'Ils ont été'

Question

In the example above this example seems a little misleading.  Stated by itself,  it seems as though it would be imparfait because it sounds to me that it could be describing a state of being in the past. Correct?  In order to be passé composé wouldn't it have to describe an action with a clear ending? (after he canceled on them  they were disappointed) ?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Clif,
The passé composé is also used when an action has a clear beginning. It's hard to make this distinction clear with "to be disappointed," so I'm going to use "to be sick" to show the difference:
J'étais malade = I was sick (for an unspecified period of time)
vs
J'été malade = I got sick (e.g., after eating some bad seafood)
So in the case of déçu, you need the imperfect when their disappointment is ongoing without a beginning *or* an ending, but the passé composé when they suddenly "got" disappointed because he cancelled on them.
Does that help?

Answer

Ok. Yes. That's the way I understand it lol. Like you said I think it was a little more challenging with that particular example. Thank you for clarifying.

Answer

Aurélie,
In a response regarding passe compose and imparfait, you used "j'ete malade" to mean "I got sick (because of seafood).  What tense is that?