The Imperfect tense indicates what was, or was happening, or happened regularly in the past and which stopped happening now. It emphasizes time, habit, repetition, aspect, condition or state.
Mon père travaillait dans une usine.
My father worked in a factory.
The verb “travaillait” means that my father worked for a certain period of time in a factory, but is no longer working in a factory now.
Madame Dupont était une femme de classe.
Madame Dupont was a classy woman.
The verb “était” shows that Madame Dupont is either dead or stopped being classy.
Quand j’étais petit, je faisais souvent des bêtises.
When I was young, I often misbehaved.
Here we have two verbs in the imperfect tense: “étais” and “faisais”. The two verbs indicate an action or a state that no longer exist now.
Let’s conjugate the verb “finir” into the imperfect tense:
As you can see, all you need to do to conjugate the verbs of the second group into the imperfect tense is to drop the final “-r” and replace it with “ ssais, ssait, ssions, ssiez or ssaient”.
More examples:
Le couloir était long et il aboutissait à une grande chambre vide.
The corridor was long and it led to a big empty room.
Quand nous étions jeunes, nous agissions souvent sous le coup de la colère.
When we were younger, we often acted in anger.
Les sourires de ce bébé attendrissaient les hommes les plus durs.
The smiles of this baby softened the toughest men.
Je sais très bien à quel point vous chérissiez les moments passés avec votre père.
I know how much you cherished the moments spent with your father.
À chaque fois que je te parlais, tu rougissais.
Each time I spoke to you, you blushed.
Nous bondissions de joie chaque fois que notre maman rentrait du travail.
We jumped with joy each time our mom came back from work.
L’armée de l’Empereur envahissait toutes les cités avoisinantes.
The Emperor’s army invaded all the neighboring cities.
Petit à petit, les missionnaires convertissaient les tribus africaines au christianisme.
Step by step, the missionaries converted the African tribes to Christianity.
Avant, je maigrissais facilement mais maintenant il est difficile pour moi de perdre des kilos.
I used to get thin easily, but now it’s hard for me to lose weight.
Did the former President call for a staff meeting that often?
Réussissaient-ils à créer des conflits parmi les communautés ?
Were they succeeding in creating conflicts among the communities?
Quand tu étais enfant, tu désobéissais souvent à tes parents ?
When you were a kid, did you often disobey your parents?
This man never bent to anyone.
Vous étiez présent mais vous ne fournissiez aucune aide.
You were present, but you provided no help.
Ils ne nous avertissaient jamais avant de venir nous voir.
They never warned us before coming to see us.
Mon père travaillait dans une usine.
My father worked in a factory.
The verb “travaillait” means that my father worked for a certain period of time in a factory, but is no longer working in a factory now.
Madame Dupont était une femme de classe.
Madame Dupont was a classy woman.
The verb “était” shows that Madame Dupont is either dead or stopped being classy.
Quand j’étais petit, je faisais souvent des bêtises.
When I was young, I often misbehaved.
Here we have two verbs in the imperfect tense: “étais” and “faisais”. The two verbs indicate an action or a state that no longer exist now.
The Verbs of the second group
The verbs of the second group end in “ir” and their present participle end in “issant”. They are considered regular verbs because they follow the same conjugation in all tenses.Let’s conjugate the verb “finir” into the imperfect tense:
| Je | finissais |
| Tu | finissais |
| Il /elle/ on | finissait |
| Nous | finissions |
| Vous | finissiez |
| Ils/elles | finissaient |
As you can see, all you need to do to conjugate the verbs of the second group into the imperfect tense is to drop the final “-r” and replace it with “ ssais, ssait, ssions, ssiez or ssaient”.
More examples:
Le couloir était long et il aboutissait à une grande chambre vide.
The corridor was long and it led to a big empty room.
Quand nous étions jeunes, nous agissions souvent sous le coup de la colère.
When we were younger, we often acted in anger.
Les sourires de ce bébé attendrissaient les hommes les plus durs.
The smiles of this baby softened the toughest men.
Je sais très bien à quel point vous chérissiez les moments passés avec votre père.
I know how much you cherished the moments spent with your father.
À chaque fois que je te parlais, tu rougissais.
Each time I spoke to you, you blushed.
Nous bondissions de joie chaque fois que notre maman rentrait du travail.
We jumped with joy each time our mom came back from work.
L’armée de l’Empereur envahissait toutes les cités avoisinantes.
The Emperor’s army invaded all the neighboring cities.
Petit à petit, les missionnaires convertissaient les tribus africaines au christianisme.
Step by step, the missionaries converted the African tribes to Christianity.
Avant, je maigrissais facilement mais maintenant il est difficile pour moi de perdre des kilos.
I used to get thin easily, but now it’s hard for me to lose weight.
The interrogative form
Est-ce que l’ancien Président réunissait son cabinet aussi fréquemment ?Did the former President call for a staff meeting that often?
Réussissaient-ils à créer des conflits parmi les communautés ?
Were they succeeding in creating conflicts among the communities?
Quand tu étais enfant, tu désobéissais souvent à tes parents ?
When you were a kid, did you often disobey your parents?
The negative form
Cet homme ne fléchissait devant personne.This man never bent to anyone.
Vous étiez présent mais vous ne fournissiez aucune aide.
You were present, but you provided no help.
Ils ne nous avertissaient jamais avant de venir nous voir.
They never warned us before coming to see us.