2. WHAT DO WE USE THE IMPARFAIT FOR?
The imparfait, or imperfect tense, is used to talk
about three types of situations.
• What someone was doing
• What someone used to do
• Conditions
• Time, weather, emotions, etc.

3. HOW DO WE FORM THE IMPARFAIT?
It’s a simple 3-step process!
Step 1: Take the present-tense nous form of the
verb.
Parler: Nous parlons.
Step 2: Take off the –ons stem.
Nous parl-

4. Step 3: Add the imparfait ending. You’ll need to
memorize these.
-ais: Je parlais -ions: Nous parlions
-ais: Tu parlais -iez: Vous parliez.
-ait: Il/elle/on parlait. -aient: Ils/elles
parlaient.

5. This is easy.
I want to
look at
more verbs,
though.

6. MORE TYPES OF VERBS IN THE IMPARFAIT
Regular -ER verbs:
Regarder: Nous regardons  regard--  imparfait ending
Tu? Ils?
Regular -IR verbs:
Finir: Nous finissons  finiss--  imparfait ending
Je? Vous?
Regular –RE verbs:
Attendre: Nous attendons  attend--  imparfait ending
Elle? Nous?

7. As the textbook notes on page 339, you need to
remember the nous form of irregular verbs, too.
Faire?
Aller?
Voir?
Lire?
Écrivait?

8. THE ONE IRREGULAR STEM…ÊTRE
ét- + endings
J’étais
Tu étais
Il/elle/on était
Nous étions
Vous étiez
Ils/elles étaient