How do you form the imperfect tense in French?

  1. Take a regular verb, e.g. jouer-to play.

  2. Conjugate it in the 1st person plural, I.e. nous. E.g. jouer= jouons

  3. Take off the -ons, to leave the stem. E.g. jou

  4. Add on the imperfect endings to the stem. Je-ais, Tu-ais, Il/Elle-ait, Nous-ions, Vous-iez, Ils/Elles-aient. 

E.g. Je jouais, Tu jouais, Il/Elle jouait, Nous jouions, Vous jouiez, Ils/Elles jouaient 

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Answered by William W. French tutor

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