Look at these uses of L'Imparfait:
Je lisais tous les jours.
I used to read every day.
Tu étudiais chaque jour.
You used to study each day.
Il jouait au football quand il était petit.
He played football when he was small.
Tous les étés, nous allions dans le sud de la France.
Every summer, we would go to the South of France.
Ma mère me berçait dans ses bras jusqu'à ce que je m'endorme.
My mother used to rock me in her arms until I fell asleep.
Note that one of the uses of L'Imparfait is to express actions that repeated in the past, or past habits (e.g. I would go every summer, I used to play, ...).
Note that in English you can use used to or would, but you can also use the Simple Past (i.e. I played) to express habits and repeated actions.
Other uses for L'Imparfait:
Expressing continuing action in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Describing and expressing opinions in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
See also how to combine L'Imparfait and Le Passé Composé: Using Le Passé Composé on its own or with L'Imparfait
And to see how to conjugate in L'Imparfait: Conjugate regular verbs in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense) and Conjugate être in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Tous les étés, nous allions dans le sud de la France.
Every summer, we would go to the South of France.
Je lisais tous les jours.
I used to read every day.
Ils chantaient toute la journée.
They used to sing all day.
Tu étudiais chaque jour.
You used to study each day.
Vous étiez très méchants quand vous étiez enfants.
You used to be so naughty when you were children.
Nous allions à la plage le matin.
We used to go to the beach in the morning.
Nous mangions des bonbons quand nous avions dix ans.
We ate sweets when we were ten years old.
Ma mère me berçait dans ses bras jusqu'à ce que je m'endorme.
My mother used to rock me in her arms until I fell asleep.
Il jouait au football quand il était petit.
He played football when he was small.
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
7/03/18
Hi Dragana,
yes, there is a problem with being able to post full questions. A lot of people suffer from it. I did bring it to the attention of the kwiziq team. If you want, why not send them a mail (under Tools > Help & Support).
Yes, "je m'endorme" is subjunctive; "je m'endors" would be indicative.
About your second question: you could also say "les bras" but in this case "ses bras" just stresses the fact that they belong to the mother since there is more than one person involved.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
26/01/18
The difference is one of emphasis.
L'Imparfait can carry the notion of something that *used to* happen, as opposed to Le Passé Composé, but "avoir l'habitude de" (literally "to have the habit of") insists on the notion of a repeated action in the past, something that happened as a habit.
In the example you used, saying "J'avais l'habitude d'appartenir" sounds really weird, because "avoir l'habitude" you wouldn't really "belong" repeatedly, as a habit :)
Here you will use L'Imparfait : J'appartenais, as it's more of an action that used to *be* in the past.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
29/01/18
Indeed, this example has nothing to do with l'Imparfait :)
Thanks to you, it's now been transferred to an appropriate lesson!
Merci et bonne journée !
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
12/04/18
Hi Vi,
With music instruments we use 'Jouer de',
Tu joues de la guitare, de l'accordéon, du piano...
so because of the 'de' it will be 'tu en joues'.
With sport , we use 'Jouer à',
je joue au rugby, je joue au tennis, je joue à la marelle ( hopscotch) je joue aux échecs ( chess)
and because of the 'à' it will be 'j'y joue' .
Hope this helps!
Ron
Kwiziq community member
13/11/17
Le passé composé is the conversational past tense (this is the most common use of it). There are other nuances but I will not present those on this response. You will run across them as you go along.
This link is from the Progress with Lawless French Library and it explains the passé composé in detail along with examples:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/glossary/44
There is a whole page of links to lessons on the passé composé. I do suggest that you get a good basic understanding of le passé composé and l'imparfait before attempting any other levels.
But as noted previously, the most common use of le passé composé is in conversation in discussing the past, i.e. j'ai mangé --> I ate, I have eaten, etc.
Once you have this mastered, several of the other past tenses fall into place a lot easier.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aiderait.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisée par le monde français depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet
Ron (un locuteur non natif )
Chris
Kwiziq community member
15/11/17
I always think about this in terms of describing a theater performance. The imparfait is used to describe what the stage and the scene looks like whereas the passé composé describes the action itself taking place on the stage. For example:
Il pleuvait et il faisait sombre dehors. Le voisin promenait son chien. Juste à ce moment-là une voiture est passé devant chez moi.
It was raining and dark outside. The neighbour was walking his dog. -- Description of the "setting", hence imparfait.
Juste à ce moment-là une voiture est passé devant chez moi. -- Description of the "action", hence passé composé.
There are several other uses of the imparfait (e.g. in conditional sentences with "si" and reported speech, etc.) but these are less confusing because they follow a strict grammatical rule.
I hope that helps to clarify the issue a bit.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris
Kwiziq community member
15/11/17
If you are describing something in the past that is merely a description of something which happened usually or over some period of time, this also qualifies as "backdrop" and requires the imparfait.
For example:
Comme enfant je jouais souvant avec ma balle préferée. -- As a child I often played with my favorite ball.
This is a description of something which took place habitually and therefore one uses the imparfait.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Ron
Kwiziq community member
13/11/17
Here is a link to the lesson that covers the use and differences of le passé composé and l'imparfait:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/view/5013
Here are a couple of links from the French Department at UT Austin that I have found quite useful at times with topics that I have found somewhat difficult:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/pdf/tap6.pdf
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/pdf/tap2.pdf
J'espère que ma réponse vous aiderait.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisée par le monde français depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet
Ron (un locuteur non natif )
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
10/03/17
This is indeed a complicated case, which shouldn't probably feature in an A2 lesson.
But as it's here, I'm going to explain it :)
The second part of the sentence is introduced by the expression "jusqu'à ce que" (= until
"S'endormir" here is conjugated in Le Subjonctif Présent, hence the confusing ending.
Here is the glossary article link about Le Subjonctif:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/glossary/verb-tense-mood/french-present-subjunctive
I hope it helps!
À bientôt !
Prateek
Kwiziq community member
3/06/16
Prateek
Kwiziq community member
3/06/16
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
16/05/16
"Past tense" is a generic term for any of the past tenses, depending on how it's used in context. The Simple Past is a synonym for the Preterite ("I played football"). The Past Perfect is a compound tense ("I had played football"). The Present Perfect is similar ("I have played football).
I hope that help!
Gruff
Almut
Kwiziq community member
16/05/16
That answers half my question. :-)
The other half is: what is "Imperfect"? (And how is it different from "Simple Past"?)
Thank you!
Gio
Kwiziq community member
5 April 2018
1 reply
Hi, I have a question about this sentence "Ma mère me berçait dans ses bras jusqu'à ce que je m'endorme."
would it not be "...que je me suis endormé" as it is in the past?
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
12 April 2018
12/04/18
Hi Gio,
In this sentence 'je m'endorme' is in the present subjunctive because 'jusqu'à ce que' is always followed by a subjunctive.
Hope this helps!