Help knowing when to use passe compose or imparfait tense?

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of one of the verbs listed below. Use either passé compose or imparfait.

I need help with this. How do I know which tense to use? I'm also having trouble knowing which verb to use. Thanks

Nous (blank) tot tous les matins. Apres le petit dejeuner, nous (blank) notre journee. Nous (blank) tous les jours parce que nous (blank) du camping au bord d'un lac. Un jour, marie-pierre (blank) d'aller se promener dans le foret. Je (blank) avec elle. Nous (blank) bien le chemin parce que ce n'(blank) pas la premiere fois que nous (blank) dans cette foret. Nous (blank) une heure, puis nous (blank) pour nous reposer. Tout a coup, marie-pierre (blank). Je/J' (blank) dans se direction et je/j' (blank) un enorme ours brun! L'ours (blank) vers nous calmement. Marie-pierre lui (blank) un gateau et il (blank). Moi, je/j' (blank) très peur! Heureusement, cet ours (blank) les gateaux suisses! Apres ce petit incident, je/j' (blank) au bord du lac tous les jours.

aimer
aller
avoir
commencer
connaitre
crier
decider
donner
etre
faire
marcher
nager
partir
regarder
repartir
rester
s'arreter
s'avancer
se lever
voir

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on February 24, 2013 at 2:09pm

I just googled it and none of the explanations restricted its use to writing. I found one site only that actually said it is used in spoken French. Somehow I thought that when I learned it, I was told that it's used only in writing.

EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on February 24, 2013 at 8:06pm

Are you sure that you weren't misremembering the "past historic" tense since that is a form of the verb which is restricted to writing (as far as I know)?

E.g. "Il fut un temps" = "Once upon a time"

"Ils eurent faim." ="They were hungry."

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on February 24, 2013 at 9:19pm

No. I know that's a separate tense. I learned it as "passe' simple." It is restricted to writing. Maybe I just got confused because there was reference to l'imparfait being used in writing.