ABSTRACT

The passé composé = perfect and is used to refer to completed events in the past, but it usually

implies some kind of link between the past event and the present time, e.g. either that the event

has taken place fairly recently, or that the consequences of it are still felt in the present. It may

correspond either to the English ‘I have placed’ or ‘I have been placing’, but in this extract, as so

very often, it functions as a definite past and is best translated by a simple past in English: ‘I

placed’. It is used in distinction to the imperfect tense (see Chapter 3), which presents actions in

the past as ongoing, continuous, incomplete, e.g. Ils ramenaient (line 8) in the text above. Des

tramways sont arrivés (line 8) is a completed event; but ils ramenaient (line 8) relates what they

were in the process of doing. They were bringing back . . .