French is quite difficult to learn, especially at the beginning stages. Difficulties arise not only because of the unusual pronunciation for a Russian person, but also because of the abundance of tenses.
It is believed that there are 19 tenses in the French language. In fact, there are only 3 tenses: present (Présent), past (Passé) and future (Futur). But there are just 19 temporary forms: for the present time there are 5 forms, for the past - 11 forms, for the future time plan - 3 temporary forms.
In French, Imparfait is one of those tenses that is learned early on. Let's figure out what time it is and when it is used.
Characteristics of time
When we want to talk about events that happened in the past, we use past tense forms. One of these temporary forms is Imparfait. In French it denotes the unfinished past tense.
The point of Imparfait's time form is to show action in progress without any time frame:
- Elle dansait bien. - She danced beautifully.
- Julie préparait le dinner. - Julie was preparing dinner.
- Il écrivait une lettre à son ami. - He was writing a letter to his friend.
As you noticed in the examples, actions are not limited to any periods of time: they seem to have no beginning and no end.
People who have studied English have probably noticed some similarities: Imparfait in French is the “double” of the Past Continuous. Both of these tense forms are used in the same speech situations.
Form education
To form Imparfait's temporary form, you need to follow a small algorithm. For example, let’s take verb 1 of group aller.
First you need to find the unstressed stem of the verb. To do this, put the verb in the 1st person plural form: nous allons. Now let's subtract the ending -ons and get all-. This is the unstressed stem of the verb aller.
Now you need to add the endings of the temporary form Imparfait to the unstressed stem: All + -ais/-ais/-ait/-ions/-iez/-aient.
- J "allais au cinéma. - I went to the cinema.
- Nous allions à l"école. - We were going to school.
- Ils allaient au café. - They went to the cafe.
Do not forget about the peculiarities of the conjugation of group 2 verbs: in plural forms, the suffix -iss appears between the root and the ending (Je choisis. Nous choisissons). The basis in this case will be choisiss-.
And among the verbs of group 3 there is only one exception - the verb être:
- Nous sommes, but J"étais (unstressed stem ét-).
Conjugation of some verbs
Follow some examples of verb conjugations in Imparfait.
Verbs of the first group:
| marcher - to walk | chercher - search | danser - to dance | parler - to speak |
| je marchais | je cherchais | je dansais | je parlais |
| tu marchais | tu cherchais | tu dansais | tu parlais |
| il marchait | il cherchait | il dansait | il parlait |
| nous marchions | nous churches | nous dances | nous parlions |
| vous marchiez | vous cherchiez | vous dansiez | vous parliez |
| ils marchaient | ils cherchaient | ils dansaient | ils parlaient |
Verbs of the second group (note the linking in some forms):
Two main verbs that belong to the third group:
Difference between Imparfait and Passé Composé time
You learned that the tense form Imparfait in French is used when the speaker wants to show a process without using time frames.
Passé Composé time is its “competitor” of sorts. On the contrary, it is used when the action has already been completed. Passé Composé is similar to the Present Perfect and Past Simple in English.
Compare the cases of Imparfait and Passé Composé:
- Je regardais la tele. - I was watching TV.
J"ai regardé la télé hier. - I watched TV yesterday. - Elle pleurait. - She cried.
Elle a pleuré pendent deux heures. - She cried for two hours. (For the French, pendent is a temporary restriction, despite the appearance of the process. Here there will be a Passé Composé.) - Nous jouions au football. - We played footbal.
Hier nous avons joué au football jusqu"au soir. - Yesterday we played football until the evening.
Exercises
Check your understanding of Imparfait tense. Education Exercise:
Je (aimais/aimait), tu (donnais/donniez), nous (chantons/chantions), vous (choisiez/choisissiez), ils (finaient/finissaient), elle (était/étais).
Translate to French using Imparfait:
I played; I wrote; I danced; I built; did you love; Did you sleep; you threw; he explained; she was finishing; we loved; We were dancing; we searched; we built; you canceled; Have you eaten; did you read; they wrote; they listened; they fled; they smiled.
Translate from Russian into French:
1. Foreigners walked along the beautiful streets of St. Petersburg. 2. That week we played football with students from a neighboring school. 3. This girl danced great. 4. My father built the house without anyone's help. 5. They ate together at their parents' house. 6. She played tennis the best. 7. The girl walked to school for two whole hours. 8. We laughed at his lectures. 9. Mom was preparing dinner.
Use
Imparfait – past incomplete tense (in Russian most often corresponds to the past tense of imperfective verbs, i.e. answers the question “what did you do?”). Serves for
1) expressions unfinished action in the past:
Je vous telephonais. — I called you.
2) expressions ordinary, repeating past actions:
Quand j'étais petit, je jouais toujours avec mes sœurs. — When I was little, I always played with my sisters.
3) descriptions in the past time:
Il était trois heures. Il n'y avait personne dans les rues. La pluie tombait. — It was three o'clock. There was no one on the streets. It was raining.
Si j'étais riche, je voyagerais à l'étranger. — If I were rich, I would travel abroad.
5) expressions polite request:
Je voulais vous demander une chose. — I wanted to ask you something.
6) expressions proposals to make smb. in an interrogative sentence after si:
Si nous prenions du café? — Should we have some coffee?
Education
Formed from the stem of verbs in the 1st person plural of the present tense and the following endings: - ais, — ais, — ait, — ions, — iez, — aient.
Group 3 verbs in imparfait
This tense is formed according to the rule: the required ending is added to the stem of the verb in 1 l. pl. hours of the present time. The only thing exception- verb être, which has the basis for the formation of imparfait - et-:
Spelling
Pay attention to spelling features for some verbs in imparfait:
1) verbs starting with -ger
For verbs ending in -ger, endings that begin with -a or -o are preceded by the letter -e:
je mang e ais, but: nous mangions
2) verbs ending in -cer
For verbs ending in -cer, endings that begin with -a or -o are preceded by the letter “ç” instead of the letter “c”:
je commen ç ais, but: nous commencions
3) verbs ending in -yer
Don’t be confused by the “we” and “you” forms of these verbs, in which the letters “y” and “i” appear at the junction:
nous pa yi ons, vous pas yi ez
4) verbs ending in -ier
In the same forms for “we” and “you”, do not forget to write two “i” (one from the stem, the second from the ending):
nous étud ii ons, vous etud ii ez
--> ImparfaitImparfait de l"indicatif (past incomplete or imperfect) is the indicative tense, which denotes past actions in the process of their development.
Elle mangait un bonbon.- She ate candy.
Michel marchait lentement.– Michelle walked slowly.
Il faisait beau ce jour-là.- In that day stood wonderful weather.
Formation of forms
Forms imparfait are formed by adding special endings to the stem of the first person plural in the present tense (see Conjugation of verbs in Présent de l"indicatif). The exception is the verb être, which in imparfait will have the stem ét-: j" et ais, tu et ais etc.
In addition, you can familiarize yourself with the conjugation of verbs of the first, second and third groups on the page Typical conjugation of French verbs.
Meaning and usage
Imparfait serves to express an unfinished or repeated action that occurred in the past. In Russian, it more often corresponds to the past tense of imperfective verbs, for example did, saw, ate.
Imparfait expresses an action without indicating its beginning or end and is often used to describe.
Elle etais très jolie.
She was very beautiful.
Il nageait très vite.
He swam very fast.
The following usage cases deserve special attention: imparfait:
Imparfait is used to denote ordinary or repeated actions, and the verb is often accompanied by the following circumstances: habituellement, souvent, toujours, chaque fois, de temps en temps, etc.
D"habitude, je me réveillaisà september.
Usually I woke up at seven o'clock.
On allait souvent au cine.
We often went to the cinema.
Imparfait is used to indicate simultaneous actions.
Elle lisait un livre quand il est entré.
He read book when he entered.
Je regardais la tele pendant qu"elle faisait son devoir.
I watched TV while she did homework.
Imparfait can be used in various politeness formulas.
Imparfait can be used in interrogative phrases after the conjunction si to express a wish, polite request or suggestion.
Si on allait au ciné ce soir?
Maybe we can go to the cinema tonight?
Si on prenait du café?
Should we have some coffee?
Imparfait can denote a condition or assumption relating to present or future, in a subordinate clause after the conjunction si. In this case, the tense conditionnel présent is used in the main clause.
Si j" Avais le temps, je t"accomagnerais.
If I had was time, I would accompany you.
Il partirait, s"il le pouvait.
He would have left if could.
The large number of tenses in the French language creates difficulties for beginners in learning it. For simplicity, 19 temporary forms are sometimes called, such as Présent, Imparfait, Passé Composé and others.
In French, Imparfait is one of the first tenses studied, along with Présent and Passé Composé. In this article you will learn in what situations Imparfait is used, how it is formed and how it differs from its “comrade” - Passé Composé.
When to use Imparfait
In French, Imparfait is one of the past tense forms. Past tenses are used when they want to talk about past events. The tense form Imparfait in French denotes the unfinished past tense. In other words, it refers to a process that has no clear beginning or end.
To make it clearer, take a look at the following examples:
La jeune fille dansait bien. - The girl danced beautifully.
Maman preparait le dinner. - Mom was preparing dinner.
Paul écrivait une lettre à son ami. - Pavel wrote a letter to his friend.
Please note that actions are not limited to any periods of time. This is the essence of the temporary form of Imparfait - to show the process itself.
Imparfait in French can be compared to the Past Continuous in English. If you studied the latter, you will see that these times are very similar. They are used in the same speech situations.
How to form time Imparfait
In order to correctly form time, you need to remember the action plan. Let's look at the French verb chercher, which is translated into Russian as “to search.”
First, we are looking for an unstressed stem, that is, the stem of the verb in the first person plural:
- We put the verb in the 1st person plural form: nous cherchons.
- We drop the ending -ons from the resulting form: church-ons = church-.
So we have an unstressed base from which we will form Imparfait forms.
To the resulting base we add the endings Imparfait:
- Je church- + -ais
- Tu church- + -ais
- Il church- + -ait
- Nous church- + -ions
- Vous church- + -iez
- Ils church- + -aient
Je cherchais le cinéma. - I'm looking for a cinema.
Nous churches notre cabinet. - We are looking for our office.
Ils cherchaient l "entrée. - They are looking for an entrance.
Chercher belongs to the first group of verbs. Verbs of the second and third groups have their own characteristics.
For verbs of the second group in plural forms, the suffix -iss appears between the root and the ending (Je bâtis. Nous bâtissons. - I am building. We are building). The basis in this case will be bâtiss-.
For the third group there is one exception - the verb être: nous sommes, but nous étions.
What is the difference between Imparfait and Passé Composé
In French, Imparfait and Passe Composé are two past tenses that are often confused. Let's figure out what their differences are.
I mparfait in French is used when the action is incomplete. Passé Composé, on the contrary, denotes an action that has already happened.
Compare the cases of Imparfait and Passé Composé:
- Je mangeais le pain beurré. - I ate bread and butter.
J "ai mangé le pain beurré. - I ate bread and butter. - Il pleuvait. - It was raining.
Il a plu pendent trois heures. - It rained for three hours. (Pendent - during. Despite the fact that the preposition indicates a process, for the French language it is a temporary restriction). - Nous jouions au volleyball. - We played volleyball.
Hier nous avons joué au volleyball jusqu"au soir. - Yesterday we played football until the evening.
