Introduction

The imparfait (continuous past) emphasises the progression or the regular repetition of an action
in the past.

Quand il tait petit, Lucas aimaitbeaucoup les gteaux.

Tous les jours, il faisait un gteau avec son amie Florence.
Pendant qu'il regardait la recette, Florence prparait la pte.
Ils cuisaient le gteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert.

Usage

description of a situation in the past

Example:
Quand il tait petit, Lucas aimait beaucoup les gteaux.

description of a person, a property, a comment or an explanation in the past

Example:
Lucas tait un enfant trs gourmand.

habitual action in the past

Example:
Tous les jours, il faisait un gteau avec son amie Florence.

simultaneously occurring action in the past

Example:
Pendant quil regardait la recette, Florence prparait la pte.

emphasises that an action lasted a while

Example:
Ils cuisaient le gteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert.

Construction
We take the present-tense stem of the 1st person plural and add the following endings (identical
for verbs of all groups):

er-verbs
(nous
aimons)

person

ir-verbs
(nous
finissons)*

ir-verbs
(nous
dormons)**

re-verbs
(nous
vendons)

1st person
singular

jaimais

je finissais

je dormais

je vendais

2nd person
singular

tu aimais

tu finissais

tu dormais

tu vendais

3rd person
singular

il/elle/on aimait

il/elle/on finissait

il/elle/on dormait

il/elle/on vendait

1st person plural

nous aimions

nous finissions

nous dormions

nous vendions

2nd person plural

vous aimiez

vous finissiez

vous dormiez

vous vendiez

3rd person plural

ils/elles
aimaient

ils/elles finissaient

ils/elles dormaient

ils/elles
vendaient

* Most ir-verbs are conjugated like finir. Choisir, ragir, rflchir and russir belong to this group.
Here we add an -iss- to the word stem in the plural forms.
** Most ir-verbs that are not conjugated like finir, are conjugated
like dormir. Mentir, partir and sentir are part of this group. We don't add -iss- to form the plural.
The verb avoir is regular. Only tre is constructed irregularly in the imparfait.

person

avoir

tre

1st person singular

javais

jtais

2nd person singular

tu avais

tu tais

3rd person singular

il/elle/on avait

il/elle/on tait

1st person plural

nous avions

nous tions

2nd person plural

vous aviez

vous tiez

3rd person plural

ils/elles avaient

ils/elles taient

Exceptions in the construction

For verbs that end in cer, the present form in the 1st person plural is constructed with (in
order to preserve the soft c sound). This remains unchanged in the imparfait (except in
the 1st and 2nd person plural).
Example:
lancernous lanons
je lanais, tu lanais, il lanait, nous lancions, vous lanciez, ils lanaient

For verbs that end in ger, the present form in the 1st person plural is constructed with e (in
order to preserve the soft g sound). This e remains unchanged in the imparfait (except in
the 1st and 2nd person plural).
Example:
mangernous mangeons
je mangeais, tu mangeais, il mangeait, nous mangions, vous mangiez, ils mangeaient

The verbs falloir and pleuvoir, which are only used in the 3rd person singular, are
conjugated like this in the imparfait:
Example:
falloir il fallait
pleuvoir il pleuvait

Imparfait vs pass compos

In a nutshell, the imparfait is used for incomplete actions while the pass compos is reserved for
completed ones, but of course its more complicated than that.
Incomplete v
s

Complete

Imparfait explains what was happening, with no

indication of when or even if it ended.

Pass compos announces what

happened, actions that were completed.

Jtais lcole.

I was at school.

Je suis arriv tt.

I arrived early.

Je faisais mes devoirs.

I was doing my
homework.

Jai fini mes

devoirs.

I finished my
homework.

Uncounted v
s

Counted

Imparfait details what used to happen on a regular

basis, or happened an indefinite number of times.

Pass compos expresses what happened

a specific number of times.

Jtudiais le lundi.

I used to study on
Mondays.

Jai tudi lundi.

I studied on (a
specific) Monday.

Je perdais constamment
mon livre.

I was always losing my

book.

Jai perdu mon

livre deux fois.

I lost my book twice.

Ongoing v
s

New

Imparfait indicates an ongoing state of being or

feeling.

Pass compos reports a change in a

state of being, a new feeling.

Jaimais lcole.

En ce moment,
jai dtest lcole.

I liked school.

At that moment, I
hated school.

Jtais toujours inspir

par mes profs.

I was always inspired

by my teachers.

Jai t inspir
par ton succs.

I was (became)
inspired by your
success.

Background + Event
Imparfait describes what was happening or how
something was when

the pass compos interrupted with

news of some occurence.

Jtais lcole quand

il a commenc
pleuvoir.

it started raining.

mon ami ma
pos une
question.

my friend asked
me a question.

I was at school when

Jessayais dtudier mais I was trying to study

but

Imparfait and pass compos in action

To give you an idea of how these tenses work, together and separately, here are three similar stories
using each tense individually and then both together.
Histoire limparfait
Quand jtais lycen, jtudiais tous les jours. Je
voulais tre accept dans une grande cole
parce que je souhaitais tre politicien. Je lisais
les journaux rgulirement et je commentais
constamment lactualit en compagnie de mes
amis.

When I was in high school, I studied every

day. I wanted to be accepted into a
prestigious university because I hoped to be a
politician. I read newspapers regularly and I
talked about current events all the time to my
friends.

Histoire au pass compos

Quand jai dcid dtre politicien, jai
commenc tudier tous les jours. Jai fait des
recherches et jai choisi une grande cole.
Cependant, je nai lu le journal que trois fois en
un an, et, un soir, quand jai parl de lactualit
pendant un dner, je me suis rendu ridicule
devant tout le monde.

When I decided to be a politician, I started

studying every day. I did research and chose a
prestigious university. However, I only read
the newspaper three times in one year, and,
one evening, when I talked about current
events at a dinner party, I made a fool of
myself in front of everyone.

Histoire aux temps passs mlangs

Quand jtais lycen, jai dcid que je voulais
tre politicien. Jtudiais tous les jours parce
que je devais, pour cela, tre accept dans une
grande cole. Je lisais les journaux
rgulirement, et, un soir, quand jai parl de
lactualit pendant un dner, jai impressionn
tout le monde.

When I was in high school, I decided that I

wanted to be a politician. I studied every day
because for that I needed to be accepted into
a prestigious university. I read newspapers
regularly and one evening, when I talked
about current events at a dinner party, I
impressed everyone.

Imparfait and pass compos clues

Some words and phrases are virtually always used with the imparfait, while others seem to stick
like glue to the pass compos. These lists can help you determine which tense you need in any
given sentence.
Imparfait

Pass compos

chaque semaine, mois,

anne

every week, month, year

une semaine, un mois,

un an

one week, month,

year

le week-end

on the weekends

un week-end

one weekend

le lundi, le mardi

on Mondays, on
Tuesdays

lundi, mardi

on Monday, on
Tuesday

tous les jours

every day

un jour

one day

le matin, le soir

in the mornings, in the

evenings

un matin, un soir

one morning, one

evening

toujours

always (in the past)

toujours

always (and still

now)

normalement,
dhabitude

usually

plusieurs fois

several times

en gnral,
gnralement

in general, generally

une fois, deux fois

once, twice

souvent

often

soudain,
soudainement

suddenly

parfois, quelquefois

sometimes

tout coup, tout dun

coup

all of a sudden

de temps en temps

from time to time

dabord

first

rarement

rarely

ensuite, puis

next, then

autrefois

formerly

enfin

finally

finalement

in the end

Remember that in literature and other formal writing, the pass simple takes the place of
the pass compos.