Learn French: L'archéologue vit le parchemin antique dans le temple. - The archaeologist saw the ancient parchment in the temple.

In everyday French, il vit means "he lives" (present tense of vivre). But in literature and formal storytelling, vit is also the passé simple (literary past tense) form of voir (to see), meaning "saw". You can tell them apart by context: an archaeologist "living" a parchment makes no sense!

If this were spoken in everyday conversation, how would "saw" be translated?

In spoken French, you would use the passé composé. The sentence would be: L'archéologue a vu le parchemin antique dans le temple. The passé simple form vit is almost entirely reserved for written texts like novels, fairy tales, or historical accounts.

Why use "antique" instead of "ancien" for "ancient"?

In French, ancien placed before a noun usually means "former" (like mon ancien patron for "my former boss"). To mean "ancient" or "very old" in a historical sense, we use antique, or we place ancien after the noun. Here, parchemin antique gives the specific feeling of a relic from antiquity.

Is "archéologue" masculine or feminine, and how do you pronounce the "ch"?