When do you use the past historic?
The past historic, (usually called the passé simple in French), is a past tense used in written narrative. It conveys past, completed actions that are slightly "detached" from the present and so is ultimately used to tell a story. It is therefore solely a written tense, used in classical styles of narrative such as novels: it is never used in everyday speech. You will not need to use it in you’re A Levels, but will need to be able to recognise it.
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Related French A Level answers
All answers ▸How the use correctly the agreement of the past participle in passé composé?
Translate the following passage into French:
Translate: Il fallait que je crée moi-même quelques chansons pour qu’un agent sache que je comprenais quelque chose à la musique. Ce que ma mère m’avait dit m’apparaissait comme évident, même si je n’y avais jamais pensé de façon aussi précise.
The distinction between the imperfect tense and the passé composé