The imperfect is used to describe a past action that took place over a certain time period. It describes a past "situation" rather than a past "event", for example, Quand j'étais petit, j'adorais les chevaux. In some cases, it is used to describe something that happened in the past, but no longer happens in the present, e.g.: L'année passée, je faisais des exercices tous les matins, mais cette année je suis trop occupé pour le faire ("Last year I would exercise every morning, but this year I am too busy to do it").
The main kinds of sentences that use the imperfect are:
a) repeated action in the past, e.g.: je nageais tous les mardis soirs ("I used to swim every Tuesday evening")
b) interrupted action in the past, e.g.: je prenais le déjeuner quand le téléphone a sonné ("I was eating breakfast when the phone rang")
c) description of a past situation or "scene", e.g.: Il faisait beau et les oiseux chantaient ("It was beautiful out and the birds were singing").
The imperfect is formed by attaching an ending to a verb's root. The ending used is identical to the ending for the present conditional. This is illustrated in the following table:
Q: Why is it je suis né en novembre and NOT j'étais né en novembre
Remember, the imperfect describes a past situation, not a an event that happened once. Being born is an event that happened at a specific point in time; it is not a situation. It would, however, make sense to write: Quand je suis né, mon père travaillait à Montréal.
Q: Why is it j'ai été impressionné par son attitude and NOT j'étais impressionné par son attitude?
The imperfect would not be used here since we are describing an event that happened to the speaker. If you were to write j'étais impressionné, the implied meaning would be that you used to be impressed, but that you no longer are.
Q: Why is it il mangeait pendant le match and NOT il manger pendant le match?
The infinitive (manger) cannot follow a subject (like il). Since the meaning is "was eating", use the imperfect of manger here.
Provide the imperfect:
Choose the correct form:
Choose between the passé composé and the imperfect:
Choose between the imperfect and the passé composé:
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