The Imperfect Tense

The imperfect tense is one of the tenses used to talk about the past.

When to use the imperfect tense:

-To describe what things were like.

Example: Il faisait beau. It was nice weather.

-To describe how people felt.

Example: Elle était contente. She was happy

-To talk about what used to happen or what you used to do.

Example: Je faisais de la natation tous les jours. I used to go swimming everyday.

-To say what was happening when something else took place.

Example: Je regardais la télé. I was watching TV.

Note that the second part of this sentence would be in the perfect tense.

How to structure the imperfect tense:

To structure the imperfect tense, you need to use the same stem of the verb as for the present tense and add the imperfect tense endings.

Step 1: take the "nous" form of the verb in the present tense.

we do = (nous) faisons.

Step 2: take off the -ons to get the stem.

fais-

Step 3: add the correct ending

il faisait = he did/ he used to do/ he was doing

Exception:

ÊTRE is the only irregular verb in the imperfect tense. The stem for être is: ét-

Example: Quand j'étais jeune - When I was young

Below is the full conjugation of être in the imperfect tense:

Spelling changes with -ER verbs:

Just like in the present tense, there are some spelling irregularities in the imperfect tense, in particular with verbs ending in -cer (e.g. commencer) and in -ger (e.g. manger).

For verbs in -cer: For pronunciation purposes, the letter c become ç before an a or an o.

Example:

Je commençais toujours la journée avec une promenade dans le parc.

I always used to start the day with a walk in the park.

For verbs in -ger: For pronunciation purposes, the letter g become ge before an a or an o.

Example:

Tu mangeais beaucoup de pizzas.

You used to eat a lot of pizzas.

Note however that unlike the present tense, the imperfect tense does not have spelling irregularities with verbs en -eter.

Example: acheter (to buy). j'achète (I buy), j'achetais (I used to buy)

Reflexive verbs in the imperfect tense:

Reflexive verbs are conjugated in the same way as ordinary verbs with the addition of the reflexive pronouns, which comes before the verb.

See the conjugation of se relaxer below:

Note that the reflexive pronouns me, te and se become m', t' and s' when the next word starts with a vowel, the letter h or y.

Negative sentences with the imperfect tense:

The negation is structure the same for imperfect tense as it is for the present tense.

ne and pas go around the verb.

Example: Nous ne savions pas. We did not know.

Note that for reflexive verbs, ne goes before the reflexive pronoun.

Example: Elle ne s'entendait pas avec ses parents. She did not get on with her parents.

Recommendation:

For Students of A Level: