Le Passé Simple Written Past Tense

Obj: SWBAT form the literary past tense

Put the following in the past tense you have learned: Tu: aller il: marcher nous: frapper vous: finir ils: trouver

Why do we need another past tense? This is the tense that is used in writing only. You are going to be able to form and recognize it so that when we use it in our reading it will be understandable.

What does the ‘passé simple’ mean The same as the passé composé The -ed form of the verb I studied We noticed

How do you form it? You need : Stem endings

Stem: Find the past participle of the verb you are using. er-é ir-i marcher - marché finir- fini attendre - attendu

Endings. These depend whether you are using an er, ir, or re verb. When using an er verb, you’re past participle was é. Your endings will begin with ‘a’ Je . . . ai tu . . .as il . . a nous . . . âmes vous . . . ates ils . . . èrent

Example Je: trouver find P.P. - trouvé get rid of é add in ai je trouvai

Ir Verbs If your past participle is from an ir verb, it became i. Your endings will be: is it îmes îtes irent

Exemple Nous: finir your past participle is fini get rid of i, add in imes nous finîmes

RE verbs If you have an re verb, your past participle was u your endings are: us ut umes utes urent

Exemple Vous: répondre Repondu - p.p. Je répondus