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And with regard to your edit, I don't have a problem with passé simples myself. Legolas Send a noteboard - 13/12/2010 10:53:59 PM
EDIT: Never mind. Apparently you think the passé simple is obscure. I would venture to guess that about 50% of the verbs used in Le Rouge et Le Noir are passé simple. I don`t find it unusual at all. In fact, I think I have a problem with wanting to use it in spoken French. Je fus fatigué. Nous vinmes hier. Lût-il le livre? These are just the ones that I remember off the top of my head. Je le fis.

In fact I rather prefer them over the other past tenses in French. But all the same, as I said, when one learns French one is told not to use the passé simple, it's not drilled or requested that you learn it by heart (at least not here), so many readers are going to have difficulties with it. The same is true to a much larger extent still with the subjunctive imperfect.
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Maurice Druon - The Accursed Kings Legolas - 13/12/2010 08:19:21 PM 19770 Views
Thank you for giving this review - I had forgotten the name of the author and series. Tom - 13/12/2010 09:29:59 PM 2247 Views
You're welcome (and thanks for the correction, edited). Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:23:55 PM 2236 Views
I know it's not "literary". (EDITED) Tom - 13/12/2010 10:42:33 PM 2112 Views
Subjunctive imperfect, yeah. Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:51:34 PM 2209 Views
And with regard to your edit, I don't have a problem with passé simples myself. Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:53:59 PM 2529 Views
But how can one read any French literature at all without encountering the passé simple? Tom - 15/12/2010 03:39:37 AM 2359 Views
The point is it is a "literary" tense Camilla - 15/12/2010 10:19:59 AM 2354 Views
Why would I read a lower style of book (I won't use the term "literature" to describe them) ? Tom - 16/12/2010 06:11:36 AM 2123 Views
I don't want to start a fight here, but your attitude is seriously starting to grate. Legolas - 16/12/2010 06:54:30 PM 2379 Views
I don't care. Start a fight. Tom - 16/12/2010 08:24:22 PM 2316 Views
Well, or we can have a civil debate on French culture, I suppose... also fun. Legolas - 16/12/2010 09:09:20 PM 2323 Views
Well, I'm up for that, too. Tom - 17/12/2010 05:48:39 AM 2315 Views
Good. Legolas - 17/12/2010 09:01:37 PM 2675 Views
Ah - I support the subjunctive!!! Tom - 18/12/2010 05:10:38 AM 2496 Views
TANGENT Rebekah - 18/12/2010 09:56:31 AM 2352 Views
This whole conversation is just a pile of tangents, anyway. *NM* Legolas - 18/12/2010 01:30:09 PM 1060 Views
I enjoy the tangent. Tom - 21/12/2010 12:43:23 AM 2042 Views
But you don't think its disappearance corresponds to a decline in American culture? Legolas - 18/12/2010 01:29:43 PM 2308 Views
I read Der Zauberberg in English already. Tom - 21/12/2010 12:48:16 AM 2114 Views
About the passé simple, what Camilla said. As for medieval vocabulary... Legolas - 15/12/2010 07:17:44 PM 2328 Views
"Ne...point" is used in Stendhal all the time. Tom - 16/12/2010 06:08:40 AM 2172 Views
That looks like a really fascinating series. Rebekah - 13/12/2010 10:56:52 PM 2234 Views
Step up your French lessons!!! Tom - 13/12/2010 11:50:21 PM 2439 Views
That is a great reason to learn French. Legolas - 14/12/2010 07:29:54 PM 2142 Views
Re: That is a great reason to learn French. Rebekah - 14/12/2010 08:13:59 PM 2139 Views
Fancier English often turns out to be French, of course. *NM* Tom - 17/12/2010 06:41:19 PM 1142 Views
Ooooh Camilla - 14/12/2010 07:41:03 PM 2068 Views
I'm really not quite sure how you managed that. Legolas - 14/12/2010 08:09:55 PM 2230 Views
Re: I'm really not quite sure how you managed that. Camilla - 14/12/2010 08:13:48 PM 2148 Views
I meant Bertière, yeah. Dumas works too, though. Legolas - 14/12/2010 08:18:30 PM 2221 Views
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