Imparfait – Imperfect Tense in French

The  French imperfect tense, the imparfait, is a past tense used to describe actions or states in the past that were ongoing, habitual, or not completed. It’s often translated to English as “was doing” or “used to do ” where the beginning and end of the state of being are not indicated. It can be termed as past continuous tense.

Usage:

I. Describing ongoing past actions

•  Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti.
• It was raining when I went out.
• L’année dernière, je travaillais dans un restaurant chinois.
• Last year, I worked at a chinese restaurant.

II. Expressing habitual past actions/State of Being

•  Quand j’avais dix ans, j’aimais manger des escargots tous les weekend.
•  When I was ten years old, I loved to eat escargots every weekend.
• Quand j’étais petit, nous allions à la plage tous les étés.
• When I was little,we used to go to the beach every summer.
• Ils mangeaient toujours au même restaurant le dimanche. 

III. Physical and emotional descriptions: time, weather, age, feelings

• J’étais nerveux avant l’examen. 
• I was nervous before the exam.   
• Nous pensions que c’était une bonne idée à l’époque. 
• We thought it was a good idea at the time.
• En hiver, il avait toujours faim.
• In winter, he was always hungry.
• Quand je suis sorti, il pleuvait.
• When I went out it rained.

IV. Simultaneous Past Actions

• While I was cooking, my sister was setting the table.
• Il conduisait et elle lisait la carte. 
• He was driving and she was reading the map.

IV. Background information with the passé composé

• Je dormais (imparfait) quand le téléphone a sonné (passé composé).
• I was sleeping when the phone rang.
• Elle était (imparfait) au travail quand elle a entendu (passé composé) la nouvelle.
• She was at work when she heard the news.
• Nous marchions (imparfait) dans la rue quand nous avons vu (passé composé) un accident. 
• We were walking in the street when we saw an accident.

 V.  Hypothetical Situations

• Si j’étais riche, j’achèterais une grande maison. 
• If I were rich, I would buy a big house.
• S’il faisait beau, nous irions à la plage. 
• If the weather were nice, we would go to the beach.
• Si j’avais de l’argent, j’irais aux Etats-unis.
• If I had some money, I would go to the United States of America.
  

Formation

The imperfect conjugations in French are remarkably straightforward. For virtually all verbs—both regular and irregular—the imperfect is formed using the same simple method:

1. Take the present tense “nous” form of the verb.
2. Drop the -ons ending.
3. Add the imperfect endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient

This rule applies to nearly every French verb, making the imperfect one of the easiest tenses to learn.

The Only Exception: Être

Être (to be) is the only truly irregular verb in the imperfect tense. This is because its present tense “nous” form (nous sommes) does not end in -ons, so there is nothing to drop. Instead, être uses the irregular stem ét- in the imperfect. However, even être follows the standard imperfect endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient) once you have the stem.

• Être: j’étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient

This near-universal rule for forming the imperfect makes it one of the most learner-friendly aspects of French grammar. Once you know a verb’s present tense “nous” form, you can quickly and confidently form its imperfect tense, with être being the only verb you need to memorize separately.

While the basic rule for forming the imperfect remains consistent, there are indeed some spelling changes to be aware of for certain verb types:

1. Verbs ending in -cer: These verbs change ‘c’ to ‘ç’ before ‘a’ to maintain the soft ‘c’ sound. Example: Commencer (to begin)

• Nous commençons → je commençais, tu commençais, il commençait, nous commencions, vous commenciez, ils commençaient

2. Verbs ending in -ger: These verbs add an ‘e’ after the ‘g’ before ‘a’ to keep the soft ‘g’ sound. Example: Manger (to eat)

• Nous mangeons → je mangeais, tu mangeais, il mangeait, nous mangions, vous mangiez, ils mangeaient

3. Verbs ending in -ier: These verbs maintain the ‘i’ from their infinitive, resulting in a double ‘i’ in the nous and vous forms. Example: Étudier (to study)

• Nous étudions → j’étudiais, tu étudiais, il étudiait, nous étudiions, vous étudiiez, ils étudiaient

It is important to note that these changes are not considered irregular conjugations. They are regular spelling adjustments made to maintain pronunciation consistency or to reflect the verb’s infinitive form. The double ‘i’ in -ier verbs might look unusual, but it follows the regular pattern of imperfect formation.

Other examples of -ier verbs:

• Crier (to shout): nous criions, vous criiez
• Oublier (to forget): nous oubliions, vous oubliiez

Understanding these minor spelling adjustments will help learners write and pronounce these verbs correctly in the imperfect tense, while still following the fundamental rule of imperfect formation.

Here are the imperfect endings and conjugations for the regular verbs parler (to speak) and finir (to finish), the -ier verb étudier (to study), the spelling change verb manger (to eat), and the irregular verb être (to be):
Pronoun	Ending	parler > parl-	finir > finiss-	étudier > étudi-	manger > mange-	être > ét-
je (j’)	-ais	parlais	finissais	étudiais	mangeais	étais
tu	-ais	parlais	finissais	étudiais	mangeais	étais
il	-ait	parlait	finissait	étudiait	mangeait	était
nous	-ions	parlions	finissions	étudiions	mangions	étions
vous	-iez	parliez	finissiez	étudiiez	mangiez	étiez
ils	-aient	parlaient	finissaient	étudiaient	mangeaient	étaient

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Sole Meunière: The Elegant Simplicity of Classic French Cuisine

“Meunière” means “miller’s wife” in French, possibly referring to the light flour coating on the fish.

Sole meunière is appreciated for its simplicity and the way it showcases the delicate flavor of the fish. It is considered a staple of French cuisine and is often associated with Julia Child(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child), who famously described it as her first meal in France and a culinary revelation.