Temps du verbe suffrir

Question

Louise a souffert? Je pensais que les sentiments, les émotions et l'action continue seraient l'imparfait?

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Helen, 
Great question!
'Elle a souffert tout au long de sa vie' uses passé composé because:
It views the suffering as a complete whole -
You're looking back at her entire life as a finished period. The phrase 'tout au long de sa vie' frames her life as a completed timeframe, and you're making a statement about that entire period. You're stating that this suffering happened, viewing it as an accomplished fact.
If you zoomed in on a period of her life, however, you could use imparfait in contexts like:

Elle souffrait beaucoup à cette époque = She was suffering a lot during that time (ongoing state)
Quand je la connaissais, elle souffrait = When I knew her, she was suffering  (descriptive background)

The key is that 'tout au long de sa vie' treats her life as a completed unit of time, which naturally calls for passé composé
Hope this helps!