When should you use the passé simple instead of other past tenses

Roisin M.B1Kwiziq community member

When should you use the passé simple instead of other past tenses

Asked 8 years ago
AurélieNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer
Bonjour Roisin,

'Le Passé Simple' is omnipresent when it comes to written French, especially literary texts, but not only. You will find it in articles or biographies, so it's a very useful tense to recognise at first, but also to be able to use in higher levels, when you want your written French to sound more elegant than if you used its more common and spoken equivalent 'Le Passé Composé'.
It cannot be used instead of 'L'Imparfait' as those two tenses are complementary.

I hope that's helpful,

Aurélie
Roisin M.B1Kwiziq community member
Merci Aurélie, So one wouldn't use le passé simple in spoken french? Roisin
LauraNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
That's correct.

When should you use the passé simple instead of other past tenses

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