The imperfect of être

Key points

The most commonly used verb in the imperfect is être which means to be: j’étais, tu étais, etc.
It is often used with ce to describe things or situations in the past: C'était très intéressant

The most commonly used verb in the imperfect is être which means to be. This is because être is used for describing things. The verb être conjugates as follows in the imperfect:

Table 4: irregular verbs
être to be
j’	étais
tu	étais
il / elle	était
nous	étions
vous	étiez
ils / elles	étaient

Here are some examples:

Quand j’étais plus petit j’aimais beaucoup ce jeu

When I was younger I liked that game a lot

Nous étions très fatigués

We were very tired

The imperfect of être is often used with ce (shortened to c') to describe things or situations in the past:

Tu as aimé ce livre? Oui, c'était très intéressant

Did you like this book? Yes, it was very interesting

Nous avons passé deux semaines en France, c'était super

We spent two weeks in France, it was great

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