Breakdown of Quand la situation était calme, tout le monde souriait.
être
to be
quand
when
sourire
to smile
tout le monde
everyone
calme
calm
la situation
the situation
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Questions & Answers about Quand la situation était calme, tout le monde souriait.
Why are both était and souriait in the imperfect tense (imparfait) rather than the passé composé?
In French, the imperfect tense is used for ongoing states, background descriptions, and habitual actions in the past. Here, la situation était calme sets the scene or general condition, and tout le monde souriait describes a repeated or continuous response whenever the situation was calm. If you wanted to describe a one-off smile at a specific moment, you would switch to the passé composé: tout le monde a souri.
What is the function of quand at the beginning of the sentence?
Quand means “when” and introduces a temporal clause. It tells us that the smiling happens at the times when the situation is calm. It doesn’t force you to use the imperfect—you choose the tense based on whether you’re talking about an ongoing/habitual action (imparfait) or a single completed event (passé composé).
Why is there a definite article la before situation instead of an indefinite article like une?
Using the definite article la implies that you’re referring to a specific, known situation (perhaps one you’ve already mentioned or that’s understood in context). If you said une situation, you’d be talking about any situation in general, not a particular one.
Why is souriait in the third person singular when tout le monde seems to mean “all the people” (plural)?
In French, tout le monde is treated grammatically as a singular expression (“everyone”), so it takes a third person singular verb like souriait. You wouldn’t say souriaient here.
Why doesn’t the adjective calme change form for the feminine noun situation?
The adjective calme ends with an “-e” in its base form and is invariable in the singular—masculine and feminine look the same. You add no extra letter. Both un moment calme and une situation calme use the same spelling.
Could you use lorsque instead of quand here? If so, is there any difference?
Yes. Lorsque is a more formal synonym of quand when introducing a time clause. The meaning remains “when …,” though lorsque is slightly more literary or formal.
Can you give a version of this sentence in the present tense?
Sure. In the present it becomes: Quand la situation est calme, tout le monde sourit. Here est and sourit are present-tense forms.