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L’imparfait (the imperfect) is a French past tense. It describes states and actions that were ongoing or repeated in the past. The imperfect can correspond to the English simple past tense, but also to structures such as used to and would. The imperfect is used to tell stories and report on past actions, mostly in written contexts.
L’imparfait is the French version of the “past progressive” or “past continuous” tense: “ was [verb]+-ing ” etc. For instance: Je pensais à toi. = I was thinking about you. → Here the verb “ penser ” (= to think) is in l’imparfait. It makes “ Je pensais. ” = I was thinking. This is the gist of it.
They say practice makes perfect, so how can one of the most common French past tenses be imperfect? In grammatical terms, "perfect" means "complete," so the French imperfect tense is used to describe an incomplete or ongoing action or state of being. The imparfait is usually equivalent to "was" or "was ___-ing" in English (past progressive) and ...
L'imparfait se forme à partir de la base du verbe conjugué à la 1re personne du pluriel au présent + les terminaisons -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Exemple : avoir → au présent, nous avons. À l'imparfait : J'avais Tu avais Il/Elle avait Nous avions Vous aviez Ils/Elles avaient Exception : pour le verbe être, on n'utilise pas ...
L’imparfait is a form of past tense in French mainly used to describe continuous actions, repetitive actions, or existing states. In this section we’ll cover some of the contexts where we’ll use imparfait French rather than the passé composé, with plenty of examples. Note that the passé composé is also present in many of these ...
French has two main past tenses: The passé composé and the imperfect (l’imparfait). While the passé composé is used to describe past actions which occured at specified times, the imperfect is used to describe post actions which occurred at unspecified times. This lesson explains how to form and use the imperfect tense in detail.
The imperfect ( l'imparfait) expresses or describes continued, repeated, habitual actions or incomplete actions, situations, or events in the past. The imperfect describes what was going on at an indefinite time in the past or what used to happen. The imperfect can be translated by “would” when it implies “used to.”.
L'imparfait is the imperfect tense of the indicative mood. It expresses actions which were happening, repeated, or habits in the past. The imparfait is (more or less) equivalent to the English past continuous, though sometimes it's better translated by the simple past.
Pour tous les groupes de verbes, l’imparfait se forme sur le radical de la première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif, en enlevant le terminaison « ons » pour la remplacer par les terminaisons suivantes : -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions , -iez, -aient. Par exemple, pour le verbe du 1er groupe aimer, la conjugaison du présent de l ...
Vous étiez là ce matin. You (pl) were there this morning. Note that L'Imparfait is also the tense to express continuing actions in the past, or actions seen in their progression, with no clear beginning or end. This usage is similar to the Past Continuous (or Past Progressive) in English (i.e. I was doing, he was sleeping).
Imparfait de l'indicatif. L' imparfait de l'indicatif exprime un fait ou une action qui a déjà eu lieu au moment où nous nous exprimons mais qui peut encore se dérouler. Exemple : Quand tu étais enfant, tu étais timide. L'imparfait est souvent utilisé pour décrire une scène, un paysage. Exemple : Le soleil descendait derrière la montagne.
Feelings, emotions, mental actions, or physical sensations. When you describe how you felt (emotionally or physically) in the past or the occurrence of a mental event like forgetting or remembering, you usually want to reach for the imparfait. “I was…”. J’étais très heureux à l’école primaire.
If so, conjugating l’imparfait couldn’t be easier. Simply drop the “ons” from the end of the nous form of any present tense verb, add the right suffix, and voilà! And for once in the history of the French language, there is only one exception to the rule. In this case its être, which does its own thing and uses the stem “ét.”
By ThoughtCo Team. Updated on September 08, 2019. The French imperfect (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense that indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imperfect is very often translated in English as "was" or "was ___-ing."
The imperfect is used to describe habits, things we used to do regularly in the past. The imparfait allows to talk about a memory : For example: Quand j’étais ado, j’allais souvent voir ma grand-mère à Toulon. Here, we evoke a memory. It’s not a habit, as “often” does not imply a regularly, daily action. The imperfect is used to ...
Bonjour, 👉 Cette vidéo t'explique simplement quand et comment utiliser l’imparfait de l’indicatif, avec un zoom sur les auxiliaires "être" et "avoir". Elle ...
Practice your French verb conjugations for the L'Imparfait (all verbs) with graded drill activities and fun multi-player games.
Instead, the verb is conjugated with different endings than the present tense. The imparfait endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, and -aient. In the charts below, imparfait conjugation is ...
Learn how to Conjugate regular verbs in the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait) and get fluent faster with Kwiziq French. Access a personalised study list, thousands of test questions, grammar lessons and reading, writing and listening exercises. Find your fluent French!
1. stem. 2. endings. The imperfect tense (l'imparfait), one of several past tenses in French, is used to describe states of being and habitual actions in the past. It also has several idiomatic uses. stem. The stem of the imparfait is the first person plural (nous) form of the present tense, minus the -ons. The imparfait stem is regular for all ...