Quand j'étais petit, j'habitais à la campagne. Il faisait toujours beau et nous jouions dehors tous les jours. Ma grand-mère préparait un gâteau chaque dimanche.
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GrammarA2imparfaitpast tense
L'imparfait
L'imparfait (description et habitude)
A2fr25 min
What you'll learn
- Describe the past
- Talk about past habits
- Form the imparfait from the nous stem
Tips for this lesson
- Take the nous form of the present tense, drop -ons, add the imparfait endings.
- être has an irregular stem (ét-) but takes the same regular endings.
- Use imparfait for description, background, and habits — not for a single finished event (that's passé composé).
Step 1 of 6
1Reading
In context
Read. Notice the imparfait describes how things WERE or what someone USED TO do — not a single finished event.
Step 2 of 6
2The pattern
The pattern — the nous-stem trick
Take the present-tense nous form, drop -ons, add the imparfait endings. Works for every verb except être.
The imparfait is used for description in the past (how things were, what someone was like) and habitual actions (what you used to do regularly) — not a single completed event. The good news: it's built the same way for every verb. Take the present-tense nous form (nous parlons, nous finissons, nous avons), drop the -ons, and add the imparfait endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. The only exception is être, whose stem is irregular (ét-) — but it still takes the same regular endings.
| Pronoun | Ending | parler (nous parlons → parl-) |
|---|---|---|
| je | -ais | parlais |
| tu | -ais | parlais |
| il / elle / on | -ait | parlait |
| nous | -ions | parlions |
| vous | -iez | parliez |
| ils / elles | -aient | parlaient |
| être (irregular stem ét-) | Form |
|---|---|
| j' | étais |
| tu | étais |
| il / elle / on | était |
| nous | étions |
| vous | étiez |
| ils / elles | étaient |
J'habitais à Paris.
I used to live in Paris.
Habit/state, not a single event.
Il faisait beau ce jour-là.
The weather was nice that day.
Description of the background scene.
Nous jouions dehors tous les jours.
We used to play outside every day.
'tous les jours' signals a repeated habit — a classic imparfait trigger.
J'étais fatigué.
I was tired.
était/étais — the irregular être stem, regular endings.
Erreurs fréquentes
- Using passé composé to describe an ongoing past state (j'ai été fatigué for a whole afternoon).J'étais fatigué toute l'après-midi.
A background state/description = imparfait, not passé composé.
- Building the stem from the infinitive instead of nous.finir → nous finissons → finiss- → je finissais.
Always start from the present nous-form, not the infinitive — some verbs (like finir) add extra letters there.
- j'étais allé au cinéma hier (for a single finished trip)je suis allé au cinéma hier.
A single, completed event uses passé composé — imparfait is for description/habit, not one-off finished actions.
Exceptions & à retenir
-ger and -cer verbs keep their spelling change
manger → je mangeais (keeps the e before -ais/-ait/-aient to keep the g soft, but not before -ions/-iez: nous mangions). commencer → je commençais similarly.
Full passé composé vs imparfait contrast comes later
At this level, just learn imparfait's own jobs (description, habit). The deep contrast rules for choosing between imparfait and passé composé in the same story are a B1 topic — don't worry about it yet.
nous/vous forms sound like the present tense
nous parlions (imparfait) and nous parlons (present) look and sound similar but aren't identical — imparfait nous/vous always have the extra -i- (parlions, parliez) that present tense lacks.
Astuces & mémo
- Trigger words for imparfait: quand j'étais petit(e), tous les jours, souvent, d'habitude, autrefois — they signal habit or ongoing background.
- Chant the six endings on their own: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient — they're the same for every verb, so memorising them once covers everything.
- être is the only irregular STEM (ét-), but its endings are perfectly regular — don't let the irregular stem scare you off the pattern.
Step 3 of 6
3Q&A drill
Match the imparfait form
Match each pronoun to the correct imparfait form of habiter.
- Q1jeA____________
- Q2tuA____________
- Q3il, elle, onA____________
- Q4nousA____________
- Q5vousA____________
- Q6ils, ellesA____________
Step 4 of 6
4Fill the blanks
Guided practice — form the imparfait
Complete with the imparfait form of the verb shown.
Example
Quand j'étais petit, je (1) (jouer) dehors.
→ Quand j'étais petit, je jouais dehors.
Exercice
Il (1) (faire) beau ce jour-là.
Exercice
Nous (2) (habiter) à la campagne.
Exercice
Elles (3) (être) toujours contentes.
Answer pool — drag onto a blank (or tap to fill the next one)
Next empty blank: 1
Step 5 of 6
5Word order
Build the sentence
Put the words in the correct order.
Example
j'habitaisàParis→J'habitais à Paris.
- Sentence 1Tap the words below to build the sentence.
- Sentence 2Tap the words below to build the sentence.
- Sentence 3Tap the words below to build the sentence.
- Sentence 4Tap the words below to build the sentence.
Step 6 of 6
6Speak freely
Produce it
Describe your life or a habit from when you were a child, using at least four imparfait verbs.
Ex.Quand j'étais petit, j'habitais près de la mer. Il faisait toujours beau et je jouais dehors avec mes amis tous les jours.
- 1.Où habitiez-vous quand vous étiez enfant ?
- 2.Qu'est-ce que vous faisiez souvent quand vous étiez petit(e) ?
- 3.Comment était votre ville ou votre maison ?