Language/French/Grammar/Easy-way-of-generating-the-imperfect-tense

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:

Endings

je	tu	il/elle	nous	vous	ils/elles
-ais	-ais	-ait	-ions	-iez	-aient

Examples

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.