Breakdown of La sorcière ne pardonna jamais au prince.
ne
not (used before the verb)
au
to the / at the (masculine singular)
jamais
never / ever
pardonner
to forgive
la sorcière
the witch
le prince
the prince
Questions & Answers about La sorcière ne pardonna jamais au prince.
What tense is pardonna and how can I spot it?
Pardonna is the passé simple (literary past tense) of the regular -er verb pardonner. For regular -er verbs in the passé simple, the 3rd person singular form always ends in a simple -a. You can tell it apart from the passé composé because there is no helper verb (like a) before it.
Why does the sentence use au prince instead of just le prince?
In French, you do not forgive someone directly; you forgive to someone. The rule for this verb is pardonner à quelqu'un. Since prince is masculine, the preposition à combines with the article le to form the contraction au.
How does the negative structure ne ... jamais work with this tense?
Just like ne ... pas, the negative words ne ... jamais (never) wrap around the conjugated verb. Because the passé simple is a simple one-word tense (unlike the two-word passé composé), the structure simply hugs that single verb: ne pardonna jamais.
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