Look at these sentences in le Passé Simple:
La princesse vécut dans un château splendide pendant de nombreuses années.
The princess lived in a splendid castle for many years.
Alors, Cendrillon vit le château splendide du Prince.
Then, Cinderella saw the Prince's splendid castle.
Et ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants.
And they lived happily ever after.
[literally: And they lived happy and had many children.]
Quand je la vis, je tombai immédiatement amoureux.
When I saw her, I immediately fell in love.
The reason we're teaching voir and vivre together in le Passé Simple is that they are very easy to mix up!
Have a look:
| voir | vivre |
| je vis | je vécus |
| tu vis | tu vécus |
| il / elle / on vit | il / elle / on vécut |
| nous vîmes | nous vécûmes |
| vous vîtes | vous vécûtes |
| ils / elles virent | ils / elles vécurent |
Notice how the first three persons of voir in le Passé Simple (vis, vis, vit) are exactly the same as vivre in le Présent, whereas vivre in le Passé Simple is actually completely different (vécus, vécus, vécut)!
Here, only the context and your own knowledge can help you know which is which!
Et ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants.
And they lived happily ever after.
[literally: And they lived happy and had many children.]
Alice vit le lapin sauter dans le trou.
Alice saw the rabbit jump into the hole.
Quand je la vis, je tombai immédiatement amoureux.
When I saw her, I immediately fell in love.
Alors, Cendrillon vit le château splendide du Prince.
Then, Cinderella saw the Prince's splendid castle.
La princesse vécut dans un château splendide pendant de nombreuses années.
The princess lived in a splendid castle for many years.
Et Dorothée vécut heureuse dans sa ferme du Kansas.
And Dorothy lived happily in her farm in Kansas.
Dear K.,
That's a very interesting question!
The fact is that heureusement in French is actually a false friend, meaning "luckily"!
So while in English you say "they lived happily", in French we colloquially say "They lived happy", like "they were happy for the rest of their lives".
I hope that answers your question!
À bientôt !
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