Is this the same as imparfait and passé composé in French?

Very close, and the mapping is useful. The past continuous corresponds to one use of the imparfait, the action in progress, but the imparfait also covers habits, where English uses used to or the past simple. So French has one tense doing two English jobs.

Can the past continuous be used for habits?

Only with always, constantly or forever, and then it is a complaint rather than a neutral habit: she was always arriving late. For an ordinary past habit English uses used to or would, not the continuous.

Why do stories start in the continuous?

Because the continuous paints the scene before anything happens. It was getting dark, people were leaving, and then the simple arrives with the first event. That opening pattern is so standard that switching to the simple is what signals the story has begun.

Which one to useA2

Past simple vs past continuous

The short answer

The past continuous describes what was already going on; the past simple reports what happened. In a sentence with when, the longer background action takes the continuous and the event that cuts in takes the simple: I was reading when the phone rang.

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At a glance

Past simple or Past continuous?

Compare	Past simpleThe event. What happened.	Past continuousThe background. What was going on.
Role in the sentence	Reports an event	Sets the scene around it
Completion	Finished	In progress, with no end stated
Interruptions	The action that interrupts	The action being interrupted
With when and while	Usually after when	Usually after while
Sequence of events	Yes: then, next, after that	No: it does not move a story on
State verbs	Required: I knew, I wanted	Not used

How to choose

Ask these, in order

1
Did it happen and finish?
Past simple. This is the tense of narrative.
She locked the door and walked to the station.
Two finished events, in order.
2
Was it already going on when something else happened?
Past continuous for the one already running.
I was cooking when the smoke alarm went off.
Cooking first, alarm second.
3
Are you describing the setting rather than the action?
Past continuous. Weather, atmosphere, what people were doing when the story opens.
It was raining and nobody was talking.
The scene before anything happens.
4
Is the verb a state, know, want, believe, own?
Past simple, even for something ongoing.
I knew something was wrong.
Never “I was knowing”.

Side by side

Each one, in full

Past simple

When to use the past simple

The event. What happened.

The past simple carries the story. Each verb is an event with an end, which is why a run of them reads as a sequence and why it answers what did you do?

It is also the tense for anything finished with a stated duration: I worked there for six years. Length has nothing to do with the choice: a completed period takes the simple however long it was.

He arrived late, apologised and sat down.

Three events in order.

We lived in Cardiff for four years.

Finished, with a stated length.

I read the whole report on the train.

Complete, from start to finish.

NBCompare I was reading the report, which does not say you finished it.

Past continuous

When to use the past continuous

The background. What was going on.

The continuous provides the background: what was in progress when something else occurred, and what the scene looked like. It never moves the story forward on its own.

Two of its uses are less obvious. It marks a temporary situation in the past: I was staying with friends that week, and with always it expresses irritation, exactly as the present continuous does, he was always losing his keys.

While she was speaking, someone came in.

While marks the background.

At six o’clock I was still working.

In progress at a named moment.

They were arguing again when I got home.

Already under way on arrival.

Mistakes to avoid

What learners actually get wrong

I was reading a book when the phone was ringing.
I was reading a book when the phone rang.
Only the background action takes the continuous. The event that cuts in is a point in time and takes the simple, putting both in the continuous removes the contrast the pair exists to make.
I was knowing the answer.
I knew the answer.
State verbs have no continuous form. Know, want, need, believe, understand, own and seem all take the simple, however ongoing the state was.
While I read, the doorbell rang.
While I was reading, the doorbell rang.
While introduces the longer background action, which takes the continuous. When introduces the event. Getting the conjunction and the tense to agree is what makes these sentences read naturally.
Yesterday I was going to the dentist and then I was buying milk.
Yesterday I went to the dentist and then I bought some milk.
A sequence of completed events takes the simple. The continuous suspends time rather than advancing it, so a story told entirely in it never gets anywhere.

Now use it

Past simple

Regular -ed forms, irregulars, and questions and negatives with did. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.

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Questions

Asked and answered

Is this the same as imparfait and passé composé in French?: Very close, and the mapping is useful. The past continuous corresponds to one use of the imparfait, the action in progress, but the imparfait also covers habits, where English uses used to or the past simple. So French has one tense doing two English jobs.
Can the past continuous be used for habits?: Only with always, constantly or forever, and then it is a complaint rather than a neutral habit: she was always arriving late. For an ordinary past habit English uses used to or would, not the continuous.
Why do stories start in the continuous?: Because the continuous paints the scene before anything happens. It was getting dark, people were leaving, and then the simple arrives with the first event. That opening pattern is so standard that switching to the simple is what signals the story has begun.

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