Il fallait qu’il parlât.
It was necessary that he speak.
Tense guide
Subjunctive imperfect
A rare literary subjunctive for past contexts, mostly useful for reading formal or older texts.
When to use it
Recognize it in formal writing after subjunctive triggers in a past narrative; modern speech usually uses the present subjunctive instead.
How to recognise it
Forms often look unusual and accented: qu’il parlât, qu’elle vînt, que nous finissions.
How to form it
It is usually built from the passé simple stem with literary subjunctive endings.
A simple rule
For everyday French, focus on recognizing the meaning. You rarely need to create this tense yourself.
Examples
Je voulais qu’elle vînt.
I wanted her to come.