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French: passé simple | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| anime Triglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6361 days ago 161 posts - 207 votes  Speaks: Spanish, Swedish*, English Studies: German, Portuguese, French, Russian | Message 1 of 12 21 August 2013 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well I came across the passé simple reading a French Star Wars comic my sister bought for me. It reads "Au
commencement était La Force, puis vinrent les jedis", and then go on with the back story, all in passé simple, which kinda surprised me as I thought it was more formal and wouldn't appear in comics directed at younger people, but guess I was wrong. Since I'm no expert of French orthography and whatnot I just wanted to make sure I pronounced the forms correctly. je/ tu vins: [vɛ̃] il vint: [vɛ̃] nous vînmes: [vɛ̃nm] vous vîntes: [vɛ̃nt] ils vinrent: [vɛ̃nr] Is this correct? Thanks for bearing with me 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 12 21 August 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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There is no [n] pronounced in any of these words (in "Standard French", that is).
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 12 21 August 2013 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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There is no need to be that surprised next time. :-) Yes, teachers and some books say that passé simple is the old fashioned and barely used form. However more precise would be to call it the older and nowadays literary form. You will find it in most books of most genres. In some a few times, in others it will be used just as much as the passé composé. Therefore learning it is very useful.
http://www.forvo.com/word/nous_v%C3%AEnmes/#fr here is an audio with the pronunciation 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 12 21 August 2013 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree with Cavesa here. We have quite a few books of French bedtime stories for preschoolers, and the passé simple is basically the only past tense you'll ever see, except in dialog. French teachers call it a "literary tense", but it's really the standard tense for written narration, and you'll find it everything from fairy tales to bad action novels in the airport. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anime Triglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6361 days ago 161 posts - 207 votes Speaks: Spanish, Swedish*, English Studies: German, Portuguese, French, Russian | Message 5 of 12 21 August 2013 at 4:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Okey weird to say nous vɛ̃m, vous vɛ̃t, they hardly seem related to the infintive, but I guess that's why they've
fallen out of use =) Is passé simple also used in movies in narrative? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 6 of 12 21 August 2013 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||
How about "je vais, tu vas, il va"? ;-) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 7 of 12 21 August 2013 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Occasionally passé simple is used, I've seen it in dubs of LOTR/The Hobbit f.e.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 8 of 12 21 August 2013 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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It is sometimes used in movies or shows with historical or historical like setting. I would quite expect it in the French dubbing of the Star Wars. And surely in shows like the Borgias. But not in the shows like Eureka which I am watching now in French.
I haven't heard it in normal conversation from a native yet. However, I wouldn't be that surprised to hear it during a lecture or perhaps when a granny or grandpa tells a fairy tale. Anime, some french verbs have two basic "forms" from which they mutate. Aller,etre and avoir are the most at hand examples. But there are a few more, I think. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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