Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is used in works of literature in place of the passé
composé and is never spoken. You most likely will never need
to form this tense, but you should be able to recognize it for reading
purposes.
| -er (1st) | -ir / -re (2nd) | 3rd conj. | 4th conj. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ai | -âmes | -is | -îmes | -us | -ûmes | -ins | -înmes | |||
| -as | -âtes | -is | -îtes | -us | -ûtes | -ins | -întes | |||
| -a | -èrent | -it | -irent | -ut | -urent | -int | -inrent | |||
The first two conjugations are the endings for all regular verbs, and some
irregular verbs. The following are the stems for irregular verbs sorted
according to which conjugation they use:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aller | all- | craindre | craign- | avoir | e- | tenir | t- | |||
| dire | d- | connaître | conn- | venir | v- | |||||
| prendre | pr- | croire | cr- | |||||||
| dormir | dorm- | devoir | d- | |||||||
| écrire | écriv- | recevoir | reç- | |||||||
| faire | f- | savoir | s- | |||||||
| mettre | m- | vouloir | voul- | |||||||
| voir | v- | être | f- | |||||||
| lire | l- | |||||||||
| pouvoir | p- | |||||||||
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages