Imperfect Tense in French

In Brief

The French imparfait presents a past action or situation as ongoing, habitual, descriptive, or part of the background: Nous habitions à Lyon can mean “We lived” or “We used to live in Lyon.” Form it from the present-tense nous form, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. The only verb with an irregular stem is être: ét-.

Overview

The imparfait is a past tense that lets you look inside a past situation rather than present it as one completed event. It is especially useful for saying what things were like, what someone used to do, what was in progress, and what formed the background to another event. You meet it at A2 because everyday storytelling quickly needs more than a list of completed actions.

English does not have one form that always matches the imparfait. Depending on context, je lisais may mean “I was reading,” “I used to read,” or simply “I read.” This makes meaning more important than word-for-word translation. Do not choose the French tense merely because the English sentence contains “was”: “I was tired” describes a state and normally becomes j’étais fatigué, but “I was surprised” may describe a completed reaction and become j’ai été surpris.

The basic contrast is with the passé composé. The imparfait supplies the setting, ongoing activity, state, or repeated pattern; the passé composé normally advances the story with a bounded event. This distinction is about how the speaker presents the past, not simply whether an action lasted a long or short time.

How It Works

Building the stem

Start with the present-tense nous form, remove -ons, and keep what remains. The stem is the part to which the tense endings are added.

Infinitive	Present nous form	Imparfait stem	Example
parler	nous parlons	parl-	je parlais
finir	nous finissons	finiss-	tu finissais
attendre	nous attendons	attend-	il attendait
faire	nous faisons	fais-	vous faisiez
prendre	nous prenons	pren-	elles prenaient
avoir	nous avons	av-	j’avais

This rule works even for verbs whose present tense is irregular. For example, boire has nous buvons, so its stem is buv-; voir has nous voyons, so its stem is voy-.

The endings

The endings are the same for every verb, including être. They are pronounced more simply than they look: -ais, -ait, and -aient normally have the same sound. The written subject or the surrounding context often tells you who is acting.

Subject	Ending	parler (“to speak”)
je	-ais	je parlais
tu	-ais	tu parlais
il / elle / on	-ait	il parlait
nous	-ions	nous parlions
vous	-iez	vous parliez
ils / elles	-aient	ils parlaient

The one irregular stem: être

Être does not follow the present nous rule. It uses the stem ét-, but takes the regular endings.

Subject	Form	English
j’	étais	I was
tu	étais	you were
il / elle / on	était	he/she/one was
nous	étions	we were
vous	étiez	you were
ils / elles	étaient	they were

Negatives, pronouns, and reflexive verbs

The tense does not change the normal placement of short pronouns. Put object and reflexive pronouns before the conjugated verb. In a negative sentence, ne ... pas surrounds that group.

• Je le voyais souvent. — I often saw him/it.
• Elle se levait à sept heures. — She used to get up at seven.
• Nous ne nous connaissions pas encore. — We did not know each other yet.

Spelling patterns that preserve pronunciation

These are spelling adjustments, not irregular tense endings.

• Verbs in -ger keep an e before endings beginning with a: je mangeais, ils voyageaient. There is no extra e in nous mangions or vous mangiez.
• Verbs in -cer use ç before a: je commençais, elle avançait. Use ordinary c before i: nous commencions.
• Verbs whose stem ends in i can show a double i in nous and vous: nous étudiions, vous criiez. Both letters are correct: one belongs to the stem and one to the ending.

When to Use the Imparfait

Past habits and repeated actions

Use the imparfait for something that happened regularly or was customary. Expressions such as souvent (often), tous les jours (every day), and d’habitude (usually) frequently support this meaning.

Le dimanche, nous déjeunions chez mes grands-parents. means “On Sundays, we used to have lunch at my grandparents’ house.” The repetition is viewed as an open pattern, not as a counted set of completed events.

Descriptions, states, and circumstances

The imparfait describes people, places, weather, time, age, feelings, possession, knowledge, and other conditions in the past:

• Il faisait beau. — The weather was nice.
• J’avais vingt ans. — I was twenty.
• La rue était calme. — The street was quiet.
• Nous savions la réponse. — We knew the answer.

These are not automatic “imparfait verbs.” A verb such as avoir or savoir can appear in the passé composé when the speaker presents a change or completed occurrence. Context controls the choice.

An action in progress

Use the imparfait for an activity already under way at a past moment. English often uses “was/were + -ing” here:

Je mangeais quand tu as appelé. — “I was eating when you called.” The eating forms the ongoing scene; the call is the completed event that interrupts or enters it.

Simultaneous background actions

Two imparfait verbs can show activities unfolding at the same time:

Pendant que je cuisinais, Léa mettait la table. — “While I was cooking, Léa was setting the table.” Neither activity is presented as the single event that moves the story forward.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Quand j’étais petit, je jouais dehors après l’école.	When I was little, I used to play outside after school.	Age/background plus a habit
Il faisait beau et la mer était calme.	The weather was nice, and the sea was calm.	Description of a scene
Nous habitions à Lyon à cette époque.	We lived in Lyon at that time.	Continuing past situation
Je mangeais quand tu as appelé.	I was eating when you called.	Ongoing action interrupted by a completed event
Tous les matins, elle prenait le même bus.	Every morning, she took the same bus.	Repeated routine
Vous aviez souvent peur des orages.	You were often afraid of thunderstorms.	Recurring emotional state
À huit heures, ils dormaient encore.	At eight o’clock, they were still sleeping.	Action in progress at a stated time
Pendant que je lisais, Marc écoutait de la musique.	While I was reading, Marc was listening to music.	Two simultaneous activities
La salle était pleine, mais personne ne parlait.	The room was full, but nobody was speaking.	Setting and ongoing action
On ne se voyait pas souvent.	We did not see each other often.	Negative repeated pattern; on means “we” here
Tu finissais toujours ton travail avant midi.	You always used to finish your work before noon.	Habit with a regular -ir verb
Je croyais que le magasin fermait à six heures.	I thought the shop closed at six.	Past belief and reported information
Nous étudiions le français quand nous vivions à Bruxelles.	We were studying French when we lived in Brussels.	Correct double i in étudiions
Elle commençait à comprendre.	She was beginning to understand.	Spelling change with commencer

Common Mistakes

Using the infinitive stem instead of the nous stem

• Wrong: Nous prendions le train chaque jour.
• Right: Nous prenions le train chaque jour.
• Why: The present form is nous prenons. Remove -ons to get pren-, not prend-.

Treating être like a regular verb

• Wrong: J’étais written as j’êtrais or je suisais.
• Right: J’étais souvent fatigué.
• Why: Être has the unique stem ét-, followed by the normal ending -ais.

Choosing the tense from the English wording alone

• Wrong approach: assuming every English “was + -ing” or every “used to” has one automatic French equivalent.
• Right: Je lisais quand il est entré. — I was reading when he came in.
• Why: Choose the imparfait because the reading is presented as ongoing background. English is a useful clue, but the role of the event in the story is decisive.

Using the imparfait for the event that advances the story

• Wrong: Hier, je perdais mes clés, puis je rentrais à pied when describing a sequence of completed events.
• Right: Hier, j’ai perdu mes clés, puis je suis rentré à pied.
• Why: A completed event or sequence normally takes the passé composé. The imparfait would need a habitual or in-progress context.

Missing spelling changes

• Wrong: Je mangais; nous étudons for “we were studying.”
• Right: Je mangeais; nous étudiions.
• Why: -ger keeps the soft sound with e before -ais, and étudi- plus -ions produces two written is.

Assuming duration automatically requires the imparfait

• Wrong approach: “It lasted for ten years, so it must be imperfect.”
• Right: Il a travaillé à Paris pendant dix ans can present ten years as one completed period.
• Why: Length is not the test. A bounded, completed period can take the passé composé; an ongoing situation viewed from within can take the imparfait: À l’époque, il travaillait à Paris.

Usage Notes

French speakers use the imparfait in both conversation and writing; it is not a literary tense. In spoken French, je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, and ils parlaient sound alike in isolation. Subject pronouns and context therefore do essential work, while spelling preserves distinctions that speech does not.

Time markers guide interpretation but do not mechanically select a tense. Tous les jours strongly suggests a habit and often accompanies the imparfait. By contrast, soudain (“suddenly”) often introduces a completed development in the passé composé. Yet the speaker’s viewpoint remains central: Tous les jours cette semaine, j’ai pris le bus treats the week as a completed, bounded series, whereas Avant, je prenais le bus tous les jours describes an old routine.

English “used to” can also describe a former state: “I used to have a car” becomes J’avais une voiture. French does not need a separate equivalent of “used to”; the tense and context carry that meaning. For deliberate emphasis on a past habit, French can also use avoir l’habitude de (“to be in the habit of”), but it is not required.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master all of these uses at A2, but you will meet them later.

Viewpoint can change the meaning of certain verbs

With verbs of knowing, wanting, being able, and having to, the tense contrast can suggest a change of state or a result rather than mere time.

Imparfait	Typical meaning	Passé composé	Typical meaning in context
Je savais.	I knew.	J’ai su la vérité.	I found out the truth.
Je pouvais sortir.	I could / was able to go out.	J’ai pu sortir.	I managed to / was able to go out.
Je voulais partir.	I wanted to leave.	J’ai voulu partir.	I tried/decided to leave, or formed the wish to leave.
Je devais partir.	I was supposed to / had to leave.	J’ai dû partir.	I had to leave (and normally did).

These are common interpretations, not rigid dictionary equations. The wider sentence can change the nuance.

Polite and tentative requests

The imparfait can soften a present request by presenting it less directly:

• Je voulais vous demander un renseignement. — I wanted to ask you for some information.
• Je venais voir si vous aviez une minute. — I came to see whether you had a minute.

Although the form is past, the practical purpose may be present. This “imperfect of politeness” is especially common with vouloir and in service or professional interactions.

Hypotheses with si

In a present or future unreal condition, French uses the imparfait after si and usually the conditional in the result:

Si j’avais plus de temps, je voyagerais davantage. — “If I had more time, I would travel more.”

Here avais does not describe an ordinary past event. It marks a hypothetical condition. Avoid the common error si j’aurais in standard French.

Narrative and stylistic uses

Writers can use the imparfait to slow a narrative, build atmosphere, or present a scene from within. It can also appear in a vivid stylistic use called the imparfait narratif, where a bounded event is deliberately viewed as unfolding: Deux jours plus tard, il quittait Paris. This is mainly a literary or journalistic effect; beginners should continue to use the passé composé for ordinary completed events.

Practice Tips

1. Build forms from nous. Choose five common verbs, say their present nous form, remove -ons, and add all six endings. Include prendre, faire, and voir so that you practise stems rather than memorising infinitive-based guesses.
2. Describe an old routine. Write six sentences beginning with Quand j’étais petit... or À cette époque.... Include a setting, a feeling, and three repeated actions. This naturally combines the main uses of the tense.
3. Tell a two-layer story. Underline background details and ongoing actions in one colour, and completed events in another. Then use the imparfait for the first group and the passé composé for the second: Il pleuvait quand le bus est arrivé.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Passé Composé — provides the main completed-past tense that contrasts with the imparfait.
• Next step: Imperfect vs Passé Composé — develops the viewpoint contrast in complete narratives.
• Later connection: Indirect Speech — often uses the imparfait when reporting past statements, thoughts, and ongoing actions.