français · B1 · verb · 4 minutes
Faire in the imparfait
Describe weather, habitual activities, and ongoing actions in the past.
Understand the choice
Faire in the imparfait supports both human routines and impersonal weather. Context decides whether faisait means did, made, or “the weather was.” A time phrase or simultaneous action reinforces the background reading.
Core rule: Faire uses the imparfait stem fais- from nous faisons and the regular imperfect endings.
Notice it in context
En été, nous faisions du vélo quand il faisait beau.
In summer, we used to cycle when the weather was nice.
Faisions names the repeated activity; faisait beau is the impersonal weather expression.
Je faisais la cuisine pendant qu’il mettait la table.
I was cooking while he set the table.
Pendant que coordinates two ongoing past actions.
Il faisait froid, alors les enfants sont rentrés.
It was cold, so the children went inside.
Imperfect weather supplies the cause; sont rentrés is the bounded result.
What to remember
- The first-person plural spelling faisions keeps the i of the ending after the stem s.
- Faire beau, chaud, froid, and mauvais describe weather impersonally with il.
Common trap: Do not replace il faisait froid with il était froid; that would normally describe a cold person or object.