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French 2 Unit 4: The Imparfait

The imparfait is the past tense for description, habits and ongoing actions: what things were like, what used to happen and what was going on. It is the most regular tense in French, so learning its formation is quick.

Covers: Forming the imparfait from the nous stem, Être and spelling-change verbs, Habitual past actions, Description: time, weather, age, feelings, Ongoing actions in the past, Si + imparfait suggestions

Study guide

To form the imparfait, start with the nous form of the present tense, drop -ons, and add the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Parler: nous parlons → parl- → je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils parlaient. Finir: nous finissons → finiss- → je finissais. Faire: nous faisons → fais- → je faisais. Avoir: nous avons → av- → j'avais. Because the stem comes from nous, even irregular verbs become regular in the imparfait: prendre → prenais, boire → buvais, venir → venais, aller → allais.

Only one verb has an irregular stem: être, whose stem is ét-: j'étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient. Spelling-change verbs keep the nous spelling where it is needed to preserve pronunciation. Verbs in -ger keep the e before a: je mangeais, ils nageaient, but nous mangions and vous mangiez (no e before i). Verbs in -cer use ç before a: je commençais, but nous commencions. Verbs whose stem ends in i, like étudier, have a double i in nous and vous: nous étudiions, vous étudiiez.

The imparfait describes habitual or repeated actions in the past, often translated as "used to" or "would." Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au parc tous les jours (When I was little, I used to play in the park every day). Signal words include d'habitude, souvent, toujours, tous les jours, le lundi (on Mondays), chaque été, autrefois and quand j'étais jeune. If the action was repeated an unspecified number of times, the imparfait is the natural choice. English "would" in this sense is not the conditional: Chaque soir, mon père lisait une histoire means "Every night, my father would read a story."

The imparfait also sets the scene. It describes time, weather, age, physical appearance, emotions and states of mind in the past: Il était huit heures. Il faisait froid et il neigeait. J'avais dix ans. Elle était grande et avait les cheveux bruns. Nous étions fatigués. Je voulais partir. Verbs of being and feeling, such as être, avoir, vouloir, pouvoir, savoir, penser, croire and aimer, appear in the imparfait very often because they describe states rather than events. In a story, these descriptions answer the question "What was it like?" rather than "What happened?"

Finally, the imparfait describes actions that were in progress at a given moment in the past, translated as "was/were + -ing": À minuit, je dormais (At midnight, I was sleeping). Pendant que maman cuisinait, les enfants regardaient la télé (While mom was cooking, the kids were watching TV). Two actions happening at the same time are both imparfait. A special use: si + on + imparfait makes a suggestion. Si on allait au cinéma ? means "How about going to the movies?"

Key ideas

• The imparfait stem is the present-tense nous form minus -ons.
• The endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient for every verb.
• Être is the only verb with an irregular stem: ét-.
• The imparfait expresses habits and repeated past actions ("used to").
• It describes time, weather, age, appearance and feelings in the past.
• It expresses actions in progress ("was doing") and simultaneous background actions.
• Si on + imparfait makes a friendly suggestion.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Building the stem from the infinitive instead of nous, as in *je prendais instead of je prenais.
• Using an irregular stem for être incorrectly, as in *je suisais instead of j'étais.
• Dropping the e in -ger verbs, as in *je mangais instead of je mangeais.
• Writing a single i in étudier, as in *nous étudions (present) instead of nous étudiions.
• Using the imparfait for a single completed event with a clear time, like *Hier, je mangeais à midi when the meal is just one finished event.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Form the imparfait stem of any verb from the nous present tense.
• Conjugate être, avoir and faire in the imparfait.
• Spell -ger, -cer and -ier verbs correctly in the imparfait.
• Use the imparfait for habitual past actions with signal words.
• Describe weather, time, age and feelings in the past.
• Express actions in progress and simultaneous actions with pendant que.
• Make suggestions with si on + imparfait.

Words to know

l'enfance

childhood

quand j'étais petit(e)

when I was little

le jouet

toy

la poupée

doll

grimper aux arbres

to climb trees

la colonie de vacances

summer camp

d'habitude

usually

autrefois

formerly

souvent

often

tous les jours

every day

chaque été

every summer

de temps en temps

from time to time

il faisait beau

the weather was nice

il pleuvait

it was raining

il neigeait

it was snowing

il y avait du vent

it was windy

timide

shy

sage

well-behaved

bavard(e)

talkative

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.