The imperfect indicative or imparfait de l'indicatif in french, is a simple tense. This tense is not formed with an auxiliary.
The stem of the imperfect indicative is always invariant for a single verb. It is derived from the first person plural of the present indicative (except for the verb être):
Example with verb boire :
- in present indicative: je bois, tu bois, il boit, nous buvons, vous buvez, ils boivent
- in imperfect indicative: je buvais, tu buvais, il buvait, nous buvions, vous buviez, ils buvaient
The endings of this tense are for any of the three groups always: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient pronounced /ɛ, ɛ, ɛ, jɔ̃, je, ɛ/.
For the 1st and 3rd groups, the -i- of the first and second persons plural must always be kept even though it may not be reflected in the pronunciation of certain verbs: Nous travaillions, vous travailliez, nous riions, vous riiez, nous essuyions, vous essuyiez, nous gagnions, vous gagniez, nous tressaillions, vous tressailliez, nous priions, vous priiez...
Imperfect indicative endings
The endings of this tense are for any of the three groups always: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient pronounced /ɛ, ɛ, ɛ, jɔ̃, je, ɛ/.
