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o Quand elle était petite, Judith aimait beaucoup les gâteaux.
o Tous les jours, elle faisait un gâteau avec son amie Sandra.
o Pendant qu’elle regardait la recette, Sandra préparait la pâte.
o Elles cuisaient le gâteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert.
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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 and even the past progressive.
L’imparfait is used to tell stories and report on past actions, mostly in
written contexts.
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We conjugate the imperfect by adding the endings
je -ais,
tu -ais,
il / elle -ait,
nous -ions,
vous -iez and
ils / elles -aient to the root of the present tense nous form of the verb.
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To conjugate the imperfect tense in French, we take the present-tense stem of the 1st person
plural form of the verb (the nous form), and add the following endings:
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To conjugate the imperfect tense in French, we take the present-tense stem of the 1st
person plural form of the verb (the nous form), and add the following endings:
o Most ir- verbs are conjugated like finir. Choisir, réagir, réfléchir and réussir belong to
this group. Here we add an -iss- to the word stem in the plural forms.
o The ir- verbs that are not conjugated like finir, are conjugated like dormir. Mentir,
partir and sentir are part of this group. We do not add -iss- to form the plural.
Partir
Je
Tu
Il/elle/on
Nous
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Vous
Ils/elles
Sortir
Sentir
Mentir
Courir
Tenir
Fuir
The verb avoir is regular in the imperfect; only être has an irregular conjugation in this tense.
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Exceptions to the conjugation rules
▪ For verbs that end in -cer, the present form in the 1st person plural is
constructed with ç (in order to preserve the soft c sound).
• This ç remains unchanged in the imparfait (except in the 1st and 2nd person
plural forms).
Example:
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Exceptions to the conjugation rules
▪ For verbs that end in -ger, the present form in the 1st person plural is
constructed with e (in order to preserve the soft g sound). This e
remains unchanged in the imparfait (except in the 1st and 2nd person
plural forms).
▪ Example:
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Exceptions to the conjugation rules
▪ The verbs falloir and pleuvoir, which are only used in the 3rd person
singular, are conjugated as follows in the imparfait:
Example:
▪ falloir → il fallait
▪ pleuvoir → il pleuvait
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Most learners of French find it difficult to decide between the imparfait and the passé composé
when talking about the past.
Although both are past tenses, they are used in very different contexts and cannot be used
interchangeably.
m
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Most learners of French find it difficult to decide between the imparfait and the passé composé
when talking about the past.
Although both are past tenses, they are used in very different contexts and cannot be used
interchangeably.
m
be
Most learners of French find it difficult to decide between the imparfait and the passé composé
when talking about the past.
Although both are past tenses, they are used in very different contexts and cannot be used
interchangeably.
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be
When to use the imperfect and when to use the passé composé?
• Generally speaking, the passé composé corresponds to the English simple past; we usually use it
with a time indicator to talk about completed, sequential or one-time actions that took place in
the past.
• In contrast, the imparfait corresponds to the past progressive or the structures used to and
would. We use it for descriptions and setting the scene, as well as for repeated past actions with
an emphasis on duration.
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When to use the imparfait and when to use the passé composé?
L’imparfait
Le passé composé
to talk about sudden actions in the past (e.g. an
action that interrupted another)
o J’ai reçu un appel.
to emphasise the duration of an action
o Ils passaient leurs journées à l’intérieur!
to list past actions, often with a time indicator
o L’année dernière, je suis allé au bord de la Loire
pour les vacances.
to talk about repeated past actions (used to, would)
o Souvent, je m’arrêtais pour parler avec les
villageois.
a completed one-time action in the past
o J’ai fait une randonnée à vélo.
to talk about simultaneously occurring actions in the
past
o Donc, pendant que je pédalais, ils étaient
sûrement assis sur le sable.
sequentially occurring actions in the past
o J’ai raccroché et j’ai ri.
to talk about an action that was already in progress
in the past when a new action interrupted it
o Mais un jour, pendant que je parlais avec un
agriculteur, j’ai reçu un appel.
new action in the past that interrupts another
action that was already in progress
o Mais un jour, pendant que je parlais avec un
agriculteur, j’ai reçu un appel.
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to describe a situation (weather, landscape, person)
in the past
o Mes amis m’appelaient pour me dire combien le
temps était horrible à la mer.
When to use the imparfait and when to use the passé composé?
L’imparfait
o tous les jours
o chaque fois
o toujours
o ne … jamais
o souvent
o le mardi
o d’habitude
o quelquefois
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Le passé composé
o soudain
o tout à coup
o à ce moment-là
o en 1998
o hier
o l’année dernière
o ensuite
o puis
o après
o alors