nétait

Nétait is not a standard French word. In ordinary, correct French, the negated imperfect of être in the third person singular is written n était or, more commonly, n'était when the ne is contracted before a vowel. Therefore, the standard form is n'était, a contraction of ne était. The spelling nétait may appear as a misspelling, typographical error, or in OCR-produced text, but it is not accepted in contemporary French orthography.

Etymology and form: The construction combines the negation particle ne with the imperfect tense of être, était. When ne precedes a vowel, it contracts to n' and combines with était to form n'était. This mirrors other negated verb forms in French, where ne + vowel-initial verb often yields a contracted form in writing.

Usage: The imperfect tense describes ongoing or habitual past states or actions. The negated imperfect is used to say that a past state did not hold or an action did not occur over a period in the past. Examples: Il n'était pas là quand elle est arrivée. Ce n'était pas facile, mais il est possible d'y parvenir. In informal speech, ne is frequently omitted, but the contraction is still felt as n'était in writing.

Related forms and notes: Other negated forms of être in the imperfect include j'étais pas, tu étais pas, il était pas in informal speech, though these are considered nonstandard or stylistically variant. The standard, widely accepted form remains n'était. The expression n'était-ce pas is a common tag question meaning "wasn't it?" and follows the same contraction rule for ne.

See also: French negation, ne... pas, imparfait, contraction.