Present Tense
Past Tenses
Perfect Tense – Regular Verbs
2 Quizzes
FUTURE TENSE AND CONDITIONAL MOOD
THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Imperfect Tense – Avoir and Être
This lesson covers the imperfect tense in French for avoir, ‘to have,’ and être, ‘to be’.
How do you conjugate avoir and être in the imperfect tense?
Exactly the same as the regular verbs, avoir and être make use of the same endings to form the imperfect tense. Avoir adds the endings to the stem av- and être uses ét– as follows:
Imperfect tense of avoir
| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’avais | I had, I was having |
| tu avais | you had, you were having |
| il avait | he had, he was having |
| elle avait | she had, she was having |
| nous avions | we had, we were having |
| vous aviez | you had, you were having |
| ils avaient | they had, they were having |
| elles avaient | they had, they were having |
This verb tense is also used to create the phrase il y avait, ‘there was,’ or ‘there were.’
Imperfect tense of être
| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’étais | I was, I was being |
| tu étais | you were, you were being |
| il était | he was, it was, he was being, it was being |
| elle était | she was, it was, she was being, it was being |
| nous étions | we were, we were being |
| vous étiez | you were, you were being |
| ils étaient | they were, they were being |
| elles étaient | they were, they were being |
These forms of être are used to talk about the past, such as opinions from a past event or saying where something was. For example, C’était incroyable, ‘It was incredible,’ or J’étais là, ‘I was there.’