Imperfect tense — l'imparfait
The imperfect describes the background of past events: ongoing states, habits, descriptions, age, weather. Pair it with the passé composé for "what was going on when something happened".
Formation — one rule for almost every verb
- Take the nous form of the present tense.
- Drop the -ons.
- Add: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Example: parler → nous parlons → parl- + endings.
| parler | |
|---|---|
| je parlais | nous parlions |
| tu parlais | vous parliez |
| il/elle/on parlait | ils/elles parlaient |
✦Worked example— Worked examples
| Verb | nous form | imperfect stem | je form |
|---|---|---|---|
| finir | finissons | finiss- | je finissais |
| vendre | vendons | vend- | je vendais |
| faire | faisons | fais- | je faisais |
| prendre | prenons | pren- | je prenais |
| boire | buvons | buv- | je buvais |
The one true irregular: être
Stem ét- (no relation to sommes):
| être | |
|---|---|
| j'étais | nous étions |
| tu étais | vous étiez |
| il/elle/on était | ils/elles étaient |
When to use the imperfect — four jobs
- Habit in the past: Quand j'étais petit(e), je jouais au foot tous les samedis. — When I was little, I used to play football every Saturday.
- Description / state: Il faisait beau et il y avait beaucoup de monde. — The weather was nice and there were lots of people.
- Ongoing action interrupted by a sudden event (paired with passé composé): Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné. — I was sleeping when the phone rang.
- Polite or hypothetical use: Si on allait au cinéma ? — How about going to the cinema?
Imperfect vs passé composé — the cleanest test
- Passé composé = a single, completed action. Snapshot.
- Imparfait = ongoing background, repeated habit, description. Movie reel.
Examiner sentence: Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti(e). — It was raining (background, imperfect) when I went out (event, PC).
Model phrases
- Quand j'étais à l'école primaire, j'avais des cheveux longs. — When I was at primary school, I had long hair.
- Avant, je détestais les épinards ; maintenant, je les adore. — Before, I used to hate spinach; now I love them.
- On regardait un film quand l'électricité a coupé. — We were watching a film when the power cut out.
- À sept ans, je voulais devenir astronaute. — At seven, I wanted to be an astronaut.
- Il y avait une ambiance incroyable au concert. — There was an amazing atmosphere at the concert.
⚠Common mistakes
- Using PC for habit: Quand j'étais petit, j'ai joué au foot — wrong. Use je jouais.
- Building the stem from the infinitive instead of the nous form: je faisais not je faisais (correct here, but prendre → je prenais not je prendais).
- Pronunciation of -aient: silent. Ils mangeaient sounds the same as il mangeait.
- Forgetting the cedilla: je commençais (with ç before -a).
- Misusing in narratives: imperfect = scene-setting, PC = events on the timeline.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-french