Practice using the imperfect forms of être and avoir
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| Do you know how to talk about how someone or something was in the past in French? |
| Welcome to Three Step French Practice by FrenchPod101.com. In this lesson, you will practice conjugating verbs in the imperfect tense. |
| Let's look at the main dialogue. |
| Two people are having a conversation. |
| Il adorait courir dans le jardin derrière la maison. |
| "He loved running in the garden behind the house." |
| On dirait qu'il était vraiment heureux. |
| "It seems he was really happy." |
| Il adorait |
| il était |
| Both of these sentences include verbs in the imparfait, or imperfect tense. |
| We use the imperfect in French to describe what someone or something was like in the past, to talk about repeated or habitual past actions, or to give background details in a story. This is different from le passé composé, which is used for completed actions. |
| Let's quickly review how the imperfect is formed for three key verb types: |
| avoir (to have): |
| j'avais, tu avais, il/elle/on avait, nous avions, vous aviez, ils/elles avaient |
| être (to be): |
| j'étais, tu étais, il/elle/on était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils/elles étaient |
| And regular -er verbs like adorer: |
| j'adorais, tu adorais, il/elle/on adorait, nous adorions, vous adoriez, ils/elles adoraient |
| In the dialogue, adorait and était—from adorer and être—are used in context. |
| In this lesson, we'll keep practicing how to describe people, feelings, and habits in the past using these common verbs in the imperfect. |
| Let's get started. |
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