The Imparfait: Formation & Basic Uses
The Imparfait: Formation & Basic Uses
Where the passé composé marks a completed event, the imparfait paints the background — ongoing action, habits, description. English handles this with 'was doing' and 'used to' rather than a dedicated verb tense, so French marking it with its own conjugation is a genuinely new grammatical habit to build.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Formation: nous-stem + imparfait endings
nous parlons → je parlais, tu parlais, il/elle parlait, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils/elles parlaient
we speak → I was speaking, you were speaking, he/she was speaking, we were speaking, you were speaking, they were speaking
Take the nous-form of the present tense, drop -ons, and add the imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. This works for every verb except être, whose imparfait stem is the irregular ét- (j'étais, tu étais, il était...). The endings themselves never change, which makes the imparfait one of the more forgiving French tenses to learn — a welcome contrast to English's irregular past-tense verbs (was/were, went, had).
What the imparfait is for
Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot tous les jours. (When I was little, I used to play football every day.)
When I was little, I used to play football every day.
Use the imparfait for background description, ongoing states, and habitual/repeated actions in the past — the 'used to' or 'was doing' sense. English marks this same idea with auxiliary phrasing ('was playing', 'used to play') rather than a single verb ending, so where English reaches for a helper word, French reaches for a whole separate tense. A full passé composé vs. imparfait contrast — for narrating a story where both tenses interact — gets its own dedicated lesson later at B1.
Interrupted action: imparfait + passé composé together
Je regardais la télé quand tu as appelé. (I was watching TV when you called.)
I was watching TV when you called.
A very common pattern pairs the two tenses in one sentence: the imparfait sets the ongoing scene (regardais, 'was watching'), and the passé composé marks the single event that interrupts it (as appelé, 'called'). English uses the same logic with its past continuous ('was watching') versus simple past ('called') — so the meaning-split will feel familiar even though French spreads it across two entirely different conjugation systems instead of one verb form plus '-ing'.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| je parlais | zhuh par-LEH | I was speaking / used to speak |
| tu parlais | tew par-LEH | you were speaking (informal) |
| il/elle parlait | eel/el par-LEH | he/she was speaking |
| nous parlions | noo par-lee-OHN | we were speaking |
| vous parliez | voo par-lee-AY | you were speaking (formal/plural) |
| ils/elles parlaient | eel/el par-LEH | they were speaking |
| j'étais | zhay-TEH | I was |
| j'avais | zhah-VEH | I had / used to have |
| il faisait beau | eel fuh-ZEH boh | the weather was nice |
| il y avait | eel ee ah-VEH | there was / there were |