1. Alphabet & Pronunciation
1.1. Vowels
1.2. Consonants
1.3. Silent Final Consonants
1.4. Liaison
1.5. Syllable Stress
2. Similarities to English
2.1. Negation
2.2. Punctuation & Written Accents
3. Gender & Plural
5. Subject Personal Pronouns
4. Cardinal Numbers
6. Present Indicative Tense I
7. The Articles
8. Interrogative Pronouns & Adjectives
1. Prepositions
2. Present Indicative Tense II – Irregular Verbs
3. Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns
4. Demonstrative Pronouns & Adjectives
5. Object Personal Pronouns
6. Relative Pronouns
7. Ordinal Numbers I
8. Basic Phrases
9. Times & Seasons
1. Compound Past
2. The Verb “To Know”
3. Indefinite Adjectives & Pronouns
4. Conjunctions
5. Simple Future Tense
6. Telling Time & Describing Weather
7. Present Participle & Gerund
8. Adverbs
8.1. Other Adverbs & Adverbial Phrases
9. Directions
1. Degrees of Comparison: Comparatives & Superlatives
2. Partitives
3. Reflexive Pronouns & Verbs
4. Expressions Using “Avoir” & “Faire”
5. Present Subjunctive Tense I
6. Impersonal Verbs & Expressions
7. Future Perfect Tense
8. Interjections
1. The Pronouns “Y” & “En”
2. Imperative Mood & Giving Commands
3. The Conditional Tenses
4. Present Subjunctive Tense II
5. Perfect Subjunctive Tense
6. Imperfect Indicative Tense
7. Time Expressions: “En train de,” “Venir de,” “Depuis,” & “Ça fait”
1. The Past Infinitive
2. Simple Past Tense
3. Pluperfect Indicative Tense
4. Idiomatic Pronominal Verbs
5. Prepositional Verbs
6. Passive Voice
7. Diminutives & Augmentatives
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 in the simple past tense in French, 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.
| -er ending e.g., parler (to speak) | -ir ending e.g., finir (to finish) | -re ending e.g., vendre (to sell) | |
| je | parlai | finis | vendis |
| tu | parlas | finis | vendis |
| il/elle/on | parla | finit | vendit |
| nous | parlâmes | finîmes | vendîmes |
| vous | parlâtes | finîtes | vendîtes |
| ils/elles | parlèrent | finirent | vendirent |
Irregular Verbs
The verbs “être” (to be) and “avoir” (to have) are irregular in the simple past:
| être | avoir | |
| je/j’ | fus | eus |
| tu | fus | eus |
| il/elle/on | fut | eut |
| nous | fûmes | eûmes |
| vous | fûtes | eûtes |
| ils/elles | furent | eurent |
Other irregular verbs include the following:
| je/j’ | tu | il/elle | nous | vous | ils/elles | |
| boire to drink | bus | bus | but | bûmes | bûtes | burent |
| conduire to drive | conduisis | conduisis | conduisit | conduisîmes | conduisîtes | conduisirent |
| connaître to know | connus | connus | connut | connûmes | connûtes | connurent |
| courir to run | courus | courus | courut | courûmes | courûtes | coururent |
| couvrir to cover | couvris | couvris | couvrit | couvrîmes | couvrîtes | couvrirent |
| craindre to fear | craignis | craignis | craignit | craignîmes | craignîtes | craignirent |
| croire to believe | crus | crus | crut | crûmes | crûtes | crurent |
| devoir must | dus | dus | dut | dûmes | dûtes | durent |
| écrire to write | écrivis | écrivis | écrivit | écrivîmes | écrivîtes | écrivirent |
| éteindre to turn off | éteignis | éteignis | éteignit | éteignîmes | éteignîtes | éteignirent |
| faire to do | fis | fis | fit | fîmes | fîtes | firent |
| falloir to have to | – | – | fallut | – | – | – |
| introduire to introduce | introdusis | introdusis | introdusit | introdusîmes | introdusîtes | introdusirent |
| lire to read | lus | lus | lut | lûmes | lûtes | lurent |
| mettre to put | mis | mis | mit | mîmes | mîtes | mirent |
| mourir to die | mourus | mourus | mourut | mourûmes | mourûtes | moururent |
| naître to be born | naquis | naquis | naquit | naquîmes | naquîtes | naquirent |
| obtenir to obtain | obtins | obtins | obtint | obtînmes | obtîntes | obtinrent |
| offrir to offer | offris | offris | offrit | offrîmes | offrîtes | offrirent |
| peindre to paint | peignis | peignis | peignit | peignîmes | peignîtes | peignirent |
| plaire to please | plus | plus | plut | plûmes | plûtes | plurent |
| pleuvoir to rain | – | – | plut | – | – | – |
| pouvoir can | pus | pus | put | pûmes | pûtes | purent |
| prendre to take | pris | pris | prit | prîmes | prîtes | prirent |
| recevoir to receive | reçus | reçus | reçut | reçûmes | reçûtes | reçurent |
| rire to laugh | ris | ris | rit | rîmes | rîtes | rirent |
| savoir to know | sus | sus | sut | sûmes | sûtes | surent |
| sourire to smile | souris | souris | sourit | sourîmes | sourîtes | sourirent |
| tenir to hold | tins | tins | tint | tînmes | tîntes | tinrent |
| valoir to be worth | valus | valus | valut | valûmes | valûtes | valurent |
| venir to come | vins | vins | vint | vînmes | vîntes | vinrent |
| vivre to live | vécus | vécus | vécut | vécûmes | vécûtes | vécurent |
| vouloir to want | voulus | voulus | voulut | voulûmes | voulûtes | voulurent |
Examples
Let us look at some examples of the simple past tense in French:
| La guerre se termina par une victoire nette. | The war ended with a clear victory. |
| Cette invention eut un grand impact sur la vie des gens. | That invention had a great impact on people’s lives. |
| Il remporta de nombreux prix pour ses recherches sur le sujet. | He won many awards for his research on the topic. |
| Les événements de cette année changèrent notre mode de vie. | The events of that year changed our way of life. |
| Il parla de ce qu’il avait appris lors de sa dernière visite en Afrique. | He spoke about what he had learned in his last visit to Africa. |
Next: Pluperfect Indicative Tense
Other lessons in Level VI:
