📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 3 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 1 · Le registre — the written voice
Le passé simple — read it, never write it
Module 11 of the free French course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 3 of 30: Open any novel and the past changes shape: il alla, elle fut, ils prirent. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 3.
The words
French
English
Say it
il fut
he was (literary past)
eel FEW
il eut
he had (literary past)
eel EW
il fit
he did, he made (literary past)
eel FEE
elle alla
she went (literary past)
ehl ah-LAH
ils prirent
they took (literary past)
eel PREER
le roman
the novel
luh roh-MAH(n)
le récit
the narrative, the account
luh ray-SEE
reconnaître
to recognize
ruh-koh-NEHTR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Open any novel and the past changes shape: il alla, elle fut, ils prirent. This is the passé simple, the written narrative past — and at C1 your job is to RECOGNIZE it, not to produce it. In speech and letters you keep the passé composé.
Et aussi · And also
The clues are the endings: -a and -èrent for -er verbs, -it and -irent for most -ir and -re verbs, -ut and -urent for the -oir verbs and some -re verbs (il voulut, il dut), plus a short list of irregulars worth knowing by sight: il fut (être), il eut (avoir), il fit (faire), il vint (venir).
Attention · Watch out
il fut is être and il eut is avoir in the passé simple — two forms that look alike and belong to different verbs. Read them; never write them at this level.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il fut.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 3 in Module 11 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.