L’imparfait

1. L’imparfait Français II H – UnitéPréliminaire A Structures

2. L’imparfait • In English, the imperfect tense refers to actions or conditions in the past that were ongoing, that occurred regularly, or that were going on when another event occurred. (Remember that passé composé was used when talking about specific events that occurred with a definite start and finish)

3. In English, you say that an action or event occurred regularly in the past by using the words use to or would. During the week, she would get up at 7:00. My brother and I used to call each other often.

4. In French, you use the imperfect tense or l’imparfaitfor the following reasons: • To describe an ongoing past action with no reference to its beginning or end. • To express habitual or repeated past actions and events. • To describe mental, physical, and emotional states or conditions.

5. How to form the imparfait To form the stem of the imperfect tense, drop the –ons ending from the nous form of the verb in the present tense. The imperfect stems of regular –er, -re, and –irverbs are as follows: chanter: nous chantons chant- attendre: nous attendons  attend- choisir: nous choisissons  choisiss-

6. Irregular verbs The imperfect stems of irregular verbs also come from the nous form of the verb in present tense. avoir: nous avons av- aller: nous allons  all- faire: nous faisons  fais- prendre: nous prenons  pren- *Notice that the imperfect stem of the verb êtreis not based on the nous form. être: nous sommesét-

7. To the stems, you add the following imparfaitendings Je -aisnous -ions Tu-aisvous -iez Il-ait ils -aient Elle -aitelles -aient On -ait

8. Example sentences with l’imparfait • Quand j’étais jeune, j’étais petite. • Quand tu étais jeune, tu étais petit aussi. • Il habitait avec ses parents. • Elle avait un chien. • Nous parlions tous le temps. • Vous faisiez les devoirs après le dîner. • Ils avaient mal à la tête. • Elles allaient à l’école chaque jour.

9. passé composévs. l’imparfait • The passé composéand the imparfait are both past tenses. The choice between these two tenses depends on the context and on the point of view of the speaker. • The passé composéand the imparfait are often used together to narrate a story or an incident. Theimparfaitusually sets the scene or the background, while the passé composé moves the story along.

10. Le passé composé vs. l’imparfait Passé composé L’imparfait It is used to describe: The framework of the story: weather, date, time, backgroud scenery Descriptions of people: age, physical and personality traits, clothing, feelings, state of mind Background setting: what was going on, what others were doing It is used to talk about: • Main facts • Specific, completed events • Actions that advance the plot

11. When the passé composéand the imparfait occur in the same sentence, the action in the passé composéoften interrupts the ongoing action in the imparfait. Je chantaisquandmonamiestarrivé. I was singing when my friend arrived. Maxime et Céline dormaientquandle téléphone a sonné. Maxime and Céline were sleeping when the phone rang

12. Expressions that signal a past tense: Passé composé imparfait d’habitude = usually parfois = sometimes souvent = often toujours = always tous les jours = every day soudain = suddenly tout d’un coup/tout à coup = all of a sudden Une (deux, etc.) fois = once (twice, etc.) Un jour = one day