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Imperfect (imparfait)

Formation Use Formation The imperfect past tense is formed on the stem of the first person plural (nous) in the present indicative. The imperfect endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Thus:

regarder (present: nous regardons) je regardais tu regardais il regardait nous regardions vous regardiez elles regardaient
Note that if the verb stem ends in "i," the first and second person plural forms in the subjunctive will contain a double "i":

tudier : vous tudiiez s'crier : nous nous criions


The only exception to the standard formation is the verb tre, whose stem is t-:

j'tais tu tais elle tait nous tions vous tiez ils taient
Note that verbs ending in -cer or -ger (e.g., commencer, manger) will undergo a spelling change when the "c" or "g" is followed directly by an "a" or "o." To soften the consonant, "c" will add the cedilla () and "g" will be followed by "e." So,

vous mangiez nous commencions BUT: ils mangeaient je commenais

Use
The imperfect is the tense of past description. It is used to describe settings, repeated actions in the past, or actions which are so vague as to elude any specific beginning or ending:

Il faisait beau ce jour-l. (It was nice out that day.) Quand j'tais plus jeune, nous allions souvent la mer. (When I was younger we often went to the coast.)
Expressions of emotion or of states of mind are frequently described in the imperfect:

Il n'tait pas content du rsultat. (He wasn't happy with the results.) Quand elle tait petite, elle avait peur du noir. (When she was little, she was afraid of the dark.)

While verbs describing mental and emotional states in the past are often in the imparfait, they may be put in the pass compos when one wishes to signal a change or a reaction:

Quand le serpent lui est tomb sur la tte, il a eu peur. (When the snake fell on his head, he was frightened.)
Note that English uses three different forms to express the imperfect:

When I was young I used to dance. I was dancing when he fell on the dancefloor. When I was little, we would dance every Sunday.
All of these are expressed by the imperfect in French:

Quand j'tais jeune, je dansais. Je dansais quand il est tomb sur la piste de danse. Quand j'tais petit, nous dansions tous les dimanches.
Warning: do not confuse the imperfect with the conditiona. When "would" is used to describe a habitual action in the past, it must be written in the imperfect in French:

Quand Muriel tait petite, elle faisait une sieste tous les jours. (When Muriel was little she would take a nap every day.) Note that recent past constructions (venir de + infinitive), when used in the imperfect, have the meaning of a pluperfect: Il venait de djeuner quand je suis arrive. (He had just had lunch when I arrived.)

Past perfect (pass compos)


Formation The pass compos is a compound tense formed with the present tense of the auxiliary (avoir or tre, see auxiliaries) and the past participle:

Elle a achet des livres aujourd'hui. (She bought some books today.) Ils sont partis en Corse pour les vacances. (They have left for Corsica for vacation.) Longtemps je me suis couch de bonne heure. (For a long time I went to bed early.)
(See Past participle agreement for rules on agreement.) Use The pass compos is used to describe actions that occurred in the past. They may be single events or series:

J'ai fini mes devoirs. (I finished my homework.) Il y a deux ans, elle a quitt son mari. (Two years ago, she left her husband.) Je suis alle l'cole, j'ai jou au foot, et j'ai fait mes devoirs. Quelle journe! (I went to school, I played soccer, and I did my homework. What a day!) Note: While verbs describing mental and emotional states in the past are often in the imparfait, they can be put in the pass compos when one wishes to signal a change or a reaction: Quand le serpent lui est tomb sur la tte, il a eu peur. (When the snake fell on his head, he was frightened.).

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