The imparfait is one of the most forgiving tenses to form, almost every verb, regular or irregular, uses the exact same method and the exact same endings.
1. The stem: the nous-form, minus -ons
| nous parlons → parl- | (we speak → stem) |
| nous finissons → finiss- | (we finish → stem) |
| nous vendons → vend- | (we sell → stem) |
2. The endings: the same for every verb
Add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient to the stem, these endings never change, no matter which verb group you're working with.
| je parlais | I was speaking / used to speak |
| nous finissions | we were finishing |
| ils vendaient | they were selling |
3. -ir verbs keep the -iss- throughout
Unlike the présent, where only nous/vous/ils get the -iss- infix (see our -IR verbs lesson), the imparfait keeps it in every form, because it's already baked into the stem.
| je finissais, tu finissais, il finissait | I was finishing, you were finishing, he was finishing |
4. Watch out: je/tu/il/elle all sound the same
Pronunciation trap: -ais, -ais, and -ait are all pronounced identically, /ɛ/. je parlais, tu parlais, and il parlait sound exactly the same out loud, only the subject pronoun tells them apart.
5. Conjugation: model (parler)
| je parlais | I was speaking |
| tu parlais | you were speaking |
| il / elle / on parlait | he / she / one was speaking |
| nous parlions | we were speaking |
| vous parliez | you were speaking |
| ils / elles parlaient | they were speaking |