Passé simple

When the passé simple is used:

·        in place of the passé composé

·        in formal, literary or historical texts

·        you will need to be able to read the passé simple (you would rarely have to write it—only if you were writing a formal paper or piece of literature)

How to form the passé simple:

·        -ER verbs: 

o       drop the -er from the infinitive

o       add the following endings:

·        -IR and -RE verbs:

o       drop the -ir or -re from the infinitive

o       add the following endings:

·        Spelling exceptions in passé simple:  verbs that end in -cer, -ger

o       in –cer verbs, c changes to ç before a (only one that doesn’t change is 3^rd person plural)

o       in –ger verbs, add an e between g and a (again, only one that doesn’t change is 3^rd person plural)

·        There are many irregular forms in the passé simple.  Mostly, you need to know the 3^rd person singular and plural forms: