Conjugation table
Être and avoir in the passé simple: fut, eut, furent, eurent
Read the complete passé simple forms of être and avoir, compare fut with fût, and distinguish simple, compound and passive groups in five questions.
- B2
- 1 tenses
- Auxiliary: avoir
- Learn this in the B2 notebook →
In short
Il fut means “he was”; il eut means “he had” in a past narrative. Their plurals are ils furent and ils eurent. A following participle can make a larger verb group, so read beyond the short form.
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What are the passé simple forms of avoir?
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| j’ | eus |
| tu | eus |
| il / elle / on | eut |
| nous | eûmes |
| vous | eûtes |
| ils / elles | eurent |
Elle eut une idée et sourit.
She had an idea and smiled.
Une idée is a noun phrase. Eut is the main verb here.
- Infinitive
- être
- Past participle
- été
- Present participle
- étant
- Auxiliary
- avoir
Passé simpleA past state or event viewed as a whole in written narrative
| je | fus |
| tu | fus |
| il / elle / on | fut |
| nous | fûmes |
| vous | fûtes |
| ils / elles | furent |
Pendant quelques secondes, la salle fut silencieuse.
For a few seconds, the room was silent.
The “auxiliary” label above gives the verb’s compound-tense auxiliary: être itself uses avoir, as in j’ai été. The passé simple forms in the table are simple forms and stand on their own.
Which forms take a circumflex?
| Form | Person | Tense |
|---|---|---|
| fut / eut | Third-person singular | Passé simple |
| fûmes / eûmes | First-person plural | Passé simple |
| fûtes / eûtes | Second-person plural | Passé simple |
| fût / eût | Third-person singular | Imperfect subjunctive |
Bien qu’elle fût fatiguée, elle continua.
Although she was tired, she continued.
Fût is a literary subjunctive form after bien que.
Three structures to recognise
| Sentence | Structure | English |
|---|---|---|
| Elle eut une idée. | Passé simple of avoir | She had an idea. |
| Quand elle eut terminé, elle sortit. | Passé antérieur: eut + terminé | When she had finished, she went out. |
| La porte fut fermée par le gardien. | Passé simple passive | The door was closed by the caretaker. |
Fut can present a state as a whole: il fut heureux pendant ces années-là. The imparfait can present a state as background: il était heureux quand elle arriva. A state can appear in either tense; the viewpoint changes.