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Reading French literary verbs: recognise vint, prit and eut fini

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Read a short scene, recover six literary verb forms and compare eut with eût. Glosses, a form table and four questions keep meaning in view.

In short

Find the subject, recover the infinitive, then read a compound verb as one group. Elle vint means “she came”; elle eut fini means “she had finished”. Keep the scene in view as you identify the form.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A woman beside a small French apartment table holding a plain blue notebook while a completely blank folded letter lies on the floor, no clocks or writing.
Louise prit le carnet before the letter fell. Illustration: Atelier

Read once for the action, then return to the forms

Le carnet de Louise

Louise vint1 près de la table. La pièce était silencieuse. Une lettre reposait sous un petit carnet bleu. Elle prit2 le carnet, mais la lettre glissa sur le sol. Louise la ramassa et reconnut l’écriture de son frère.

Elle lut les premières lignes, puis s’assit. Son frère lui demandait de venir le lendemain. Il fallait qu’elle partît3 avant huit heures pour arriver à temps. Louise regarda la pendule et chercha une feuille pour répondre.

Quand elle eut fini4 sa réponse, elle la plia avec soin. Elle posa le carnet sur la table et glissa les deux lettres dans son sac. Un bruit monta de la rue. Louise ouvrit la fenêtre : son frère l’attendait déjà en bas.

Read it in English

Louise came over to the table. The room was silent. A letter lay beneath a small blue notebook. She took the notebook, but the letter slipped onto the floor. Louise picked it up and recognised her brother’s handwriting.

She read the first lines, then sat down. Her brother was asking her to come the next day. She had to leave before eight to arrive on time. Louise looked at the clock and searched for a sheet of paper to reply.

When she had finished her reply, she folded it carefully. She put the notebook on the table and slipped both letters into her bag. A noise rose from the street. Louise opened the window: her brother was already waiting below.

How do you recognise the passé simple?

Infinitive first, then meaning
Form in the passageInfinitiveMeaning here
vintvenircame
pritprendretook
lutlireread
s’assits’asseoirsat down
eut finifinirhad finished
partîtpartirleave, after a past expression of necessity

Compare elle partit (“she left”, passé simple) with il fallait qu’elle partît (“she had to leave”, imperfect subjunctive). The circumflex and the surrounding clause distinguish them. In modern everyday French, the latter becomes il fallait qu’elle parte.

One accent, a different form
GroupHow to read it
Quand elle eut fini, elle sortit.Passé antérieur: completion before her departure.
Il regrettait qu’elle eût fini si tôt.Pluperfect subjunctive: a literary form after regrettait que.

Four things to locate in the scene

Question 1No account needed
Which action does prit describe?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

She took the notebook.. Prit is the passé simple of prendre: Louise takes the notebook.

Question 2No account needed
What does elle eut fini refer to?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

She had completed her reply.. Read eut fini as a group, with Louise as its subject and sa réponse as its object.

Question 3No account needed
Which modern form preserves the meaning of il fallait qu’elle partît?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Il fallait qu’elle parte.. Parte replaces the literary subjunctive while fallait keeps the past viewpoint.

Question 4No account needed
At the end, what does Louise discover?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Her brother is already downstairs.. The final clause says son frère l’attendait déjà en bas: he was already waiting below.

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