French Verbs – 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.’