Language/French/Grammar/Easy-way-of-generating-the-simple-past
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An easy way of generating the simple past (past historic)
Endings[edit | edit source]
- For -er verbs, take the first person plural nous form of the present tense, omit -ons and add the following endings: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent.
- For -ir (both finir and dormir types - see 7.6.4 and 7.6.5) and -re verbs, take the past participle, omit the final vowel, and add the following endings: -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent.
- For -oir verbs, take the past participle, omit the final vowel, and add the following endings: -us, -us, -ut, -ûmes, -ûies, -urent.
je | tu | il/elle | nous | vous | ils/elles | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-er verbs (most verbs) | -ai | -as | -a | -âmes | -âtes | -èrent |
-ir verbs | -is | -is | -it | -îmes | -îtes | -irent |
-re verbs | ||||||
-oir verbs | -us | -us | -ut | -ûmes | -ûtes | -urent |
Examples[edit | edit source]
For example:
Infinitive | First person plural | Stem | Simple past tense |
---|---|---|---|
donner | donnons | donn- | je donn- ai, etc. |
commencer | commençons | commenç- | je commenç- ai, etc |
partager | partageons | partage- | je partage- ai, etc. |
Infinitive | Past participle | Stem | Simple past tense |
finir | fini | fin- | je fin- is, etc. |
dormir | dormi | dorm- | je dorm- is, etc. |
vendre | vendu | vend- | je vend- is, etc. |
recevoir | reçu | reç- | je reç- us, etc |
Videos[edit | edit source]
Le passé simple / Simple Past Tense (French)[edit | edit source]
French Passé Simple[edit | edit source]
Other Chapters[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Direct object and indirect object pronouns differences between English and French
- Conditional Mood and Future Tense
- Pronouns referring to groups of mixed gender
- Déterminants
- Indirect and Direct Transitive Verbs
- Superlative forms of adjectives
- Indirectly transitive in French but directly transitive in English
- Ditransitive verbs
- Agreement of the past participle having the auxiliary "être" in compound tenses
- Proper nouns
- « de » or « du », « de la », « des » after quantifiers
- Position of y and en with negative infinitives
- Verb forms — Conjugations
- Differences in the use of numbers in French and English mille milliers milliards
- Subject verb agreement — Agreement with more than one subject