Grammar: Imperfect tense

ByFast French

The Imperfect verb tense (l’imparfait) in French is used to express continuous action in the past.

If we use the English verb “to give” as an example, the meanings of the French Imperfect version of this verb would be “I was giving,” “I used to give,” “I kept on giving,” or even “I gave.” There is some slight overlap with the Passé Composé tense in French, but we will discuss that in a future post.

How to form the Imperfect

  1. Start with the “nous” form of the verb. Eg for the verb “aller” (to go), start with “nous allons” (we go).
  2. Remove the “-ons” part from the verb itself. This leaves you with the imperfect stem (“all-“).
  3. Add the appropriate imperfect ending. For je, it is “-ais.” For tu, it is also “-ais.” For il/elle, it is “ait.” For nous, it is “ions.” For vous, it is “iez.” And for ils/elles, it is “aient.”
PersonImperfect stemEndingResultEnglish
jeall--aisj’allaisI was going, used to go, kept on going, went
tuall--aistu allaisyou were going, used to go, kept on going, went
il/elleall--aitil allaithe was going, used to go, kept on going, went
nousall--ionsnous allionswe were going, used to go, kept on going, went
vousall--iezvous alliezyou were going, used to go, kept on going, went
ilsall--aientils allaientthey were going, used to go, kept on going, went

Quick & dirty method

  1. Go to the “vous” form of the verb (eg “vous allez” – you go)
  2. Substitute “je,” “tu,” “il,” “elle,” “ça,” “on,” “ils” or “ils” for the word “vous”
  3. This leaves you with something that sounds like “je allez” which becomes “j’allais”
    • There is a slight pronunciation difference, but it is not critical for beginners
  4. The only other things you need to know are that the “nous” form ends in “ions” and the “vous” form ends in “iez.” (“nous allions” – we were going, “vous alliez” – you were going).

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