French/Lessons/History

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( v d e ) French Language Course (discussion)
Learning the French Language  •  Downloadable and Print Versions

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Introductory  •  Level One  •  Level Two  •  Level Three  •  Level Four


Contents

L'histoire de la France jusqu'en 1700.

[edit] G: Interrogative Pronouns

[edit] G: Passé Simple of Regular Verbs

Unlike English, there is a literary past tense, used when writing formally. This past tense is the passé simple. It is relatively simple to predict when to use this tense: for every occurrence of the passé composé in conversational French, one simply uses the passé simple in literary French. Note that the passé simple is not a composed tense, and therefore does not have an auxiliary verb like the passé composé does.


[edit] Formation

To conjugate in this tense, one finds the stem and appends the following, as according to the table:

French Grammar • History • Gnome-speakernotes.pngaudio (upload)
Flag of France.svg The Simple Past Flag of La Francophonie.svg Le passé simple
Subject Ending Conjugated Verb English
Je -ai Je dansai. I danced.
Tu -as Tu dansas. You danced.
Il -a Il dansa. He danced.
Nous -âmes Nous dansâmes. We danced
Vous -âtes Vous dansâtes. You danced.
Ils -èrent Ils dansèrent. They danced.

[edit] Regular Normally-Irregular Verbs

The following verbs are irregular in the present indicative, but are regular in their passé simple stems.

Infinitive Stem Je...
-ir verbs
dormir dorm dormis
partir part partis
sentir sent sentis
servir serv servis
sortir sort sortis
-rir Verbs
couvrir couvr couvris
découvrir découvr découvris
offrir offr offris
ouvrir ouvr ouvris
souffrir souffr souffris
-re Verbs
combattre combatt combattis
rompre romp rompis
suivre suiv suivis

Exercises
Complétez les phrases suivantes en conjuguant les verbes au passé simple:
1. J'_____ (entrer) dans le tour.
2. Tout d'un coup, mon ami ____ (tomber).
3. Nous _________ (monter) l'éscalier.
4. Je _____ (dire) aux professeurs qu'il _______ (regarder) la télé.
5. Ils t'_______ (offrir) le plat, et tu le _______ (laisser) tomber.

[edit] V: Farming and Peasant Life

[edit] V: Noble Life

[edit] V: The King

[edit] V: The Renaissance

[edit] V: The Reformation


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