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 | edit source]- 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
[edit | edit source]The 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
[edit | edit source]The 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