Language/French/Grammar/Easy-way-of-generating-the-simple-past

An easy way of generating the simple past (past historic)

• For -er verbs, take the first person plural nous form of the present tense, omit -ons and add the following endings: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent.
• For -ir (both finir and dormir types - see 7.6.4 and 7.6.5) and -re verbs, take the past participle, omit the final vowel, and add the following endings: -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent.
• For -oir verbs, take the past participle, omit the final vowel, and add the following endings: -us, -us, -ut, -ûmes, -ûies, -urent.

	je	tu	il/elle	nous	vous	ils/elles
-er verbs (most verbs)	-ai	-as	-a	-âmes	-âtes	-èrent
-ir verbs	-is	-is	-it	-îmes	-îtes	-irent
-re verbs
-oir verbs	-us	-us	-ut	-ûmes	-ûtes	-urent

For example:

Infinitive	First person plural	Stem	Simple past tense
donner	donnons	donn-	je donn- ai, etc.
commencer	commençons	commenç-	je commenç- ai, etc
partager	partageons	partage-	je partage- ai, etc.
Infinitive	Past participle	Stem	Simple past tense
finir	fini	fin-	je fin- is, etc.
dormir	dormi	dorm-	je dorm- is, etc.
vendre	vendu	vend-	je vend- is, etc.
recevoir	reçu	reç-	je reç- us, etc