📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 1 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 1 · La langue littéraire
Le passé simple, en continu
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 1 of 30: Module 1 of this band introduced the passé simple. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 1.
The words
French
English
Say it
il entra
he entered (literary)
eel ah(n)-TRAH
il s'assit
he sat down (literary)
eel sah-SEE
sans dire un mot
without a word
sah(n) deer uh(n) MOH
autour de lui
around him
oh-toor duh LWEE
l'événementmasculine — the article elides to l'
the event (in a narrative)
lay-vayn-MAH(n)
littéraire
literary
lee-tay-REHR
le paragraphe narratif
the narrative paragraph
luh pah-rah-grahf nah-rah-TEEF
identique au sens
identical in meaning
ee-dah(n)-teek oh SAH(n)S
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
Module 1 of this band introduced the passé simple; here you read it by the paragraph. Il entra, regarda autour de lui, puis s'assit sans dire un mot. Three events, three simple pasts, and no spoken French anywhere near it.
Et aussi · And also
Read it as the passé composé and the meaning is identical. That is the whole trick: the literary past carries the same events as the everyday one, and the difference is register, not time.
Attention · Watch out
il entra, regarda, s'assit: three passé simple events that read exactly as the passé composé would. Nothing changes in the meaning; only recognize the costume.
prendre, passé composé — the table
je ai pris · tu as pris · il/elle a pris · nous avons pris · vous avez pris · ils/elles ont pris
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il entra.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out prendre, passé composé in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
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.