Language/French/Grammar/Easy-way-of-generating-the-imperfect-tense
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An easy way of generating the imperfect tense
For all regular verb conjugations, take the first person plural nous form of the present tense, omit -ons and add the following endings:
Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Gender of Nouns Names of ships and restaurants & Differences in the use of numbers in French and English Dates.
Endings[edit | edit source]
je | tu | il/elle | nous | vous | ils/elles |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
-ais | -ais | -ait | -ions | -iez | -aient |
Examples[edit | edit source]
For example:
Infinitive | First person plural | Stem | Imperfect tense |
---|---|---|---|
donner | donnons | donn- | je donn- ais, etc. |
commencer | commençons | commenç- | je commenç- ais, etc. |
partager | partageons | partage- | je partage- ais, etc. |
finir | finissons | finiss- | je finiss- ais, etc. |
dormir | dormons | dorm- | je dorm- ais, etc. |
vendre | vendons | vendre- | je vend- ais, etc. |
recevoir | recevons | cev- | je recev- ais, etc. |
Videos[edit | edit source]
French Imperfect Tense: l'imparfait[edit | edit source]
Être (To Be) — Imperfect Tense[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Nouns which refer both to males and to females
- Easy future
- Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — A change in written and spoken French
- Beau VS Bel
- Use of jamais
- Quantifiers — tout and chaque
- Position of more than one object pronoun with faire etc. + infinitive
- How to use falloir
- Omission of the article in lists
- Adjectives which normally follow the noun but can also precede, without significant changes in meaning
- Ditransitive verbs
- on as an equivalent for English 'you'
- Easy way of generating the imperfect subjunctive
- Past Tense
- Benefactive me, te, se, nous, vous