The Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense is the tense often used to express the meaning of ‘used to’ or ‘was
doing’ in French. It is a past tense that is very different to the perfect tense.
It describes actions that are:
-
Repeated habits in the past (e.g. I used to play football every weekend)
-
Continuous actions in the past (e.g. Three years ago I was studying Chinese)
-
Physical descriptions in the past (e.g. It was sunny; When he was ten years old, he
used to eat a lot of ice cream; I don’t know why I did it, but I was angry.)
-
When the start and end of the action is unknown (e.g. I waited for my meal in the
restaurant because everyone else had great food)
-
When a long action (the imperfect) is interrupted by a shorter action (the perfect).
(E.g. I was in the shower when the telephone rang.)
I. Formation
To form this tense, we find the ‘nous’ form of the verb in the present tense and remove the
‘ons’. The verb endings in the imperfect tense are then added to this form. See the examples
in the tables below for these endings.
1. ‘-Er’ Verbs
The ‘-er’ changes are shown in the table below. The example is ‘jouer’ (to play). The ‘nous’
form is ‘jouons’, so the ‘ons’ is removed to make ‘jou-‘, and the verb endings are then added
to this form.
Subject
Imperfect
Letters Added
English Translation
Je
Jouais
-ais
I used to play/was
playing
Tu
Jouais
-ais
1
You used to play/were
playing
Il/Elle/On
Jouait
-ait
He/She/One used to
play/was playing
Nous
Jouions
-ions
We used to play/were
playing
Vous
Jouiez
-iez
You (formal or plural)
used to play/were
playing
Ils/Elles
Jouaient
-aient
They (m/f) used to
play/were playing
2. ‘-Ir’ Verbs
The ‘-ir’ verb example below is ‘finir’ (to finish). The ‘nous’ form is ‘finissons’, so we remove
the ‘ons’ to get ‘finiss-‘. The imperfect verb endings are then added to this form.
Subject
Imperfect
Letters Added
English Translation
Je
Finissais
-ais
I used to finish/was
finishing
Tu
Finissais
-ais
You used to
finish/were finishing
Il/Elle/On
Finissait
-ait
He/She/One used to
finish/was finishing
Nous
Finissions
-ions
We used to
finish/were finishing
Vous
Finissiez
-iez
You (formal or plural)
used to finish/were
finishing
Ils/Elles
Finissaient
-aient
They (m/f) used to
finish/were finishing
2
3. ‘-Re’ Verbs
The ‘-re’ verb shown below is ‘comprendre’ (to understand). The ‘nous’ form, ‘comprenons’,
is changes to ‘compren-‘ when the ‘ons’ is removed. The imperfect verb endings are then
added.
Subject
Imperfect
Letters Added
English Translation
Je
Comprenais
-ais
I used to
understand/was
understanding
Tu
Comprenais
-ais
You used to
understand/were
understanding
Il/Elle/On
Comprenait
-ait
He/She/One used to
understand/was
understand
Nous
Comprenions
-ions
We used to
understand/were
finishing
Vous
Compreniez
-iez
You (formal or plural)
used to
understand/were
understanding
Ils/Elles
Comprenaient
-aient
They (m/f) used to
understand/were
understanding
Be careful!
There are certain verbs that take an additional letter in the ‘nous’ form of the present tense.
An example of this is ‘manger’, which becomes ‘nous mangeons’ in the present tense. The ‘e’
is added in the verb conjugation to maintain the same sound. If there were no ‘e’, the sound
3
of the verb would be completely different. In the imperfect tense, therefore, it changes to ‘Je
mangeais’.
Subject
Imperfect
Letters Added
English Translation
Je
Mangeais
-ais
I used to eat/was
eating
Tu
Mangeais
-ais
You used to
eat/were eating
Il/Elle/On
Mangeait
-ait
He/She/One used
to eat/was eating
Nous
Mangions
-ions
We used to
eat/were eating
Vous
Mangiez
-iez
You (formal or
plural) used to
eat/were eating
Ils/Elles
Mangeaient
-aient
They (m/f) used to
eat/were eating
Notice that the ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ form of the imperfect tense does NOT include the
additional ‘e’. This is because the ‘ions’ and ‘iez’ that are added allow the sound to remain
the same, so the additional ‘e’ is not needed.
4. Irregular ‘etre’
‘Etre’ is the only irregular verb in the imperfect tense, because it is not constructed using
‘nous sommes’, because there is no ‘ons’ to remove from it. Instead, it takes the root ‘ét-‘.
Subject
Imperfect
Letters Added
English Translation
Je (J’)
Étais
-ais
I used to be/I was
Tu
Étais
-ais
You used to be/You
were
4
Il/Elle/On
Était
-ait
He/She/One used to
be/was
Nous
Étions
-ions
We used to be/were
Vous
Étiez
-iez
You (formal or
plural) used to
be/were
Ils/Elles
Étaient
-aient
They (m/f) used to
be/were
Remember!
Some present tense verbs in the ‘nous’ form look very different to the other present tense
forms. For example ‘boire’ (to drink), becomes ‘nous buvons’. Therefore, the root that is used
for the imperfect endings is ‘buv-‘. There are many cases like this, so although it may seem
that a lot of verbs look like the infinitive of the verb, minus the ‘er’/’ir’/’re’, you really do
need to thing of the ‘nous’ form every single time.
5
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is the imperfect tense?
a) It is has the opposite meaning to the perfect tense.
b) It is a tense that can only be translated as ‘used to’ in English.
c) It is a tense that can carry the meaning of ‘used to’ and the past continuous ‘was…ing’ in
English.
d) It is the same as the conditional.
2. Which of the below are not circumstances when we use the imperfect?
a) Repeated habits in the present
b) Repeated habits in the past
c) Past descriptions
d) None of the above are circumstances where the imperfect would be used.
3. How is the imperfect tense formed?
a)It uses the verb ‘etre’ and verb endings.
b) It uses the verb ‘avoir’ and verb endings.
c) It uses the ‘nous’ form of the present tense. The ‘ons’ from the ‘nous’ form is then
replaced with the imperfect verb endings.
d) It uses the same verb endings as the future tense.
4. What are the verb endings for the imperfect tense?
a) The verb endings are: ’e, es, e, ons, ez, ent’
b) The verb endings are: ‘ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont’
c) The verb endings are: ‘is, is, it, issons, issez, issent’
d) The verb endings are: ‘ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient’
6
5. What does ‘Elles ne comprenaient pas’ mean?
a) They (f) don’t understand.
b) They (f) didn’t use to understand.
c) They (f) never understood.
d) The (f) would understand.
6. How can we say ‘You (formal or plural) were playing’?
a) Tu jouais
b) Ils jouaient
c) Vous jouiez
d) Vous jouez
7. Which verb in this sentence would be the imperfect tense in French?
a) I was in the bath when the doorbell rang.
b) I was in the bath when the doorbell rang.
c) Neither of the verbs should be in the imperfect tense in the sentences above.
d) All of the verbs should be in the imperfect tense in the sentences above.
8. How is ‘etre’ an irregular verb in the imperfect tense?
a) It is irregular because ‘etre’ is an irregular verb in the present tense.
b) It is irregular because the ‘nous’ form of ‘etre’ in the present tense is ‘sommes’, and we
use ‘et-‘ to construct the imperfect tense with ‘etre’.
c) It is irregular because we use the ‘vous’ form of the present tense with ‘etre’.
d) It isn’t an irregular verb in the imperfect tense.
9. How is ‘manger’ (to eat) conjugated in the imperfect tense?
a) Je mange, Tu manges, Il mange, Nous mangeons, Vous mangez, Ils mangent
b) Je mangais, Tu mangais, Il mangait, Nous mangions, Vous mangiez, Ils mangaient
c) J’ai mangé, Tu as mangé, Il a mangé, Nous avons mangé, Vous avez mangé, Ils ont mange
7
d) Je mangeais, Tu mangeais, Il mangeait, Nous mangions, Vous mangiez, Ils mangeaient
10. Why can’t we just remove the infinitive endings ‘-er’, ‘-ir’ and ‘-re’?
a) We can.
b) Because the rule says we can’t.
c) Because some verbs look very different to their infinitives when they are in the ‘nous’
form of the present tense.
d) Because of the irregular verbs.
Answers:
1. C
2. A
3. C
4. D
5. B
6. C
7. A
8. B
9. D
10. C
8