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
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.
Tous les étés, nous allions dans le sud de la France.
Every summer, we would go to the South of France.
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
3/09/18
David
Kwiziq community member
12 July 2018
1 reply
Tu m’accompagnais à l'école tous les matins
In the quiz I was marked wrong for selecting "You were accompanying me to school every mornming" for the translation of this sentence. It wanted "You used to accompany me to school every morning". Yet in another lesson (https://french.kwiziq.com/my-languages/french/view/3132?rts=%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Dhabitude) you associate "used to" with "avoir d'habitude". To me (and Google Translate) that makes "You used to accompany me to school every morning" an inappropriate translation here. The other one, although less common than the obvious" You accompanied me to school every morning" seems the more appropriate choice.
Alan
Kwiziq community member
12/07/18
I think you should trust the translations on this site more than Google Translate, but still, if you ask Google to translate "You used to accompany me to school every morning" into French, it does give "Tu m'accompagnais à l'école tous les matins".
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
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!
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
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
29/01/18
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
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:
Quand j'étais enfant, je jouais souvent 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
Ann
Kwiziq community member
3 November 2018
0 replies
This sentence in the writing challenges had me fooled: Mon meilleur ami Pierre, qui jusqu'à l'année dernière partageait un trois-pièce avec moi....
My thought was the jusqu'à means the action ended, and thus, I used the passé composé. I realized it had been a habit, but how does one know what to do when more than one rule applies?