I'm confused by the block of examples immediately following the "How to form the Imparfait" section above....

DaniloA2Kwiziq community member

I'm confused by the block of examples immediately following the "How to form the Imparfait" section above....

These are the examples given:

- parler : nous parlons (we are talking) -> je parlais

- finir : nous finissons (we are finishing) -> je finissais

- faire : nous faisons (we are doing) -> je faisais

- prendre : nous prenons (we are taking) -> je prenais

All the verbs have the same ending despite the subject. Perhaps I'm missing something

Asked 4 years ago
ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

I guess the point is that the imperfect is formed using the stem of the verb in the first person plural, present tense. Then the imperfect is formed appending the approriate imperfect ending to that stem. In the examples, they used only the first person singular (je) ending. The others work the same way, though:

Nous parlons. --> drop the -ons to get the stem --> parl --> add appropriate imperfect ending:

je parlais, tu parlais, il/elle/on parlait, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils/elles parlaient.

 

I'm confused by the block of examples immediately following the "How to form the Imparfait" section above....

These are the examples given:

- parler : nous parlons (we are talking) -> je parlais

- finir : nous finissons (we are finishing) -> je finissais

- faire : nous faisons (we are doing) -> je faisais

- prendre : nous prenons (we are taking) -> je prenais

All the verbs have the same ending despite the subject. Perhaps I'm missing something

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