Build a French literary verb notebook: six entries to copy
Make useful notes for vit, vint, fit, fut and other literary forms. Copy a worked entry, compare confusing pairs and test recall with a short quiz.
In short
Give each literary verb entry five parts: the form you met, its infinitive, person and tense, meaning in the scene, and a short sentence. Add one useful contrast: vit → voir beside vint → venir. Keep the source title or lesson beside the entry so you can return to the passage.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
How do you keep a notebook of French literary verbs?
Il vit une lumière au bout du couloir.
He saw a light at the end of the corridor.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Encountered form | vit |
| Infinitive | voir |
| Person and tense | Third person singular · passé simple |
| Meaning here | saw a light |
| Contrast | vint → venir: came |
| Context to keep | Il vit une lumière au bout du couloir. |
| Source | This page, “Copy one complete entry” |
The short gloss “saw” belongs to this scene. Keep the sentence beside it: on its own, il vit can also be the present of vivre, meaning “he lives”. A sentence such as Il vit ici depuis dix ans makes that present meaning clear.
Six starter forms and useful contrasts
| Form | Infinitive | Meaning in this scene | Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| vit | voir | saw | Elle vit une lettre sur la table. |
| vint | venir | came | Elle vint près de la fenêtre. |
| fit | faire | made | Elle fit un signe à son frère. |
| fut | être | was | Il fut surpris par ce geste. |
| prit | prendre | took | Il prit la lettre. |
| dit | dire | said | Il prit la lettre, puis dit quelques mots. |
Pair vit with vint and fit with fut: a single letter changes the infinitive. For dit, keep enough story context to identify the tense. The preceding prit and the sequence with puis give the last entry its past-narrative reading.
Add a family after the first entry
Il vint, puis revint le lendemain.
He came, then came back the next day.
Venir → vint and revenir → revint. Keep the prefix: it adds the idea of coming back.
Il tint la porte, puis retint son souffle.
He held the door, then held his breath.
Tenir → tint and retenir → retint. Save the whole expression retenir son souffle, to hold one’s breath.
Keep the time relationship visible
Elle lisait quand il entra.She was reading when he came in.
Focus: reading is the background; entering is the event
Quand elle eut fini sa lettre, elle sortit.When she had finished her letter, she went out.
Focus: eut fini is the completed action before sortit
Give eut fini its own entry as a group: finir, third person singular, passé antérieur, “had finished”. The auxiliary eut comes from avoir. Keeping only eut would lose the finishing action you were trying to remember.
Turn the entry into a recall question
| Visible cue | Hidden answer |
|---|---|
| Elle vit une lettre. Which infinitive? | voir |
| Venir, third person singular, passé simple | vint |
| Quand elle eut fini… What happened first? | She finished before the next event. |