French grammar · Elementary (A2)
The imparfait: describing the past
How to form the imparfait, and when to use it instead of the passé composé: descriptions, habits and background.
What the imparfait is for
The (imperfect) is the second everyday past tense. It doesn't tell you what happened next: it describes how things were. Use it for descriptions (people, places, weather, feelings), for habits (“used to”), and for actions that were going on when something else happened.
- C'était très intéressant.It was very interesting.
- Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot tous les samedis.When I was little, I used to play football every Saturday.
- Il pleuvait, alors on est restés à l'hôtel.It was raining, so we stayed at the hotel.
How to form it
Take the form of the present, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. This works for almost every verb, including irregular ones: gives , gives , gives .
The only exception is , which uses the stem ét-: . Verbs like keep the e before a: , but . , , and all sound the same.
| Subject | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| (j') | |||
| / / | |||
| / |
Imparfait or passé composé?
The passé composé tells you what happened: events that are finished, once or for a set time. The imparfait paints the scene around them. In a story, the imparfait is the background and the passé composé moves the action forward.
A useful test: if you could say “was …ing” or “used to” in English, it's probably the imparfait. If it's a step in the story (“and then…”), it's the passé composé.
| Passé composé | Imparfait |
|---|---|
| (We left on Friday.) | (The weather was nice.) |
| (He found a job.) | (He was a receptionist.) |
| (We met at the dance.) | (He had long hair.) |
| (I studied for three years.) | (I used to study in the evening.) |
Two special uses
becomes (there was, there were), and becomes (it was). Both are very common in descriptions.
+ imparfait makes a friendly suggestion. Here the imparfait isn't about the past at all: (How about going to the cinema?)
- Il y avait beaucoup de monde.It was very crowded.
- Et si on mangeait au restaurant ce soir ?How about eating out tonight?