What is the difference between imperfect and passe compose past tense in French?

Answer 1

Both the imparfait and the passé composé are past tenses. Imparfait is used for a description, or talk of an habit. The action is not finished.

quand il faisait froid dehors il rallumait la cheminée - when it was cold outside he used to lit the fire.

(this is an habit).

For the passé composé, the action is precise and finished.

il a allumé la cheminée quand il est rentré du travail - he lit the chimney when he came from work.

he did it once, this is a past action that took lace at a certain time.

Addition :

As usual, youspam is right :

I just have to add that the passé composé is used in spoken french.

In litterature, the narrative tense is generally the "passé simple" .

In the example yourspam gave :

il alluma la cheminée quand il rentra du travail - he lit the chimney when he came from work

Answer 2

The imperfect tense in French is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, while the passé composé is used to express completed actions in the past. The imperfect tense often sets the scene, describes the background, or expresses habitual actions in the past. On the other hand, the passé composé is used for specific events that have a clear endpoint.