The Imperfect Tense - French
What is the Imperfect Tense?
We use "L'Imparfait" for the following reasons:
- When saying what something was like - C'était cool - It was cool
- Talking about something that used to happen regularly - Je faisais du vélo - I used to cycle
- Talking about something that went on for a long time - Je jouais au foot - I used to play football
- Something you were doing when something else happened - Je lisais un livre quand ma mére a telephoné - I was reading a book when my mum called
The difference between the Passé Composé and L'imparfait is the the passé composé is a once off action in the past while l'imparfait was something continuous - used to, was, were etc.
These are the endings for the Imperfect tense:
Je ais
Tu ais
Il/Elle ait
Nous ions
Vous iez
Ils/Elles ient
When using "L'imparfait" you take the "nous" part of the verb in the present tense, eg. Jouons (Jouer - To Play). Then take off the "ons" - jou, and add the new endings.
Negative
When putting the imperfect into the negative you put the ne/n' before the verb and the pas after the verb
- Je n'achetais pas la masion
- Il ne portait pas les vetements
- Vous n'appeliez pas Laura
NB: Use n' infront of a vowel!!
Question
When putting the imperfect tense into question form reverse the order of the verb and the subject pronoun.
- Achetais - tu la maison?
- Portait - il les vetements?
- Appeliez - vous Laura?
Irregular Verbs
This is a list of the most common irregular verbs and what the infinitive of them is:
-
aller: J'allais
-
avoir: J'avais
-
devoir: Je devais
-
être: J'étais
-
faire: Je faisais
-
pouvoir: Je pouvais
-
vouloir: Je voulais