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Autrefois, il imaginait des monstres dans la forêt.

Autrefois, il imaginait des monstres dans la forêt.
In the past, he used to imagine monsters in the forest.
From Lesson 129:The imperfect tense for regular verbs (-ais, -ait)·French

Questions & Answers about Autrefois, il imaginait des monstres dans la forêt.

How do we get the form imaginait from the verb imaginer?
We use the present tense nous form to find the stem. For imaginer, the present tense is nous imaginons. Drop the -ons to get the stem imagin-, and then add the imparfait ending for il, which is -ait. This gives us il imaginait.
Why does the translation say "used to imagine" instead of just "imagined"?
The imparfait is used to describe past habits, routines, or ongoing states. Since imagining monsters was something he did repeatedly back then, "used to imagine" is the most natural English translation to show it was a habit.
Is autrefois related to the word fois (time)?
Yes! Autrefois literally combines autre (other) and fois (time). It translates to "in the past" or "formerly" (literally "at another time"). It is a great hint that you should use the imparfait because it describes how things used to be.
Why is it des monstres and not les monstres?
In French, you almost always need an article before a noun. Here, he imagined "monsters" in general (or "some monsters"), not specific ones we already know about. So, we use the plural indefinite article des. If we used les, it would mean he imagined the specific monsters.

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