Forming the past historic tense of -er verbs
To form the past historic tense of -er verbs, you use the same stem of the verb as for the present tense. Then you add the correct ending, depending on whether you are referring to je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils or elles.
| Pronoun | Ending | Add to stem, | Meanings |
| e.g. donn- | |||
| je (j’) | -ai | je donnai | I gave |
| tu | -as | tu donnas | you gave |
| il | -a | il donna | |
| elle | elle donna | ||
| on | on donna | he/she/it/one gave | |
| nous | -âmes | nous donnâmes | we gave |
| vous | -âtes | vous donnâtes | you gave |
| ils | -èrent | ils donnèrent | |
| elles | elles donnèrent | they gave |
Nous donnâmes un peu d’argent aux mendiants.
We gave a little money to the beggars.
Il me regarda avec anxiété. He looked at me anxiously.
Forming the past historic tense of -ir and -re verbs
To form the past historic tense of -ir and -re verbs, you use the same stem of the verb as for the present tense. Then you add the correct ending, depending on whether you are referring to je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils or elles. The je, tu and il/elle/on forms of regular -ir verbs are the same in the past historic as in the present tense (je finis, tu finis, il/elle/on finit).
Il finit son repas et sortit de la pièce. He finished his meal and left the room.
Elles attendirent leurs parents devant la gare.
They waited for their parents outside the station.
Spelling changes in -er verbs
As with the present tense, a few -er verbs change their spellings slightly when they are used in the past historic. The forms with spelling changes have been underlined in the tables.
With verbs such as lancer (meaning to throw), which end in -cer, c becomes ç before an a or an o. This is so that the letter c is still pronounced as in the English word ice.
| Pronoun | Example verb: lancer |
| je | lançai |
| tu | lanças |
| il/elle/on | lança |
| nous | lançâmes |
| vous | lançâtes |
| ils/elles | lancèrent |
Il commença à pleuvoir. It started to rain.
Il annonça son mariage ce jour-là. He announced his wedding that day.
With verbs such as manger (meaning to eat), which end in -ger, g becomes ge before an a or an o. This is so that the letter g is still pronounced like the s in the English word leisure.
| Pronoun | Example verb: manger |
| je | mangeai |
| tu | mangeas |
| il/elle/on | mangea |
| nous | mangeâmes |
| vous | mangeâtes |
| ils/elles | mangèrent |
Il chargea les bagages dans le coffre. He loaded the luggage into the boot.
Nous changeâmes d’avis au dernier moment.
We changed our minds at the last moment.
Elle mangea tant de chocolat qu’elle ne se sentit pas bien.
She ate so much chocolate that she didn’t feel well.
Reflexive verbs in the past historic tense
The past historic tense of reflexive verbs is formed just as for ordinary verbs, except that you add the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se).
| Subject pronoun | Reflexive pronoun | Example with laver | Meaning |
| je | me (m’) | lavai | I washed |
| tu | te (t’) | lavas | you washed |
| il/elle/on | se (s’) | lava | he/she/it/one washed |
| nous | nous | lavâmes | we washed |
| vous | vous | lavâtes | you washed |
| ils/elles | se (s’) | lavèrent | they washed |
Irregular verbs in the past historic tense
There are some verbs that do not use their present tense stem as the stem for the past historic tense, including avoir, être and faire. These verbs are shown in full in the Verb Tables at the back of the book.