The passé simple meaning historical past is a past tense in French that can be found in literature, but that is not used in contemporary spoken French. If you are interested in the French passé simple, you are a truly committed francophile and I salute you! Let’s break it down into a couple of ideas:
The passé simple is mainly used in formal writing.
If you like French literature and history, the passé simple is a staple tense.
The passé simple is used as a fancy substitute for the passé composé.
As a warm up, here is the typical sentence you’ll encounter when reading a fairy tale:
And on a more classical note, here is an extract from one of my favorite novels:
In this post, we’ll review where you may find examples of the passé simple, along with how to form it and alternatives to use instead. Allons-y !
When will you encounter the French historical past?
You will encounter the French historical past in writing. Thus, you may be pleased to know that you will only have a passive use of the passé simple, as you'll only see it when reading. Just like the French passé composé, it is used to narrate finished, single main actions. Let’s review the most common places you will encounter the historical past:
In literature
Most classical authors use the historical past. Marcel Pagnol, for instance, used it exclusively to narrate past actions, and he hated the passé composé, saying it was “unclear, mediocre, stupid, and weak”! However, the very first sentence of Proust’s major work A la Recherche du temps perdu meaning In Search of Lost Time was in passé composé. Contemporary writers mostly use the passé composé, rather than the passé simple.
Below are two famous literary examples of the passé simple:
- “Alors, il alla prendre un abécédaire, et je lus sans difficulté plusieurs pages… Je crois qu'il eut ce jour-là la plus grande joie de sa vie.”Translation: “He then fetched an alphabet book, and I easily read a few pages…I think he felt that day the greatest joy of his life.”
- “Longtemps je me suis couché de bonne heure.”Translation: “For a long time, I went to bed early.”
When reading about history
If you are interested in history, you are likely to read about your favorite eras, heroes, and fun anecdotes of the past in the passé simple.
- “L’Angleterre fut franco-normande en 1066, lorsque Guillaume le Conquérant s’en empara. Pendant les 300 ans qui suivirent, 3 langues coexistèrent dans le pays : le français parlé par l’aristocratie, le peuple parlant l’anglais et le latin utilisé par le clergé."Translation: “England used to be Franco-Norman in 1066, when William the Conqueror came to power. For the following 300 years, three languages were spoken in the country: French by the aristocrats, the people spoke English, and Latin was used by the clergy.”
Again, contemporary authors usually use the passé composé or even the French present tense to write about history. You’ll note this if you decide to read the French version of the bestseller Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
How to form the ‘passé simple’ in French?
To form the passé simple in French, you will use a new set of conjugation endings; like most tenses, the conjugation will be regular for -er verbs and slightly odd for the others! Also, note that you are more likely to encounter passé simple for je, il, elle, nous, ils, elles meaning I, he, she, we, they and very rarely for tu, vous meaning you. Indeed, people seldom use the historical past when speaking.
I’ll give you examples of the most common verbs found in the historical past so that you get familiar with them.
Regular verbs (-er)
Step 1: Isolate the stem by taking away -er.
Step 2: Add the appropriate passé simple endings (see table below):
Pronouns Endings je / j’-aitu-asil, elle, on
-anous-âmesvous-âtesils, elles
-èrent
For example, let’s take the verbs aller meaning to go and s’écrier meaning to cry out, exclaim:
Aller (to go)
Step 1: Isolate the stem.
aller
→ take off -er = all-Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’allaituallasil, elle, on
allanousallâmesvousallâtesils, elles
allèrent
S’écrier (to cry out, to exclaim)
Step 1: Isolate the stem.
écrier
→ take off -er = écri-Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’m'écriaitut’écriasil, elle, on
s’écrianousnous écriâmesvousvous écriâtesils, elles
s'écrièrent
-ir verbs
Step 1: Isolate the stem by taking away -ir or -re!
Step 2: Add the appropriate ending (see table below):
Pronouns Endings je / j’-istu-isil, elle, on
-itnous-îmesvous-îtesils, elles
-irent
For example, let’s take the verbs finir meaning to end and partir meaning to leave:
Finir (to end)
Step 1: Isolate the stem.
finir
→ take off -ir = fin-Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’finistufinisil, elle, on
finitnousfinîmesvousfinîtesils, elles
finirent
Partir (to leave)
Step 1: Isolate the stem.
partir
→ take off -ir = part-Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’partistupartisil, elle, on
partitnouspartîmesvouspartîtesils, elles
partirent
-re verbs
The endings for -re verbs are the same as for the -ir verbs, but to find the stem, you’ll need to use the nous and vous form, as we did for the -er verbs.
Écrire (to write)
Step 1: Isolate the stem (from the nous form)
nous écrivons→ écriv-
Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’écrivistuécrivisil, elle, on
écrivitnousécrivîmesvousécrivîtesils, elles
écrivirent
Peindre (to paint)
Step 1: Isolate the stem (from the nous form)
nous peignons→ peign-
Step 2: Add endings:
Pronouns Endings je / j’peignistupeignisil, elle, on
peignitnouspeignîmesvouspeignîtesils, elles
peignirent
Irregular verbs
For irregular verbs, you need to learn each verb’s stem and add similar endings to -ir verbs, changing the vowel if needed.
Pronouns Ending je / j’-stu-sil, elle, on
-tnous-^mesvous-^tesils, elles
-rentWe have created a list for you of the irregular verbs in the French passé simple where we'll give you the stem, as well as the conjugation with je and il, which are the most common in novels and history books.
What are alternatives to the ‘passé simple’ in French?
Today, common alternatives to the passé simple include the present tense and even the future tense in French. Starting in the 20th century, past tenses began to become more rare in descriptions of historical events. Since then, most course books and books about history have been written in the present tense or even the future tense! This is still somewhat controversial, though, and traditionalists do persist in using the past tenses.
Here are the alternatives that are most commonly used:
Historical present
Some authors decide to use the present tense to make a narration more lively. It is as if you were there! We call it présent de narration meaning historical present. Take a look:
“Gabrielle Bonheur « Coco » Chanel voit le jour à Saumur en 1883. Orpheline à 12 ans, elle grandit dans un orphelinat avec ses sœurs. Elle apprend la couture auprès de sa tante à l’âge de 18 ans [...]”Translation: “Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was born in Saumur in 1883. Orphan at 12, she grew up in an orphanage with her sisters. She learned sewing from her aunt at the age of 18 [...]”Future tense to talk about the past!
Wait, talking about the past, using the future? You must think French speakers went completely bananas! But in fact, using the future tense when talking about the past gives more energy to the story. The “historical future tense” is used to mention a consequence to the main action. Check it out:
“[Jaurès] fonde également en 1904 le journal L’Humanité, qu'il dirigera jusqu'à sa mort et où il défendra Alfred Dreyfus et s'opposera à Jules Guesde.”Translation: “[Jaurès] also founded the newspaper L’Humanité, which he ran until his death and where he defended Alfred Dreyfus and opposed Jules Guesde.”
In brief: Tips to spot and understand the ‘passé simple’ in French?
Next time you run into the passé simple in French, remember:
Unless you love role plays set in the 17th century, you won’t have to speak with the passé simple!
-er and -ir verbs are easy to spot in a text, and their endings begin with the vowel a and i, respectively.
Read the table of the French irregular verbs in the passé simple twice to be able to spot and understand them.
Let’s now practice the French passé simple with some exercises!
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