Chapter 10 of 16 · Explore the French path
Verbs and stories · Chapter 10 of 16
The passé simple: the past that books are written in
Books are narrated in a past almost nobody speaks. Learn to recognise it by its shape, and to tell it from the past that sets the scene rather than moving it along.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- French books narrate in a past almost nobody speaks — the passé simple. You only have to recognise it.
- Its shape: a person word or a name, then a short word ending in a, i, u or a nasal vowel.
- il dit
eel dee is both “he says” and “he said” — only the story tells you which. - The imparfait sets the scene rather than moving it; with a he-or-she subject it always ends in the sound “eh”, written -ait.
- How things already were → imparfait; what then happened → passé simple.
French has a past tense that almost nobody speaks. It is why a beginner opens a French book and finds every verb unfamiliar — and you only ever have to recognise it.
The short past that books use
Compare each present form on the left with the form a book would print. You only ever have to recognise the right-hand column.
| Present | Past of books | English |
|---|---|---|
| il voit | il vit | he sees → he saw |
| il va | il alla | he goes → he went |
| il vient | il vint | he comes → he came |
| il tombe | il tomba | he falls → he fell |
| il répond | il répondit | he answers → he answered |
| il dit | il dit | he says → he said |
Every form in the middle column is short and ends in a, i, u or a nasal vowel — the shape to watch for. The last row is not a misprint: dire does not move, and it is the commonest verb in any dialogue.
The scene-setting past
This second past describes how things already were. Compare each pair: the present on the left, the form a story uses on the right.
| Present | Scene-setting past | English |
|---|---|---|
| il est | il était | he is → he was |
| il a | il avait | he has → he had |
Background — weather, feelings, what somebody had — sits in this past; events take the short one. était sets the scene, vit moves it.
Once upon a time there was a little mouse. One day, a cat came.
Il était une fois une petite souris. Un jour, un chat vint.
eel ay-teh-tewn fwah ewn puh-teet soo-ree. u(n) zhoor, u(n) shah va(n)
“It was one time” — the phrase that opens a French story. Scene first, then event.
The spoken past: a helper verb plus a participle
This is the past people say out loud. In a book you meet it mostly inside quotation marks, where a character is speaking.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| j'ai mangé | I ate |
| il a vu | he saw |
| je suis allé | I went — the extra e when “I” is a woman |
| il est tombé | he fell |
Most verbs take avoir; a short list of coming-going-falling verbs takes être and agrees like an adjective. This is the past people speak, so in books it lives inside the quotation marks, and almost nowhere else.
Scene or event?
- Le chat tomba dans l'eau.
Short, and ending in a. Which of the two pasts is that?
Show answer +Hide answer −
“luh shah toh(n)-bah dah(n) loh.” — The cat fell in the water. An event, so the short past. - La souris était triste.
The ending is “eh”. Scene, or event?
Show answer +Hide answer −
“lah soo-ree ay-teh treest.” — The mouse was sad. A scene, so the scene-setting past. - Il était une fois un renard.
Four words that are really one phrase.
Show answer +Hide answer −
“eel ay-teh-tewn fwah u(n) ruh-nar.” — Once upon a time there was a fox.