What is the imperfect tense? When would you use it?

The imperfect tense, or imparfait in French, is a tense used to describe actions occurring in the past in specific circumstances. It can be used both orally and written.The first instance when you would use this tense would be when describing something or setting the scene to the events occurring in the past. For example: "La forêt était très belle" (The forest was really pretty)We can also use the tense to describe simultaneous actions in the past. For example: "Elle dançait, chantait et frappait des mains" (She danced, sang and clapped her hands)You would use the tense when doing an action that is not limited in time, or that takes an extended period of time to complete. We are not interested in when the action specifically began or ended. An example of this would be: "Il mangeait sa soupe" (he ate his soup). To describe an action where we care about when it started, we would use another tense known as the passé simple (the past tense). Both of these tenses contrast each other.Finally, the imperfect tense would be used if an action is interrupted in time. For example: "Je lisais le journal quand soudain, le téléphone sonna." (I was reading the newspaper when suddenly, the telephone rang). The first verse "lisais" is in the imperfect tense, since the action is interrupted by the phone ringing (the verbe "sonna" being conjugated in the past tense).