le passé composé et le passé simple

Question

Est-il acceptable d'utiliser le passé composé et le passé simple dans la même rédaction ?

(Alice répondit, plutôt timidement, “Je-Je ne sais pas vraiment, Monsieur, en ce moment précis - tout du moins je sais qui j'ÉTAIS quand je me suis levée ce matin, mais j'ai bien dû changer plusieurs fois depuis.”)

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Rony,
In these kinds of tales and literature in general, the narrative will be in passé simple and dialogues in imparfait /passé composé but nowadays the modern novel often deviates from these literary rules rarely using the passé simple, and it is interesting to see what the author has decided to use and how it affects the reader. Much ink has been spilled on this topic...

Chris Wirt · Answer

This is a direct speech whose introduction uses passé simple. Whatever is in the direct speech is "decoupled" from the introductory part.

Rony R · Answer

Merci beaucoup!Qu'en est-il de tout autre type d'écriture, est-il acceptable d'utiliser les deux dans le même texte?

Paris Khouri · Answer

An old discussion but nonetheless, here is my explanation.

It's actually a question of perspective, depending on WHO is doing the speaking.

When the NARRATOR describes the events that have taken place in the story, they use the simple past to do this. On the other hand, when the CHARACTERS themselves talk, especially in dialogue, this is done using the past perfect, as we do in normal conversation.