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Il utilisa l'épée et tua le dragon.

Il utilisa l'épée et tua le dragon.
He used the sword and killed the dragon.
From Lesson 174:The literary past tense for regular verbs (il parla)·French

Breakdown of Il utilisa l'épée et tua le dragon.

il
he
et
and
utiliser
to use
le dragon
the dragon
l'épée
the sword (f)
tuer
to kill

Questions & Answers about Il utilisa l'épée et tua le dragon.

Why do utilisa and tua end in -a instead of the usual -e or -ait?
These verbs are in the passé simple (simple past) tense, which is a literary tense used in books and historical texts. For regular -er verbs like utiliser and tuer, the il/elle/on form simply drops the -er and adds an -a.
How would you say this sentence in normal, everyday spoken French?
In everyday spoken French, you would use the passé composé for completed past actions. The sentence would be: Il a utilisé l'épée et a tué le dragon.
Does using the passé simple change the actual time frame compared to the passé composé?
No, the time frame is exactly the same. Both describe completed actions in the past. The difference is purely about style: the passé simple is a major clue that you are reading a written story, a fairy tale, or a formal document.
The word épée starts with a vowel, so it uses l'. How can I remember its gender?
Almost all French nouns ending in -ée are feminine, so it is une épée (a sword). This is a very helpful pattern to remember, as it also applies to common words like une année (a year) and une idée (an idea).

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