Introduction to the passé simple (simple past) in French
The passé simple (simple past) is one of the past tenses in French and this one is primarily used in formal writing, literature, and storytelling to describe completed actions in the past. It is also known as the “past historic” or “historical past”. As it’s mainly used in formal texts, you won’t be using this a lot when beginning to learn French. The main French past tenses are the Imperfect and passé composé. An example of what the passé simple is.
- Victor Hugo écrivit “Les Misérables” en 1862.
- Victor Hugo wrote “Les Misérables” in 1862
In this sentence, écrivit is the passé simple form of the verb écrire (to write), indicating a completed action in the past.
Conjugating the passé simple
So the conjugation for the passé simple for ir- and re-verbs is similar, so there are roughly 3 categories: er-verbs, ir- and re-verbs and irregular verbs.
Conjugating the passé simple for -er verbs
So normally, manger (to eat) is a regularly conjugating verb which is conjugated exactly like parler (to speak) and aimer (to love). But here is an exception. In the passé simple, verbs ending in -ger undergo a spelling change to preserve the soft “g” sound. This is why the stem of manger is “mange” and not “mang”in the passé simple.
| Pronoun | Suffixes | Parler (To speak) | Manger (To eat) | Aimer (To love) |
| Je | -ai | parlai | mangeai | aimai |
| Tu | -as | parlas | mangeas | aimas |
| Il/Elle/On | -a | parla | mangea | aima |
| Nous | -âmes | parlâmes | mangeâmes | aimâmes |
| Vous | -âtes | parlâtes | mangeâtes | aimâtes |
| Ils/Elles | -èrent | parlèrent | mangèrent | aimèrent |
Conjugating the passé simple for ir- and re-verbs
| Pronouns | Suffixes | Finir (To finish) | Répondre (To answer) | Vendre (To sell) |
| Je | -is | finis | répondis | vendis |
| Tu | -is | finis | répondis | vendis |
| Il/Elle/On | -it | finit | répondit | vendit |
| Nous | -îmes | finîmes | répondîmes | vendîmes |
| Vous | -îtes | finîtes | répondîtes | vendîtes |
| Ils/Elles | -irent | finirent | répondirent | vendirent |
Conjugating the passé simple for irregular verbs
| Pronouns | Être (To be) | Avoir (To have) | Faire (To make) | Aller (to go) |
| Je | fus | eus | fis | allai |
| Tu | fus | eus | fis | allas |
| Il/Elle/On | fut | eut | fit | alla |
| Nous | fûmes | eûmes | fîmes | allâmes |
| Vous | fûtes | eûtes | fîtes | allâtes |
| Ils/Elles | furent | eurent | firent | allèrent |
More examples of the passé simple in French
- Je parlai avec lui pendant des heures
- I spoke with him for hours
- Il finît son travail à temps
- He finished his work on time
- Elle lui répondit gentiment
- She answered him kindly
- Nous fûmes surpris par la nouvelle
- We were surprised by the news
- Vous ne fîtes aucune erreur
- You didn’t make any mistakes
Read more: