commettais

Commettais is the imperfect indicative form of the French verb commettre, used with the subjects je (I) and tu (you, singular). The verb commettre means to commit, as in committing an act, fault, or crime. In the imperfect tense, commettais expresses past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or not completed at a reference time, rather than finished events.

Morphology and forms

The imperfect of commettre uses the stem commett- followed by the endings for the first and second person singular: -ais. Therefore, the forms je commettais and tu commettais are the same in spelling, though their subject pronouns distinguish meaning in context. Other imperfect forms for reference include il commettait, nous commettions, vous commettiez, ils commettaient.

Usage

Commottais (with the ambiguity noted for je vs tu) appears in narrative and descriptive writing to set past scenes, describe repeated past behavior, or indicate ongoing situations in the past. It contrasts with the passé composé, which marks completed actions, and with the passé simple in literary contexts. Because the form je commettais and tu commettais share identical spelling, context and explicit subject pronouns are often used to resolve who performed the action.

Examples

Je commettais des erreurs en travaillant sur le projet. Tu commettais des actes imprudents autrefois. Heuristics: in many sentences, the imperfect emphasizes duration or repetition rather than a single completed act.

Related forms

Other imperfect forms of commettre include il commettait, nous commettions, vous commettiez, ils commettaient. The tense contrasts with the perfect aspect (j’ai commis) and the simple past forms in different languages.

See also

French grammar, imperfect tense, commettre.