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Le voleur s'échappait par la fenêtre quand la police est entrée.

Le voleur s'échappait par la fenêtre quand la police est entrée.
The thief was escaping through the window when the police came in.
From Lesson 134:Past tense contrast: interruptions·French

Questions & Answers about Le voleur s'échappait par la fenêtre quand la police est entrée.

Why is s'échappait in the Imparfait but est entrée in the Passé Composé?
This sentence shows a classic interruption! The Imparfait (s'échappait) is used for the continuous action that was already happening in the background ('was escaping'). The Passé Composé (est entrée) is used for the sudden, specific event that interrupted it ('came in').
Why does it say est entrée with an extra 'e' instead of a entré?
Entrer (to enter/come in) is a verb of motion that uses être instead of avoir to form the Passé Composé. When a verb uses être as its helping verb, its past participle must agree with the subject. Since la police is feminine singular, we add an -e to make it entrée.
'The police' often acts as a plural noun in English. Why is it treated as singular here?
In French, la police refers to the police force as a single institution, so it is always a feminine singular noun. That is why it takes a singular verb. If you want to talk about multiple individual officers, you would use the plural noun les policiers.
Why use par to mean 'through' in par la fenêtre?
While par usually translates to 'by,' it is also the standard French preposition used for physical movement through a space or an opening. You will also see this in common phrases like passer par la porte (to go through the door).

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