French language Q&A Forum

Can you explain how to decide whether to use imparfait or le passé composé for être? If I understand it correctly, imparfait is for past events of some duration or past states of existence while le passé composé is for bounded one-off past events.

Above is this example:

L'année dernière, j'ai été vraiment malade.

But if one was sick for most of the year, or even for some months, wouldn't it be:

L'année dernière, j'étais vraiment malade.

So, am I right in thinking the example sentence means something like "I had an episode of grave illness last year"?

Similarly, there is this example above:

Avez-vous été marié?

But being married is, except in extreme cases where there is a divorce immediately after the marriage, being married is an event of some duration.

So, why wouldn't it be:

Étiez-vous marié?

Unless the question is, simply, "have you ever had a marriage ceremony" (which would be a bounded event rather than a state of existence of some duration). But people don't really ask that.

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

In an exam, would either of those be regarded as more grammatically correct/the preferred answer?

It seems like you are trying to explain two concepts, but aren't explicit about it.First compound subjects take plural verb forms: Sarah et ma soeur sont allées à la plage.

Second the subject pronoun changes form from its singular usage:

je --> moi

tu --> toi

Bonjour à tous,

Could someone explain why these verbs aren't ever used in the imperfect ? I realize there are alternative verbs that can be used, but am just curious about the reason. 

Merci !