Francisez | Learn to conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense of the indicative

Learn to conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense of the indicative

L'imparfait de l'indicatif

When to use

The indicative imperfect tense in French is used to express actions that happened in the past, but that may or may not have been completed, that had been executed multiple times in the past or that had happened over a long period of time in comparison to now. Its English equivalent is as follows:

Past progressive tense
The tense that is composed as was or were plus the '-ing' ending. Read Notable points for more on this.

Eg. I was going to the shop.
Past tense with modal verb 'used to'
The tense is composed as used plus the infinitive Of the verb.

Eg. I used to go to the shop.
Perfect tense
The tense that is composed with the '-ed' ending, but this is for specific verbs and only due to an irregularity in English. Read Notable points for more on this.

Eg. I wanted to eat the apple.

Examples of use

Eg. 1)

Il parlait avec son professeur.

He was speaking with his teacher.

Eg. 2)

Je choisissais la vie que je voulais vivre.

I was choosing the life I wanted to live.

Eg. 3)

Ils vendaient des livres et stylos.

They were selling books and pens.

How to conjugate

Drop the final 'ons' from the plural first person, the nous form, of present tense of the indicative and use the following endings. Note: the following endings are the same endings as the conditional present tense.

Je	-ais	I
Tu	-ais	you (s.)
Il	-ait	he, she, it
Nous	-ions	we
Vous	-iez	you (p., pol.)
Ils	-aient	they

Examples of conjugation

-er verb
parler nous parlons to speak
Je	parlais
Tu	parlais
Il	parlait
Nous	parlions
Vous	parliez
Ils	parlaient

-ir verb
choissir nous choisissons to choose
Je	choisissais
Tu	choisissais
Il	choisissait
Nous	choisissions
Vous	choisissiez
Ils	choisissaient

-re verb
vendre nous vendons to sell
Je	vendais
Tu	vendais
Il	vendait
Nous	vendions
Vous	vendiez
Ils	vendaient

Test your skills in the 'Conjugation game' with DELF A1 verbs!

Notable points

Past progressive tense
The past progressive tense exists in French. It is conjugated as the imperfect tense, that you're currently reading, of the verb être plus en train de plus the infinitive of the verb. Its usage differs to English in that you only use this in French to emphasize that something was happening at the point in the story-telling. Using it in general story-telling would be strange.
Perfect tense
The perfect tense of certain verbs in English are used in French in the imperfect tense. This is because verbs like to want, to be ~ years old and to have to don't have an imperfect form, without sounding strange, in English.
Eg.) I wanted the book.
This should have been: 'I was wanting the book', but this sounds strange in English. These verbs should be in the imperfect because they happened over a long period of time in comparison to now. The same with 'I was needing to see it', etc. It's important to remember that devoir (to have to), vouloir (to want to), avoir ~ ans (to be ~ years old), as well as other verbs relating to weather and time, will almost always take the imperfect tense in French, even though they "appear" in the perfect tense in English.

Other moods and tenses

Participles	Present Past
Indicative	Present Imperfect Simple Future Simple Past Passé composé Plus-que-parfait Past Perfect Future Perfect	-ER -IR -RE -ER -IR -RE
Subjunctive	Present Imperfect Plus-que-parfait Past
Conditional	Present Past Past (2^nd)
Imperative	Present Past

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GLISSER

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├ Participles

├ Indicative

├ Present ( -ER | -IR | -RE )

├ Simple Future

├ Simple Past ( -ER | -IR | -RE )

├ Passé composé

├ Plus-que-parfait

├ Past Perfect

└ Future Perfect

├ Subjunctive

├ Plus-que-parfait

├ Conditional

└ Past (2^nd)

└ Imperative

Learn irregularities

├ Participles

├ Indicative

├ Present ( -ER | -IR | -RE )

├ Simple Future

└ Simple Past ( -ER | -IR | -RE )

├ Subjunctive

├ Conditional

└ Imperative

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