Literary Tenses

The four literary tenses

Each has a spoken-French equivalent, so meaning is rarely hard once you recognise the form.

Passé simple: regular endings

The vowel class depends on the verb. Third persons, by far the most frequent, are the first priority. Stem is the infinitive minus its ending.

• Elle se leva et sortit sans un mot.She got up and went out without a word.
• Ils marchèrent jusqu'au soir.They walked until evening.

Passé simple: common irregulars

Many irregular stems come from the past participle: pris gives prit, su gives sut, eu gives eut. Some do not: être, faire, naître, voir.

Passé simple in narrative

It tells the main events. The imparfait keeps its usual role for the background. The passé simple doesn't mix naturally with the passé composé in one narrative, and it belongs to novels, biographies, history, tales and some press writing. To write it: third persons in a story, simple and consistent.

• Il pleuvait lorsqu'elle arriva au village.It was raining when she arrived in the village.
• Il ouvrit la lettre et comprit tout.He opened the letter and understood everything.
• Victor Hugo naquit en 1802 et mourut en 1885.Victor Hugo was born in 1802 and died in 1885.

Passé antérieur

Passé simple of avoir or être + participle. It marks an action completed immediately before a passé simple, after quand, lorsque, dès que, aussitôt que, après que, à peine... que. Almost never used outside literature.

• Dès qu'il eut fini, il sortit.As soon as he had finished, he went out.
• À peine fut-elle partie qu'il se mit à pleuvoir.She had hardly left when it began to rain.
• Lorsqu'ils furent arrivés, on servit le dîner.When they had arrived, dinner was served.

Imparfait du subjonctif

Tu-form of the passé simple, minus -s, plus -sse, -sses, a circumflex + t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent. Traditionally follows a past main verb. Today only the third person singular is at all current, and the others sound affected: que je parlasse, que nous parlassions.

• Il fallait qu'elle partît.She had to leave.
• Je craignais qu'il ne fût trop tard.I feared it was too late.

Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif

Imparfait du subjonctif of avoir or être + participle. Also serves as a formal conditional past (la 2e forme du conditionnel passé). You can read it as 'would have' or 'had', depending on context.

• Bien qu'il eût tout compris, il se tut.Although he had understood everything, he said nothing.
• J'eusse préféré qu'il restât.I would have preferred him to stay.
• Si j'avais su, je ne fusse pas venu.If I had known, I wouldn't have come.
• On eût dit un enfant.You would have thought it was a child.

Spot the accent

The circumflex separates indicative from subjunctive in the third person. It's silent, but it changes the sense.

Fixed phrases you'll meet

These still occur in modern formal French.

• Essaie, ne fût-ce qu'une fois.Try it, if only once.
• Il fut un temps où tout était simple.There was a time when everything was simple.

How to use this at exam level

C1 and C2 reading: you may meet the passé simple in literary or historical passages, and read it as a past event.

C1 and C2 writing: a clean present and passé composé are safer than flawed literary forms. A passé simple is fine for a historical point. Use the literary subjunctive only in fixed phrases you're sure of.