À l’époque, Marie habitait ici.

À l’époque means something like at that time, back then, or in those days, depending on context.

It points to a period in the past that has already been mentioned or is understood from the situation. It often gives background information.

So in À l’époque, Marie habitait ici, it sets the time frame first: back then, Marie was living here / used to live here.

Because époque begins with a vowel sound, French normally uses elision here:

• la époque → l’époque

So:

• à + l’époque = à l’époque

This is very common in French before words beginning with a vowel or silent h:

• l’école
• l’histoire
• l’amie

French uses accents as part of normal spelling.

• époque has é, which tells you it is pronounced with an ay/eh-like sound: é
• À has a grave accent, but here it does not usually change pronunciation very much in everyday speech

The accent on à is especially useful because it distinguishes it from a:

• à = to / at / in
• a = has (from avoir)

So the accent helps you avoid confusion in writing.

Habitait is the imperfect tense, and a habité is the passé composé.

French often uses the imperfect for:

• ongoing situations in the past
• background description
• repeated or habitual actions

Here, Marie habitait ici describes a past state or situation: she was living here or used to live here.

If you said Marie a habité ici, it would sound more like:

• she lived here at some point
• the fact is presented as a completed event

So habitait is natural if you are setting a scene or talking about what things were like back then.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The French imperfect often covers both ideas:

• was living
• used to live

In English, we choose the best translation based on the situation. In this sentence, both are possible:

• At that time, Marie was living here.
• Back then, Marie used to live here.

The French form itself does not force just one of those translations.

It is pronounced roughly like a-bee-TAY.

A more precise pronunciation is:

• habitait → /a.bi.tɛ/

A few important points:

• the h is silent
• the ha- sounds like a
• the ending -ait in the imperfect is pronounced like -è / eh

So habitait does not sound like English habit.

No. The h in habiter is silent.

So:

• habiter
• habitait
• j’habite
• il habitait

all begin with a vowel sound in pronunciation.

That is why you also get forms like:

• j’habite and not je habite

Ici means here, and in French, adverbs of place often come after the verb.

So this word order is very natural:

• Marie habitait ici.

Putting ici at the end is the most neutral way to say it.

You can move it for emphasis in some contexts, for example:

• Ici, Marie habitait...

But that sounds marked or contrastive. The original sentence is the normal everyday order.

The base form is habiter, which means to live or to reside.

Habitait is:

• the imperfect
• third person singular
• from habiter

So:

• j’habitais = I was living / used to live
• tu habitais
• il/elle/on habitait
• nous habitions
• vous habitiez
• ils/elles habitaient

In this sentence, Marie is singular, so French uses habitait.

Yes, sometimes, but the nuance is a little different.

• habiter focuses on where someone lives / resides
• vivre can also mean to live, but it is broader and can refer to life in general, not just residence

So in a sentence about address or location, habiter is especially natural:

• Marie habitait ici. = Marie lived here / resided here.

You could say Marie vivait ici, and it may still work, but habitait is the clearer choice if you are specifically talking about where she lived.

Yes. French often places time expressions at the beginning, but they can sometimes appear elsewhere.

For example:

• À l’époque, Marie habitait ici.
• Marie habitait ici à l’époque.

Both are possible.

The version with À l’époque at the beginning is very common because it sets the time frame right away. It sounds especially natural when giving background information.

The comma is used because À l’époque is an introductory time expression.

In English, we often do the same thing:

• At the time, Marie lived here.

In French, the comma is common and helps readability, especially when the sentence begins with a phrase like:

• À l’époque
• En 2010
• Ce jour-là

Sometimes you may see such expressions written without a comma in shorter or less formal writing, but the comma here is perfectly normal.