A-level French/Verbs/Imperfect
The French imperfect tense (l'imparfait) is a past tense. It is used in the following situations:
Use of the imperfect
edit- Progressive actions: In English, we would convey these ideas with the form "I was __ing", "You were __ing", etc. In French, they use the imperfect.
- Stuff that you used to do:
Forming the imperfect
editThe imperfect tense is formed with the "nous" form of the present tense with the -ons replaced with the imperfect endings.
| Verb | Donner | Finir | Vendre | Manger | Endings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nous form | donnons | finissons | vendons | mangeons | |
| Minus -ons | donn- | finiss- | vend- | mange- | |
| Je | donnais | finissais | vendais | mangeais | -ais |
| Tu | donnais | finissais | vendais | mangeais | -ais |
| Il/Elle/On | donnait | finissait | vendait | mangeait | -ait |
| Nous | donnions | finissions | vendions | mangions | -ions |
| Vous | donniez | finissiez | vendiez | mangiez | -iez |
| Ils/Elles | donnaient | finissaient | vendaient | mangeaient | -aient |
Note that the verb manger (and other verbs that end in -ger) have an extra e in the -je, -tu, -il, and -ils tenses, but not in the nous or vous tenses. With verbs like commencer that end in -cer, a cedilla is used in those four forms in place of the extra e.
Irregular verbs
editThe imperfect of irregular verbs is formed much as they would be with regular verbs, by removing the -ons and adding the imperfect endings.
| Verb | Nous Form | Imperfect je | Imperfect nous |
|---|---|---|---|
| avoir | avons | avais | avions |
| boire | buvons | buvais | buvions |
| conduire | conduisons | conduisais | conduisions |
| connaître | connaissons | connaissais | connaissions |
| courir | courons | courais | courions |
| croire | croyons | croyais | croyions |
| devoir | devons | devais | devions |
| dire | disons | disais | disions |
| écrire | écrivons | écrivais | écrivons |
| faire | faisons | faisais | faisions |
| falloir | none | il fallait | none |
| lire | lisons | lisais | lisions |
| mettre | mettons | mettais | mettions |
| mourir | mourons | mourais | mourions |
| naître | naissons | naissais | naissions |
| ouvrir | ouvrons | ouvrais | ouvrions |
| pleuvoir | none | il pleuvait | none |
| pouvoir | pouvons | pouvais | pouvions |
| prendre | prenons | prenais | prenions |
| recevoir | recevons | recevais | recevions |
| savoir | savons | savais | savions |
| venir | venons | venais | venions |
| vivre | vivons | vivais | vivions |
| voir | voyons | voyais | voyions |
| vouloir | voulons | voulais | voulions |
The nous form of the verb être does not end in -ons, so it is irregular in the imperfect tense.
| être |
|---|
| J'étais |
| Tu étais |
| Il était |
| Nous étions |
| Vous étiez |
| Ils étaient |
Note that this is the same form as the past participle étant