63 L'imparfait

L’imparfait

The French imperfect tense (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense that indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imperfect is very often translated in English as “was” or “was ___-ing”.

We use the imperfect tense to describe situations, people, properties, comments, explanations, repeated actions, and simultaneously occurring actions in the past.

The imperfect tense is used for continuous or habitual actions in the past, notably those that, in English, are in the past continous.

• Elle vivait à Lyon à l’époque. She was living in Lyon at the time.

It is used particularly in sentences where a continuing action is interrupted by a single action in the past:

• Elle dormait quand son téléphone a sonné. She was sleeping when her phone rang.

Conjugation

To conjugate the imperfect tense in French, we take the present-tense stem of the 1st person plural form of the verb (the nous form), and add the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez and -aient to the root of the present tense nous form of the verb.

Here’s an example of how to use the imperfect tense in a sentence:

Quand il était petit, Lucas aimait beaucoup les gâteaux. Tous les jours, il faisait un gâteau avec son amie Florence. Pendant qu’il regardait la recette, Florence préparait la pâte. Ils cuisaient le gâteau puis mangeaient une part au dessert. ¹

Special cases

The impersonal verb falloir and the defective verb pleuvoir, are both used in the third person singular only:

• il fallait
• il pleuvait

In the case of -er verbs like lancer, to throw, the c takes a cedilla before the letter a (if not, the c would be a hard k):

• il lançait

Likewise, in verbs such as manger, to eat, and déranger, to disturb, the g becomes ge before a and o (otherwise, the g would be hard g):

• tu mangeais
• il dérangeait

Compare: imparfait, passé composé, passé simple

The imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing states of being or repeated or incomplete actions in the past. It is often translated in English as “was” or “was ___-ing”. We use the imperfect tense to describe situations, people, properties, comments, explanations, repeated actions, and simultaneously occurring actions in the past. ²

• En été, j’allais faire de la randonnée toutes les semaines. In summer, I went hiking every week.

The passé composé is used to describe completed, sequential, or one-time actions that took place on a specific occasion in the past. It is often translated in English as “did” or “has done”.

• En été, je suis allé faire de la randonnée quatre fois. In summer, I went hiking four times.

In both cases of above examples, there is a repetitive action, but the first sentence describes a habitual (and less precise) action.

The passé simple is used to describe completed, sequential, or one-time actions that took place on a specific occasion in the past, effectively the same as passé composé, but used for actions in the very distant past, more commonly used in literature than in spoken French. ^{3 4}

Pronounce plus correctly

When to pronounce the s in plus in French: ⁵

1. Pronounce the s when plus conveys a positive meaning, such as more and in addition.
2. Do not pronounce the s when plus is followed by an adjective or an adverb, usually when you are comparing 2 elements. Or when used in negation.
3. There are exceptions to the rule.

Here are some examples of when to pronounce the s in plus in French:

• Pronounce the s:

  • when plus means more:
    • Je veux plus de chocolat s’il vous plaît. (I want more chocolate please)
    • J’ai plus d’argent que toi. (I have more money than you)
    • Il y a plus de gens ici qu’hier. (There are more people here than yesterday)
  • as a noun:
    • Le plus de cette ville, c’est la nourriture. (The best thing about this city is the food)
    • Ce stage est un plus pour ta carrière. (That course is a plus for your career)

• Do not pronounce the s:

  • in comparative form or superlative form (le plus) if the adjective it precedes starts with a consonant:
    • Je suis plus grand que toi. (I am taller than you)
    • C’était le plus intéressant. (That was the most interesting)
  • used in the negation ne…plus:
    • Je n’aime plus les films d’horreur. (I don’t like horror movies anymore)
    • Je ne veux plus de café. (I don’t want coffee anymore)
    • Je n’ai plus d’argent. (I don’t have any more money)
    • Je ne veux plus de café. (I don’t want coffee anymore)
    • Je ne suis plus aussi rapide qu’avant. (I’m not as fast as I used to be)

• Exceptions

  • when a liaison is necessary, pronouced [z]:
    • C’était plus intéressant que je ne pensais. (It was more interesting than I thought.)
  • when it’s the last word in a phrase, s is pronounced:
    • J’aime ça plus. (I like that more)
  • plus que, s is pronounced:
    • Elle étudie plus que moi. (She studies more than I do)

French Idioms with Body Parts

French idioms that use body parts are a fun way to learn the language. ^{6 7} Here are some examples: