The imparfait
The short answer
The imparfait describes rather than reports: the weather, someone’s mood, what was already going on, what used to happen. It is the most regular tense in French: one stem, one set of endings, and être is the only irregular verb in the whole tense.
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The rule
The imparfait is the French tense of description and habit. It is formed from the nous form of the present tense: drop the -ons and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Only être is irregular, taking the stem ét-. The imparfait covers the English past continuous, the past habitual with used to and would, and plain descriptive pasts such as it was cold. Nothing in an imparfait clause moves a narrative forward on its own; that job belongs to the passé composé.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Stem | nous form of the presentminus -ons | nous parlons → parl- |
| Affirmative | stem-ais-ais-ait-ions-iez-aient | Je parlais tous les jours. |
| Negative | subjectneverbpas | Je ne parlais pas beaucoup. |
| Question | verbsubjector est-ce que | Parlais-tu français à l’époque ? |
| Only irregular | être takes the stem ét- | J’étais fatigué. |
Part 1 of 3
Forming it, and why it is the easy one
Every verb in French builds its imparfait the same way: take the nous form of the present, remove -ons, add the endings. Nous finissons gives finiss-, so je finissais. Nous prenons gives pren-, so je prenais. Verbs that look wildly irregular elsewhere behave here.
Être is the single exception, using ét-: j’étais, tu étais, il était. Two spelling adjustments are worth noting: verbs in -ger keep the e before a (nous mangions but je mangeais) and verbs in -cer take a cedilla (je commençais).
Nous prenons → je prenais le bus tous les matins.
I used to take the bus every morning.
Nous faisons → il faisait très chaud.
It was very hot.
J’étais en réunion quand tu as appelé.
I was in a meeting when you called.
NBThe only irregular stem in the tense.
Part 2 of 3
Description and background
The imparfait sets the scene. Weather, time of day, age, appearance, feelings and opinions in the past all take it, because none of them is an event: they are the conditions events happen inside.
It also carries the action that was already in progress when something else happened. In a sentence with quand, the imparfait is the one already running and the passé composé is the one that cuts in.
Il pleuvait et la rue était déserte.
It was raining and the street was deserted.
Elle avait vingt ans et elle habitait chez ses parents.
She was twenty and living with her parents.
Je lisais quand la lumière s’est éteinte.
I was reading when the light went out.
NBReading was under way; the light going out is the event.
Part 3 of 3
Habits and repeated actions
The imparfait is the ordinary French for the English “used to” and the habitual “would”. There is no separate construction: je jouais covers I used to play and I would play, as well as I was playing.
The test is whether a number is attached. An unspecified habit takes the imparfait; a countable set of occasions is an event and takes the passé composé. On allait souvent au cinéma is a habit, on y est allés trois fois is a fact about three occasions.
Le dimanche, on déjeunait chez ma grand-mère.
On Sundays we used to have lunch at my grandmother’s.
Il fumait avant, mais il a arrêté.
He used to smoke, but he stopped.
Quand j’habitais à Lille, je rentrais à pied.
When I lived in Lille, I would walk home.
NBTwo imparfaits: one describes the period, one describes the routine inside it.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
Je jouais au tennis trois fois la semaine dernière.
J’ai joué au tennis trois fois la semaine dernière.
A stated number of occasions makes it a counted event, not a habit, so the passé composé is required. The imparfait would be right with souvent or tous les jours, where no number is attached.
Nous mangions au restaurant hier soir.
Nous avons mangé au restaurant hier soir.
Hier soir points at one occasion, which is an event. The imparfait would suggest an ongoing routine, and the time expression contradicts it.
Je étais fatigué.
J’étais fatigué.
Je elides before a vowel. It is a small thing, but the imparfait of être starts with a vowel in every person, so this error recurs constantly until it is fixed once.
je mangais
je mangeais
The stem comes from the present nous mangeons, and verbs in -ger keep that e before a or o so the g stays soft. The same logic gives commencer a cedilla: je commençais. The nous and vous forms need neither, because i does not harden the consonant.
Now use it
Imparfait
Habits, descriptions and interrupted actions. Form the imparfait. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Is the imparfait the same as the English past continuous?
- It covers it, but it covers more. Je travaillais can be I was working, I used to work, or I worked as a description of a period. English splits those across three constructions and French uses one, so translating the English form will not tell you which French tense to use.
- Can a sentence have both the imparfait and the passé composé?
- That is the normal case rather than the exception. Most French past narration alternates: the imparfait lays out the situation and the passé composé reports what happened in it. Il faisait nuit quand je suis arrivé has one of each, and neither tense would work alone.
- Which verbs change meaning between the two tenses?
- Savoir, vouloir, pouvoir, devoir and connaître. In the imparfait they describe a state, je savais, I knew, and in the passé composé they mark the moment it changed: j’ai su, I found out. J’ai voulu partir means I decided to leave, not I wanted to.