Question

French Tutorial: Imparfait

Answer 1

\({\bf{Imparfait:}}\) (imperfect tense) is used to describe past actions that occured at some undefined point in the past, and have no definite ending. Do not confuse this with passé composé (PC.)

ex:
Je dormais. vs. J'ai dormi huit heures. (The first one is in imperfect and is closer in meaning to "I was sleeping" while the second one is in PC, as there is a defined end to the action.)

Conjugation
take the nous form of the present tense verb, remove the -ons, and add the appropriate ending

je: -ais
tu: -ais
il/elle/on: -ait
nous: -ions
vous: -iez
ils/elles: -aient

ex: organiser --> organisons ---> organis- + the verb ending from the table

j'organisais
tu organisais
il/elle organisait
nous organisions
vous organisiez
ils/elles organisaient

Answer 2

Certain verbs have spelling changes.

-ger verbs: if the verb ending starts with a or o, add e before the verb ending

ex: nager --> nageons
since the -ais, ait, and aient endings start with an a, add e before the verb ending to get -eais, -eait, and -eaient while -ions and -iez stay the same

je nageais
tu nageais
il/elle nageait
nous nagions
vous nagiez
ils/elles nageaient

-cer verbs: if the c would occur before an a or o, change to c cedilla (ç)

so, just like the previous case, the je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles form get changed while the nous and vous forms do not.

ex: annoncer ---> annonçons

j'annonçais
tu annonçais
il/elle annonçait
nous annoncions
vous annonciez
ils/elles annonçaient

- être is irregular

Imparfait

j'étais
tu étais
il/elle était
nous étions
vous étiez
ils/elles étaient

Answer 3

\({\bf{Imparfait~Uses:}}\)

- for general descriptions of the past

ex:
C'était une nuit sombre et orageuse. (It was a dark and stormy night.)
Je faisais une tarte. (I was baking a pie.)

- to describe actions that happened generally in the past

ex:
Quand nous étions jeunes, on allait à la plage. (When we were young, we went to the beach) Note that it's used to describe their habitual action of going to the beach without specifying a specific end or beginning time.)

- to describe states of being in the past

ex:
C'était le meilleur des temps, c'était le pire des temps. (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.)
Nous étions heureux quand tu as appelé. (We were happy when you called.)

- to tell time and ages in the past

ex: C'était une journée froide et brillante en avril. (It was a bright cold day in April.)

Answer 4

Imperfect can be combined with passé composé, even in the same sentence. As a reminder, imperfect is used to describe ongoing actions that have no definite ending/beginning, whereas passé composé refers to completed actions.

Often times, using imperfect + passé composé in the same sentence occurs when there is some ongoing background action that was interrupted by some definite, completed action.

ex:
Il regardait la télévision quand il a été soudainement inspiré. (He was watching TV when he was suddenly inspired.)
J'écrivais un tutoriel quand une personne odieuse l'a interrompu. (I was writing a tutorial when some obnoxious person interrupted it.)
Nous allions au centre commercial avant avant la quarantaine commencé. (We used to go to the mall before the quarantine happened.)

Answer 5

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 301-398.

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers