Limparfait The imperfect tense Le Pass Compos is

L’imparfait (The imperfect tense)

Le Passé Composé is used to describe completed actions of specific past events.

L’Imparfait is a past verb tense that is used to describe: • What people or things were like • Repeated or habitual actions in the past; what used to happen • General conditions in the past; to tell what was going on • Weather conditions

The imperfect can be translated as: …was/were ______(verb)______ ing or …used to ____(verb)______

To form the imparfait: 1. Conjugate the verb in the present tense “nous” form. ex – regarder nous regardons 2. Drop the “-ons” to form the stem. regardons regard-

3. Then, add the following endings: je tu il/elle/on -ais -ait nous -ions vous -iez ils/elles -aient

Examples: 1. écouter 2. stem nous écoutons écout

3. Add the following endings: j’écoutais tu écoutais il écoutais nous écoutions vous écoutiez elles écoutaient

Examples: Où est-ce que tu habitais avant? J’habitais à Chicago. Qu’est-ce que vous faisiez à six heures? Nous finissions nos devoirs.

The imperfect can be translated as: Where did you live before? I lived (used to live) in Chicago. What were you doing at 6? We were finishing our homework.

Irregular Stems in the Imperfect: être ét- avoir av-

Examples: 1. Quand j’étais jeune, ma famille habitait à la campagne. 2. Quand nous avions huit ans, ma soeur et moi, nous faisions du roller en ligne. Can you translate these into English?