imparfait vs passé composé

C. P.C1Kwiziq community member

imparfait vs passé composé

Why does the text switch from imparfait to passé composé here:

Nous étions vraiment désolés. Nous nous sommes excusés

This question relates to:French writing exercise "A football accident"

Freeform Writing Exercise A2

Asked 7 months ago

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Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Colin to me this can be explained by -

' we were sorry ' - a state of being, a feeling or an emotion, not a specific action or event but something that was ' ongoing ', starting before they apologised and continuing for some uncertain time after - imparfait

' we apologised ' - a specific event/action, passé composé - the apology was given, done and dusted

Expressing continuing action with the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait)

Like17 months ago

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