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Connaître (to know) · Imparfait

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Connaître in the French imparfait is: je connaissais, tu connaissais, il/elle/on connaissait, nous connaissions, vous connaissiez, ils/elles connaissaient. The imparfait of connaître keeps the static 'knew' meaning. Stem 'connaiss-' from nous form + imparfait endings. 'Je connaissais déjà Marie' = 'I already knew Marie'.

connaître conjugation in the Imparfait
To KnowConnaître
I used to know
je connaissais
you used to know
tu connaissais
he/she used to know
il/elle/on connaissait
we used to know
nous connaissions
you used to know
vous connaissiez
they used to know
ils/elles connaissaient
Examples

Connaître (to know) in context

Sentences that use connaître in the imparfait. Tap each to hear it.

Je connaissais déjà Marie à l'époque.

I already knew Marie at the time.

Tu connaissais bien la région à l'époque.

You knew the region well back then.

Il connaissait tout le monde dans le village.

He used to know everyone in the village.

Nous connaissions la famille depuis longtemps.

We had known the family for a long time.

Vous connaissiez les meilleures adresses.

You used to know the best places.

Ils ne connaissaient personne à la soirée.

They didn't know anyone at the party.

Tip

Working with the imparfait

The imparfait paints the background of a past scene: weather, age, habits, descriptions, ongoing actions that get interrupted. "Il faisait nuit" (it was nighttime), "j'avais cinq ans" (I was five years old), "je marchais quand tu m'as appelé" (I was walking when you called me). The imparfait is almost completely regular — the stem comes from the nous form of the present (nous parlons → je parlais), with only être being truly irregular (j'étais). The contrast with passé composé is the single most important past-tense distinction in French: imparfait = background or habitual; passé composé = completed event.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do you conjugate connaître in the imparfait?
Connaître is regular in the imparfait: je connaissais, tu connaissais, il/elle/on connaissait, nous connaissions, vous connaissiez, ils/elles connaissaient. Stem 'connaiss-' (double s) from nous form.
When do I use 'je connaissais' instead of 'j'ai connu'?
Use 'je connaissais' for ongoing past familiarity — what you already knew during some past stretch of time: 'en 2020, je connaissais déjà Paris' (in 2020, I already knew Paris). Use 'j'ai connu' for the moment of first acquaintance: 'j'ai connu Paris en 2018' (I first visited Paris in 2018). Same imparfait-vs-passé-composé contrast as Spanish conocía-vs-conocí.
How do I say 'when we met' in French?
'Quand nous nous sommes connus' (when we met) uses the reflexive 'se connaître' in the passé composé — literally 'when we knew each other'. The reflexive form is the standard French way to express mutual first acquaintance. For ongoing past acquaintance, use 'nous nous connaissions' (we knew each other).
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More tenses of Connaître (To Know)

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Connaître (to know) · Passé Composé
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Connaître (to know) · Subjonctif

More verbs in imparfait

All tenses
Connaître (to know)
imparfait
Être (to be)
imparfait
Avoir (to have)
imparfait
Aller (to go)
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