Lesson 23: Imparfait — the "other" past tense

Part 1: French has TWO past tenses

In Lessons 21–22 you met passé composé: J'ai mangé une pomme — "I ate an apple". That was one of two main past tenses. Here comes the other.

Type of action	Tense	Example
One completed event: "I ate yesterday"	passé composé (L21–22)	J'ai mangé une pomme.
Description, habit, ongoing background: "I used to eat", "it was cold", "he was a child"	imparfait (this lesson)	Je mangeais des pommes. / Il faisait froid.

The big idea: imparfait answers "what was it like?", "what used to happen?", "what was going on?". NOT "what happened next?".

English speakers, hear this: imparfait is what you reach for when English says "used to ___" or "was ___-ing".

• Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot. — "When I was little, I used to play soccer."
• Il pleuvait. — "It was raining."
• Elle avait les yeux bleus. — "She had blue eyes." (descriptive state)

You'll get the full "passé composé vs imparfait" decision in Lesson 25. For now, your only job is to learn the form and recognize the two main uses.

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Part 2: Formation — built from the nous-form of the present

This is the single best news in French grammar: imparfait has almost no irregulars. If you know the nous-form of a verb in the present, you know its imparfait.

The three-step algorithm:

1. Take the nous form of the verb in the present tense.
2. Drop the -ons ending.
3. Add the imparfait endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Verb	nous (present)	Stem	je-form (imparfait)
parler	nous parlons	parl-	je parlais
finir	nous finissons	finiss-	je finissais
vendre	nous vendons	vend-	je vendais
faire	nous faisons	fais-	je faisais
prendre	nous prenons	pren-	je prenais
boire	nous buvons	buv-	je buvais
voir	nous voyons	voy-	je voyais
avoir	nous avons	av-	j'avais
aller	nous allons	all-	j'allais

Why this works: the nous form is where French verbs show their "real" stem — the one shared by most other forms. Faire looks bizarre everywhere else (je fais, vous faites, ils font), but nous faisons hands you the clean fais- stem. This is your shortcut for every weird verb.

Full conjugation of parler

Person	Imparfait	Pronunciation
je	parlais	"par-LEH"
tu	parlais	"par-LEH"
il / elle / on	parlait	"par-LEH"
nous	parlions	"par-LYOHN"
vous	parliez	"par-LYAY"
ils / elles	parlaient	"par-LEH"

The sound trap that destroys English speakers! Four forms — je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, ils parlaient — sound identical: "par-LEH". The -s, -t, and -ent endings are all silent. Spelling distinguishes them; pronunciation doesn't. The subject pronoun (je/tu/il/ils) is your only audible clue.

Spelling vs sound recap: -ais = -ait = -aient = the same "eh" sound. Only nous -ions and vous -iez sound different.

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Part 3: The one and only irregular verb — être

Out of every French verb, exactly one breaks the "nous-stem" rule: être. Its nous form is sommes, which gives you nothing usable. So you just memorize the special stem: ét-.

Same endings as everybody else, though:

Person	être (imparfait)	Meaning
j'	étais	I was
tu	étais	you were
il / elle / on	était	he / she was
nous	étions	we were
vous	étiez	you were
ils / elles	étaient	they were

• J'étais petit. — I was little.
• Nous étions à Paris. — We were in Paris.
• Ils étaient fatigués. — They were tired.
• C'était super ! — It was great!

Remember: ét- + the usual endings. That's the entire irregular list for imparfait. Everything else — even monsters like faire, prendre, boire, vouloir — obeys the nous-stem rule.

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Part 4: The two main uses

Use 1 — Description: set the scene

Imparfait paints the backdrop. Weather, age, time of day, looks, feelings, ongoing states. If English would use "was/were" + adjective, or "was ___-ing" for an ongoing condition — that's imparfait.

• Il faisait beau. — The weather was nice.
• Il pleuvait. — It was raining.
• Il faisait froid. — It was cold.
• La maison était grande. — The house was big.
• Elle avait les yeux bleus. — She had blue eyes.
• J'étais fatigué. — I was tired.
• Il avait dix ans. — He was ten years old. (age in the past = always imparfait)
• Il était trois heures. — It was three o'clock. (time in the past = always imparfait)

Use 2 — Habit: things you "used to" do

This is the imparfait that maps neatly onto English "used to" or "would" (the habitual one, not the conditional one).

• Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot. — When I was little, I used to play soccer.
• Le dimanche, nous allions chez nos grands-parents. — On Sundays, we would go to our grandparents'.
• Elle buvait toujours du thé le matin. — She always drank tea in the morning.
• Tous les étés, je passais un mois à la mer. — Every summer, I used to spend a month at the sea.

English-speaker hack: if you can rephrase the English sentence with "used to" or "would always" and it still makes sense → imparfait. If it has to be a single completed event with a specific moment → passé composé.

Compare side by side

Passé composé (one event, done)	Imparfait (habit or description)
Hier, je suis allé au cinéma. — Yesterday I went to the movies. (one trip)	Tous les samedis, j'allais au cinéma. — Every Saturday I used to go to the movies. (habit)
Il a fait beau samedi. — It was nice on Saturday. (a single weather fact)	Il faisait beau, les oiseaux chantaient… — The weather was nice, the birds were singing… (scene)
Elle est tombée. — She fell. (one event)	Elle était triste. — She was sad. (state)
J'ai mangé une pizza. — I ate a pizza. (one)	Je mangeais souvent des pizzas. — I often ate pizzas. (habit)

The full passé composé vs imparfait showdown is Lesson 25. Your job today is to recognize: description / habit → imparfait. One completed event → passé composé.

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Part 5: Frequency adverbs — your imparfait flags

When you see one of these in a sentence, the verb is almost always in imparfait:

French	English	Note
toujours	always
souvent	often
parfois	sometimes	also: quelquefois
de temps en temps	from time to time
rarement	rarely
ne … jamais	never	wraps the verb like ne…pas
tous les jours	every day
chaque matin / soir / été	every morning / evening / summer
le dimanche	on Sundays	(definite article = habit)
d'habitude	usually	strong imparfait signal
en général	generally
autrefois	in the old days	classic imparfait flag
à l'époque	at that time
quand j'étais petit / petite	when I was little	textbook opening line

In action:

• Autrefois, les gens écrivaient des lettres. — In the old days, people used to write letters.
• D'habitude, il prenait le métro. — Usually, he took the subway.
• Quand j'étais petite, je lisais chaque soir. — When I was little, I used to read every evening.
• Mes parents travaillaient souvent le week-end. — My parents often worked on weekends.

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