The use of English and French past tenses does not follow the same logic. Therefore, it might be useful to stop for just a moment and to think about the different situations that can be expressed in the past and how they are expressed in English.
One is that things happen at the same time, English uses the progressive tense.
Example
He was sitting in a bar, drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper.
Things happen in succession: English uses the simple past:
Example
He came to the bar, ordered a beer and went home without paying.
Things happened in the past and are ongoing in the present; English uses present perfect:
Example
He has worked on this project for more than two years.
Things happened in the past before another event started; English uses past perfect:
Example
He had long gone to bed, before she came home.
As you might have guessed, the same situations are to be expressed in French, life is not so different there... However, other tenses are used, as we will now see.
