The imperfect (l'imparfait): The imperfect (l'imparfait) is the tense for the ongoing, habitual and descriptive past. It paints the background rather than reporting a single finished event.
What it describes
- What used to happen: nous allions chaque été.
- What things were like: il faisait beau.
- What was happening when something else occurred.
- There's no single moment of completion in view — the action stretches or repeats.
- Its partner, the passé composé, is for one-off finished events.
- l'imparfait
- the imperfect — the past for ongoing, habitual and descriptive actions
- une habitude
- a habit — something done repeatedly in the past (used to / would)
- la description
- the description — the background scene, people and things in the past
- une action en cours
- an ongoing action — what was happening (was -ing)
- le décor / l'arrière-plan
- the setting / background — the scene against which events happen
- le passé composé
- the perfect — its partner tense, for a single completed past event
When you reach for it: If the prompt mentions toujours, d'habitude, tous les jours, quand j'étais… — or asks you to describe the past or say how things used to be — it's the imperfect. It's the scene-setting tense in the speaking and writing tasks.
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Nous-stem + imperfect ending: The imperfect is the most regular French tense. There is only one irregular stem in the whole language: être → ét-.
Find the stem
- Take the nous form of the present.
- Drop -ons, and you have the stem.
- Add the same endings to every verb.
- So: parlons → parl-, finissons → finiss-, prenons → pren-.
| Personne | parler (parl-) | finir (finiss-) | être (ét-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parlais | finissais | étais |
| tu | parlais | finissais | étais |
| il / elle / on | parlait | finissait | était |
| nous | parlions | finissions | étions |
| vous | parliez | finissiez | étiez |
| ils / elles | parlaient | finissaient | étaient |
The endings never change — and être is the only odd stem: The six endings are -ais / -ais / -ait / -ions / -iez / -aient for every verb — there are no other irregular endings. Only the stem of être is irregular (ét- → j'étais, tu étais, il était…).
Spelling traps
- Watch the je/tu forms (parlais) and the il/ils forms (parlait / parlaient): they sound the same but are spelt differently.
- Spelling verbs keep their soft sound: manger → mangeais, commencer → commençais.
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Four classic jobs: The imperfect sets the scene and describes the past without closing it off. Here are the four uses you meet most in the exam, each with a French example.
Not one finished event: In every case the action repeats, stretches or describes rather than finishing once. Its partner, the passé composé, takes over for the single finished events.
Emplois de l'imparfait
- Habits & repeated actions — Tous les étés, nous allions à la plage. (Every summer we used to go to the beach.)
- Description & background — La maison était grande et avait un jardin. (The house was big and had a garden.)
- Age, time & weather in the past — J'avais huit ans ; il était trois heures et il faisait froid. (I was eight; it was three o'clock and it was cold.)
- What was happening (was -ing) — Pendant que nous mangions, la radio jouait. (While we were eating, the radio was playing.)
Repeats, stretches or describes = imperfect: Ask: is the action a habit, a description, or something in progress? If yes — and there's no single moment of completion — use the imperfect. Markers like toujours, d'habitude, pendant que, quand j'étais… point straight to it; a one-off finished event takes the passé composé.
How things used to be, sentence by sentence: Here's a short original description of how life used to be, built one sentence at a time. Every verb is in the imperfect — habits, description and background.
How to read it
- Read it once for the meaning.
- Then tap Voir la traduction for the English or the audio button to hear it.
L'imparfait en action
Comment était la vie, phrase par phrase
- Quand j'étais petit, nous habitions dans un village au bord de la mer.
- Tous les étés, nous allions à la plage et nous nagions toute la matinée.
- Ma grand-mère préparait toujours une tarte le dimanche et ça sentait délicieux.
- L'après-midi, il faisait chaud, alors nous jouions sous les arbres.
- C'était une vie tranquille et tout le monde se connaissait au village.
Steal this for your description: Notice the pattern: a habit or description marker (quand j'étais petit, tous les étés, toujours, l'après-midi) + an imperfect verb. Use it whenever the task asks you to describe your childhood or how things used to be.
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The slips to watch for: Anglophones make two classic imperfect mistakes. Compare the right version with the typical mistake below.
The two slips
- Choosing the passé composé for a habit: saying what happened once when you mean what used to happen.
- Building the stem from the infinitive instead of the nous-form: writing finais when the stem is finiss-, or forgetting that être → ét-.
Correct
- Tous les jours, j'allais à l'école à pied.
- Quand j'étais petite, je mangeais beaucoup de fruits.
- Nous finissions nos devoirs avant le dîner.
Erreur fréquente
- Tous les jours, je suis allé à l'école à pied.
- Quand j'étais petite, je étais mangeais des fruits.
- Nous finais nos devoirs avant le dîner.
Habit? Description? Use the imperfect: Check two things: is this a habit or description (then use the imperfect, not the passé composé)? And did you build the stem from the nous form (parlons → parl-, finissons → finiss-), with être → ét-? A habit told in the passé composé, or a stem built off the infinitive, are the two slips examiners catch.