le Passe Simple is a ‘written’ past tense indicating that an action has ended. It is similar to the Passe Compose, which is a spoken past tense. You may utilize the passe simple and the imparfait as well as the Plus-que-parfait in a sentence.

To form the passe simple you need to drop the ER in -Er verbs and replace with -ai, -as, -a, -âmes,  -âtes and -èrent . Example: they walked in early= elles entrèrent tôt. There is no need for a helping verb.

In the case of the IR & RE ending verbs, drop the IR & Re and replace with : – is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -îrent. Ex; We finished our lunch>>> nous finîmes notre déjeuner. ex 2: you answered the questions>> tu repondis aux questions.

There are many exceptions for the passe simple, which we will deal with subsequently.