French Subjunctive Imperfect

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2023-03-25

Le Subjonctif Imparfait is the imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood. It's a literary verb form reserved exclusively for formal writing, notably classic literature.

For example

Il fallait que vous fussiez prêts à 10h. - It was necessary for you to be ready at 10am.

Je doutais qu'il fût à la réunion. - I doubted that he'd be at the meeting.
 

See also: French Passé and our complete list of French Tense Names.