L'imparfait (the Imperfect tense) is a past tense that is used to describe past events that do not have a defined beginning or end. Because of this, l'imparfait can refer to past actions that were ongoing or habitual, such as "I was riding my bicycle to work" or "I used to eat breakfast every day." Typically, a time-frame is not offered. The tense changes if a time-frame is present: "I rode my bicycle to work every day last week."
It's easy to remember the purpose of l'imparfait, considering that "imperfect" is another way of saying "unfinished." L'imparfait refers to past actions that have neither a specified start nor a finish.
The tense is conjugated by starting with the nous form of the present tense. The -ons suffix is replaced with one of the following suffixes:
Thus, parler in l'imparfait becomes:
| Je parlais. | — I used to speak. |
| Tu parlais. | — You used to speak. |
| Il/elle/on parlait. | — He/She/One used to speak. |
| Nous parlions. | — We used to speak. |
| Vous parliez. | — You used to speak |
| Ils parlaient. | — They used to speak. |
Avoir is a useful verb in the l'imparfait tense, since it can be combined with various avoir expressions to make simple "___ had…" statements about the past:
| Je avais l'intencion de retourné à Paris. | — I had planned to return to Paris. |
| Tu avais besoin du un velo. | — You had a need for a bicycle. |
| Il avait un peur de l'avion. | — He had a fear of flying ("a fear of the airplane"). |
| Nous avions envie de visiter les Etas Unis. | — We had felt like going to the United States. |
| Vous aviez xxxxx? | — xxxxxx |
| Ils avaient xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
Être is another useful verb in the l'imparfait tense, since it can be combined with various avoir expressions to make simple "___ was…" statements about the past:
Only être has an irregular l'imparfait conjugation, although it's simplified when compared to the present tense, which includes je suis, nous sommes, and ils sont. The stem is not taken from sommes. Instead, the stem required for l'imparfait is et-. The suffixes are standard:
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |
| xxxxxx | — xxxxxx |