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.
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
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)
Elle avait un chien.
She had a dog.
Tu chantais à l'école?
Were you singing at school?
Vous choisissiez votre maison.
You were choosing your house.
Je faisais un château de sable.
I was making a sandcastle.
Nous faisions du sport.
We used to do sport.
Il finissait son repas.
He was finishing his meal.
Nous parlions français ensemble.
We used to speak French together.
Why is this wrong? We were driving in Paris when ... It seems like the perfect use of this structure. You suggest using the imparfait for conduire vs en train de. Why?
I see the question asks for conduire in imparfait but I’m still curious why since this seems to call for en train de. Thanks again!
Hi Liz,
Can't answer you for sure without the full context but I suspect that 'en train de' was just unnecessary ...
The following are some examples where you would have to use 'en train de', I hope they help...
Q: Tu as fait le rapport sur l'accident? = Have you done the report on the accident?
R: Oui, je suis en train de le faire = Yes, I am in the middle of doing it
Q: Vous pensez toujours déménager en France? = Are you still thinking of moving to France?
R: Oui, nous sommes en train d'étudier la question = Yes, we are in the process of studying the matter
etc.
Why is this wrong? We were driving in Paris when ... It seems like the perfect use of this structure. You suggest using the imparfait for conduire vs en train de. Why?
I see the question asks for conduire in imparfait but I’m still curious why since this seems to call for en train de. Thanks again!
Don't have an account yet? Join today
In several of your test question you have the verb of (had)plus the verb which understood to be plu perfect and not imparfait. Now please explain how you are going to differentiate?
Hi Ken,
Here are two of the Kwiziq lesson which might help you understand the difference between the imperfect and the pluperfect -
Hope this helps!
In several of your test question you have the verb of (had)plus the verb which understood to be plu perfect and not imparfait. Now please explain how you are going to differentiate?
Don't have an account yet? Join today
I was confused initially as this lesson was to be devoted to regular verbs. The conjugation of être is given in a later lesson an includes the same example copied above. To prevent confusion, I suggest this particular example be removed from this lesson and also the video clip on être as there is another lesson devoted to this subject.
I was confused initially as this lesson was to be devoted to regular verbs. The conjugation of être is given in a later lesson an includes the same example copied above. To prevent confusion, I suggest this particular example be removed from this lesson and also the video clip on être as there is another lesson devoted to this subject.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
These are the examples given:
- 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
All the verbs have the same ending despite the subject. Perhaps I'm missing something
I guess the point is that the imperfect is formed using the stem of the verb in the first person plural, present tense. Then the imperfect is formed appending the approriate imperfect ending to that stem. In the examples, they used only the first person singular (je) ending. The others work the same way, though:
Nous parlons. --> drop the -ons to get the stem --> parl --> add appropriate imperfect ending:
je parlais, tu parlais, il/elle/on parlait, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils/elles parlaient.
These are the examples given:
- 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
All the verbs have the same ending despite the subject. Perhaps I'm missing something
Don't have an account yet? Join today
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 !
Don't have an account yet? Join today
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.
Nous étions conduire doesn't mean anything. It is a literal translation from English which simply has nomparallel in French.
-- Chris.
Nous étions conduire doesn't mean anything. It is a literal translation from English which simply has nomparallel in French.
-- Chris.
Mais no! :-)
if it means nothing, then why does it show up in Conjugate être in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Merci
Don't have an account yet? Join today
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 !
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level >>