French Grammar in Context

s’appelaitLakhdarpassaprès de nous(lines 5–6), or Au comptoir, beaucoup d’hommes

s’agglutinaient.Certains nousdévisagèrent(line 20).

b The past historic is a tense which is very rarely used in spoken French. It is occasionally found
in formal speeches but never in normal conversation. It is, however, commonly used as a
narrative tense in novels, short stories and fairly highbrow newspapers and magazines. French
children get used to it at an early age as many traditional stories and fairy-tales are written in
the past historic.

Thepassé composéis normally found in a less literary context. The difference between thepassé

composéand the past historic is therefore not so much a difference of meaning as a difference of

register. If you were the heroine of the story and you were actually telling someone about going

out with Arezki, you would never use the past historic, but you would tell the story in thepassé

composé.

Occasionally both past historic and passé composéare found in the same text. The past historic

refers to a completed event with no immediate relevance to the present, whereas the passé

composérefers to a completed event whose relevance is still felt in the present.

e.g. Après cette affaire le ministredémissionnaet la paixestmaintenantrevenuedans ce secteur

de la vie publique. (The consequences of la paix est revenueare still felt now.)

2 FORMATION

The past historic is formed using the stem of the verb plus a past historic ending. There are
essentially three types of past historic endings: endings in a, endings in i, and endings in u.

a aendings. This applies to all verbs with infinitives ending in -er.

je cherchai

tu cherchas

il/elle chercha

nous cherchâmes

vous cherchâtes

ils/elles cherchèrent

Examples in the text: cherchai(line 1), passa(line 5), montâmes(line 9), retrouvâmes(line 9),

entrâmes(line 19), dévisagèrent(line 20), faufilâmes(line 21).

b iendings. This applies to verbs with infinitives ending in -ir, -ire, -dre, -tre.

je pris

tu pris

il/elle prit

nous prîmes

vous prîtes

ils/elles prirent

The past historic and past anterior 21