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Ma ville avant : imperfect of être, avoir and faire

I can talk about what my town used to be like in the past using the imperfect tense of regular and irregular verbs.

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Ma ville avant : imperfect of être, avoir and faire

I can talk about what my town used to be like in the past using the imperfect tense of regular and irregular verbs.

Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. 'avoir' and 'faire' have regular stems in the imperfect tense: 'av-' and 'fais-'.
  2. 'être' has an irregular stem in the imperfect tense: 'ét-'.
  3. 'être', 'avoir' and 'faire' have regular endings in the imperfect tense: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
  4. 'il y avait' is the imperfect tense form of 'il y a', meaning 'there used to be'.

Keywords

  • Imperfect tense - tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening

  • Ét- - irregular imperfect stem of être - to be, being

Common misconception

'Être' is used to translate the phrase 'there used to be'.

Although in English, 'there used to be' has the idea of being, this is not the case in French. The phrase 'il y a' means there is but the verb is 'a' which comes from avoir. It's the same with there used to be: 'il y avait'.

Task B2 has two options. Option 1 is aimed at the majority of students. Option 2 is aimed at those students who may need more support and less complexity in the task.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Mini whiteboards and pens are useful if available.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French and English words linked to appearance and mood.

Correct Answer:châtain,brown

brown

Correct Answer:roux,red

red

Correct Answer:les lunettes,glasses

glasses

Correct Answer:les cheveux,hair

hair

Correct Answer:fou,crazy

crazy

Correct Answer:inquiet,worried

worried

Q2.
Match the imperfect tense verb endings with the subjects.

Correct Answer:je,-ais

-ais

Correct Answer:elle,-ait

-ait

Correct Answer:nous,-ions

-ions

Correct Answer:vous,-iez

-iez

Correct Answer:ils,-aient

-aient

Q3.
Which statement correctly describes the stem needed to create the imperfect tense?

Take the 'vous' form of the verb in the present tense and remove -ez ending.
Correct answer: Take the 'nous' form of the verb in the present tense and remove -ons ending.
Take the 'nous' form of the verb in the future tense and remove -ons ending.
Take the 'vous' form of the verb in the future tense and remove -ez ending.

Q4.
Which imperfect verb best completes this sentence? 'Ils des bâtiments intéressants avant.'

espéraient
Correct answer: construisaient
excusaient
persuadaient

Q5.
Which form should the verb 'reconnaitre' take here? Nous la ville par ses bâtiments dans le passé.'

Correct Answer: reconnaissions

Q6.
Put the words in order to make this sentence: I used to forgive the girls for being crazy.

1 - j'
2 - excusais
3 - les
4 - filles
5 - d'
6 - être
7 - folles

Assessment exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
Match the French and English vocabulary.

Correct Answer:plus de,more (of)

more (of)

Correct Answer:se rappeler,to remember

to remember

Correct Answer:cependant,however

however

Correct Answer:moins de,less (of)

less (of)

Correct Answer:plein,full

full

Q2.
Which word is missing in French? 'Il y une vieille poste en ville.' There used to be an old post office in town.

Correct Answer: avait

Q3.
Which is the correct word order to make this sentence? She used to be more patient in the past.

1 - elle
2 - était
3 - plus
4 - patiente
5 - dans
6 - le
7 - passé

Q4.
Which verb does not use the 'nous' form in the present tense with -ons removed as its imperfect tense stem?

avoir
faire
reconnaitre
Correct answer: être

Q5.
Which verb spelling is correct here? 'Ils beaucoup de sport avant.' They used to do lots of sport before.

faisait
faisions
faisiez
Correct answer: faisaient
font

Lesson appears in

UnitFrench / Communication and the world around us: Là où j'habite

AQAFrench

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EdexcelFrench

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