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Le ciel était sombre et j'ai entendu un cri.

Le ciel était sombre et j'ai entendu un cri.
The sky was dark and I heard a cry.
From Lesson 133:Past tense contrast: descriptions vs. completed actions·French

Breakdown of Le ciel était sombre et j'ai entendu un cri.

je
I
être
to be
et
and
avoir
to have
entendre
to hear
le ciel
the sky
sombre
dark
le cri
the cry

Questions & Answers about Le ciel était sombre et j'ai entendu un cri.

Why do we use était in the first half but ai entendu in the second half?
This sentence perfectly shows how French mixes two past tenses. était is the Imparfait, which sets the scene and describes an ongoing state (the sky was dark). ai entendu is the Passé Composé, used for a sudden, completed action (I heard a cry) that happened during that scene.
How do we form était?
était is the Imparfait form of être (to be) for he/she/it. The verb être is actually the only French verb with an irregular stem in the Imparfait. We take the special stem ét- and add the regular ending -ait.
Why is it j'ai entendu and not just j'entendu?
ai entendu is in the Passé Composé (the compound past). This tense always needs two parts: a helping verb (here, ai from avoir) and the past participle of the main verb (entendu). Without ai, the verb is incomplete.
Could I use j'ai écouté instead of j'ai entendu here?
Not quite! entendre means to hear a sound that simply comes to your ears, like a sudden cry. écouter means to listen to something on purpose. Since the cry was an unexpected noise you noticed, j'ai entendu is the right choice.

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