Le passé simple

Important points about le passé simple:

It is a literary tense, meaning you rarely (RARELY) ever see it outside a piece of literature.
You are only responsible for identifying it and you can generally identify le passé simple because it does not look like any verb you have ever seen.
Le passé simple can be equated to le passé composé. They are both past tenses that finished at a specific point in time. Done and over.
As you begin to read more francophone literature, you will see le passé simple. It is good to start becoming familiar with it.

Examples of le passé simple: