One of the most useful verb tenses in French is the imperfect or imparfait. It is a common verb tense used for the continuous and general past. The imperfect tense is a great tense to master to improve your conversational French. L’imparfait can be especially useful when exchanging stories with your French-speaking friends! There is no perfect translation in English, but there are a few ways we use the imperfect tense in English:
- I used to play soccer.
- I was feeling sad.
- It was raining all day yesterday.
- I was going to the store when I saw a dog.
We’ll explore how to conjugate and when to use the French imperfect tense. To more quickly learn this verb tense and other French verb conjugations, Rosetta Stone is your best bet! By using less memorization and more dynamic immersion, Rosetta Stone can make mastering the imparfait a breeze.
>> New to French or need a refresher? Check out this list of 100+ basic French phrases!
What is the imperfect tense (imparfait) in French?
The imperfect tense in French (imparfait) is used to describe events that happened in the past with no specific duration. The imperfect verb tense describes the following situations:
- a repeated or habitual action in the past, such as childhood or another stage of life
- an action in progress (the continuous past) that was interrupted by another sudden action
- general descriptions such as background information, weather, or state of being
There are other past tenses in French in addition to the imparfait. (There are examples below this section to review.)
- The preterite, also known as the compound past in French (le passé composé), is the verb tense in French that describes events with specific durations, beginnings, and ends. It is the verb tense we use to describe the events interrupting the imparfait.
- The past perfect, or pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait) describes and differentiates two events that happened in the past, expressing which one happened before the other. It is used in conjunction with the imparfait and the passé composé.
- There are also two literary tenses, the simple past (le passé simple) and the past anterior (le passé intérieur) that are only found in text. They are not used in everyday conversations. If you plan on reading a lot of poetry and literature in French, it is good to learn how to recognize these tenses, though it is not necessary to learn to conjugate them.
>> Brush up on other French verb tenses to sound like a natural
When should you use the imperfect tense in French?
The French imperfect can describe a variety of situations with various conjugations in English. Most commonly, we use the imparfait with general, habitual actions with no exact duration. It is also used to describe events in progress that were interrupted. We also often see the French imperfect at the beginning of a story to set the scene.
Describing habitual actions in the past
The following sentences in the imparfait in French describe actions that were done repeatedly or habitually in the past, but the exact duration and time is unknown or unimportant.
- Je faisais mes devoirs. = I used to do my homework.
- Il jouait du piano quand il était petit. = He used to play the piano when he was younger.
Describing the general past
To describe things like ages, years, states of being or even background information in a story, we use the imparfait.
- L’été dernier, il pleuvait beaucoup. = Last summer, it rained a lot.
- Il était triste hier. = He was sad yesterday.
Note that these actions that occurred in the past do not have a specific start or end. They are describing general situations and states of being, so we use the imparfait in French.
Events interrupted by another event
Most common in conversational French, the imparfait can also be used to describe events in progress that were interrupted by another event. This interrupted action can also be described as the continuous past.
- Nous conduisions quand nous avons eu un accident. = We were driving when we had an accident.
- Je marchais quand j’ai vu mon ami. = I was walking when I saw my friend.
*Note that we use the passé composé (the compound past) to indicate the interrupting event.
How to conjugate the imperfect tense in French (regular verbs)
The good news for French learners is that the imparfait is one of the easiest French verb tenses to conjugate. Most imperfect conjugations follow the same patterns, although there are a couple exceptions. The most notable and irregular is the French conjugation être (to be).
We will look more closely at the formation of the French imperfect, grouped into three categories of regular verbs (-IR, -RE and -ER).
>> Review our list of the most common French verbs!
-IR verbs
We will use the -IR verb finir (to finish) as our example. All -IR, -RE and -ER verbs follow the following pattern:
First, we will conjugate finir in the nous (we) form in the present tense:
- Nous finissons. = We finish.
Next, we drop the -ons ending to create our verb stem (used for all subject pronouns):
- finiss
ons→ finiss-
Lastly, we add the endings for the imperfect based on the subject pronoun:
| Subject Pronoun | Imperfect Ending | Subject Pronoun | Imperfect Ending |
| je (I) | -ais | nous (we) | -ions |
| tu (you, informal singular) | -ais | vous (you, formal and/or plural) | -iez |
| il (he)elle (she)iel (non-binary singular they)on (“one”, used for speaking generally) | -ait | ilselles iels(plural they) | -aient |
Here is the complete verb chart for the verb finir in the imperfect tense, combining our stem finiss- and the endings in the above chart:
| je finissais | I was finishing/used to finish | nous finissions | we were finishing/used to finish |
| tu finissais | you were finishing used to finish (singular) | vous finissiez | you were finishing/used to finish (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on finissait | he/she/they/one was/were finishing/ used to finish | ils/elles/iels finissaient | they were finishing/used to finish (plural) |
-RE verbs
Below is a chart of a regular -RE verb, vendre (to sell). The nous (we) form of vendre in the present tense is vendons, so our stem becomes vend-.
| je vendais | I was selling/used to sell | nous vendions | we were selling/used to sell |
| tu vendais | you were selling/used to sell (singular) | vous vendiez | you were selling/used to sell (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on vendait | he/she/they/one was/were selling/ used to sell | ils/elles/iels vendaient | they were selling/used to sell (plural) |
-ER verbs
The last group of regular verbs is -ER. Here is a chart for a regular -ER verb, parler (to speak/talk). The nous (we) form of parler in the present tense is parlons, so our stem becomes parl-.
| je parlais | I was speaking/used to speak | nous parlions | we were speaking/used to speak |
| tu parlais | you were speaking/used to speak (singular) | vous parliez | you were speaking/used to speak (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on parlait | he/she/they/one was/were speaking/ used to speak | ils/elles/iels parlaient | they were speaking/used to speak (plural) |
In summary, for all regular -IR, -RE, and -ER verbs:
First, you need to conjugate the verb in the present tense in the nous (we) form. Second, you drop the -ons ending to create your stem. Lastly, you add the imperfect ending for the subject pronoun you are conjugating.
Exceptions to the rules above
There are two main exceptions to the rules above, which are both forms of -ER verbs. The exceptions are verbs that end in -GER and -CER.
First, we will look at a common -GER verb, manger (to eat). We still use the nous (we) form of the present tense to get our stem, but we need to add an extra e for all subject pronouns except nous and vous (you formal and/or plural). This is to keep consistent pronunciation.
| je mangeais | I was eating/used to eat | nous mangions | we were eating/used to eat |
| tu mangeais | you were eating/used to eat (singular) | vous mangiez | you were eating/used to eat (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on mangeait | he/she/they/one was/were eating/ used to eat | ils/elles/iels mangeaient | they were eating/used to eat (plural) |
Second are -ER verbs that end in -CER. Again, we still use the nous (we) form of the present tense to get our stem, but this time we need to add an accent cédille on the c for all subject pronouns except nous and vous. This is again to keep consistent pronunciation. Let’s look at a common -CER verb, commencer (to start).
| je commençais | I was starting/used to start | nous commencions | we were starting/used to start |
| tu commençais | you were starting/used to start (singular) | vous commenciez | you were starting/used to start (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on commençait | he/she/they/one was/were starting/ used to start | ils/elles/iels commençaient | they were starting/used to start (plural) |
Irregular verbs in the imperfect
The only completely irregular verb in the French imperfect is être (to be). We do not look at the nous (we) form of the verb; instead, the stem for être in the imparfait is ét-. The endings remain consistent with the rest of the French imperfect conjugations.
Note: when a verb conjugation starts with a vowel, the subject pronoun je (I) changes to j’.
| j’étais | I was/used to be | nous étions | we were/used to be |
| tu étais | you were/used to be (singular) | vous étiez | you were/used to be (plural) |
| il/elle/iel/on était | he/she/they/one was/were/used to be | ils/elles/iels étaient | they were/used to be (plural) |
Master the French imperfect with Rosetta Stone
Using l’imparfait in French will unlock a whole new world of conversation as you share stories from your past experiences. Diving into French conjugations of all verb tenses can feel daunting, but Rosetta Stone makes it easy with their immersion-based language learning style. You’ll improve your French pronunciation more quickly and gain a deeper understanding of the French imperfect without memorization.
Rosetta Stone is available online or on your mobile device. Check out our app for iPhone, iPad, and Android, and start immersing yourself in French today!
Written by Ingrid Narum
Ingrid is a full-time French and EL teacher. She is currently learning Norwegian and Spanish.
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