2. LIMPARFAIT Lusage Limparfait or the imperfect tense is used in French to describe actions or states of being that occurred over a period of time.

3. The imperfect is different than the passé composé. The two tenses both describe past actions, however, they are not interchangeable The two tenses both describe past actions, however, they are not interchangeable

4. The endings of the imperfect are formed as follows: You start with the nous form of any verb in French. You take off the –ons ending of the verb You add the following endings to the remaining stem: -ais-ions -ais-iez ait-aient

5. For this example, we will use the verb parler Start with the nous form – parlons Remove the –ons Add the following endings to the stem -parl: Je parlais-nous parlions Tu parlais-vous parliez Il/elle/on parlait-ils/elles parlaient

6. The imperfect tense in French has several important uses. It is used to set the scene, for example, if you are describing what the weather was like. It is used to set the scene, for example, if you are describing what the weather was like. Il faisait beau. It is also used to describe repeated, habitual actions that took place in the past. It is equivalent to the English It is also used to describe repeated, habitual actions that took place in the past. It is equivalent to the English used to used to

7. Irregular forms of lImparfait There is only on verb with an irregular stem in the imperfect tense – Être The forms of être are as follows: Jétais Nous étions Tu étais Vous étiez Il/Elle/On était Ils/Elles étaient These forms will simply have to be memorized!!