1. Limparfait Français II H – Unité Préliminaire A Structures

2. Limparfait In English, the imperfect tense refers to actions or conditions in the past that were ongoing, that occurred regularly, or that were going on when another event occurred. (Remember that passé composé was used when talking about specific events that occurred with a definite start and finish)

3. In English, you say that an action or event occurred regularly in the past by using the words use to or would. During the week, she would get up at 7:00. My brother and I used to call each other often.

4. In French, you use the imperfect tense or limparfait for the following reasons: 1.To describe an ongoing past action with no reference to its beginning or end. 2.To express habitual or repeated past actions and events. 3.To describe mental, physical, and emotional states or conditions.

5. How to form the imparfait To form the stem of the imperfect tense, drop the –ons ending from the nous form of the verb in the present tense. The imperfect stems of regular –er, -re, and –ir verbs are as follows: chanter: nous chantons chant- attendre:nous attendons attend- choisir:nous choisissons choisiss-

6. Irregular verbs The imperfect stems of irregular verbs also come from the nous form of the verb in present tense. avoir: nous avons av- aller: nous allons all- faire: nous faisons fais- prendre: nous prenons pren- *Notice that the imperfect stem of the verb être is not based on the nous form. être: nous sommesét-

7. To the stems, you add the following imparfait endings Je -aisnous -ions Tu -aisvous -iez Il -aitils -aient Elle -aitelles -aient On -ait

8. Example sentences with limparfait Quand jétais jeune, jétais petite. Quand tu étais jeune, tu étais petit aussi. Il habitait avec ses parents. Elle avait un chien. Nous parlions tous le temps. Vous faisiez les devoirs après le dîner. Ils avaient mal à la tête. Elles allaient à lécole chaque jour.

9. passé composé vs. limparfait 1.The passé composé and the imparfait are both past tenses. The choice between these two tenses depends on the context and on the point of view of the speaker. 2.The passé composé and the imparfait are often used together to narrate a story or an incident. The imparfait usually sets the scene or the background, while the passé composé moves the story along.

10. Le passé composé vs. limparfait Passé composé It is used to talk about: Main facts Specific, completed events Actions that advance the plot Limparfait It is used to describe: The framework of the story: weather, date, time, backgroud scenery Descriptions of people: age, physical and personality traits, clothing, feelings, state of mind Background setting: what was going on, what others were doing

11. When the passé composé and the imparfait occur in the same sentence, the action in the passé composé often interrupts the ongoing action in the imparfait. Je chantais quand mon ami est arrivé. I was singing when my friend arrived. Maxime et Céline dormaient quand le téléphone a sonné. Maxime and Céline were sleeping when the phone rang

12. Expressions that signal a past tense: Passé composé soudain = suddenly tout dun coup/tout à coup = all of a sudden Une (deux, etc.) fois = once (twice, etc.) Un jour = one day imparfait dhabitude = usually parfois = sometimes souvent = often toujours = always tous les jours = every day