le passé simple in French
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The passé simple (English: Literary past tense) is utilized in rather literary contexts. It's mainly used to speak about a completed action in the past which has no relation to the present tense.
It expresses a completed action of the past, most often a brief action
The forms of the passé simple can be formed with the following endings:
verbs ending in -er (1st group) | ai -as -a -âmes -âtes -èrent |
---|---|
verbs ending in -ir (2nd group) | -is -is -it -îmes -îtes -irent |
irregular verbs (3rd group) | -is -is -it -îmes -îtes -irent -us -us -ut -ûmes -ûtes - urent -ins, -ins, -int, înmes, întes, înrent |
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The passé simple for regular forms are the same for all verbs groups. They are composed of the stem of the verbs in which you add the endings:
1st group Aimer (to like) | 2nd group Finir (to finish) |
---|---|
J'aimai | Je finis |
Tu aimas | Tu finis |
Il/elle/ on aima | Il/elle/on finit |
Nous aimâmes | Nous finîmes |
Vous aimâtes | Vous finîtes |
Ils aimèrent | Ils/elles finirent |
They are many verbs that make the litterary past tense irregular: the auxiliary verbs 'être' and 'avoir' and verbs of the 3rd group. They differ from the remaining irregular verbs by their stem
Avoir (to have) | Être (to be) |
---|---|
J'eus | Je fus |
Tu eus | Tu fus |
Il/elle/ on eut | il/elle/on fut |
Nous eûmes | Nous fûmes |
Vous eûtes | Vous fûtes |
Ils/elles eurent | Ils/elles furent |
You use the passe simple avoir or être to conjugate the Past anterior
The litterary past tense has three types of endings for the irregular verbs:
Prendre (to take) | Croire (to believe) | Venir (to come) |
---|---|---|
Je pris | Je crus | Je vins |
Tu pris | Tu crus | Tu vins |
Il/elle/on prit | Il/elle/on crut | Il/elle/on vint |
Nous prîmes | Nous crûmes | Nous vînmes |
Vous prîtes | Vous crûtes | Vous vîntes |
Ils prirent | Ils/elles crurent | Ils/elles vinrent |
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Training is my passion. I like interacting with people. I am passionate about reading, watching movies, and music. I love to explore new places and have keen interest in arts and literature.I love meeting new people because every person is a whole new world you can learn from. I am also a keen reader and an enthusiastic traveller.
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Hella is a very easy-going and open-minded person. She asked me to introduce myself and was in the process of determining my level of French, which was fine. Then she introduced herself and described her teaching model, which I found to be very sensible. We have also expressed the objectives. I believe I can reach them with Hella's help. Looking forward to our next lessons!
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Hello,
I am a multilingual teacher with experience in teaching French to German, Japanese, English, Bulgarian and Italian-speaking students, etc. (levels A1 to C1).
I have been teaching French for 8 years in Luxemburg and now in Bulgaria for 4 years, to teenagers, housewives, businessmen, employees, doctors, etc. I can also help you with DELF and DALF preparation. I give lessons via Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams in several countries.
My teaching method for each class : a grammar point together with listening, a lot of speaking with conversation questions or games. While you speak, I write all the new words you need to express yourself, illustrated by pictures or translated in your language.
I do my best to make you feel comfortable to speak and for you to have a pleasant time. According to me, using humour will help you learn more easily.
Whether you need to learn French for business, integration in a French-speaking country or studying, I will be happy to help you. Do not hesitate to contact me for a free trial lesson.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Katia
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I was so pleased with my lesson with Katia. She speaks a clear French that is easy to follow and handles the technology brilliantly. She is a good listener and instantly types up vocabulary words, generating a list so I could reinforce and see what I had learned. I was really impressed. I highly recommend her for learning French.
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Hadjer is a teacher in a middle school. Before that, she was working in a high school. In addition to school-based classes, she has taught English on many online platforms. Her teaching method is efficient and innovative, and the teaching materials she uses belong to the school. In her, you will find a well-prepared, expert, and friendly teacher.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
- level A2 (low intermediate)
- 2 hours a week
- ask for schedule
Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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Tiska is a very good teacher: her lessons are well structured and she follows your French level perfectly. The method she uses is modern and leaves room for conversation. Homework is a real party with the videos, listening to music videos and grammar which is well explained in the book. I can highly recommend Tiska for your French lesson.
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*** Please note that I am on holidays in august***
Bonjour ! Comment ça va ?
My name is Lou, and I would be happy to be your french teacher !
French classes are for all levels, beginner to advanced. I can help you prepare to french exams and I also offer conversation classes.
My classes are fun and dynamic ! We will use various documents to work on and always adapt the classes to your needs and interests.
Free 30 min trial lesson !
Before the trial class, I will provide you a short French test to evaluate your level.
Feel free to contact me to talk about your goals and to plan a trial lesson.
See you soon online ! :-)
COMING SOON : a Whatsapp group for my students to practice french tchating with weekly challenges and conversation subjects !
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Lou works in a very structured way and sent me teaching material before the lesson. After a bit of small talk, we worked on the topic of the lesson, with the lesson divided into reading comprehension, discussion of the text, listening comprehension of a video and a written assignment on the topic. Lou picked an interesting topic that created plenty of opportunity for conversation. She corrected mistakes in a friendly manner and responded very well to my learning requests. That was fun!
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
- level A2 (low intermediate)
- 2 hours a week
- ask for schedule
Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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Tiska is giving a great support to my 8 years daughter in this challenging period! We scheduled regularly lessons to improve her French language skill and to review grammars rules in a funny enjoyfull way. Super professional and very kind teacher!
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Hello,
I am a multilingual teacher with experience in teaching French to German, Japanese, English, Bulgarian and Italian-speaking students, etc. (levels A1 to C1).
I have been teaching French for 8 years in Luxemburg and now in Bulgaria for 4 years, to teenagers, housewives, businessmen, employees, doctors, etc. I can also help you with DELF and DALF preparation. I give lessons via Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams in several countries.
My teaching method for each class : a grammar point together with listening, a lot of speaking with conversation questions or games. While you speak, I write all the new words you need to express yourself, illustrated by pictures or translated in your language.
I do my best to make you feel comfortable to speak and for you to have a pleasant time. According to me, using humour will help you learn more easily.
Whether you need to learn French for business, integration in a French-speaking country or studying, I will be happy to help you. Do not hesitate to contact me for a free trial lesson.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Katia
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Great teacher who makes learning language fun. Also good at making you comfortable to speak the language already in the very beginning.
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Hi,
I m claudie , I m french and i have experience to teach french to foreign people.
I create in a school of langage in Spain a little faculty for my french lessons with a group from 15 years olds until 25.
The pupils were all the levels A1 until C2!
I was teaching as well with lillte children and adults in Spain and Rumania.
I m a very dynamic teacher with a lot of patient and empathy.
You will make a lot of progress!
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Claudie is a wonderful, dedicated and very patient teacher. My goal was to speak French, because before, during lessons in my own country, I didn't feel comfortable speaking French and I couldn't manage to speak French without blocking. With Claudie, it's totally different. For over eight months, I took lessons with Claudie almost every week. Claudie gives me self-confidence and I learned a lot. We are talking about everyday life, but also about cultural subjects. She always manages to find interesting topics to discuss. We laugh a lot and I hope we will continue the lessons for a long time.
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Hello everyone!
I am Manon, French by birth, currently living in Costa Rica.
I love meeting new people and I am curious to discover your life path and discuss what you are passionate about.
During a class, I take the time to take an interest in my students and help them to speak naturally.
The conversation can be about a topic you’d like to talk about, or we can use a video, an audio, or an image and discuss around this support.
I want you to feel comfortable so, no pressure, we’re here to have fun and learn.
I look forward to meeting you, so feel free to try a free trial course ;)
See you soon!
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Manon is a lovely teacher. I really enjoyed the lessons with her and learned a lot of things. Thanks again!!!
Manon R.Thank you very much Julia!! It was a real pleasure to know you, I too had a great time! Good continuation to you!
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
- level A2 (low intermediate)
- 2 hours a week
- ask for schedule
Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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TISKA is a very prepared, kind and helpful teacher. i love studying with her because she makes the lesson to be intereesant and nice. she understands my needs and gives me the right homework.
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My name is Curtis Davies, I'm a native English speaker and professional language coach from Canada. I'm also the host of "The Real English Conversations Podcast". I’ve helped thousands of students improve their English skills since 2013, specifically with confidence, speaking fluency, and pronunciation to feel 100% comfortable communicating in English in any situation.
You can be sure that our lessons will be focused on the areas that you are most concerned about improving as we discuss interesting topics that you will enjoy talking about. Together, we can create a customized study plan that surely will help you reach your goals and finally feel good about your English communication.
I'm A personal trainer for English communication in Real-World situations. My lessons focus on helping you to improve your speaking fluency, pronunciation, confidence and to be prepared for everyday social interactions, casual conversations, communicating better in English at work, and even preparing you for an important interview or presentation.
What To Expect: Professional Help NOT just Conversation Practice
I'm a specialist that cares about YOU achieving your goals I will evaluate you first, then we work together as a team to create a FUN learning strategy or plan so 100% of your classes are exciting BUT focused on where you need the most practice and attention
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Curtis is a Canadian teacher with years of experience in teaching English. He is a real motivator and with him, you will improve lesson by lesson and reach your goals. His teaching techniques and strategies are based on his years of coaching and experience. If you want an English motivator, Curtis is the ideal teacher for you.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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Dear future student,
My name is Mélanie, I am 40 years old, I am Belgian and I live near Brussels in Belgium.
I have 7 years of experience in teaching French as a foreign language. I have a degree in Modern Languages and Literature. I have an agrégation in higher secondary education. French is my mother tongue. Additionally I have a C2 level in Spanish.
I have taught adults (beginner - advanced) in various training institutions (CLL, CVO Semper, ...). I have taught both large and small groups. I can therefore adapt my teaching methods according to the number of people.
As far as my teaching methods are concerned, I create communicative exercises.
I always try to get the student to express themselves as much as possible. In case of groups, I create individual exercises, in groups of two or four.
I give homework in which the students have to write a short text related to a grammatical concept they have seen. I also give additional grammatical exercises.
I also test my students' knowledge. For example, during the course, I listen to my students and comment on their oral productions. I also do small listening comprehensions and reading comprehensions.
I can also explain certain grammatical points or translate certain words into the student's language if it is needed, but generally I always try to teach in the target language.
If my student is looking for a job, I can also help him/her to write his/her CV and cover letter and also prepare his/her interview.
If my student works in a company, I can also prepare exercises specific to the company's field. I have given courses to warehouse workers for Delhaize, to plumbers, to students in Tourism.
I also taught asylum seekers.
As far as teaching material is concerned, I use a lot of material from Zexperts fle https://leszexpertsfle.com/toutes-les-ressources-fle/ which I adapt to the objectives of the lesson. I also look for exercises in FLE manuals such as Totem, Edito, Alter Ego, Expression orale... Naturally, I adapt the exercises according to the needs of the student. I also look for songs in YouTube.
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I have had about 10 lessons in French from Mélanie. We treated a lot of different subjects such as grammar, talking and listening exercises. Mélanie is a very good and patient teacher and I learned a lot in these lessons on how to communicate in French.
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
- level A2 (low intermediate)
- 2 hours a week
- ask for schedule
Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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I highly recommend Tiska because she quickly and efficiently types up my mistakes in chat without interfering the flow of the conversation. She adapts to the situation and helped me to express myself on higher-level issues. She also has very organized lesson plans but uses humorous and engaging material to help make the learning process fun. Also, she spent a year in the States so she can draw from that experience to help teach you if you are an English speaker.
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Bonjour! Veux-tu apprendre français? ou l'améliorer?
My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
I have worked as a French teacher for more than ten years.
I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
À bientôt!
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We are an Italian family residing in France for 3 months, we have two 10 year old children who have just started attending CM1. We asked Natalia to give the children two lessons a week to speed up their learning. We are super happy with the choice. Nous sommes une famille italienne résidant en France depuis janvier, nous avons deux enfants de 10 ans qui viennent de commencer la CM1. Nous avons demandé à Natalia de leur donner deux leçons par semaine pour accélérer leur apprentissage. Nous sommes super contents de Natalia. We are an Italian family living in France since 3 months, we have two 10 year old children who have just started attending CM1. We asked Natalia to give the kids two lessons a week to speed up their learning. We are super happy with this choice.
Natalia L.Fabrizio's children are learning French very fast, I have the impression that these lessons online have been helpful for them and I am sure they will master the language easily. They are very interested in learning.
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Virginie is the best French teacher I ever came across. She has been a great help in preparing for DELF B1. Her clear method of explaining helps me understand and retain the grammar rules. She is very patient and her calm personality removes my anxiety and puts my mind at ease. I highly recommend her and thank her for the wonderful learning experience.
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