French › Level three lessons › Historical France

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Dialogue edit

Grammar · Interrogative pronouns edit

Grammar · Simple past of regular verbs edit

Unlike in English, there is a literary past tense in French, used when writing formally. This past tense is the passé simple . It is relatively simple to predict when to use this tense: for every occurrence of the passé composé in conversational French, one simply uses the passé simple in literary French. Note that the passé simple is not a composed tense, and therefore does not have an auxiliary verb.

Formation edit

To conjugate in this tense, find the stem and appends the appropriate ending.

Subject Ending Conjugated verb English
Je -ai Je dansai. I danced.
Tu -as Tu dansas. You danced.
Il -a Il dansa. He danced.
Nous -âmes Nous dansâmes. We danced
Vous -âtes Vous dansâtes. You danced.
Ils -èrent Ils dansèrent. They danced.

Regular stems edit

The following verbs are irregular in the present indicative, but are regular in their passé simple stems.

Infinitive Stem Je …
-ir verbs
dormir dorm dormis
partir part partis
sentir sent sentis
servir serv servis
sortir sort sortis
-rir Verbs
couvrir couvr couvris
découvrir découvr découvris
offrir offr offris
ouvrir ouvr ouvris
souffrir souffr souffris
-re Verbs
combattre combatt combattis
rompre romp rompis
suivre suiv suivis

Vocabulary · French history edit

Text · French history edit

Text edit

Exercises edit

ExerciseSimple past
Complétez les phrases suivantes en conjuguant les verbes au passé simple:
  1. J'_____ (entrer) dans le tour.
  2. Tout d'un coup, mon ami ____ (tomber).
  3. Nous _________ (monter) l'éscalier.
  4. Je _____ (dire) aux professeurs qu'il _______ (regarder) la télé.
  5. Ils t'_______ (offrir) le plat, et tu le _______ (laisser) tomber.