Short answer: take the nous form of the present, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Only être is irregular (ét-). Use it for what things were like, what used to happen, and what was going on when something else happened.
This guide covers forming the imperfect, the être exception, its three uses, choosing between the two past tenses, the words that signal each one, and a glossed childhood memory.
One rule covers almost every verb, regular or irregular. Start from the nous (“we”) form of the present tense, because it already contains the stem the imperfect needs. Choose a verb to watch the rule work.
Five of the six endings, -ais, -ais, -ait, -aient and the stem itself, sound the same: “eh”. Only nous (-ions, “yoh(n)”) and vous (-iez, “yay”) are heard differently, the same pattern as the present tense “boot”.
The present nous sommes has no -ons to remove, so être uses a special stem, ét-, with the usual endings. It is the most common imperfect form of all, because c’était (“it was”) introduces nearly every description of the past: c’était magnifique, it was magnificent.
Each use has a typical English translation. Every word in the examples has its English meaning underneath.
Ask one question about each verb: is this a finished event that moves the story on, or the setting around events? The same verb can go either way, and the choice changes the meaning.
| Imparfait | Passé composé | |
|---|---|---|
| A state vs a change | ||
| Knowing vs finding out | ||
| Background vs event | ||
| Habit vs one time |
Some time expressions almost always come with one tense. They are a useful shortcut while the feel for the difference develops.
Most lines set the scene in the imperfect, shown in blue. Then one event breaks in, in the passé composé, shown in red.