Passé simple (for reading)

Why it matters

Audiobooks, podcasts and films based on novels are full of the passé simple. Often only one vowel separates it from the imparfait, so train your ear.

-er verbs: /a/ vs /ɛ/

• The 3rd person singular ends in a clear, open /a/ like German Mann: il parla.
• The imparfait ends in an open /ɛ/ like German Bett or English bed: il parlait.
• In the plural, listen for the /ʁ/: ils parlèrent has an audible r at the end, ils parlaient does not.
• je parlai /e/ vs je parlais /ɛ/ is a fine distinction many French speakers no longer make, so do not worry about it.

The short irregular forms

The forms in -u are the hardest for German speakers: il eut, il put, il sut, il dut, il but. They all rhyme with une without the n: /y/. Round your lips as for German über.

Listening strategy

In a story, the imparfait sets the scene (Il faisait nuit...) and the passé simple moves the action forward (Soudain, il entendit un bruit.). If a sentence contains a short, sharp verb ending in /a/, /i/, /y/ or /ɛ̃/, it is very likely an event in the passé simple.

What it is

The passé simple is the literary past tense. It does the same job as the passé composé (a completed event), but only in writing: novels, fairy tales, history books, biographies, and sometimes newspapers (portraits, obituaries, sports reports). Nobody uses it in conversation. Think of it like German Präteritum in written stories (er ging, er kam) versus spoken Perfekt (er ist gegangen).

• Spoken: Il est entré et il a dit bonjour.
• Written: Il entra et dit bonjour. He came in and said hello.

You only need to recognise it, and in practice almost only the 3rd person (il, elle, ils, elles), because stories are told about other people.

Family 1: -er verbs take -a

• Elle regarda la mer et soupira. She looked at the sea and sighed.
• Ils voyagèrent pendant trois mois. They travelled for three months.

Family 2: forms in -i

Most -ir and -re verbs, plus some key irregulars:

• Il prit son manteau et sortit. He took his coat and went out.
• Ils firent une longue promenade. They went for a long walk.

Family 3: forms in -u

• Ce fut une soirée extraordinaire. It was an extraordinary evening.
• Il eut peur et ne dit rien. He got scared and said nothing.
• L'écrivain mourut en 1885. The writer died in 1885.

Family 4: venir and tenir

Also: devenir → il devint, revenir → il revint, obtenir → il obtint.

• Le lendemain, elle revint avec un médecin. The next day, she came back with a doctor.

Passé simple + imparfait

The division of labour is the same as with the passé composé:

• imparfait = background, description, habits: Il faisait froid. La ville dormait.
• passé simple = events, the story line: Soudain, quelqu'un frappa à la porte.

Il lisait quand le téléphone sonna. He was reading when the phone rang.

Traps

• il dit, il finit look exactly like the present. Context (other verbs in the passé simple) tells you.
• il vit can be voir (he saw) or vivre (he lives). Il vit une ombre = he saw a shadow.
• il fut (indicative) vs il fût (with circumflex, imperfect subjunctive, very literary): you can read both as was.
• The 1st and 2nd persons exist (nous parlâmes, vous parlâtes) but are rare outside of first-person novels. Recognise the circumflex: -âmes, -îmes, -ûmes.

The rule

Many French words ending in -eau, -o or -ot (all pronounced /o/) have travelled into English and German almost unchanged. If you hear /o/ at the end of a noun, think of an international word.

• -eau is the typical French spelling: bureau, château, plateau. Plural in -eaux: des bureaux, des châteaux.
• -o words are often short forms or Italian loans: radio, vidéo, piano, photo. Plural with -s (silent).
• -ot has a silent t: robot /ʁɔ.bo/.

Traps

• le stylo = pen, not style.
• le lavabo = washbasin, not lavatory.
• la moto, la photo, la radio, la vidéo are feminine because they are short forms of feminine words (la motocyclette, la photographie, la radiodiffusion). L'auto is feminine too.
• -eau nouns are masculine, except l'eau (water) and la peau (skin).
• le complot = plot, conspiracy, not a garden plot. le pot = pot, jar, but also a drink: On prend un pot ?
• Words in -eau that look familiar may have shifted meaning: le bureau is also the board of an association, le tableau is a painting as well as a table of figures.