Que faisais-tu quand ... ? : the imperfect tense with regular verbs ('BE' + ing) | French

Starter quiz

Which verb is in the imperfect tense?

elle danse

elle dansait ✓

elle a dansé

elle va danser
What is the imperfect tense ending for 'tu'?

'ais' ✓
What is the 'il,elle' ending in the imperfect tense?

'ait' ✓
Match the French and English together.

je choisissais

⇔

I was choosing ✓

il choisissait

⇔

he was choosing ✓

tu partais

⇔

you were leaving ✓

je partais

⇔

I was leaving ✓

elle entendait

⇔

she was hearing ✓

il entendait

⇔

he was hearing ✓
What verb subject is used to form the imperfect tense?

nous ✓

tu

vous

je

ils
Translate the sentence: She was speaking with her friend when the present arrived.

1

⇔

elle

2

⇔

parlait avec

3

⇔

son amie

4

⇔

quand

5

⇔

le cadeau

6

⇔

est

7

⇔

arrivé

Exit quiz

Choose the correct translation for: je regardais la télé.

I will watch TV.

I am watching TV.

I was watching TV. ✓

I watch TV.
Match the subject pronoun to the verb.

je, tu

⇔

écoutais ✓

il, elle

⇔

écoutait ✓

nous

⇔

écoutions ✓

vous

⇔

écoutiez ✓

ils, elles

⇔

écoutaient ✓
Select the imperfect tense endings which are pronounced in the same way.

ais ✓

ait ✓

ions

iez

aient ✓
Complete the sentence: The sound-symbol correspondences (SSCs) [ai], [on] and ______ are heard in the endings of the imperfect tense.

'[ez]' ✓
Translate the sentence: I was listening to the radio when phone rang.

1

⇔

j'écoutais

2

⇔

la

3

⇔

radio

4

⇔

quand

5

⇔

le téléphone

6

⇔

a

7

⇔

sonné
Match the vocabulary together.

paresseux

⇔

lazy ✓

introduire

⇔

to introduce, introducing ✓

février

⇔

February ✓

patronne

⇔

boss ✓

instant

⇔

instant, moment ✓

mener

⇔

to lead, leading ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

The imperfect tense is used to describe what 'was happening' or what you 'were doing' when something else happened.
For imperfect of regular verbs remove -ons from 'nous' present tense and add:-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
[ai] sounds like 'vrai', [on] is a nasal sound like 'non', and [ez] sounds like 'écrire'.

Common misconception

The ending -aient is pronounced differently to -ais and -ait.

Although the third person plural ending of the imperfect tense contains a lot of letters, it is pronounced the same way as -ais and -ait. Students will need a lot of practice saying the -aient ending out loud to become confident with this verb form.

Keywords

Imperfect tense - tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening
Sound-symbol correspondence - relationship between letters and their sounds