L'Imparfait
The French imperfect (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense which indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imperfect is very often translated in English as "was" or "was ___-ing."
The imperfect can indicate any of the following:
-
Habitual actions or states of being
-
E.g. Quand j'étais petit, nous allions à la plage chaque semaine - When I was young, we used to go to the beach every week.
-
-
Physical and emotional descriptions: time, weather, age, feelings…
-
E.g. Il était midi et il faisait beau – It was noon and the weather was nice
-
-
Actions or states of an unspecified duration
-
E.g. Je faisais la queue parce que j'avais besoin de billets – I stood in line because I needed tickets
-
-
Background information in conjuctions with the passé composé
-
E.g. J'étais au marché et j'ai acheté des pommes – I was at the market and I bought some apples
-
-
Wishes or suggestions
-
E.g. Ah ! Si j'étais riche ! – Oh! If only I was rich!
-
-
Conditions in si clauses (SIC)
-
E.g. Si j'avais de l'argent, j'irais avec toi – If I had some money, I would go with you
-
-
The expressions être en train de- and venir de- in the past
-
E.g. J'étais en train de faire la vaisselle – I was (in the process of) doing the dishes
-
French imperfect conjugations are very easy, as the imperfect of virtually all verbs — regular and irregular — is formed the same way: drop the -ons ending from the present indicative nous form of the verb and adding the imperfect endings.
Être is the only irregular verb in the imperfect, because the present tense nous sommes has no -ons to drop. So it has the irregular stem ét- and uses the same endings as all other verbs.
French imperfect conjugations
Here are the imperfect endings and conjugations for the regular verbs parler (to speak) and finir (to finish), the -ier verb étudier (to study), the spelling change verb manger (to eat), and the irregular verb être (to be):
