for quick one time actions. this is the most simple explanation i can give...there are exceptions of course even with this sometimes the verb aller is used instead of avoir for expressing past tense. it just depends on the verb. most of the time though, you will you avoir. aller is also used with reflexive verbs. finally the imparfait- the tense used for habitual thing or when we use was -ing or were -ing and other expressions such as time weather states of being and many others...OK you take the verb. Parler, for instance. take the 'nous' form. nous parlons. you always use the nous form to form the imparfait except for etre which is an exception. the ending you can add to form this tense is (je) ____ais (tu) _______ais (il/elle/on) ______ait (nous) _______ions (vous) ______iez) (ils/elles) ______aient..... with this tense no avoir or aller form proceeds it. you simply just write the verb (taken from the nous form) and add this ending to express this tense. so you can say.. je parlais. (i used to talk) of course there are exceptions with irregular verbs but this is the jist of it. if you want to learn this in more detail im sure you can just search for it online....i hope this helps somehow! good luck!

Answer 2

Well, You can say "How is your day" it could be anytime during the day, "How was your day" it is in the evening.
Like in french: "Comment ca se passe?"=how is it going?, calling a friend during a football game.
"Comment ca s'est passE (with an accent)? = How did it go? when the game is over.

then you have the difference between imparfait and passE composE: it is somewhat the same than in English with long action and a short action:
I was sleeping when he arrived : "Je dormais (imparfait) lorsqu'il est arrivE (passE composE)