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Conjugaisons de l’imparfait
The French imperfect is very easy to conjugate. With a single exception, every single French verb is conjugated as follows:
- Start with the verb’s nous form of the present tense
- Drop –ons
- Add the imperfect ending.
The only verb that doesn’t—can’t—follow this pattern is être, because its nous form is sommes, so there’s no –ons to drop. Instead, it uses ét– as its imperfect stem.
Par exemple…
Here are the imperfect conjugations for the regular -er verb donner (to give), the regular -ir verb choisir (to choose), the stem-changing verb lever (to lift), and the irregular verbs aller (to go) and être (to be).
Pronoun | Ending | donner > donn- | choisir > choisiss- | lever > lev- | aller > all- | être > ét- |
je / j’ | -ais | donnais | choisissais | levais | allais | étais |
tu | -ais | donnais | choisissais | levais | allais | étais |
il | -ait | donnait | choisissait | levait | allait | était |
nous | -ions | donnions | choisissions | levions | allions | étions |
vous | -iez | donniez | choisissiez | leviez | alliez | étiez |
ils | -aient | donnaient | choisissaient | levaient | allaient | étaient |
French imperfect endings are identical to conditional endings.
French Imperfect Quizzes
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the French imperfect with these fill-in-the-blanks exercises
- Les dimanches avec Papi
- Mes souvenirs d’Halloween
- Mes vacances à la ferme
- Mon prof préféré
- Nos vacances au ski
- La télé de mon enfance
Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless French account to take these tests. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!
Related lessons
- Imperfect conjugations – PwLF super list
- Using the imperfect
- Passé composé vs imparfait
- Present tense
- Imperfect subjunctive
- Introduction to verbs
French imperfect lesson plan
- French present and imperfect (Worksheet, 4th-12th grade)
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