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 

WW
Answered by William W. French tutor

2479 Views

See similar French GCSE tutors

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

How should I approach the longer (90 word) writing question?


Vous écrivez un blog sur vos vacances. Décrivez: où vous êtes allé, ce que vous avez fait.


What is the present subjunctive and when is it used?


How do we decide whether to use the perfect or imperfect in the past tense in French?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning