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Imperfect of avoir, être and faire

FoundationHigherAQA

Understand Imperfect of avoir, être and faire for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). The irregular imperfect forms avais, avait, étais, était, faisais and faisait are very frequent.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

WorksheetFoundation · PDFMark SchemeFoundation · PDF

Higher

WorksheetHigher · PDFMark SchemeHigher · PDF

Topic overview

Avoir, être and faire are all needed constantly in the imperfect, and only one of them is irregular.

Avoir follows the normal rule: nous avons gives the stem av-, so j'avais, tu avais, il avait. Faire also follows it: nous faisons gives fais-, so je faisais, il faisait.

Être is the single exception in the whole tense. Its nous form is nous sommes, which would give somm-, but the actual stem is ét-. So j'étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient. This is the only irregular imperfect stem in French, which makes it worth learning precisely.

Revision notes

Avoir and faire are regular

Avoir: nous avons gives av-. J'avais, tu avais, il avait, nous avions, vous aviez, ils avaient.

Faire: nous faisons gives fais-. Je faisais, il faisait, nous faisions. Both follow the standard rule exactly.

Être is the one exception

Its stem is ét-, not somm-.

J'étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient. This is the only irregular imperfect stem in the language, so it is the one form that must be memorised.

Common uses

Il y avait means there was or there were — from avoir.

C'était means it was — from être. Il faisait beau means the weather was fine — from faire. All three appear constantly in descriptive writing.

Key points

  • Avoir gives the imperfect stem av-.
  • Faire gives the stem fais-.
  • Être is the only irregular imperfect.
  • Its stem is ét-, not somm-.
  • Il y avait means there was.
  • C'était means it was.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the je form of the imperfect of être. [2 marks]

Working

j'étaisuse the irregular stem ét-
Être is the only verb with an irregular imperfect stemexplain the irregularity

Example 2

Give the il form of the imperfect of avoir. [2 marks]

Working

il avaituse the stem av- from nous avons
Avoir follows the normal rule of removing -ons from the nous formexplain the formation

Example 3

Translate: there was a problem. [2 marks]

Working

Il y avait un problèmeuse the imperfect of avoir in the il y a structure
Il y avait is the imperfect form of il y aexplain the structure

Common mistakes

  • Using somm- as the stem of être.

    The irregular stem is ét-.

  • Confusing j'étais and j'ai été.

    Étais is the imperfect; ai été is the perfect.

  • Forgetting il y avait.

    It is the imperfect of il y a and appears constantly.

  • Using être's normal rule.

    It is the one exception in the tense.

Exam tips

  • Memorise ét- as the only irregular stem.
  • Apply the normal rule to avoir and faire.
  • Learn il y avait and c'était as set phrases.
  • Check the stem before adding the ending.

Key terms

Ét-
The irregular imperfect stem of être.
Il y avait
The imperfect of il y a, meaning there was.
C'était
The imperfect meaning it was.
Stem
The part of the verb before the ending.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.