INTERMEDIATE. LESSON #10. WHAT DO I KNOW ?
As lessons 1 to 9 allowed you to discover the imparfait tense, it is now time to sum up what we learnt about this tense.
You noticed it is a really simple tense to form : it only has one stem (that you find easily by conjugating first the verb at the present tense with nous) and it has same endings for each verb of each group.
-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
There are no irregularities, no exceptions. You just have to be careful with –ger verbs when you need to write them. But that’s all !
The imparfait tense is really useful. We saw together in our dialogues that we need it when we want to:
- Describe something or someone in the past.
- Express habits in the past.
- Give informations about the background (in this case, we use it in conjunction with the passé composé ).
- Be polite and weaken what we are saying because we are not sure or uncomfortable.
- Begin a fairy tale. French expression for Once upon a time is Il était une fois, an expression that uses the imparfait tense.
- Make a suggestion using si.
In the next ten lessons, as Marie and Jean decided to live together, there will be big changes in their life. And it will be for us the occasion to work on the conditional mood.
As lessons 1 to 9 allowed you to discover the imparfait tense, it is now time to sum up what we learnt about this tense.
You noticed it is a really simple tense to form : it only has one stem (that you find easily by conjugating first the verb at the present tense with nous) and it has same endings for each verb of each group.
There are no irregularities, no exceptions. You just have to be careful with –ger verbs when you need to write them. But that’s all !
The imparfait tense is really useful. We saw together in our dialogues that we need it when we want to:
- Describe something or someone in the past.
- Express habits in the past.
- Give informations about the background (in this case, we use it in conjunction with the passé composé ).
- Be polite and weaken what we are saying because we are not sure or uncomfortable.
- Begin a fairy tale. French expression for Once upon a time is Il était une fois, an expression that uses the imparfait tense.
- Make a suggestion using si.
In the next ten lessons, as Marie and Jean decided to live together, there will be big changes in their life. And it will be for us the occasion to work on the conditional mood.
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Translate in English : 1. Et si nous allions à Paris ? 2. Quand j’étais petite, j’avais une poupée que j’aimais beaucoup. 3. Le château du roi était magnifique. 4. Dans ce château vivait sa fille. C’était une pauvre petite princesse qui pleurait tous les jours. 5. J’attendais avec impatience de ses nouvelles quand le téléphone a enfin sonné. 6. Il était une fois un jeune prince qui voulait un chameau. 7. Excusez-moi, Monsieur. Je voulais vous demander si je pouvais partir plus tôt aujourd’hui. Translate in French : 1. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. 2. When I was 16, I liked to play soccer. 3. Once upon a time there was a queen who was very very mean to her son. 4. What if we took a very good dessert ? Chameau (masc.): camel. J’attends avec impatience : I can’t wait. Avoir des nouvelles : to hear from. Briller : to shine. Soudain : suddendly. Rendez-vous (masc.) : appointment. Answers |
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