French Literary Tenses

Temps littéraires

Introduction | Literary tenses

Literary tenses are not used in spoken French - they have non-literary equivalents, explained here. For a definition of literary tenses and a description of where/when they are used, please read the introduction.

Click the title of each literary tense to learn more about to conjugate and use it.

I. Passé simple
The passé simple is the literary simple past tense. Its English equivalent is the preterite or simple past. Its equivalent in spoken French is the passé composé - the English present perfect.
Il choisit.	He chose.		Il a choisi.	He has chosen.
You can see that by not using both the passé simple and the passé composé, the French language has lost the nuance between He chose and He has chosen. The passé simple indicates an action that is complete and has no relationship with the present, whereas using the passé composé indicates a relationship with the present.
II. Passé antérieur
The passé antérieur is the literary compound past tense. Its equivalent in spoken French is the plus-que-parfait (the English pluperfect or past perfect).
Quand il eut choisi, nous rîmes.	When he had chosen, we laughed.		Quand il avait choisi, nous avons ri.	When he had chosen, we laughed.
The passé antérieur expresses an action that took place right before the action in the main verb (expressed by the passé simple). Aside from being extremely rare in spoken French, this tense is even disappearing in written French, as it can be replaced by several different constructions (see the lesson for more information).
* For the next two tenses, note that the English equivalents are unhelpful, because English rarely uses the subjunctive. I gave the literal English translation in parentheses simply to give you an idea of what the French structure is like.
III. Imparfait du subjonctif
The imparfait du subjonctif is the literary simple past subjunctive. Its spoken French equivalent is the present subjunctive.
J'ai voulu qu'il choisît.	I wanted him to choose. (I wanted that he chose).		J'ai voulu qu'il choisisse.	I wanted him to choose. (I wanted that he choose)
The distinction lost here is this: by using the imperfect subjunctive in French, the subordinate clause is in the past tense (that he chose) along with the main clause, whereas in the spoken French, the subordinate clause is in the present (that he choose).
IV. Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif
The plus-que-parfait du subjonctif is the literary compound past subjunctive. Its spoken French equivalent is the past subjunctive.
J'aurais voulu qu'il eût choisi.	I would have wanted him to choose. (I would have wanted that he had chosen).		J'aurais voulu qu'il ait choisi.	I would have wanted him to choose. (I would have wanted that he has chosen).
This distinction is even more subtle, and is a combination of the passé composé and imparfait du subjonctif nuances: by using the plus-que-parfait du subjonctif, the action is in the remote past and has no relationship to the present (that he had chosen), whereas using the past subjunctive indicates a slight relationship with the present (that he has chosen).
V. Seconde forme du conditionnel passé
The conditional perfect, 2nd form, is the literary conditional past. Its spoken French equivalent is the conditional perfect.
Si je l'eus vu, je l'eusse acheté.	If I had seen it, I would have bought it.		Si je l'avais vu, je l'aurais acheté.	If I had seen it, I would have bought it.
The use of the 2nd form of the conditional perfect emphasizes the fact that I didn't buy it, whereas the non-literal conditional perfect makes it sound more like a opportunity that just happened to be missed.

 
Summary

Literary tense	Literary tense classification	Non-literary equivalent
passé simple	simple past	passé composé
passé antérieur	compound past	plus-que-parfait
imparfait du subjonctif	simple past subjunctive	subjonctif
plus-que-parfait du subjonctif	compound past subjunctive	subjonctif passé
2e forme du conditionnel passé	conditional past	conditionnel passé

  
More Literary French

• The subjunctive has some literary uses.
   
• Certain verbs can be negated with the ne littéraire.
   
• In written French, the negative adverb ne... pas is replaced by ne... point.
   

What is register? French verb timeline

 

  

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