Log inSign up

Tu étais studieux, mais jamais ridicule.

Tu étais studieux, mais jamais ridicule.
You were studious, but never ridiculous.
From Lesson 131:The imperfect tense of être (j'étais, tu étais)·French

Questions & Answers about Tu étais studieux, mais jamais ridicule.

Why is the stem for étais different from how we normally form the imparfait?
Normally, to find the stem for the imparfait, you take the nous form of the present tense and drop the -ons. However, être is the only exception in French! Its present tense nous form is sommes, which doesn't end in -ons. Because of this, it uses a special irregular stem: ét-. We then add the regular imparfait ending -ais for tu.
Why is it just jamais instead of ne ... jamais?
The word ne is only used when there is a conjugated verb to attach to. In the second half of this sentence, the verb étais is implied but not actually repeated. Since there is no verb right there to surround, jamais stands alone to mean never.
Would studieux change if a woman was being spoken to?
Yes! Adjectives ending in -eux in the masculine form change to -euse in the feminine form. If you were speaking to a woman, you would say Tu étais studieuse.
Does ridicule also need to change for a female subject?
No, it stays exactly the same. When a masculine adjective already ends in an unaccented -e, like ridicule, you do not add another -e for the feminine form. It works perfectly for both!

Learn Tu étais studieux, mais jamais ridicule and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →