French grammar · Intermediate
French Imperfect Conjugations: One Set of Endings, One Exception
The imperfect (l'imparfait) is the most predictable tense in French: take the nous form of the present, cut off -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Verbs that are chaotic in the present — faire, boire, prendre — become perfectly regular here, because the stem comes from a form you already know. Être is the only verb in the language that needs its own stem.
Quand j'étais petit, nous habitions près de la mer.
When I was little, we lived near the sea.
What it is
The imperfect borrows its stem rather than inventing one. Conjugate the present tense as far as nous, remove the -ons, and whatever remains is the imperfect stem for all six persons. That single move is why the imperfect is the one French tense with essentially no irregular verbs: any weirdness the verb has is already baked into the nous form.
nous prenons → je prenais, nous buvons → je buvais, nous faisons → je faisais. — we take → I used to take, we drink → I used to drink, we do → I used to do.
How to spot it
Every imperfect form has -ai- or -i- sitting between the stem and the ending, and the nous and vous forms carry an i that the present tense does not: nous parlions against nous parlons.
- Il pleuvait toute la journée. — It rained all day long.
- Nous mangions vers huit heures. — We used to eat around eight.
- Tu voulais partir ? — Did you want to leave?
- Elles attendaient depuis une heure. — They had been waiting for an hour.
The je, tu, il, and ils forms are pronounced identically. Only the spelling separates them, which makes the imperfect far easier to hear than to write.
Imperfect Conjugations Quick Reference
The imperfect endings, and the one verb that needs a stem of its own
| Subject | Ending | parler (parl-) | être (ét-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | -ais | parlais | étais |
| tu | -ais | parlais | étais |
| il / elle / on | -ait | parlait | était |
| nous | -ions | parlions | étions |
| vous | -iez | parliez | étiez |
| ils / elles | -aient | parlaient | étaient |
Common Imperfect Conjugations Examples in French
The imperfect endings on every kind of verb:
Regular -er Verbs
- Je travaillais le samedi.
- I used to work on Saturdays.
- Elle chantait en cuisinant.
- She would sing while cooking.
- Nous parlions de toi.
- We were talking about you.
- Ils habitaient à Lyon.
- They lived in Lyon.
For -er verbs the imperfect stem is identical to the present stem, so the endings are the only thing you change.
-ir and -re Verbs
- Tu finissais toujours en retard.
- You always used to finish late.
- On choisissait un film ensemble.
- We'd choose a film together.
- Il vendait des journaux.
- He used to sell newspapers.
- Nous répondions à toutes les lettres.
- We answered every letter.
Regular -ir verbs keep the -iss- they show in the present plural, because that is what nous finissons leaves behind.
Verbs Irregular Everywhere Else
- Je faisais mes devoirs.
- I was doing my homework.
- Elle buvait du thé vert.
- She used to drink green tea.
- Nous prenions le bus.
- We used to take the bus.
- Ils venaient chaque été.
- They came every summer.
Faisais, buvait, prenions, and venaient come straight from nous faisons, nous buvons, nous prenons, nous venons. No new stems to learn.
Être and the Impersonal Verbs
- C'était une belle journée.
- It was a lovely day.
- Il faisait froid.
- It was cold.
- Il neigeait sur les toits.
- It was snowing on the rooftops.
- Il fallait réserver à l'avance.
- You had to book in advance.
Weather and background description are the imperfect's home ground, which is why these forms turn up in almost every story you read.
How the Imperfect Is Built
One rule for the stem, one set of endings, and a pronunciation quirk that explains most written errors.
Start From the Nous Form of the Present
Conjugate the present until you reach nous, drop -ons, and you have the imperfect stem. Nous écrivons gives écriv-, nous voyons gives voy-, nous devons gives dev-. There is no separate list of imperfect stems to learn.
nous écrivons → j'écrivais
we write → I used to write
Present nous, minus -ons.
The Endings Never Vary
-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient go on every verb in the language, including être. Nothing about the verb family or the stem changes them.
Je lisais pendant qu'il dormait.
I was reading while he slept.
-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Être Is the Only Real Exception
Nous sommes gives you nothing usable, so être supplies its own stem, ét-. Every other verb in French, however irregular, submits to the nous rule.
Nous étions en vacances.
We were on holiday.
être → ét-, and nothing else is irregular.
Four Forms Sound the Same
-ais, -ais, -ait, and -aient are all pronounced the same way. Four of the six persons are therefore identical to the ear, and the subject pronoun is what actually tells a listener who you mean.
Je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, ils parlaient.
I was talking, you were talking, he was talking, they were talking.
One sound, four spellings.
Nous and Vous Gain an I
The plural endings are -ions and -iez, not -ons and -ez, so the imperfect nous form is always one syllable longer than the present one. That extra i is the clearest audible signal that a speaker has moved into the past.
Nous voyagions beaucoup à l'époque.
We travelled a lot back then.
voyageons now, voyagions then.
Common Mistakes with Imperfect Conjugations
Incorrect: Je prendais le bus. — I used to take the bus.
Correct: Je prenais le bus. — I used to take the bus.
The stem comes from nous prenons, not from the infinitive prendre. Building it off the infinitive is what produces the phantom d, and the same slip gives *je metais for je mettais.
Incorrect: Nous étudions le latin à l'école. — We used to study Latin at school.
Correct: Nous étudiions le latin à l'école. — We used to study Latin at school.
Étudier already ends in i, so the imperfect nous form needs two: the stem's i plus the -ions ending. Writing only one puts the sentence back into the present tense.
Incorrect: Je mangais à midi. — I used to eat at noon.
Correct: Je mangeais à midi. — I used to eat at noon.
The e of manger has to survive in front of an a to keep the g soft. Mangeais, mangeait, and mangeaient all keep it; mangions and mangiez drop it because i softens g anyway.
Incorrect: Quand j'étais jeune, je jouerais au foot. — When I was young, I used to play football.
Correct: Quand j'étais jeune, je jouais au foot. — When I was young, I used to play football.
English would is doing two jobs: a repeated past habit and a hypothetical. Only the habit is an imperfect. Je jouerais is the conditional and would mean I'd play, given the chance.
Full Imperfect Tables
Three tables cover the whole tense: the regular pattern, a set of verbs that look frightening in the present and behave here, and être with the impersonals.
The three regular families
Stems taken from nous parlons, nous finissons, and nous vendons. Note that the -ir stem keeps its -iss-, which is why finissais is longer than the infinitive.
| Pronoun | parler (parl-) | finir (finiss-) | vendre (vend-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parlais | finissais | vendais |
| tu | parlais | finissais | vendais |
| il / elle / on | parlait | finissait | vendait |
| nous | parlions | finissions | vendions |
| vous | parliez | finissiez | vendiez |
| ils / elles | parlaient | finissaient | vendaient |
Rows one, two, three, and six are homophones in all three columns.
Irregular in the present, regular here
These four are among the hardest verbs in the present tense and among the easiest in the imperfect, because the nous rule absorbs the irregularity.
| Pronoun | avoir (av-) | faire (fais-) | prendre (pren-) | boire (buv-) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | avais | faisais | prenais | buvais |
| tu | avais | faisais | prenais | buvais |
| il / elle / on | avait | faisait | prenait | buvait |
| nous | avions | faisions | prenions | buvions |
| vous | aviez | faisiez | preniez | buviez |
| ils / elles | avaient | faisaient | prenaient | buvaient |
The ai in faisais is pronounced like a mute e, not like the ai of mais. Faisais sounds closer to fuh-ZAY.
Être and the impersonals
Être takes the stem ét-. Falloir and pleuvoir exist only in the third person singular, so the other rows are simply empty.
| Pronoun | être (ét-) | falloir (fall-) | pleuvoir (pleuv-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | étais | — | — |
| tu | étais | — | — |
| il / elle / on | était | fallait | pleuvait |
| nous | étions | — | — |
| vous | étiez | — | — |
| ils / elles | étaient | — | — |
Il fallait is the imperfect of il faut and is the standard way to say you had to or one was supposed to.
Spelling Changes and the Double I
The endings are fixed, but three groups of verbs make the stem look strange in writing.
-cer and -ger verbs
The cedilla and the extra e that keep c and g soft appear in front of a and o. Four imperfect endings begin with a, so those four keep the softener and the two that begin with i drop it.
- Je commençais à comprendre.
- I was beginning to understand.
- Nous commencions à comprendre.
- We were beginning to understand.
- Elle mangeait très lentement.
- She used to eat very slowly.
- Vous mangiez à quelle heure ?
- What time did you use to eat?
The i of -ions and -iez already softens c and g on its own, so the cedilla and the e would be redundant there.
Stems that already end in i
Verbs in -ier, along with rire, croire, and voir, produce a doubled i or a -yi- sequence in the nous and vous forms. It looks like a typo and it is not.
- Nous étudiions le latin.
- We used to study Latin.
- Vous oubliiez toujours vos clés.
- You always used to forget your keys.
- Nous riions de tout.
- We used to laugh at everything.
- Vous croyiez qu'il viendrait.
- You thought he would come.
Without the second i, nous étudiions collapses into the present nous étudions, and the sentence changes tense.
Imperfects that are not about the past
Two constructions use the imperfect where English uses no past tense at all: a hypothesis after si, and a softened request.
- Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais.
- If I had time, I'd come.
- Et si on allait au cinéma ?
- How about going to the cinema?
- Je venais vous demander un service.
- I've come to ask you a favour.
Si plus imperfect sets up the condition and the conditional carries the outcome. Si on allait is a suggestion, not a memory.
Imperfect Conjugations FAQs
- How do you conjugate the imperfect in French?
- Take the nous form of the present tense, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Nous buvons gives buv-, so je buvais, nous buvions. The endings are the same for every verb, including the irregular ones.
- Which French verbs are irregular in the imperfect?
- Only être, which uses the stem ét-: j'étais, nous étions. Everything else follows the nous rule, even verbs that look impossible in the present. Falloir and pleuvoir are not irregular so much as incomplete — il fallait and il pleuvait are the only forms they have.
- Why does nous have an extra i in the imperfect?
- Because the ending is -ions rather than -ons, which adds a syllable and keeps the imperfect distinct from the present. Nous parlons is now, nous parlions is then. For verbs whose stem already ends in i you end up writing two: nous riions, nous étudiions.
- How do you tell the imperfect from the conditional?
- By the stem, not the ending. The conditional keeps the whole infinitive in front of the ending, so parlerais and prendrais still show parler and prendre. The imperfect uses the shortened nous stem, giving parlais and prenions.
- When do you use the imperfect instead of the passé composé?
- Use the imperfect for background, description, and repeated habits: il faisait froid, je prenais toujours le bus. Use the passé composé for a single completed event that moves the story on: un jour, j'ai pris le train. The same verb can take either, depending on what you want to say about it.