Le Prétérit Simple

Le cours en un clin d'œil
À quoi sert le prétérit simple ?

À parler de faits passés qu'on peut dater :

I visited Paris last year. Bowie died in 2016. I saw Christina two weeks ago.
J'ai visité Paris l'an dernier. Bowie est mort en 2016. J'ai vu Christina il y a deux semaines.
Comment se forme le prétérit simple ?

Verbes lexicaux réguliers :

Forme affirmative (+)
On rajoute -ed à la fin du verbe.
Forme négative (-)
Je rajoute "didn't" avant le verbe.
Forme interrogative (?)
Il faut bien respecter l'ordre des mots :
DID - sujet - verbe
I played
You imagined
We believed
They painted
I didn't play
You didn't imagine
We didn't believe
They didn't paint
Did I play?
Did you imagine?
Did we believe?
Did they paint?

Exception : de nombreux verbes courants sont irréguliers à la forme affirmative : il faut les mémoriser !

Forme affirmative (+) Forme négative (-) Forme interrogative (?)
He went
I saw
We thought
They spent
He didn't go
I didn't see
We didn't think
They didn't spend
Did he go?
Did I see?
Did we think?
Did they spend?
Voir la liste des verbes irréguliers indispensables

L'auxiliaire BE :

Forme affirmative (+) Forme négative (-)
Je rajoute "not" après le verbe.
Forme interrogative (?)
Ordre des mots : BE - sujet
I was
You were
He / She / It was
We were
You were
They were
I was not
You were not
He / She / It was not
We were not
You were not
They were not
Was I?
Were you?
Was he / she / it?
Were we?
Were you?
Were they?

Formes contractées : pour aller plus vite, en particulier à l'oral, on ignore certaines lettres. Ce qui donne :

I was not → I wasn't      You were not → you weren't

Go for exercise 1 !
Retour au Training Center

Retour au menu