Irregular Imparfait: être

Most French verbs follow a strict rule in the Imparfait. You usually take the nous form of the present tense. You drop the -ons. You add the past endings. But French loves a plot twist. The verb être is the only rebel. It does not use its present stem. In the present, we say nous sommes. If we followed the rule, the stem would be somm-. That sounds like a sleepy summer day. Instead, French gives être a special stem: ét-. This is your base. You will use this for every person. Whether you are talking about yourself, your dog, or your neighbors. It is consistent once you know it. It is like a reliable old bicycle. Once you start pedaling, it works every time. The endings remain perfectly regular. They are the same as every other verb in this tense. This makes your life much easier.

1. 1Learning to build this verb is a three-step process.
2. 2Forget the nous rule for this one specific verb.
3. 3Memorize the unique stem: ét-.
4. 4Add the standard Imparfait endings to your stem.
5. 5Here is how those endings look with our special stem:
6. 6For je (I), add -ais -> j'étais (I was).
7. 7For tu (you), add -ais -> tu étais (you were).
8. 8For il/elle/on (he/she/one), add -ait -> il était (he was).
9. 9For nous (we), add -ions -> nous étions (we were).
10. 10For vous (you plural/formal), add -iez -> vous étiez (you were).
11. 11For ils/elles (they), add -aient -> ils étaient (they were).
12. 12Notice that je, tu, and ils/elles all sound the same. It is a phonetic gift from the French language. Just pronounce it like "ay-teh." It is simple and elegant.

Use j'étais when you are painting a picture. Imagine you are at a job interview. You want to describe your previous role. You say, "I was responsible for marketing." Use j'étais. Or imagine you are ordering food in Paris. You tell the waiter, "I was hoping for a table." Use j'étais.

• Use it for physical descriptions: Il était grand (He was tall).
• Use it for states of mind: J'étais heureux (I was happy).
• Use it for the weather: Il était midi et il faisait chaud (It was noon and hot).
• Use it for age: Quand j'avais dix ans, j'étais timide (When I was ten, I was shy).
• Use it for habits: Nous étions toujours à l'heure (We were always on time).

Think of it as the "once upon a time" tense. If you can imagine the scene continuing, use être. It is for things that lasted a while.

Do not use j'étais for a sudden change. If you were happy, then suddenly became sad because of news? That is different. That is an action. For sudden shifts, we use the Passé Composé: j'ai été.

• Avoid it for specific durations with a clear end: "I was in Paris for exactly two hours."
• Do not use it for sequences of events: "I was there, then I left, then I arrived."
• If the "being" is an event, not a description, skip the Imparfait.

Think of it like a grammar traffic light. Green means "describe the background." Red means "this happened once and ended."

Even native speakers slip up, but you can be better. The biggest trap is the spelling of ils étaient. Many people forget the -aient ending. They try to use -ait. Remember, plural "they" needs the long ending.

Another mistake is using être for age. English says "I was ten." French says "I had ten years." So you use avoir, not être. You would say j'avais dix ans. This is a classic "false friend" moment.

Also, watch your accents. The é in ét- never goes away. It is part of the DNA of the verb. Without the accent, it is not être. It would be a different sound entirely. Treat that accent like a tiny crown for your verb.

Let's compare j'étais (Imparfait) and j'ai été (Passé Composé). This is where most learners get a headache.

• J'étais malade means "I was sick" (over a period, ongoing).
• J'ai été malade means "I got sick" (at a specific point, then recovered).

It is the difference between a video and a photo. The Imparfait is the video. It shows the duration. The Passé Composé is the photo. It captures the moment.

Compare it to the present tense too. Je suis is right now. J'étais is any time before now. If you want to say "I used to be," you use the Imparfait. It covers everything from five minutes ago to five centuries ago.