Je travaillais

Question

In the beginning of the text, according to the context, "j'ai travaillé" could very well have been "je travaillais".
In fact, the second is more probable since it fits better: "A few years ago I was working at..." as opposed to " A few years ago I worked at..."

Accepted Answer

Hi Stavroula,
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/questions/view/who-s-the-tu
 
Cécile makes the point above about the exercise being dictation and as such just requires you to write what you hear.
Is this not the same case with this question?
Jim

Answer

It is the speaker who defines what they want to say - if a native or fluent French speaker uses passé composé, they intend to convey ‘passé composé. If they intend to convey ‘imparfait’ they will use imparfait. There are times when either imparfait or passé composé can be used. It is not possible to decide from an ‘English perspective’ what the French speaker should have said when the primary statement is French. https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-verb-conjugation/passe-compose-versus-imparfait/