L’Imparfait
The passé composé and the imparfait
Adverb placement
Français 2
Chapitre 6
Grammaire 1
The imparfait
 The imparfait (imperfect) tense tells
_______________or what ___________________
repeatedly in the past. It is also translated as
_____________________________. To form the
imperfect drop the –ons from the present tense nous
form and add these endings:
 Je
 Tu
 Il/Elle
-_____
-_____
-_____
Nous
-_____
Vous
-_____
Ils/Elles -_____
The imparfait: Conjugate
parler
finir
vendre
The imparfait
 Verbs like manger and commencer that have spelling changes in the nous form
keep the spelling change in the imperfect in all forms except in the nous and
vous forms.
 (nous mangeons)
je
nous
tu
vous
il/elle/on
ils/elles
 (nous commençons)
je
nous
tu
vous
il/elle/on
ils/elles
The imparfait
 Etre is the only verb that has an irregular stem: _____
j’
tu
il/elle/on
nous
vous
ils/elles
The passé composé and the imparfait
 Use both the passé composé and the imparfait to
talk about the past.
 Use the imparfait to tell how things were or
what used to happen over and over.
 Quand j’étais jeune, nous allions à la plage chaque
été.
 (When I was young, we used to go to the beach
every summer.)
The passé composé and the imparfait
 You also use the imparfait to give
descriptions.
 Il faisait très beau. Il y avait beaucoup de fleurs.
 (It was very nice out. There were a lot of flowers.)
The passé composé and the imparfait
 Us the passé composé to say what happened or
what someone did in a set period of time.
 Une fois, j’ai fait un château de sable incroyable!
 (One time, I made an incredible sandcastle!)
The passé composé and the imparfait
 Sometimes you need to use both the passé composé
and the imparfait in the same sentence. You can
tell what was going on (imparfait) when another
action happened (passé composé).
 Je jouais aux dames quand le
téléphone a sonné.
 (I was playing checkers when the
phone rang.)
The passé composé and the imparfait
 Use the mnemonic device CHEATED to help
remember when to use the imparfait
 Continuous action
 Habitual action
 Endless action (weather, age)
 Time (only when saying what time it was)
 Emotion
 Description
CHEATED
 CONTINOUS
 HABITUAL
 ENDLESS
 AGE
CHEATED
 TIME
 EMOTION/STATE OF MIND
 DESCRIPTION
Adverb placement
 Generally place adverbs that tell how
much, how often, or how well someone
does something after the conjugated verb.
 Je joue souvent aux dames et hier, j’ai bien joué.
 (I often play checkers and yesterday, I played
well.)
Adverb placement
 Comme ci comme ça, quelquefois, and de temps en
temps are exceptions, place them at the beginning
or end of a sentence.
 Je joue aux dames comme ci comme ça. De temps
en temps, je joue avec ma soeur. Quelquefois je
gagne, mais je perds quelquefois aussi.
 (I’m alright at checkers. From time to time I
play with my sister. Sometimes I win, but
sometimes I lose too.)
Adverb placement
 Most other adverbs, such as those of time (hier,
maintenant) and those ending in -ment usually
go at the beginning or end of the sentence.
o Normalement je passe le samedi avec mes copains.
o (Normally I spend every Saturday with my
friends.)