Comparative Grammar 5.2. Past Absolute Tense in Italian and Simple Past Tense in French

In this comparative grammar lesson of Romance languages, we study the past absolute tense in Italian and the simple past tense in French. The past absolute tense in Italian and the simple past tense in French are equivalent to the preterite tense in Spanish and Portuguese. However, they are considered more formal and are less used in common-day language. The present perfect tense is often used instead in daily life in Italian and French. We will cover the most important aspects of the past absolute tense in Italian and the simple past tense in French.

Table of Contents

• Past Absolute Tense in Italian
  • Conjugation
  • Irregular Verbs in the Past Absolute Tense in Italian
  • Examples
• Simple Past Tense in French
  • Conjugation
  • Irregular Verbs in the Simple Past in French
  • Examples
• Level V – Advanced

Past Absolute Tense in Italian

In Italian, the past absolute tense is often used to refer to the distant or remote past. It is often used in reference to past events or narrations. However, since defining a certain past event as distant is something relative, one can use both the present perfect and the past absolute to refer to events that have been completed in the past. Nevertheless, the past absolute cannot be used to refer to past events that have not been completed at the present moment. In this case, only the present perfect can be used. Thus, words such as “già” (already) and “appena” (just) are often not seen in the past absolute tense, but only in the present perfect tense.

In general, the past absolute tense finds more use in the southern part of Italy, whereas the present perfect tense is more common in other parts of Italy in daily spoken language.

Conjugation

The stem is formed by removing the final “-are,” “-ere,” or “-ire,” and attaching the conjugation suffix according to the personal pronoun, as shown in the following table: 

Many, but not all, regular verbs in the “-ere” group have an alternative form in the “io,” “lui/lei,” and “loro” forms. These have the endings: “-etti,” “-ette,” and “-ettero,” respectively.

Irregular Verbs in the Past Absolute Tense in Italian

There are many irregular verbs in the past absolute, especially verbs with the “-ere” ending. Note that most of these irregular verbs have regular “tu,” “noi,” and “voi” forms. Here, we list the most common ones:

Notice that the verbs in the list above are all “-ere” verbs except for “dare,” “dire,” “fare,” and “stare.”

The treatment of the verbs “fare” and “dire” as “-ere” verbs can be attributed to the fact that both verbs are derived from the Latin verbs “facere” and “dicere,” respectively.

Examples

Let us examine some examples that use the past absolute tense:

Simple Past Tense in French

The simple past tense is often used in literary French to relate past or historical events. It is often used in reference to past events or narrations. In general, the simple past is not used in daily spoken language except in formal speech. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize this special tense, especially in writing.

Conjugation

To conjugate a verb, we use the stem from the infinitive. We remove the final “-er,” “-ir,” or “-re,” and attach the conjugation suffix. The suffixes are the same for “-ir” and “-re” verbs.

Irregular Verbs in the Simple Past in French

The verbs “être” (to be) and “avoir” (to have) are irregular in the simple past:

Other irregular verbs include the following:

Examples

Let us look at some examples:

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