Breakdown of Il marchait vite, mais il est tombé hier.
être
to be
il
he
mais
but
marcher
to walk
vite
fast, quickly
hier
yesterday
tomber
to fall
Questions & Answers about Il marchait vite, mais il est tombé hier.
How do we form the imperfect tense for marchait here?
We take the present tense nous form of the verb marcher (to walk), which is nous marchons. We drop the -ons to get the stem march-. Then, because the subject is il (he), we add the imperfect ending for il, which is -ait, to make marchait.
Why does the sentence use two different past tenses (marchait and est tombé)?
This sentence is a classic example of how French past tenses work together. The imperfect tense (marchait) describes an ongoing background action ("was walking"). The passé composé (est tombé) is used for the sudden, completed event ("fell") that interrupted the walking.
Why is the passé composé here il est tombé and not il a tombé?
Most French verbs use avoir (to have) to form the passé composé, but tomber (to fall) is one of the special motion verbs that use être (to be) instead. You might remember these from the "DR MRS VANDERTRAMP" list from earlier lessons!
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