French past tenses.
Can someone give me an explanation of the different past tenses in French?

I have heard some are archaic and are no longer used. If that is true, which ones do we still use in the modern day?

Please provide example sentences if possible.

Thank you!

Question

French past tenses.
Can someone give me an explanation of the different past tenses in French?

I have heard some are archaic and are no longer used.  If that is true, which ones do we still use in the modern day?

Please provide example sentences if possible.

Thank you!

Answer

Thank you! Your answer was quite helpful.

Answer

Not a native speaker, but as far as I know, the only past tenses used in conversations are the compound ones (passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, etc.) The simple past (passé simple) is literary, used mostly in novels, poetry and the like. In this case, the passé composé would be used for past but recent events, and the passé simple for things that happened a long time ago or just to tell things in the order they happenned. I think the passé antérieur is also decreasing in use, but I'm not sure about that one.

Answers · 2

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