The Imperfect tense indicates what was, or was happening, or happened regularly in the past and which stopped happening now. It emphasizes time, habit, repetition, aspect, condition or state.
Let’s review these examples:
Mon père travaillait dans une usine.
My father worked in a factory.
The verb “travaillait” means that my father worked for a certain period of time in a factory, but is no longer working in a factory now.
Madame Dupont était une femme de classe.
Madame Dupont was a classy woman.
The verb “était” shows that Madame Dupont is either dead or stopped being classy.
Quand j’étais petit, je faisais souvent des bêtises.
When I was young, I often misbehaved.
Here we have two verbs in the imperfect tense: “étais” and “faisais”. The two verbs indicate an action or a state that no longer exist now.
Let’s conjugate the verb “parler” to the imperfect tense:
1. Verbs ending in “ier” for example “crier”
2. Verbs ending in “cer” for example “effacer”. Notice the “cédi” in some persons
3. Verbs ending in “ger” for example “voyager”
Other examples:
Nous aimions beaucoup nos voisins.
We liked our neighbors a lot.
J’aimais bien notre prof de maths, mais je préférais mon prof d’anglais.
I liked my math teacher, but I preferred my English teacher.
Mon père rentrait souvent saoul à la maison.
My father often came home drunk.
Quand j’étais au collège, j’achetais des BD.
When I was in middle school, I used to buy comic books.
À quelle heure arrivait-il à son bureau ?
At what time did he arrive at his office?
Est-ce que tu te réveillais tôt le matin quand tu étais petit ?
Did you wake up early in the morning when you were a kid?
Prenait-il ses médicaments régulièrement ?
Was he taking his medicines regularly?
Où habitiez-vous quand vous étiez à la fac ?
Where were you living when you were in college?
We were never late to school.
Elle ne parlait jamais de son passé.
She never talked about her past.
On ne voyageait pas beaucoup quand on habitait avec mes parents.
We didn’t travel a lot when we were living with my parents.
Ma mère ne m’emmenait jamais à l’école.
My mother never drove/walked me to school.
Let’s review these examples:
Mon père travaillait dans une usine.
My father worked in a factory.
The verb “travaillait” means that my father worked for a certain period of time in a factory, but is no longer working in a factory now.
Madame Dupont était une femme de classe.
Madame Dupont was a classy woman.
The verb “était” shows that Madame Dupont is either dead or stopped being classy.
Quand j’étais petit, je faisais souvent des bêtises.
When I was young, I often misbehaved.
Here we have two verbs in the imperfect tense: “étais” and “faisais”. The two verbs indicate an action or a state that no longer exist now.
The verbs of the first group
The verbs of the first group end in “er” except for “aller” which is a verb of the third group. They are called regular verbs because they follow the same conjugation in all tenses.Let’s conjugate the verb “parler” to the imperfect tense:
| Je | parlais |
| Tu | parlais |
| Il /elle/ on | parlait |
| Nous | parlions |
| Vous | parliez |
| Ils/elles | parlaient |
Exceptions
The following verbs of the first group have a slightly different ending when conjugated into the imperfect tense:1. Verbs ending in “ier” for example “crier”
| Je | criais |
| Tu | criais |
| Il /elle/ on | criait |
| Nous | criions |
| Vous | criiez |
| Ils/elles | criaient |
2. Verbs ending in “cer” for example “effacer”. Notice the “cédi” in some persons
| Je | J’effaçais |
| Tu | effaçais |
| Il /elle/ on | effaçait |
| Nous | effacions |
| Vous | effaciez |
| Ils/elles | effaçaient |
3. Verbs ending in “ger” for example “voyager”
| Je | voyageais |
| Tu | voyageais |
| Il /elle/ on | voyageait |
| Nous | voyagions |
| Vous | voyagiez |
| Ils/elles | voyageaient |
Other examples:
Nous aimions beaucoup nos voisins.
We liked our neighbors a lot.
J’aimais bien notre prof de maths, mais je préférais mon prof d’anglais.
I liked my math teacher, but I preferred my English teacher.
Mon père rentrait souvent saoul à la maison.
My father often came home drunk.
Quand j’étais au collège, j’achetais des BD.
When I was in middle school, I used to buy comic books.
The imperfect tense in the interrogative form
Comment il s’appelait ?What was his name?À quelle heure arrivait-il à son bureau ?
At what time did he arrive at his office?
Est-ce que tu te réveillais tôt le matin quand tu étais petit ?
Did you wake up early in the morning when you were a kid?
Prenait-il ses médicaments régulièrement ?
Was he taking his medicines regularly?
Où habitiez-vous quand vous étiez à la fac ?
Where were you living when you were in college?
La forme négative à l’imparfait de l’indicatif
Nous n’arrivions jamais en retard à l’école.We were never late to school.
Elle ne parlait jamais de son passé.
She never talked about her past.
On ne voyageait pas beaucoup quand on habitait avec mes parents.
We didn’t travel a lot when we were living with my parents.
Ma mère ne m’emmenait jamais à l’école.
My mother never drove/walked me to school.