![]() (When she was eight years old, she visited her grandmother every weekend.) Quand elle avait huit ans, elle visitait sa grand-mère tous les week-ends.Since snow describes the weather, we use the imparfait. The biggest example of a condition is weather, but could include other kinds of conditions, such as age. This is one reason why the imparfait and passé composé are often used in the same passage or phrase-the imparfait sets up the main action by giving the background, while the passé composé is used for the primary, completed action. We use the imparfait to describe conditions or the backdrop to the main action. The Nazis occupied France for four years (1940 to 1944) and the black market flourished throughout this period. Here, we use the imparfait for both of the verbs because both of these events took place over a period of time. (When the Nazis occupied France, the black market was prevalent.) Quand les nazis occupaient la France, le marché noir était répandu.We use the imparfait form of être because the Reign of Terror, unfortunately, lasted almost a year (September 1793 to July 1794) and claimed many lives. (Robespierre was the head of the Reign of Terror.) Robespierre était la tête de la Régime de Terreur.Let’s look at a couple of examples of what we’re talking about. This contrasts with the passé composé, which as you’ll see later in this post, describes a single, completed action. If a certain action covers a significant period of time, we’ll use the imparfait because it’s a continuous action. There are four main situations in which we’ll use the imparfait:Īctions taking place over a period of time So, now we know how to form the imparfait, but how do we know when to use it? ![]() The full conjugation would look like: J'étais Then, you can use the same endings as above. To conjugate the exception verb être (to be), instead of modifying the nous form ( sommes), we modify the stem ét. ![]() You may need to think about it at first, but as you practice, it’ll become more natural. Now you’re well on your way to smoothly forming the imparfait. Similarly, the full imparfait conjugation for devenir (to become) is: Je devenais Starting to get the idea? Let’s take a look at what the imparfait for other common verbs would be.įor regarder (to watch), all the forms would be: Je regardais Thus, the verb form we get is jouais and our new sentence is:Īu lycée, je jouais du violin. Since you’re talking about yourself, the subject is je.Removing the -ons ending from that form, we come up with jou.The nous form for the verb jouer is jouons(we play).The verb you need here is jouer (to play), as in, je joue du violin (I play violin). Let’s say you want to describe one of your hobbies from high school-playing violin. Add the ending for the appropriate subject, following the pattern below.Remove the -ons ending from the nous form.You can check out this video to learn how to conjugate -er verbs in French: That means that whether the ending of the verb’s infinitive is -re, -ir or -er, the endings are the same. All verbs follow the same pattern, with the sole exception of être (to be), which we’ll cover separately below. ![]() The imparfait isn’t difficult to conjugate. Conjugating (Most) Verbs in the Imparfait The imparfait, or imperfect past, is used to describe conditions and continual/repeated actions, which we’ll explain in greater depth later on.įirst, let’s look at how to form the imparfait. (Download) How to Form and Use the Imparfait Where to Practice the Imparfait and Passé Composéĭownload: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬan take anywhere.How to Use the Imparfait and Passé Composé Together.Conjugating (Most) Verbs in the Passé Composé.Actions taking place over a period of time.Conjugating (Most) Verbs in the Imparfait.You’ll see how to form them and when to use them with examples. In this post, we’ll show you what you need to know about French’s two main past tenses: the imparfait (imperfect tense) and passé composé (perfect tense). The past tense in French will come up often and what can be difficult for French learners is that there are different tenses to talk about the past and each tense describes a certain kind of action that happened. If you pay attention, you’ll find yourself using the past tense several times throughout your day. By Rachel Larsen Last updated: OctoImparfait vs.
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