The Imperfect
You use the imperfect when you are describing conditions in the past.
1. In addition to the PASSE COMPOSE, French has another past tense - l'imparfait (the imperfect). Its forms are based on the first-person plural (NOUS form) of the present tense: you drop the -ons and add the following endings.
ais
ais
ait
ions
iez
aient
2. The imperfect of il pleut is il pleuvait.
ATTENTION
Because the imperfect tense is based on the first-person plural of the present tense, you must keep the pronunciation of the stem. Be careful especially with JE FAISAIS (/fer* zai/) and TU PRENAIS (/prer nai/). Note that the first vowel of each verb has the same sound as JE PEUX (/zer per/) .
* er = 汉语拼音的“e(饿)”
You use the imperfect when you are describing conditions in the past.
1. In addition to the PASSE COMPOSE, French has another past tense - l'imparfait (the imperfect). Its forms are based on the first-person plural (NOUS form) of the present tense: you drop the -ons and add the following endings.
ais
ais
ait
ions
iez
aient
2. The imperfect of il pleut is il pleuvait.
ATTENTION
Because the imperfect tense is based on the first-person plural of the present tense, you must keep the pronunciation of the stem. Be careful especially with JE FAISAIS (/fer* zai/) and TU PRENAIS (/prer nai/). Note that the first vowel of each verb has the same sound as JE PEUX (/zer per/) .
* er = 汉语拼音的“e(饿)”