Passé Simple and Passé Composé in 3nd Person Story in Modern French

現代フランス語の三人称物語における単純過去と複合過去についての一考察

Passé Simple and Passé Composé in 3nd Person Story in Modern French

Creators Ikeda Akira

Abstract: In French 3rd person narrative, not only passé simples but also many passé composés can be found as opposed to Weinrich (1982). In this paper, I analyzed usage of passé simples and passé composés by compareing 4 versions of French texts with the assistance of a French speaker. In the version 1, passé simples are found in narrative and passé composés are found in dialogs. In the version 2, passé simples, which are supposed to be found in narratives, are put in dialogs instead of passé composes. In the version 3, passé composes, which are supposed to be found in dialogs, are put in narratives instead of passé simples. In the version 4, passé simples are completely changed into passé composes and vice versa. Through this analysis, passé simples, which is said to be objective and used in narratives, could sometimes be admitted in dialogs when we take characters' state of mind into consideration.