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 |