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L’Imparfait

french igcse notes

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45 views

L’Imparfait

french igcse notes

Uploaded by

rushukhan13
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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L’imparfait: The imperfect tense in French

 When to use the imperfect tense in French


 How to conjugate the imperfect tense in French
 Exceptions to the conjugation rules
 Online exercises to improve your French

What is l’imparfait?
L’imparfait (the imperfect) is a French past tense. It describes states and actions that were ongoing or repeated in
the past. The imperfect can correspond to the English simple past tense, but also to structures such as used
to and would and even the past progressive. L’imparfait is used to tell stories and report on past actions, mostly in
written contexts. We conjugate the imperfect by adding the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez and -aient to the root
of the present tense nous form of the verb.

Example

Quand il était petit, Lucas aimait beaucoup les gâteaux.

Tous les jours, il faisait un gâteau avec son amie Florence.

Pendant qu'il regardait la recette, Florence préparait la pâte.

Ils cuisaient le gâteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert.

When to use the imperfect tense in French


We use the imperfect tense in the following situations:

to describe a situation in the past


Example: Quand il était petit, Lucas aimait beaucoup les gâteaux.

 to describe a person, a property, a comment or an explanation in the past


Example : Lucas était un enfant très gourmand.

 to talk about a repeated action in the past


Example: Tous les jours, il faisait un gâteau avec son amie Florence.

 to talk about simultaneously occurring actions in the past


Example: Pendant qu’il regardait la recette, Florence préparait la pâte.

 to emphasise the duration of an action


Example: Ils cuisaient le gâteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert.

How to conjugate the imperfect tense in French


To conjugate the imperfect tense in French, we take the present-tense stem of the 1st person plural form of the verb
(the nous form), and add the following endings (identical for verbs of all groups):
er-verbs ir-verbs ir-verbs re-verbs
Person
(nous aimons) (nous finissons)* (nous dormons)** (nous vendons)
1st person singular (I) j’aimais je finissais je dormais je vendais
2nd person singular (you) tu aimais tu finissais tu dormais tu vendais
3rd person
il/elle/on aimait il/elle/on finissait il/elle/on dormait il/elle/on vendait
singular (he/she/it)
1st person plural (we) nous aimions nous finissions nous dormions nous vendions
2nd person plural (you) vous aimiez vous finissiez vous dormiez vous vendiez
ils/elles
3rd person plural (they) ils/elles aimaient ils/elles dormaient ils/elles vendaient
finissaient

* Most ir-verbs are conjugated like finir. Choisir, réagir, réfléchir and réussir belong to this group. Here we add
an -iss- to the word stem in the plural forms.
** The ir-verbs that are not conjugated like finir, are conjugated like dormir. Mentir, partir and sentir are part of
this group. We do not add -iss- to form the plural.
The verb avoir is regular in the imperfect; only être has an irregular conjugation in this tense.

Person avoir être


1st person singular (I) j’avais j’étais
2nd person singular (you) tu avais tu étais
3rd person
il/elle/on avait il/elle/on était
singular (he/she/it)
1st person plural (we) nous avions nous étions
2nd person plural (you) vous aviez vous étiez
ils/elles
3rd person plural (they) ils/elles étaient
avaient

Exceptions to the conjugation rules


 For verbs that end in -cer, the present form in the 1st person plural is constructed
with ç (in order to preserve the soft c sound). This ç remains unchanged in
the imparfait (except in the 1st and 2nd person plural forms).
Example:
lancer - nous lançons
je lançais, tu lançais, il lançait, nous lancions, vous lanciez, ils lançaient

 For verbs that end in -ger, the present form in the 1st person plural is constructed
with e (in order to preserve the soft g sound). This e remains unchanged in
the imparfait (except in the 1st and 2nd person plural forms).
Example:
manger – nous mangeons
je mangeais, tu mangeais, il mangeait, nous mangions, vous mangiez, ils mangeaient

 The verbs falloir and pleuvoir, which are only used in the 3rd person singular, are
conjugated as follows in the imparfait:
Example:
falloir → il fallait
pleuvoir → il pleuvait

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