What is l'imparfait?
It is time for a short grammar lesson in French! Let me introduce you to the Imparfait.
L’imparfait is the imperfect tense in French, but don’t fool yourself, this verb tense is far from being imperfect!
To learn how to use l’imparfait and how to conjugate it in French, check our short l’imprfait lesson as well as our free exercises!
When to use l'imparfait:
You will use the imperfect tense in French when:
- describing something in the past
- talking about habits in the past
- or describing ongoing actions in the past.
How to use l'imparfait:
Hint: The simple past and the past progressive are the English equivalent of this verb tense.
To learn how to use the imperfect tense in French, you must be able to understand how different verbs work with this tense. Most of the verbs in this tense fit into one of the three following categories.
When using the Imparfait, it is important that you first find out in which group or category your verb belongs to. Then, you use the same endings as the model verbs in the chart below.
How to conjugate l'imparfait - Imparfait endings:
Conjugating verbs ending in -er:
je aimais
tu aimais
il/elle/on aimait
nous aimions
vous aimiez
ils/elles aimaient
Conjugating verbs ending in -ir:
je finissais
tu finissais
il/elle/on finissait
nous finissions
vous finissiez
ils/elles finissaient
Conjugating all other verbs:
je entendais
tu entendais
il/elle/on entendait
nous entendions
vous entendiez
ils/elles entendaient
Be careful!
Some verbs are irregular. Here is a list of some of them:
voir – voyais, voyais, voyait, voyions, voyiez, voyaient
être – étais, étais, était, étions, étiez, étaient
prendre – prenais, prenais, prenait, prenions, preniez, prenaient
faire – faisais, faisais, faisait, faisions, faisiez, faisaient
boire – buvais, buvais, buvait, buvons, buviez, buvaient
dire – disais, disais, disait, disions, disiez, disaient
|
1st group Conjugating Verbs ending in –er (nous aimons) | 2nd group Conjugating Verbs ending in –ir (nous finissons) | 3e group (Conjugating all the other verbs)
|
Pronouns | aimer | finir | entendre |
Je (I) | aimais | finissais | entendais |
Tu (You) | aimais | finissais | entendais |
Il (he) Elle (she) On (we) | aimait | finissait | entendait |
Nous (we) | aimions | finissions | entendions |
Vous (you) | aimiez | finissiez | entendiez |
Ils/ elles (they) | aimaient | finissaient | entendaient |
Be careful!
Some verbs are irregular. Here is a list of some irregular verbs in the imperfect tense in French and how to conjugate them:
Pronouns | voir | être | prendre | faire | boire | Dire |
Je | voyais | étais | prenais | faisais | buvais | disais |
Tu | voyais | étais | prenais | faisais | buvais | disais |
il/elle/on | voyait | était | prenait | faisait | buvait | disait |
nous | voyions | étions | prenions | faisions | buvons | disions |
vous | voyiez | étiez | preniez | faisiez | buviez | disiez |
ils/elles | voyaient | étaient | prenaient | faisaient | buvaient | disaient |
It's Time to Practice! - Worksheets:
Now that you have learned how to use l’imparfait in French, here are some free French worksheets with French grammar exercises to practice it! These free French online resources are great to boost your skills and practice and improve your French grammar!