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.
How do you use imparfait in French?
In this case you can use the Imparfait to provide a description of something or someone. La maison était magnifique et avait une grande porte bleue. The house was beautiful and had a big blue door. Quand j’ avais 12 ans, j’ avais les cheveux bruns et des lunettes noires. When I was 12, I had brown hair and black glasses.
How to add L’imparfait to an infintive?
1 Take the stem (= the verb in the infintive but without -ir or -er) 2 Add the endings for l’imparfait 3 Voilà ! More ...
What is the conjugation of avoir in the imparfait?
The verb avoir is regular in the imperfect; only être has an irregular conjugation in this tense. To see the conjugation of any French verb in the imparfait, go to our verb conjugator. For verbs that end in -cer, the present form in the 1 st person plural is constructed with ç (in order to preserve the soft c sound).
How do you translate imperfect in French?
The imperfect can be translated by “would” when it implies “used to.” The imperfect is a simple tense that does not require a helping verb. The imperfect is formed by dropping the ‐ons ending from the present tense nous form of the verb and adding the following endings: Table 1 shows how the imparfait is formed with regular verbs.
How to conjugate imperfect tense in French?
To conjugate the imperfect tense in French, we take the present-tense stem of the 1 st person plural form of the verb (the nous form), and add the following endings ( identical for verbs of all groups): Person. er -verbs. (nous aimons)
What is the imperfect tense?
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.
How to use the imparfait?
When to use the Imparfait 1 Expressing an ongoing action 2 Describing someone or something 3 Giving an opinion 4 Expressing repeated actions or habits
What is the imparfait in a description?
The Imparfait is used in the examples to provide a description. In the first example a house and a door are described. In the second example a person is describing how he looked when he was 12. Thus we are providing a description of something or someone, or an opinion.
How to use the imparfait?
The imparfait is relatively easy to use to talk about the past. We use it in the following cases: 1 To talk about a past situation. 2 To describe someone or something in the past. 3 To talk about past habits. 4 To talk about two simultaneous actions in the past.
What is the imparfait?
The imparfait is relatively easy to use to talk about the past. We use it in the following cases: To talk about a past situation. To describe someone or something in the past. To talk about past habits. To talk about two simultaneous actions in the past.
Example Sentences with the Imparfait
The final section of this lesson on how to form the imparfait is about seeing the imparfait in action.
How to Practice With Flashcards for This Lesson
Using flashcards is an absolute necessity when it comes to learning a language!
What does "imparfait" mean in French?
The French imperfect (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense that indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imperfect is very often translated in English as "was" or "was ___-ing.". The imperfect can indicate any of the following:
Is imperfect conjugation easier than other tenses?
Rules of Conjugation. French imperfect conjugations are often easier than other tenses, as the imperfect of virtually all verbs—regular and irregular —is formed the same way: dropping the -ons ending from the present indicative nous form of the verb and adding the imperfect endings.
What does "imparfait" mean?
The Imparfait. The imperfect ( l'imparfait) expresses or describes continued, repeated, habitual actions or incomplete actions, situations, or events in the past. The imperfect describes what was going on at an indefinite time in the past or what used to happen.
How to translate "imperfect"?
The imperfect can be translated by “would” when it implies “used to.”. The imperfect is a simple tense that does not require a helping verb. The imperfect is formed by dropping the ‐ons ending from the present tense nous form of the verb and adding the following endings:
What is the imparfait tense?
The imparfait : The imparfait tense is also used to talk about the past. To form the imparfait tense we take a verb. We conjugate it in the present tense with the pronoun "nous". We keep the radical, that is to say that we remove the ending, and we keep what remains. And to this radical we will add the following endings:
What is passé composé?
The passé composé is a tense used to talk about the past. It is formed with the auxiliary "être" or "avoir" in the present + a past participle. The auxiliary "être" is used with the verbs of movement, of state and with the pronominal and reflexive verbs.
Does the past participle agree with the subject?
The past participle agrees with the subject when the auxiliary "être" is used. The auxiliary "avoir" is used with all other verbs. The past participle does not agree with the subject with "avoir", but it does agree with the direct object (the COD) if it is placed before the auxiliary.
Is it normal to have imperfect tense and past tense in the same sentence?
It is quite normal to have verbs in the past tense and in the imperfect tense in the same sentence. It all depends on what the verb is expressing in the sentence.
What is the difference between passé composé and imparfait?
In a nutshell, the imparfait is used for incomplete actions while the passé composé is reserved for completed ones, but of course it’s more complicated than that.
What is the past tenses in French?
The most important French past tenses are the passé composé and the imparfait, and they are troublesome for several reasons. While l’imparfait is more or less equivalent to the English past progressive, l’imparfait is more widely used, especially with verbs like avoir and être.
How many English equivalents does the passé composé have?
As for the passé composé, it has three English equivalents. Be sure you fully understand these two French tenses before continuing with this lesson. For French students, the trickiest aspect of these French verb forms is that they often work together, juxtaposed not only throughout stories, but even within individual sentences.
