What Is the Imperfect Tense?

The imperfect tense in French (l’imparfait) is a past tense used to describe ongoing actions, habits, or states in the past. Unlike the passé composé, it does not indicate a completed action with a clear beginning and end. Think of it as a “background” tense — it sets the scene or describes what was happening.

In English, the imperfect often translates to “was doing,” “used to do,” or “would do (habitually).”

Quick Examples

• Je mangeais une pomme. → I was eating an apple.
• Elle habitait à Paris. → She used to live in Paris.
• Nous jouions au foot chaque samedi. → We used to play football every Saturday.

Simple Examples to Get Started

Here are a few everyday sentences in the imperfect tense to help you understand the feeling of this tense:

• Il faisait beau. → The weather was nice.
• Tu parlais trop vite. → You were speaking too fast.
• Les enfants dormaient. → The children were sleeping.
• Je regardais la télévision tous les soirs. → I used to watch television every evening.
• Vous aimiez le chocolat. → You used to like chocolate.

The Key Elements of the Imperfect Tense in French

To use the imperfect correctly, you need to understand three main components: the stem, the endings, and the uses.

1. How to Form the Imperfect Tense

The imperfect is formed from the nous form of the present tense. Remove the -ons ending to get the stem, then add the imperfect endings.

Step-by-step example with the verb parler (to speak):

• Present nous form: nous parlons
• Remove -ons: parl-
• Add imperfect endings: parlais, parlais, parlait, parlions, parliez, parlaient

The Imperfect Endings