STRUCTURE
Drop the ending ‘ons’ of the 1st person in the plural in the present tense and
add …
PARLER REGARDER ALLER
AVOIR
To speak
To watch
To go
To have
Nous parlons
Nous regardons
Nous allons
Nous avons
PARL…
REGARD…
ALL…
AV…
JE parlais
JE regardais
J’ allais
J’ avais
TU parlais
TU regardais
TU allais
TU avais
IL parlait
IL regardait
IL allait
IL avait
NOUS parlions
NOUS regardions
NOUS allions
NOUS avions
VOUS parliez
VOUS regardiez
VOUS alliez
VOUS aviez
ILS parlaient
ILS regardaient
ILS allaient
ILS avaient
USES
The imperfect tense is used to talk about
 Habitual actions in the past
 Je jouais au foot à l’école
(I played / used to play)
 Mental activities or condition in the past
 J’aimais le foot
(I liked / used to like)
 Descriptions in the past
 Je portais une chemise rouge
(I wore)
HIGH FREQUENCY VERBS
J’avais
 I had
/ I used to have
J’étais
 I was
/ I used to be
J’aimais
 I liked
/ I used to like
Je jouais
 I played
/ I used to play
Je portais
 I wore
/ I used to wear
Je regardais
 I watched
/ I used to watch
Je travaillais
 I worked
/ I used to work
Je vivais
 I lived
/ I used to live
Je voulais
 I wanted
/ I used to want
C’était
 It was
/ It used to be
Il faisait
 It was
/ It used to be (for weather expressions)
Il pleuvait
 It rained
/ It used to rain
Il neigeait
 It snowed
/ It used to snow
Il y avait
 There was – were
/ There used to be