The imperfect tense in French?

Question

Could somebody explain the basics and the more detailed stuff please - only with Avoir if need be

Thanks

Answer 1

Very briefly: imperfect tense means "was doing" - eg was sleeping, was eating, or was having. It's also used for repeated actions in the past - "I used to go to bed at eight o'clock."

It's always formed from the "nous" form of the present tense minus the "-ons" ending - eg with avoir, it's av- plus one of the endings:
-ais
-ais
-ait
-ions
-iez
-aient

Answer 2

You don't use avoir to form the imperfect tense.
This tense tranlates as "did do" "was doing" or "used to do", implying that you did something more than once, or on a regular basis in the past (ie, you are not doing it any longer).
In a regular verb, you take the "nous" (we) form and remove the -ons ending from the present tense.
Then you add thefollowing endings. I'm using the verb "regarder" as an example:
je regardais
tu regardais
il/elle regardait
nous regardions
vous regardiez
ils/elles regardaient

Here's one irregular verb "etre"
j'étais
tu étais
il/elle était
nous étions
vous étiez
ils/elles étaient

You'll have to work out the other irregular verbs for yourself!

Answer 3

The imperfect tense - l'imparfait- is a continuous past tense, translates as both "was giving" and "used to give"

It is formed by taking the verb stem by dropping the ending from the 1st person plural form of present tense (nous) ie donner - nous donnons - donn and adding the endings as follows:
ais - je donnais
ais - tu donnais
ait -il/elle donnait
ions - nous donnions
iez - vous donniez
aient - ils/elles donnaient.Except in the case of irregular verbs such as etre : imparfait begins etais etc. (with ecute on the e)

Answer 4

Je connus..but that was a long time ago...
You may be thinking of the 'perfect tense' which indicates a completed 'one-off' previous action usually using the present tense of 'avoir'+ past participle, but sometimes using 'etre' instead. You have to learn which one's are which
eg Je suis alle- I have gone or went as opposed to J'ai travaille- I worked.
If it's the imperfect tense, you're after I refer you to my previous respondents excellent answer.
Now can anyone help me with the pluperfective subjunctive(passive mood) or deponent verbs??

Answer 5

the imperfect is the easiest it always ends up the same for every verb

j'avais
tu avais
il avait
nous avions
vous aviez
ils avaient

Answer 6

Buy the book - 501 french verbs - no problems after that.