Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Introduction
Bonjour ! In our last lesson, we focused on how to form the imparfait, discovering its remarkably consistent pattern. You learned the three-step rule: start with the nous form, drop the -ons, and add the imparfait endings.
Now that you can build the tense, it's time to understand its purpose. Today's lesson addresses the core question: when do you use the imparfait? While the passé composé narrates the main, completed events of a story ("what happened"), the imparfait provides the context. It's the tense of description, memory, and atmosphere.
Our goal is to identify the three primary uses of the imparfait: for description, habitual actions, and background settings. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to recognize these uses in context, which is the key to understanding the richness of past narratives in French.
1. Use 1: Description
The first and most fundamental use of the imparfait is to describe how things were in the past. Think of it as painting a picture with words. This includes:
- Physical and emotional states (feelings, health, age)
- The weather
- Descriptions of people and places
- Telling the time in the past
Essentially, if you are describing a state of being or a condition in the past, you will use the imparfait.
Let's start with a clear textual explanation and some examples.
The article 'French Imperfect - Imparfait' on Lawless French provides a concise list of descriptive uses. Please focus on the first category.
Read the section titled '1) Descriptions'. Notice how the examples describe states like weather (Il pleuvait), age (j’avais 6 ans), and feelings (j’étais souvent malade).
This image, which comes from the article you just reviewed, provides a perfect visual for this concept.
In a narrative, these descriptions create the atmosphere or ambiance. The following video explains this idea of using the imparfait to provide "complementary details".
Passé composé et Imparfait en français - 10 exemples faciles
The video 'Passé composé et Imparfait en français' from French School TV gives an excellent example of how the imparfait adds descriptive layers to a story told with the passé composé.
Watch from 12:00 to 13:48. Notice how the narrator first tells a simple story with only the passé composé. Then, he retells it, adding details in the imparfait like l'ambiance était agréable, j'étais très fatigué, and j'avais envie de dormir to describe the scene and his feelings.
2. Use 2: Habitual and Repeated Actions
The second major use of the imparfait is to talk about actions that used to happen repeatedly or habitually in the past. In English, we often express this with phrases like "used to..." or "would always...".
Think of describing childhood memories or past routines. If an action was a habit, and not a single, one-time event, the imparfait is the correct tense.
This dialogue between a mother and her son is a perfect illustration of this. The son asks about his childhood, and the mother responds by describing his habitual behaviours.
IMPARFAIT French Dialogue Conversation Practice Cartoon Short Film
In this animated dialogue 'IMPARFAIT French Dialogue', listen for how the mother describes what her son used to do as a child.
Watch the segment from 03:11 to 04:35. Pay attention to phrases like tu pleurais beaucoup (you used to cry a lot), tu faisais beaucoup de caprice (you used to throw a lot of tantrums), and tu adorais mettre les mains dans l'eau (you used to love putting your hands in the water). These all describe repeated past actions.
The key is the idea of frequency or routine. The article from Lawless French that you saw earlier gives a very useful tip for English speakers.
Let's return to the 'French Imperfect - Imparfait' article for a helpful rule of thumb.
Read section '2) Habitual actions or states of being'. The 'Pro tip' is especially valuable: if you can replace 'would' with 'used to' in an English sentence, you need the imparfait in French.
Adverbs of frequency like toujours (always), souvent (often), chaque jour (every day), and d'habitude (usually) are strong indicators that the imparfait is needed.
3. Use 3: Background Settings and Ongoing Actions
The third use of the imparfait is to set the background scene for another, more specific event. It answers the question, "What was going on when something else happened?"
This is where the imparfait and passé composé most clearly work together. The imparfait describes the ongoing situation (the background), and the passé composé describes the action that interrupts it or occurs within it (the foreground).
narration: passé composé vs. imparfait
The page 'narration: passé composé vs. imparfait' from UT Austin provides the clearest explanation of this background/foreground concept.
Read the first two paragraphs. Focus on the core idea: the imparfait answers 'What was going on?' while the passé composé answers 'What happened?'. The text explicitly defines the imparfait's role in describing a setting (habitual actions, atmosphere, places, and people).
Let's see this in action with another dialogue. One person asks what the other was doing (faisais) when she called (as appelé).
IMPARFAIT French Dialogue Conversation Practice Cartoon Short Film
The first part of the 'IMPARFAIT French Dialogue' video perfectly demonstrates this interplay between a background action and an interrupting event.
Watch the first minute of the video (00:00 - 01:01). Listen for the exchange: Qu'est ce que tu faisais hier soir? (What were you doing last night? - background) and J'étais dans la cuisine quand tu as appelé. (I was in the kitchen when you called. - background action interrupted by a specific event).
In that example, j'étais dans la cuisine is the background state described with the imparfait. The phone call, tu as appelé, is the specific, completed event in the passé composé that happened during that time.
Synthesis: Seeing It All Together
Now, let's look at a short story that weaves all three uses together. As you read, try to identify why the imparfait is used in each case. Is it a description, a habit, or a background setting?
narration: passé composé vs. imparfait
The short story about Tex from the UT Austin resource is a fantastic example of the imparfait and passé composé working together to build a narrative.
Find the paragraph that begins 'Quand Tex était tout petit...' and read the story. Observe how the first paragraph uses the imparfait exclusively to set the scene and describe Tex's character (était, habitait, aimait). Then, see how the next paragraph introduces events in the passé composé (il s'est perdu, il a trouvé) that move the plot forward.
Conclusion
Today we moved from the 'how' to the 'when' of the imparfait. You have seen through various examples that this tense is not just a grammatical rule, but a narrative tool used to add depth, context, and color to stories about the past.
Key Takeaways:
- The
imparfaitis used for descriptions in the past: what people, places, and situations were like. - It is used for habitual actions: things that happened repeatedly, like routines or habits ("used to...").
- It is used to describe background settings and ongoing actions, setting the stage for a main event which is often expressed in the
passé composé.
In our next lesson, we will delve deeper into this final point. We will explicitly contrast the passé composé and imparfait in more complex sentences, helping you learn to choose the correct tense to accurately convey your meaning when narrating past events.