Describing how things used to be in French
You are remembering an earlier period of your life: where you were, what you had and where you often worked. The imparfait gives a picture of a past situation or habit, without presenting its endpoint. Here you will use three familiar verbs with I, he and she; you do not need a full conjugation chart or a long story.
A present routine and a completed action
Je travaille à la maison means “I work at home”: a current routine. J’ai travaillé hier means “I worked yesterday”: a completed action. Hier means yesterday. You have also met je me prépare (I get ready) and je me couche (I go to bed), which describe routines in the present.
For completed journeys, je suis allé(e) means “I went” and je suis arrivé(e), “I arrived”. Those phrases use an auxiliary plus a past participle. Our new forms, étais, avais and travaillais, are each one verb form: do not add ai or suis before them.
Je travaille à la maison.
J'ai travaillé hier.
Words for remembering an earlier period
Être means be, avoir means have and travailler means work. La maison means home; à la maison means at home. Une voiture is a car: voiture is feminine, so its indefinite article is une. À Paris means in Paris.
Avant on its own here means before or previously, compared with now. Souvent means often, not every time. These words help establish the context; they do not automatically determine the verb tense.
I was, I had, I used to work
Listen to the three examples. Avant, j’étais à la maison describes a former situation: “Before, I was at home.” Avant, j’avais une voiture describes possession in that earlier period: “Before, I had a car.” Je travaillais souvent à la maison describes a repeated past habit: “I often worked at home.”
These forms are called the imparfait: être → j’étais, avoir → j’avais, travailler → je travaillais. Je becomes j’ before the vowel in étais and avais, but stays je before travaillais. French keeps this subject; the verb form alone does not name the person.
English may use was, had or used to work for these meanings. The French imparfait does not itself say that the situation certainly stopped, or continues now. It presents what was true or repeated then, rather than a finished event. Do not choose it just because an action lasted a long time.
j’étais / j’avais / je travaillais…
Avant, j'étais à la maison.
Avant, j'avais une voiture.
Je travaillais souvent à la maison.
Describe him or her with the same three verbs
Il means he and elle means she. With either one, the three forms are était, avait and travaillait: il était / elle était (he was / she was), il avait / elle avait (he had / she had), il travaillait / elle travaillait (he used to work / she used to work). Here il and elle refer to people already identified.
Listen and change only the person, keeping the meaning: a former location, a former possession or a repeated work habit. The endings -ais in the je forms and -ait in these il/elle forms sound alike. The written ending changes, while the subject tells you who is involved. Souvent follows the verb in our work examples.
il / elle était / avait / travaillait…
Avant, il était à Paris.
Avant, elle était à la maison.
Avant, il avait une voiture.
Avant, elle avait une voiture.
Il travaillait souvent à la maison.
Elle travaillait souvent à la maison.
Recognize a longer sentence
Je travaillais quand Marc a appelé means “I was working when Marc called.” Quand means when; a appelé means called by phone. Here travaillais supplies the background and a appelé names an event during it.
This is recognition only. You are not being asked to choose between two past tenses in a story or build this longer sentence. For now, concentrate on former situations and habits in short sentences.
Je travaillais quand Marc a appelé.
Your turn: three memories
Imagine a conversation about an earlier period. Before opening the examples, say in French: 1) “I often worked at home”; 2) “Before, she had a car”; 3) “Before, he was in Paris”. All the words and forms have appeared above.
Check the three examples in order and listen. Then change je to il or elle in the first sentence: replace travaillais with travaillait. You are describing a habit, not a single finished workday.
Je travaillais souvent à la maison.
Avant, elle avait une voiture.
Avant, il était à Paris.
Keep the subject and change the ending
Use these forms to picture how things were or what happened repeatedly in an earlier period. Avant locates that period relative to now; souvent marks frequency. Neither word forces this tense. The table is a written reminder; the sentences above provide the audio.
| Verb | I | He / she |
|---|---|---|
| être | j’étais | il / elle était |
| avoir | j’avais | il / elle avait |
| travailler | je travaillais | il / elle travaillait |