LRP: Le passé simple

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:

French Verb Comparison
Indicatif présent Passé composé Passé simple
Il ajoute Il a ajouté Il ajouta
Il apparaît Il a apparu Il apparut
Il fait Il a fait Il fit
Il paraît Il a paru Il parut
Il revient Il est revenu Il revint
Il a Il a eu Il eut