Memories and Past Habits: The Imparfait
When you want to talk about childhood memories, repeated past actions ("used to"), or ongoing background scenes ("was doing"), you need the imperfect tense, or l'imparfait.
Forming the Imparfait
Forming the imparfait is highly regular for almost every verb in French:
- Take the present tense nous form of the verb (e.g., nous jouons).
- Drop the -ons to get the stem (jou-).
- Add the imparfait endings.
| Subject | Ending | Example (jouer) |
|---|---|---|
| je | -ais | je jouais |
| tu | -ais | tu jouais |
| il / elle / on | -ait | il jouait |
| nous | -ions | nous jouions |
| vous | -iez | vous jouiez |
| ils / elles | -aient | ils jouaient |
Notice how the je, tu, and il/elle/on endings all sound exactly the same.
Here are some examples of past habits and routines in the schoolyard (la cour):
| In the past, I used to love recess. | Autrefois, j'adorais la récréation. |
| During recess, she used to play in the courtyard. | Pendant la récréation, elle jouait dans la cour. |
| She used to cry without her doll. | Elle pleurait sans sa poupée. |
| In the past, we used to imagine a story in the yard. | Autrefois, nous imaginions une histoire dans la cour. |
Setting the Scene
The imparfait is also used to describe what was happening in the background when a sudden action interrupted it. The ongoing background action sets the scene using the imparfait, while the interrupting event uses the passé composé.
| He was looking for his ball, but he found an old rope. | Il cherchait son ballon, mais il a trouvé une vieille corde. |
| We were playing with the ball, but I broke a window. | On jouait avec le ballon, mais j'ai cassé une fenêtre. |
| He was walking fast, but he fell yesterday. | Il marchait vite, mais il est tombé hier. |
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