LearnModule 4 · Lesson 13 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, completedUnit 3 · L'imparfait — the way things were

Scene and event — the two pasts together

Module 4 of the free French course (CEFR A2, completed), lesson 13 of 30: The imparfait sets the scene; the passé composé fires the event: Il faisait beau. On this page: 6 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 13.

The words

French	English	Say it
soudain	suddenly	soo-DA(n)
je jouais au parc	I was playing at the park	zhuh zhoo-eh oh PAHRK
j'ai vu un petit chien	I saw a little dog	zhay vew uh(n) puh-tee SHYA(n)
il pleuvait	it was raining	eel pluh-VEH
c'était le soir	it was evening	say-teh luh SWAHR
tout à coup	all of a sudden	too tah KOO

Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.

Hear the words

Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.

La règle · The rule

The imparfait sets the scene; the passé composé fires the event: Il faisait beau. Je jouais au parc. Soudain, j'ai vu un petit chien!

Et aussi · And also

Scene verbs (was, had, was -ing) go imparfait; one-time actions (saw, took, went) go passé composé. Module 5 drills this contrast to mastery.

Attention · Watch out

Scene verbs (was, had, was doing) go imparfait; one-time actions go passé composé. soudain is a signal: what follows it is passé composé.

Do it now — on paper

Say all 6 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with soudain.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 13 in Module 4 are the written half of this page.

This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.

Keep these words

Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.

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