Irregular Future Stems in French

The imparfait (imperfect tense) is used in French to describe:
✅ Past habits (things you used to do)
✅ Ongoing actions in the past (background descriptions)
✅ Emotions and states (describing how things were)

---

1. Formation of Imparfait

To form the imparfait, follow these steps:
1️⃣ Take the "nous" form of the verb in the present tense.
2️⃣ Remove "-ons" from the ending.
3️⃣ Add the imparfait endings:

Subject	Ending	Example: Parler (to speak)	Example: Finir (to finish)	Example: Être (to be)
Je	-ais	Je parlais	Je finissais	J'étais
Tu	-ais	Tu parlais	Tu finissais	Tu étais
Il/Elle	-ait	Il parlait	Il finissait	Il était
Nous	-ions	Nous parlions	Nous finissions	Nous étions
Vous	-iez	Vous parliez	Vous finissiez	Vous étiez
Ils/Elles	-aient	Ils parlaient	Ils finissaient	Ils étaient

---

2. When to Use Imparfait

🔹 For descriptions in the past

• Il faisait beau hier. (The weather was nice yesterday.)
• La ville était très animée. (The city was very lively.)

🔹 For repeated actions in the past (used to/would)

• Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot tous les jours.
  (When I was little, I used to play football every day.)
• Avant, elle lisait chaque soir avant de dormir.
  (Before, she used to read every evening before sleeping.)

🔹 For background actions (setting a scene)

• Il pleuvait, et les enfants regardaient la télé.
  (It was raining, and the kids were watching TV.)

🔹 For emotions and mental states in the past

• Elle était triste ce jour-là. (She was sad that day.)
• Nous avions peur. (We were scared.)

---

3. Imparfait vs Passé Composé

Imparfait (Background & Ongoing Actions)	Passé Composé (Completed Actions)
Je regardais la télé. (I was watching TV.)	J’ai regardé un film. (I watched a movie.)
Il pleuvait. (It was raining.)	Il a commencé à pleuvoir. (It started raining.)
Elle était fatiguée. (She was tired.)	Elle s’est couchée tôt. (She went to bed early.)

Would you like to practice with some exercises? 😊

Here’s a list of common irregular future stems that are used in both the futur simple and conditionnel tenses:

---

Irregular Future Stems

Infinitive	Future Stem	Conditional Example (Je form)
Avoir (to have)	aur-	J’aurais (I would have)
Être (to be)	ser-	Je serais (I would be)
Aller (to go)	ir-	J’irais (I would go)
Faire (to do/make)	fer-	Je ferais (I would do/make)
Pouvoir (can/to be able to)	pourr-	Je pourrais (I could)
Vouloir (to want)	voudr-	Je voudrais (I would like)
Devoir (must/to have to)	devr-	Je devrais (I should)
Savoir (to know)	saur-	Je saurais (I would know)
Venir (to come)	viendr-	Je viendrais (I would come)
Voir (to see)	verr-	Je verrais (I would see)
Envoyer (to send)	enverr-	J’enverrais (I would send)
Recevoir (to receive)	recevr-	Je recevrais (I would receive)
Mourir (to die)	mourr-	Je mourrais (I would die)
Tenir (to hold)	tiendr-	Je tiendrais (I would hold)

---

How to Use These Stems

To form the futur simple, add these endings: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont
✅ Example: Avoir → J’aurai (I will have)

To form the conditionnel, add these endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
✅ Example: Avoir → J’aurais (I would have)

Futur Proche: Present of "aller" + infinitive (Ex: Je vais manger)

Futur Simple: Future stem + -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont (Ex: Je parlerai)

Conditionnel: Future stem + -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient (Ex: Je parlerais)

Imparfait: Start with the nous form of the verb in the present tense (e.g., nous parlons for “parler”). Drop the -ons and add imparfait endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Parlerais = Conditional (I would speak; used for polite requests, hypothetical situations)

Parlais = Imparfait (I was speaking / I used to speak; describes past ongoing or habitual actions)