Hi James, The passé simple is a literary tense. It is exactly equivalent to the passé composé but used in literature or journalism, that is the written word, rather than in conversation. When reading the main trick is to be able to recognise it, you can forget all about it when talking. It would only become necessary should you ever chose to write a novel in French!

Thanks Andy, It`s just that I saw it one of the tutorials- where I thought the passe compose should be used , and there was an audio attached. Should I find it I`ll mail it. James