Edexcel International GCSE French (4FR1) · Grammar spine 6 of 10 — Perfect & imperfect
Mini-Lesson
Perfect & imperfect
French has two everyday past tenses. The passé composé reports a single completed event ("I ate"). The imperfect (l'imparfait) paints the background — what was going on, what used to happen, what things were like. This lesson builds the imperfect, then teaches you to choose between the two.
Edexcel iGCSE topics. Every example is drawn from the five topic areas — il faisait beau à la plage (home & abroad), quand j'étais à l'école (education & employment), nous habitions ensemble (personal life & relationships), avant, on gaspillait l'eau (the world around us) and je jouais au tennis (social activities, fitness & health).
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right tense, some ask you to produce a form by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
What the imperfect does
The "background" past tense
Where the passé composé reports a finished action, the imperfect describes how things were or what was ongoing. It usually matches English "was …-ing" or "used to":
Je regardais la télé. → I was watching TV.
Je jouais au tennis. → I used to play tennis.
Il faisait beau. → It was sunny (a description).
Three jobs: the imperfect is for (1) descriptions in the past, (2) ongoing actions ("was …-ing"), and (3) repeated / habitual actions ("used to"). No single completed event — that is the other tense.
Quick check
Reading the imperfect
?A text says: Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot. What does je jouais mean here?
Building block · Step 1
How to form the imperfect
The imperfect is beautifully regular. Take the nous-form of the present, drop the -ons, and add the imperfect endings:
Why the nous-form? It carries any irregular stem the verb has — so finir keeps its -iss- and faire keeps fais-. Learn one rule and every verb behaves.
Building block · Step 2
The six imperfect endings
The endings are the same for every verb in French. Here is parler laid out in full:
parler — to speak (imperfect)
person
form
je
parlais
tu
parlais
il / elle / on
parlait
nous
parlions
vous
parliez
ils / elles
parlaient
Ear-trap:parlais, parlais, parlait and parlaient all sound the same. Only nous (-ions) and vous (-iez) are clearly different. The endings never change from verb to verb — only the stem does.
Type it
Your turn — the je-form
1Write the imperfect "je" form of parler (to speak).
Hint: nous parlons − ons → parl-, then add the "I" ending -ais.
The one exception · être
Only one irregular stem: être
Every French verb forms its imperfect from the nous-stem — exceptêtre, which has its own stem ét-. The endings are still the normal ones:
être — to be (imperfect)
j'étais
tu étais
il était
nous étions
vous étiez
ils étaient
Learn this cold:j'étais = "I was". It is one of the most useful verbs in the whole language — quand j'étais petit ("when I was little") opens countless GCSE answers.
Sort it
Pick the ending
Type it
Your turn — "I was"
2Write the imperfect "je" form of être ("I was").
Hint: the irregular stem is ét-, plus the "I" ending -ais.
Quick check
The nous-form in the imperfect
?You want to say "we were speaking" from parler. Which is correct?
When to use the imperfect
Descriptions, habits and set phrases
The imperfect covers three big jobs, plus some very common fixed phrases:
Description:Elle était grande et elle avait les yeux bleus.
Ongoing action:Je lisais tranquillement. — I was reading quietly.
Habit:Tous les jours, je marchais. — Every day I used to walk.
Three you must know:il y avait = "there was / there were", c'était = "it was", and il faisait beau = "the weather was nice". These set phrases appear in almost every past-tense answer.
Type it
Your turn — "we were watching"
3Translate "we were watching" into French, from regarder (imperfect).
Hint: nous regardons − ons → regard-, add the nous ending -ions.
The big choice · perfect vs imperfect
Event or background?
This is the heart of GCSE past tenses. Ask: is it one completed event, or the ongoing / habitual / descriptive setting?
passé composé
A single completed event: "I ate", "she arrived", "it happened". J'ai mangé une pizza.
imparfait
Ongoing, habitual or descriptive: "I was eating", "I used to eat", "it was sunny". Je mangeais.
Often together: the imperfect sets the scene, then the perfect interrupts it — Je regardais la télé quand il est arrivé. ("I was watching TV when he arrived.") Background = imperfect, event = perfect.
Sort it
Perfect or imperfect?
Which tense best fits each idea?
Passé composé (one event)
Imparfait (ongoing / habit)
Quick check
A past habit
?"Every Saturday I played tennis." This is a repeated habit — which tense do you use for "I played"?
Quick check
A single event
?"Suddenly the phone rang." This is a single, sudden event — which is correct for "rang" (from sonner)?
Game · Match
Match the infinitive to its imperfect "je" form
Tap an infinitive on the left, then tap its imperfect "I" form on the right.
INFINITIVE
être
avoir
faire
aller
finir
prendre
IMPERFECT "JE" FORM
je faisais
j'étais
je finissais
j'avais
je prenais
j'allais
Set phrases · il y avait, c'était
The scene-setting phrases
A handful of imperfect phrases do the heavy lifting when you describe a past scene:
il y avait = "there was / there were": Il y avait beaucoup de monde.
c'était = "it was": C'était magnifique !
il faisait for past weather: Il faisait beau / il faisait froid.
Notice: these are all the imperfect of everyday verbs — il y a → il y avait, c'est → c'était, il fait → il faisait. They set the background; a single dramatic event still takes the passé composé.
Quick check
"There was a problem"
?You want to describe the scene: "There was a problem." Which is correct?
Type it
Your turn — the il-form
4Write the imperfect "il" form of faire (as in il ___ beau, "it was sunny").
Hint: nous faisons − ons → fais-, add the "il" ending -ait.
Putting them together
Background + interruption
The two tenses work as a team. Set the scene in the imperfect, then drop in the event in the perfect:
Je regardais la télé quand il est arrivé. — I was watching TV when he arrived.
Il faisait nuit et soudain j'ai entendu un bruit. — It was dark and suddenly I heard a noise.
Nous étions à la plage quand il a commencé à pleuvoir. — We were at the beach when it started to rain.
Rule of thumb: the longer, "wallpaper" action is the imperfect; the sudden, one-off action that cuts in is the perfect. English "was …-ing … when …" is the classic signal.
Type it
Your turn — "there was"
5Translate "there was" into French (the imperfect scene-setting phrase).
Hint: it is the imperfect of il y a — three little words.
Watch out
The classic tense slips
Habit in the perfect: "every day I walked" is a habit → je marchais, not j'ai marché.
Sudden event in the imperfect: "suddenly it rang" is one event → a sonné, not sonnait.
Present nous for imperfect: "we were speaking" is nous parlions (imperfect), not nous parlons (present).
Forgetting être's stem: "I was" is j'étais — the only stem you cannot get from the nous-form.
Recap
Your two-past-tense toolkit
Form the imperfect: nous-form of the present − -ons + -ais/-ais/-ait/-ions/-iez/-aient. parler → je parlais, faire → je faisais.
Only irregular stem:être → ét- → j'étais.
Uses of the imperfect: descriptions, ongoing "was …-ing", habitual "used to"; set phrases il y avait, c'était, il faisait beau.
Passé composé = one completed event ("I ate"); imparfait = background / ongoing / habit ("I was eating / used to eat").
Together:je regardais la télé quand il est arrivé — imperfect background, perfect event.
Next in the spine: the future and conditional. Press Finish to see your score.
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