Is a past tense You do not need a helping verb You need the “nous” form of the present

tense You drop the “ons” from the nous form to

have the stem

L’ Imparfait

The stem is the “nous” form minus “ons” You add the endings to the stem The endings are: ais, ais,ait, ions, iez, aient Example: verb regarder “nous” form: regardons Stem: regard Imparfait: je regardais, etc….

Imparfait

When you want to say : I used to When you want to describe a progressive

past action To talk about the weather To talk about the time To describe people To talk about feelings

When do you use the Imparfait?

When you want to say was happening compared to something that happened

The Imparfait is different from the passé composé

The imparfait is used to describe a habit I was watching is imparfait I watched is passé composé

Imparfait

Je parlais Nous parlions

Tu parlais Vous parliezIl parlait Ils parlaient

Parler in the Imparfait

You can have the two tenses in the same sentence.

Example: Je regardais la télé quand ma copine est arrivée. I was watching TV when my friend came.

Passé composé and Imparfait