passesimple

Le Passé Simple

Verbes du 1er groupe:

j'aimai
tu aimas
il aima
nous aimâmes
vous aimâtes
ils aimèrent

Now the irregular verbs : First the auxiliaries and faire :

Verbe irrégulier "avoir":

j'eus
tu eus
il eut
nous eûmes
vous eûtes
ils eurent

Faire is included above as it can easily be mistaken with être in the passé simple (il fut/ils furent versus
il fit/ils firent).

Then, other irregular verbs, 3rd person only. The first person (je) is like the 3rd but with an s
instead of t. Example: Je bus, il but.

Notice that in most cases the root of the passé simple is very close to the participe passé of these verbs
(exception: naître).

Boire :
il but, ils burent
past participle bu

Connaître :
il connut, ils connurent
past participle connu

Croire :
il crut, ils crurent
past participle cru

Devoir
il dut, ils durent
past participle dû

Dire.
il dit, ils dirent
past participle dit

Ecrire
il écrivit, ils écrivirent
past participle écrit

Falloir
il fallut
past participle fallu

Lire:
il lut, ils lurent
past participle lu

Mettre:
il mit, ils mirent
past participle mis

Mourir
il mourut, ils moururent
past participle mort

Naître
il naquit, ils naquirent
past participle né

Ouvrir
il ouvrit, ils ouvrirent
past participle ouvert

You have also noticed that the 3rd person plural of the passé simple ALWAYS ends in “rent”. That is a
good way to recognize it.

So now, you are ready to turn to “écoutez”, fine tune your eyes or ears, et Bon Voyage!

A
l
o
h
a

F
r
a
n
c
e

The best way to deal with the passé simple is to understand first that unless you wish to become
a French writer, you only need to recognize it. Also, the “tu” and “vous” forms are practically
never used, the “nous” form rarely used, and the “je” form used only in personal narrative. So
we will concentrate on the 3rd person forms. Now, here are the regular conjugations, with
emphasis on the important 3rd person forms:

Verbes du 2ème groupe
je finis
tu finis
il finit
nous finîmes
vous finîtes
ils finirent

Verbes du 3ème group

je dormis
tu dormis
il dormit
nous dormîmes
vous dormîtes
ils dormirent

Verbe irrégulier "être":
je fus
tu fus
il fut
nous fûmes
vous fûtes
ils furent

Verbe irrégulier "faire":

je fis
tu fis
il fit
nous fîmes
vous fîtes
ils firent

Plaire
Il plut, Ils plurent
Past participle plu

Pleuvoir
il plut
past participle plu

Pouvoir
il put, ils purent
past participle pu

Prendre
il prit, ils prirent
past participle pris

Recevoir
il reçut, ils reçurent
past participle reçu

Rire
il rit, ils rirent
past participle ri

Savoir
il sut, ils surent
past participle su

Tenir
il tint, ils tinrent
past participle tenu

Venir
il vint, ils vinrent
past participle venu

Vivre
il vécut, ils vécurent
past participle vécu

Voir
il vit, ils virent
past participle vu

Vouloir
il voulut, ils voulurent
past participle voulu

When you reach the level where you are ready to read
French literature, you will find yourself nose to nose with the
passé simple, a tense that is used only in narration, where it
takes the place of the passé composé.

The passé simple sustains the continuity of whatever action,
drama or suspense is going on. If we were to use the passé
composé instead, it would defuse the tension and break the
thread of the story.

Because there is no true parallel in English, it is difficult to
feel the difference at first. But an analogy might serve as
illustration. Let’s take a sentence in English that carries
action, drama and supense: “Suddenly, he jumped on the
roof”. The drama, suspense and action in this short
sentence would not be carried by: “suddenly, he has
jumped on the roof”. In the same way, “Soudain, il sauta
sur le toit” would lose these qualities with “soudain, il a
sauté sur le toit”.