1. to describe an action that was in the process of taking place, e.g. I was watchingje regardais She was listeningelle écoutait We were talkingnous parlions They were singingils chantaient The Imperfect Tense is used in three different ways:

2. When something used to be the case or happened regularly in the past, e/g: I used to go there every week.jy allais toutes les semaines. They used to visit us. Ils nous rendaient visite. I used to eat pasta every day.Je mangeais des pâtes tous les jours. I went to the beach.Jallais à la plage.

3. When describing something in the past, e.g: The sky was blue.Le ciel était bleu. The sun was shining.Le soleil brillait. It was brilliant.Cétait génial! The birds were singing.Les oiseaux chantaient. It was raining.Il pleuvait.

4. How to construct the Imperfect Tense: Take the nous form of the PRESENT TENSE of any verb (regular or irregular) (except être), e.g : Nous parlons Nous jouons Nous choisissons Nous vendons Nous faisons

5. Remove the ons to find the imperfect stem of the verb, e.g: Nous parlonsparl Nous jouonsjou Nous choisissonschoisiss Nous vendonsvend Nous faisonsfais

6. Add the appropriate endings to the stem, e.g:

7. Heres how its done: Take the nous form of the present tense: Nous regardons Remove the ons, leaving the stem: regard Add the appropriate ending:

8. Now try some examples for yourself. Translate the following sentences into French. Take care, some of the verbs are irregular! 1.I was singing (chanter). 2.She used to dance (danser). 3.We used to work (travailler). 4.It was sunny (faire du soleil). 5.They were crying (pleurer).

9. 6.I was drinking (boire). 7.She used to write (écrire). 8.He had a headache (avoir mal à la tête). 9.She was leaving (partir). 10.He was having his lunch (déjeuner).

10. The only irregular verb in the imperfect tense is être and it looks like this: jétaisnous étions tu étaisvous étiez il/elle/on étaitils/elles étaient