What is the past historic and when would I use it?

The past historic or le passé simple is another past tense in French. However, nowadays it is never heard in spoken French and you will only see it in literary texts. In literary texts, it is used to replace the passé composé (perfect tense) to describe completed actions in the past that have no relation to the present. As it is most commonly appears in literature, you will mostly only see the 3rd person singular and plural forms (il/elle & ils/elles). At A-level you do not need to know how to form the past historic, but as you will be studying a literary text it is important to be able to recognise it and understand its formation. It can seem complicated at first but here are the basic rules:1.) for -er verbs, remove the -er ending and add ‘-ai’, ‘-as’, ‘-a’, ‘-âmes’, ‘-âtes’ and ‘-èrent’.2.) for -ir/-re verbs, remove the -ir/re ending and add ‘-is’, ‘-is’, ‘-it’, ‘-îmes’, ‘-îtes’ and ‘-irent’**Note: there are some exceptions to this rule but the most common irregulars that you will need to recognise at A level are the auxiliary verbs avoir and être. Avoir: j'eus, tu eus, il/elle eut, nous eûmes, vous eûtes, ils/elles eurent. Être: je fus, tu fus, il/elle fut, nous fûmes, vous fûtes, ils/elles furent.