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Conjugation
Objective: Recognise the passé simple, the imperfect subjunctive, and the compound literary tenses in classical and formal French texts.
| Person | parler (-er) | finir (-ir) | être (irregular) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | parlai | finis | fus |
| tu | parlas | finis | fus |
| il / elle | parla | finit | fut |
| nous | parlâmes | finîmes | fûmes |
| vous | parlâtes | finîtes | fûtes |
| ils / elles | parlèrent | finirent | furent |
The circumflex marks the imperfect subjunctive, which requires a subordinating trigger, while the passé simple of être states a fact directly without an accent.
A narration in the passé simple keeps the same tense across coordinated events, since the passé composé belongs to the spoken register.
The passé simple of être states a completed fact, and the form carries no circumflex.
Two passé simple forms advance the narration through completed events.
A bare imperfect subjunctive fragment after a subordinating trigger, ready to be attached to a main clause.
The plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is built with the auxiliary eût and a past participle.
The passé antérieur il eut terminé precedes the passé simple il partit in the narrative sequence.
7 exercises · about 11 minutes
Verbs of motion take the auxiliary être in the passé antérieur, so the auxiliary appears as fut rather than eut.
The imperfect subjunctive belongs to literary narration about a past or hypothetical situation, while a present-tense main clause takes the present subjunctive.
The plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is built with the imperfect subjunctive of the auxiliary, so eut becomes eût with a circumflex.
The passé simple of être appears in the passive construction, and the participle agrees with the plural subject.
A bare plus-que-parfait du subjonctif fragment with the auxiliary carrying a circumflex.
The passé antérieur built on être places the arrival before the start of the party.