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The Imperfect Tense (Plural Forms)

HigherHigher tier onlyAQA

Revise The Imperfect Tense (Plural Forms) for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Higher tier exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). At Higher tier, plural imperfect forms are also required for all the main verb patterns.

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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.

This is a Higher tier only topic, so there's no Foundation paper — only the Higher worksheet and mark scheme below.

Higher

WorksheetHigher · PDFMark SchemeHigher · PDF

Topic overview

The plural imperfect endings are -ions, -iez and -aient, completing the tense. This is a Higher-only topic.

So nous parlions, vous parliez, ils parlaient. The stem is the same as in the singular — taken from the nous form of the present with -ons removed.

Two details cause errors. The -aient ending is pronounced exactly like -ais and -ait, so all four of those forms sound identical and only the pronoun distinguishes them. And verbs whose stem already ends in i, such as étudier, produce a double i in the nous form: nous étudiions. It looks wrong but is correct.

Revision notes

The plural endings

-ions, -iez, -aient.

Nous parlions, vous parliez, ils parlaient. The stem is unchanged from the singular forms. The full set of six endings is -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

The pronunciation trap

The -aient ending sounds exactly like -ais and -ait.

So je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait and ils parlaient are all pronounced identically. Only the subject pronoun distinguishes them in speech, which matters for listening tasks.

The double i

Verbs whose stem ends in i produce a double i in the nous and vous forms.

Étudier gives nous étudiions and vous étudiiez. Oublier gives nous oubliions. It looks like a typing error but is correct and is marked.

Key points

  • The plural endings are -ions, -iez, -aient.
  • The stem is the same as in the singular.
  • -aient sounds like -ais and -ait.
  • Four forms sound identical.
  • Only the pronoun distinguishes them.
  • Stems ending in i produce a double i.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the ils form of the imperfect of parler. [2 marks]

Working

ils parlaientadd the -aient ending to the stem
The ending -aient is pronounced the same as -aitnote the pronunciation

Example 2

Give the nous form of the imperfect of étudier. [2 marks]

Working

The stem from nous étudions is étudi-find the stem
nous étudiions, with a double iadd the -ions ending to the stem ending in i

Example 3

Explain why the imperfect is difficult in listening tasks. [2 marks]

Working

The endings -ais, -ait and -aient are all pronounced identicallystate the problem
so four of the six forms sound the same and only the pronoun distinguishes themexplain what to listen for

Common mistakes

  • Writing -ent instead of -aient.

    The imperfect third person plural is -aient.

  • Dropping the double i.

    Nous étudiions is correct despite looking odd.

  • Changing the stem for the plural.

    It is the same throughout the tense.

  • Confusing -iez with -ez.

    The imperfect vous ending is -iez.

Exam tips

  • Learn all six endings as one set.
  • Keep the double i where the stem ends in i.
  • Listen for the pronoun in spoken French.
  • Remember this is a Higher-only topic.

Key terms

-aient
The imperfect third person plural ending.
Double i
The result of adding -ions to a stem ending in i.
Stem
Unchanged throughout the imperfect tense.
Homophone
Forms that sound identical but are spelled differently.

Related topics

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