The Imperfect tense (Imparfait) is very easy to conjugate in French as MOST verbs follow the same pattern of conjugation (EXCEPT for être - Conjugate être in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense))
Look at these examples of verbs in Imparfait:
Je faisais un château de sable.
I was making a sandcastle.
Tu chantais à l'école?
Were you singing at school?
Elle avait un chien.
She had a dog.
Nous parlions français ensemble.
We used to speak French together.
Vous choisissiez votre maison.
You were choosing your house.
Ils étaient meilleurs amis cette année-là.
They were best friends that year.
How to form the Imparfait
1. Take the nous form of the verb in Présent indicatif
2. Drop the -ons ending
3. Add the following endings
| je / j' | -ais |
| tu | -ais |
| il/elle/on | -ait |
| nous | -ions |
| vous | -iez |
| ils/elles | -aient |
Examples :
- parler : nous parlons (we are talking) -> je parlais
- finir : nous finissons (we are finishing) -> je finissais
- faire : nous faisons (we are doing) -> je faisais
- prendre : nous prenons (we are taking) -> je prenais
When to use the French Imperfect Tense (Imparfait)
Expressing continuing action in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Expressing habits or repeated actions in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Describing and expressing opinions in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
avoir
Elle avait un chien.
She had a dog.
chanter
Tu chantais à l'école?
Were you singing at school?
choisir
Vous choisissiez votre maison.
You were choosing your house.
faire
Je faisais un château de sable.
I was making a sandcastle.
Nous faisions du sport.
We used to do sport.
finir
Il finissait son repas.
He was finishing his meal.
parler
Nous parlions français ensemble.
We used to speak French together.
Q&A
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
29/07/18
It is -
Nous conduisions .
Anna
Kwiziq community member
29/07/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29/07/18
Nous étions conduire doesn't mean anything. It is a literal translation from English which simply has nomparallel in French.
-- Chris.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29/07/18
Nous étions conduire doesn't mean anything. It is a literal translation from English which simply has nomparallel in French.
-- Chris.
Anna
Kwiziq community member
29/07/18
Mais no! :-)
if it means nothing, then why does it show up in Conjugate être in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Merci
Anna
Kwiziq community member
29/07/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
31/07/18
Nous étions -- We were.
Nous conduisons. -- We drive / we are driving.
Nous conduisions. -- We were driving / we used to drive.
Nous avions conduit -- We had driven / we had been driving.
Nous avons conduit. -- We drove.
Grammatically, you never use the infinitive (conduire) after an auxiliary verb (être) in a compound tense.
Also, the English continuous form (-ing form) does not have a one-to-one correspondence in French.
-- Chris.
Anna
Kwiziq community member
31/07/18
Anna
Kwiziq community member
31/07/18
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
7/07/16
Bonjour Lea !
The verb "sourire" does follow the rule of that lesson:
the Présent form for "nous" is: nous sourions
So if we follow the rule, the stem for l'Imparfait will be souri-
E.g. je souriais, tu souriais, il souriait, nous souriions, vous souriiez, ils souriaient
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
William
Kwiziq community member
20/03/17
Donovan
Kwiziq community member
6 November 2018
2 replies
Could you highlight one line a bit more? "Present nous form" in l'imparfait... I keep forgetting that part.....
I have recently become addicted to this site, and I'm filling in all of the gaps in my self learning. One thing has tripped me up more than once... Using the "present nous form" in l'imparfait. I know it's already in bold font, but could you highlight that line in color with stars and big arrows around it?? :P Thanks for a GREAT site!
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
6 November 2018
6/11/18
Bonjour Donovan !
I agree there's never too much colour in a grammar lesson :)
I hope the updated version will work for you!
Bonne journée !
Donovan
Kwiziq community member
6 November 2018
6/11/18