Linguafy|Language learning just got interesting

Past - Imperfect Grammar - Lesson 1/1

 

 

 

Lesson 1

 

 

The imperfect tense is used to talk about what something was like or what used to happen/was happening (such as 'j'étais formidable'='I used to be wonderful'.)

 

To form the imperfect tense, just use this simple formula:

 

 

Subject + Present tense nous form (minus the ending) + Ending

 

Sound difficult? It's easier than you might think. All you have to do is say the person ('je' for example), then the nous form of the present tense conjugation (such as 'faisons'), then take off the 'ons' (forming 'fais'), and add the ending. Easy peasy.

 

If you were wondering what the endings are, we can read your mind. If not, here they are anyway:

 

 

 

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

These endings always stay the same. However, there are some irregulars for the verbs:

 

• Être becomes 'ét-' (j'étais)

• Add an extra 'e' with verbs like 'manger' before -a, -o or -u (je mangeais)

• The last 'c' in verbs like 'commencer' becomes 'ç' before -a, -o or -u (je commençais)

 

 

Examples:

 

'Les arbres se balançaient dans le vent'='The trees swayed in the wind'

'Autrefois, il était sympa, mais maintenant il est un peu impoli'='He used to be nice, but now he's a bit rude'

'Quand elles étaient plus jeunes, elles aimaient danser'='When they (f) were younger, they used to like/liked to dance'

 

Here are some cool phrases that go hand in hand with the imperfect tense:

• Tous les jours=Every day

• Avant=Before

• Autrefois=Once/in the olden days

• Tous les matins=Every morning

• Tous les soirs=Every evening

• Toutes les nuits=Every night

• L'année dernière=Last year

• Quand j'étais petit/plus jeune=When I was small/younger

 

The imperfect tense goes hand-in-hand with the perfect tense, and is used to say what was happening when something interrupted you.

 

For example:

'Il a pris mes notes quand je faisais mes devoirs'='He took my notes when I was doing my homework'