Note 1Êtrehas an irregular stemin the imperfect but it has regular endings:
j’étais nous étions
tu étais vous étiez
il/elle était ils/elles étaient
e.g. qui n’était pas(line 1), il était impatient(line 5), etc.
Note 2 When the stem ends in c, it becomes çbefore an a.
e.g. pinçait(line 16), recommençait(line 25)Other points to note in the text- Pluperfect: avait dit(line 2); avaient dit(line 3); n’avait pas dormi(line 4); avait imaginé(line 6)
(see Chapter 4) - Past historic: eut(line 28); mordit(line 28); dit(line 30) (see Chapter 5)
- Pronominal verb: s’ennuyait(line 7) (see Chapter 20)
Discover more about the imperfect
1 USAGE
a The imperfect corresponds both to the English simple past, and to ‘was doing’, ‘used to do’ and
‘would do’.
e.g. Je mangeais une pomme= I was eating an apple/I ate/used to eat/would eat an apple (every
day).
b The imperfect is used commonly both in spoken and in written French.
c Indirect speech
In indirect speech (reported speech) the imperfect is commonly used where the present tense
would have been used in direct speech.
e.g. Il pensa ‘C’est ridicule!’(direct speech)
Il pensa que c’était ridicule(indirect speech)
This usage of the imperfect is particularly frequent in literary texts. Its systematic use by
Flaubert has become known as the style indirect libre.
e.g. Elle songeait quelquefois que c’étaient là pourtant les plus beaux jours de sa vie(Flaubert)
d Imparfait de narration
The imperfect can be used stylistically to give greater immediacy or impact to the story.
e.g. Albert Camus mourait accidentellement en 1960
e Si+ imperfect
The imperfect is used after siwhen the main clause is in the present conditional.
e.g. Si elle acceptait, il en serait très heureux(see Chapter 7)14 French Grammar in Context