When do you use the imperfect tense?

The imperfect tense is a past tense that describes how things used to be, what used to happen and is used to give opinions about past events . It describes an ongoing action in the past or something that used to happen. It can be used to describe what was happening when something else took place. Here are some examples:J’écoutais de la musique quand il est arrivé. - I was listening to music when he arrived.Quand j’étais plus jeune, je jouais au tennis chaque samedi. - When I was younger, I used to play tennis every Saturday.

RM
Answered by Roisin M. French tutor

2299 Views

See similar French GCSE tutors

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Which verbs use être in the passé composé?


What is the difference between "parce que" and "car"?


How can we remember which verbs take Etre in the perfect tense?


What is the difference between "tu" and "vous" 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