How to Teach the French Imperfect Tense – A French Teacher’s Guide
When I introduce the French imperfect tense, or l’imparfait, I don’t begin right away with conjugation charts. Students need to understand why they are using the imperfect before they worry about how to form it.
By this point, my students have usually already learned the passé composé with avoir and être, so I use what they already know to introduce the difference between these two ways of talking about the past.
The simplest way I explain it is this:
The passé composé tells us what happened.
The imparfait gives us the description or background.
Once students understand that distinction, the formation of the imperfect becomes much easier to put into practice.
French Imperfect / Imparfait – Foldable Student Lesson Handout Book
French Futur Proche in the Past – Aller in Imperfect Foldable Reference Booklet
Scroll down to the section at the end of this post for more related teaching and practice resources.
I start by comparing the imparfait and passé composé
I first remind students that the imparfait and passé composé are both ways of talking about the past, but they are used in different contexts.
I point out a few basic differences between the two.
The imperfect:
- does not require a helping verb
- does not have a past participle
- is used to give descriptions about the past
The passé composé is used to talk about things that happened, particularly events with a definite beginning and ending.
I also explain that the passé composé is used when we have a sequence of events.
For example:
Je me suis levé(e) ce matin.
I got up this morning.
Je me suis brossé les dents.
I brushed my teeth.
Je me suis habillé(e).
I got dressed.
Je suis allé(e) au travail.
I went to work.
These are individual events that happen one after another, so the passé composé works naturally.
I show students how the imparfait adds the description
This is where I like to show students that the two tenses can work together.
I take a simple sequence of events in the passé composé and add descriptions using the imperfect.
For example:
Quand je me suis levé(e) ce matin, je ne voulais vraiment pas sortir du lit parce que j’étais fatigué(e).
Je me suis levé(e) quand même et je suis allé(e) dans la cuisine.
Quand j’y suis arrivé(e), il faisait noir et j’avais peur, mais j’ai fait le café de toute façon.
I point out that the passé composé tells us what happened:
je me suis levé(e)
je suis allé(e)
j’ai fait le café
The imperfect gives us the description or background:
je ne voulais pas sortir du lit
j’étais fatigué(e)
il faisait noir
j’avais peur
I like to tell students that the imperfect is what makes the sequence of events interesting. Without the description, we simply have a list of things that happened. The imperfect helps us set the scene and tell the story.
I teach “was doing” and “were doing”
Once students understand the basic difference, I introduce one of the easiest ways to recognize the imperfect in English.
The imperfect can be used to say that someone was doing something.
I have students look for:
was + verb-ing
or
were + verb-ing
For example:
Je marchais.
I was walking.
Il lisait.
He was reading.
Elle mangeait.
She was eating.
This is a useful connection for English speakers because the English and French structures often line up nicely.
I also teach the “used to” meaning
Next, I explain that the imperfect is also used for things that someone used to do in the past.
The important idea is that these are repeated or habitual actions, not something that happened only once or twice.
For example:
Quand j’étais petit(e), pendant l’été j’allais toujours chez ma grand-mère, et nous grimpions toujours en haut d’un arbre pour espionner des gens.
When I was little, in the summer I used to always go to my grandmother’s house, and we would always climb to the top of a tree and spy on people.
This is a good opportunity to introduce another English translation of the imperfect.
I explain the special use of “would”
English speakers sometimes use would when talking about repeated actions in the past.
For example:
When I was little, we would always go to my grandparents’ house on Sunday afternoon.
I make sure students understand that this would is not the conditional.
Here, would describes something that happened repeatedly in the past. Because the action is habitual or repeated, French uses the imperfect.
So students shouldn’t see would and automatically think about the French conditional.
I want them to think:
past + repeated action → imparfait
This is especially useful when students are translating from English because the English sentence may not contain used to, but the meaning is still habitual.
I contrast a repeated action with a completed event
I then give students an example where the context changes the tense.
For example:
Une fois, quand j’avais 10 ans, j’ai attrapé un cricket et je l’ai mangé!
Once, when I was ten years old, I caught a cricket and I ate it!
Here, j’avais 10 ans is background information, so I use the imperfect.
But j’ai attrapé and je l’ai mangé are completed events in a sequence, so I use the passé composé.
This is a great example because the two tenses are working together in the same sentence, and also because a silly example or two can help students remember the context!
Then I teach students how to form the imparfait
Once students understand when to use the tense, I move on to formation.
I emphasize that there is only one irregular verb in the imperfect: être.
For regular verbs, I have students start with the present-tense nous form.
They find the nous form, remove -ons, and what remains is the stem.
For example:
finir
nous finissons
Remove -ons:
finiss-
Then I add the imperfect endings.
The endings are:
- je → -ais
- tu → -ais
- il / elle / on → -ait
- nous → -ions
- vous → -iez
- ils / elles → -aient
With finir:
Je finissais mes devoirs.
Tu finissais tes devoirs.
Il finissait ses devoirs.
Elle finissait ses devoirs.
On finissait nos devoirs.
Nous finissions nos devoirs.
Vous finissiez vos devoirs.
Ils finissaient leurs devoirs.
I also point out that the same forms can translate into English as either was/were doing or used to do, depending on the context.
I practice finding the stem before conjugating
I have students practice finding the stem separately before asking them to conjugate the entire verb.
For example:
lire
nous lisons
Remove -ons:
lis-
Then add the endings.
That gives us:
Je lisais le journal.
Nous lisions un bon livre.
Ils lisaient un magazine.
This helps students focus on the formation instead of trying to memorize every conjugated form individually.
I point out the pronunciation pattern
I also have students look at the pronunciation of the imperfect endings.
Four of the endings sound exactly the same:
-ais
-ais
-ait
-aient
Students don’t need to hear four different endings when they listen to the verb.
The nous and vous endings are different:
-ions
-iez
I think it’s useful for students to know this because it explains why they may have difficulty identifying the subject just from the sound of the verb.
Then I introduce être
I make a point of treating être separately because it is the only irregular verb in the imperfect.
I ask students to think about the present-tense nous form:
Nous sommes
Unlike other verbs, it doesn’t end in -ons, so students cannot simply remove -ons to form the stem.
The imperfect forms of être are:
J’étais
Tu étais
Il était
Elle était
On était
Nous étions
Vous étiez
Ils étaient
Elles étaient
I have students memorize these forms as a group rather than trying to make them fit the regular formation rule.
I cover the spelling changes
Once students are comfortable with regular verbs and être, I introduce a few verbs that need special attention.
Verbs ending in -cer
With verbs such as commencer, the spelling change from the present-tense nous form is maintained where needed in the imperfect.
Students learn:
je commençais
tu commençais
il commençait
while the nous and vous forms are:
nous commencions
vous commenciez
Verbs ending in -ger
I also show students verbs such as manger.
They need to pay attention to the spelling in forms such as:
je mangeais
tu mangeais
il mangeait
and:
nous mangions
vous mangiez
Verbs ending in -ier
Finally, I point out verbs such as étudier.
These forms can look strange to students because of the combination of letters:
j’étudiais
tu étudiais
il étudiait
nous étudiions
vous étudiiez
ils étudiaient
I don’t want students to think these are irregular verbs. They just look a little unusual when the stem and endings come together.
I teach expressions that often signal repetition
After students understand the meaning and formation of the imperfect, I introduce expressions that often appear with repeated or habitual actions in the past.
Some useful examples are:
- autrefois — in the past
- chaque jour — every day
- chaque semaine — every week
- chaque année — every year
- de temps en temps — from time to time
- d’habitude — usually
- en général — generally
- fréquemment — frequently
- habituellement — habitually
- parfois — sometimes
- quelquefois — sometimes
- souvent — often
- toujours — always
- tous les jours — every day
- tous les mois — every month
- tout le temps — all the time
I don’t present these as automatic rules. Instead, I use them as clues that can help students recognize the idea of repetition or habitual action.
For example:
Je lisais le journal tous les jours.
The expression tous les jours supports the idea of a repeated action in the past, so the imperfect makes sense.
I finish by putting the two tenses together
Once students are comfortable with the imperfect on its own, I bring them back to the relationship between the imperfect and passé composé.
I use examples where one action is happening in the background and another event interrupts it.
For example:
On lisait le magazine quand le téléphone a sonné.
We were reading the magazine when the phone rang.
On lisait describes what was happening.
a sonné tells us what happened.
This is one of the most useful patterns for students to practice because it reinforces the central distinction I introduced at the beginning of the lesson.
The imperfect gives us the background, description, ongoing action, or repeated action.
The passé composé gives us the event.
I keep coming back to the meaning
When students start working with both past tenses, I don’t want them to rely on a list of signal words or try to memorize isolated rules.
I keep asking them:
Are you describing what was happening?
Are you describing what things were like?
Was it something you used to do or did repeatedly?
Think imparfait.
Or:
Are you telling me what happened?
Is this a completed event in a sequence?
Think passé composé.
The more students practice thinking about the role of the verb in the story, the easier it becomes to choose between the two tenses.
Ready to Practice the French Imperfect Tense?
If you’re teaching the French imperfect, I have ready-to-use resources to help students practice when to use the imperfect, how to form it, and how to distinguish it from the passé composé.
Comprehensive French Imperfect Tense Lesson Plan
French Imperfect Tense Dice Game
French Jeopardy Powerpoint Classroom Game – French Imperfect Tense
French Imperfect Tense La Routine Quotidienne Reading & Listening Comprehension
