The imperfect indicative tense is used in French to describe:
1. Habitual or repeated actions in the past, e.g., “I used to play volleyball when I was young.”
2. Actions that continued in the past for an undefined period, especially those interrupted by or in the background of another action, e.g., “While you were studying, I was watching TV.”
3. Descriptions of people, places, and objects in the past, e.g., “Da Vinci was a famous painter and scientist.”
4. Time and age in the past, e.g., “When I was 15 years old, I lived in a village.”
Notice that, depending on the context, the imperfect indicative tense can correspond to the simple past tense or the past progressive tense in English. In some contexts, it can also be translated to “used to” + infinitive or “would” + infinitive.
Conjugation
To conjugate verbs in the imperfect for all forms, we begin from the first-person plural in the present indicative, that is, the “nous” form, e.g., “parlons,” “finissons,” “buvons,” “partons,” etc., and we extract the stem “parl-,” “finiss-,” “buv-,” “part-,” etc., by dropping the last “-ons.”
The suffixes are the same for all three types of verbs.
Irregular Verbs
In essence, the verb “être” (to be) is the only irregular verb in the imperfect.
| je | tu | il/elle/on | nous | vous | ils/elles | |
| être to be | étais | étais | était | étions | étiez | étaient |
Some verbs in the imperfect undergo minor spelling changes similar to those encountered in conjugation in other tenses to maintain the proper pronunciation, for example:
| je | tu | il/elle/on | nous | vous | ils/elles | |
| manger to eat | mangeais | mangeais | mangeait | mangions | mangiez | mangeaient |
| menacer to threaten | menaçais | menaçais | menaçait | menacions | menaciez | menaçaient |
Examples
Let us now look at some examples of the imperfect indicative tense in French in different contexts:
| As a child, I used to live in a village. Enfant, je vivais dans un village. | Habit in the past, indicated by “used to” |
| In the past, I would sleep only a few hours. Autrefois, je ne dormais que quelques heures. | Habit in the past, indicated by “would” |
| My school professor was tall. Mon professeur d’école était grand. | Description in the past |
| When I was 15 years old, I used to play tennis. Quand j’avais 15 ans, je jouais au tennis. | Time and age in the past |
| I was at work when you called me. J’étais au travail quand tu m’as appelé. | Actions continuously happening in the past when interrupted by another action |
Uses of the Imperfect
In general, use the imperfect when the sentence is in the past and you see words such as: “habituellement” (usually), “toujours” (always), “pendant” (while), “tous les jours” (every day), “de temps en temps” (every so often), etc., or phrases such as: “en tant qu’enfant” (as a child), “quand j’étais jeune” (when I was young), “quand j’avais 15 ans” (when I was 15 years old), etc.
| Quand j’étais jeune, je pouvais beaucoup courir. | When I was young, I could run a lot. |
| Quand j’étais enfant, j’aimais les fruits. | When I was a child, I used to like fruits. |
| Quand j’étais adolescent, je buvais du café. | When I was a teenager, I used to drink coffee. |
Comparing the Present to the Past
Also, use the imperfect when comparing the present to the past, for example:
| Aujourd’hui, il est facile de voyager, mais avant, c’était difficile. | Today it is easy to travel, but before, it used to be difficult. |
Past Intentions
Another important use of the imperfect indicative tense in French is to express a past intention of doing something that does not end up being done in the present. These are expressions such as “I was going to …,” “I was thinking of …,” and “I wanted to ….”
The general formula of such expressions is as follows:
| Imperfect tense of (“aller,” “penser,” or “vouloir”) + infinitive |
For example:
| J’allais t’appeler, mais je me suis endormi. | I was going to call you, but I fell asleep. |
| Je pensais sortir, mais il est déjà trop tard. | I was thinking of going out, but it’s already too late. |
| Je voulais venir, mais j’ai eu un accident. | I wanted to come, but I had an accident. |
When to Use the Compound Past Instead of the Imperfect
On the other hand, use the compound past if you are talking about actions with a defined time or period in the past. Look for expressions such as: yesterday, last night, last week, ago, in 1994, from… to…, two times, for three hours, the other day, etc.
These expressions may not be explicitly used, but the meaning can implicitly refer to a defined time or period in the past, which necessitates the use of the compound past.
| I visited my mother last night. J’ai rendu visite à ma mère hier soir. | Action with defined time in the past (last night) |
| I talked to her the other day. Je lui ai parlé l’autre jour. | Action with defined time in the past (the other day [1]) |
| In 1922, Alexander Bell invented the telephone. En 1922, Alexander Bell a inventé le téléphone. | Action with defined time in the past (in 1922) |
Special Constructions in the Imperfect
One special use of the imperfect is the construction:
| “si” + “on” + imperfect indicative |
Expressions that contain the above structure are often translated as “what about …?”, that is, suggesting or inviting someone to do something. Here are some examples:
| Si on sortait ce soir? | What about going out tonight? |
| Si on achetait quelque chose à manger? | What about buying something to eat? |
| Si on y mangeait aujourd’hui? | What about eating there today? |
| Si on jouait au football demain? | What about playing soccer tomorrow? |
Another expression that uses the imperfect is:
| “si” + “seulement” + subject pronoun + imperfect indicative |
The above expression is often translated as “if only …” Here are some examples:
| Si seulement je savais. | If only I knew. |
| Si seulement il était là. | If only he was there. |
| Si seulement nous avions assez d’argent. | If only we had enough money. |
| Si seulement ils venaient avec nous. | If only they came with us. |
Next: Time Expressions: “En train de,” “Venir de,” “Depuis,” & “Ça fait”
Other lessons in Level V:
