Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Passe Simple
Passe Simple
Pass Simple
The pass simple is a past tense reserved primarily for written discourse. It may, however, be used in very
formal spoken language, such as presidential addresses, sermons, or news broadcasting. It has traditionally been
used only for events completed in the distant, historical past; however, twentieth century writers sometimes use
it for stylistic effect.
Regular
donner aller
je donnai j' allai
tu donnas tu allas
il/elle donna il/elle alla
nous donnmes nous allmes
vous donntes vous alltes
ils/elles donnrent ils/elles allrent
finir vendre
je finis je vendis
tu finis tu vendis
il/elle finit il/elle vendit
nous finmes nous vendmes
vous fintes vous vendtes
ils/elles finirent ils/elles vendirent
Irregular
The following pass simple irregulars derive their stem from their past participle.
Rita: Allez les enfants, c'est l'heure Rita: Let's go, children. It's time to
d'aller se coucher! go to bed!
Les enfants: Ooh! Maman, maman, Children: Ooh! Mommy, mommy,
lis-nous une histoire! Oui, une read us a story! Yes, a story ...
histoire ...
Rita: Bon, d'accord. Installez-vous. Rita: Oh, OK. Get settled. Here we
Je commence . . . "Il tait une fois go ... "Once upon a time there was
une ravissante jeune fille du nom a beautfil young girl named
de Cendrillon. Pour lui faire Cinderella. To make her happy, her
plaisir, son pre pousa en seconde (widowed) father married for a
noce une veuve qui avait deux second time a widow who had two
filles, Anastasia et Javotte. Mais girls, Anastasia and Javotte. But,
hlas, le brave homme mourut peu alas, the good man died soon after.
aprs. Tout changea alors pour la Everything changed for the young
fillette. Sa belle-mre lui confia les girl. Her stepmother gave her the
tches les plus rudes et la fora hardest chores and forced her to
coucher au grenier. Un jour, le roi sleep in the attic. One day, the king
organisa un grand bal pour marier organized a grand ball to marry his
son fils. La famille de Cendrillon son. Cinderella's family was
fut invite. Anastasia, Javotte et invited. Anastasia and Javotte and
leur mre se rendirent au bal mais their mother went to the ball, but
dfendirent Cendrillon de les they forbade Cinderella to go with
accompagner. Une fois seule, them. Once alone, Cinderella
Cendrillon se mit pleurer. started to cry. Suddenly, Cinderella
Soudain, Cendrillon entendit une heard a voice, the voice of her fairy
voix, la voix de sa marraine la Fe godmother ... "
..."
Rita: Ah ... ils se sont endormis! Rita: Ah ... they have fallen asleep!
1. regular infinitives in -er, -ir, & -re
2. irregular verbs: avoir, tre, faire
3. other irregular verbs
Irregular verbs generally have irregular stems for the pass simple. In some cases, the stems are the same as
the past participle of the verb. Stems of a few other verbs, marked with an *, are completely irregular (such
as natre, mourir, voir). The endings are regular, however, except for venir and tenir which have irregular
plural forms.
Dire dit je dis, tu dis, il dit, nous dmes, vous dtes, ils
dirent
See the conjugation reference for the conjugation of other irregular verbs in the pass simple.
Give the pass simple of the verb indicated in parentheses.