The Passé Simple - The Verbs of the Third Group. Verbs ending in “ir”, “oir”, and “dre”

The passé simple is a tense that is mainly used to narrate events in the distant past. It is used in written discourse such as stories, tales, biographies, and history articles. It is also used in formal speech. It expresses an action or a precise event that happened in the past. Differentiating between the passé simple and the imperfect tense has often been confusing for French learners. The imperfect tense expresses habits in the past, long actions in the past, descriptions in the past, whereas the passé simple generally expresses quick and sudden actions in the past. The emphasis is not on the duration of the action as much as it is on the action itself. In this chapter, we will focus on the form of the passé simple. We will also learn about the use of the passé simple through examples.

In French, the verbs are divided into three groups. The first group comprises the verbs ending in “er”. The second group comprises the verbs ending in “ir”. Both the verbs of the first group and the second group are called regular verbs because they conjugate the same way. The verbs of the third group are called irregular because their conjugation don’t follow a specific rule.

The conjugation of the verbs of the third group into the passé simple is very irregular and there are so many exceptions. That’s why we decided to study the most common ones and to devote two lessons to the subject.

In the first lesson we will study the verbs ending in “ir”, “oir”, and “dre”.

The verbs ending in “ir”:

For example partir:

Je partis Tu partis Il partit Elle partit On partit Nous partîmes Vous partîtes Ils partirent Elles partirent

Nous partîmes très tôt pour éviter la chaleur.
We left early to avoid the heat.

Remember: Not all the verbs ending in “ir” have the same conjugation as partir. For example venir and tenir conjugate differently. We’ll see that in the next lesson about the most common verbs.

The verbs ending in “oir”:

For example apercevoir:

J’aperçus Tu aperçus Il aperçut fbes Elle aperçut On aperçut Nous aperçûmes Vous aperçûtes Ils aperçurent Elles aperçurent

Elles aperçurent une lueur à travers la fenêtre.
They suddenly saw a light coming through the window.

Remember: Not all the verbs ending in “oir” have the same conjugation as apercevoir. For example voir and s’asseoir conjugate differently.

Conjugation of the verb s’asseoir:

Je m’assis Tu t’assis Il s’assit Elle s’assit On s’assit Nous nous assîmes Vous vous assîtes Ils s’assirent Elles s’assirent

Je m’assis près de mon père.
I sat next to my father.

Conjugation of the verb voir:

Je vis Tu vis Il vit Elle vit On vit Nous vîmes Vous vîtes Ils virent Elles virent

Il vit un gros nuage menaçant.
He saw a big threatening cloud.

Verbs ending in “dre” have different conjugations.

Conjugation of the verb prendre:

Je pris Tu pris Il prit Elle prit On prit Nous prîmes Vous prîtes Ils prirent Elles prirent

Nous prîmes nos affaires et nous quittâmes la ville.
We took our things and left the town.

Conjugation of the verb tendre:

Je tendis Tu tendis Il tendit Elle tendit On tendit Nous tendîmes Vous tendîtes Ils tendirent Elles tendirent

Ils lui tendirent la main quand il en eut besoin.
They helped him when he needed help.

Conjugation of the verb atteindre:

J’atteignis Tu atteignis Il atteignit Elle atteignit On atteignit Nous atteignîmes Vous atteignîtes Ils atteignirent Elles atteignirent

Nous atteignîmes le sommet de la montagne au coucher du soleil.
We reached the top of the mountain at sunset.

Interrogative Form

The interrogative form of the verbs of the third group follows the same rules as the verbs of the first group and the second group.

For example:

Est-ce qu’il prit le temps de l’appeler ?
Did he take the time to call her?

Negative Form

The negative form of the verbs of the third group follows the same rules as the verbs of the first group and the second group.

For example:

Elle ne lui ouvrit pas la porte.
She didn’t open the door for him.