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A C PENDIOCJS HISTORY OF ENGLISH ' r ... Wat^tm ENGLISH LANGUAGE, from the Norman Con- numerous Specimens. By GEORGE LILLIE CRAIK, : Professor of History and English Literature, Queen'; C Belfast.. In Two Vols., royal 8vo, cloth, jT\ 5*. A MANUAL OF ENGLISH LITER ATUR" Use of Colleges, Schools, and Civil Service Selected from the larger work. By Professor CK cloth gilt, ?s. 6d. Eighth Edition. "A Manual of English Literature from so experience AS Frofesso; Craik needs no other recommendation than - of its existence. "Spectator. .-COBBETT'S (William) ENGLISH GRAMM/ Series of letters, including the celebrated "Six Les-; to prevent Statesmen from writing in an awkward manner." Cloth, JUT. td. The only Authorised Edition. SPELLING BY DICTATION : Progressive Exerciset > English Orthography, for Schools and Civil Service F By the Rev. A. J. D. D'ORSEY, B.D., M.C.P., ( English Medallist, and English Lecturer at King's College, Lo- doa, i8mo, cloth, ij.. Sixteenth . THOMSON'S SEASONS. 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These, being merely English sentences for you to translate, need not be read till you come to translate them. When you have read ten times and copied twice the Letter, for instance, on the 14 THE WAY OF PROCEEDING IN LEARNING FRENCH. Syntax of Articles, you will translate the Exercises in that Letter. Thus you will proceed to the end. Par- ticular instructions relative to the manner of going on in translating you will find in Letter XIV., just before you begin this part of your labours. 19. After you have gone through the whole of the rules and instructions, and have translated the whole of the Exercises, and have done this well, you will, of course, know how to write French tolerably well. Yery easy will it be to learn to speak after this. But if you, too impatient to go thoroughly into the subjects of your Grammar, hasten on to reading and to speaking with- out knowing any thing of the principles of the language, you will, in all probability, never speak French much better than an English footman, or lady's maid, who has been for a while in France. The first and the main thing is the Grammar ; that well learned, the rest is easy; but that imperfectly learned, the remainder of your way is full of difficulty, and you never arrive at any thing approaching towards perfection. There are persons enough able to utter, or to put upon paper, sentences of broken French; to ask people how they do, to talk of the weather, to call for victuals and drink ; but this is not being a French Scholar; and I hope that nothing short of meriting this appellation will satisfy you. I shall slur nothing over. I know what were the difficulties the most troublesome to me. I remember the parts of the Grammar which were to me the most abstruse, and which it cost me the most time to be able to understand. These parts, therefore, I shall take particular pains to make plain and easy to you. In short, on my part, no effort shall be wanting; aud let me hope that none will be wanting on yours. 15 LETTER III. OF LANGUAGE AND OF GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND OF THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES, OR DIVISIONS, OF GRAMMAR. MY DEAR RICHARD, 20. In pursuance of what I have said in paragraph 15, I am now about to explain to you what Language and Grammar are in a general sense. 21. Language is a French word as well as an English one. We take it, like a great many other of our words, from the French. Langue, in French, means tongue; and Language means, if fully stated, the things be- longing to the tongue, or the things about which the tongue is employed, which things are words. 22. Grammar is a science which teaches us how to make use of words in a proper manner; for, without some principle, or rule, in the using of words, we should have no standard whereby to ascertain their meaning. The main principles of Grammar apply to all languages alike; and this you will, in the next Letter, see fully illustrated in my account of the dif- ferent Parts of Speech, or Sorts of Words. 23. But, before I enter on this matter, I must speak of the different Branches, or Divisions, of Grammar ; for we must approach our subject by degrees and in a regular manner, and clearly understand what we are talking about, or we go on in vain. Grammar is usually divided into four Branches, which are thus named : Orthography, Prosody, Etymology, and Syntax. 24=. ORTHOGRAPHY means spelling or word- 16 GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND ITS BRANCHES. making; and the rules relating to it merely teach us what letters different words are to be composed of. It divides the letters into Vowels and Consonants. This is so very simple a matter, that it will be only necessary to add, under this head, a few remarks as to the dif- ference between the English Alphabet (or set of letters) and that of the French. The French alphabet has no K and no W. It has all the rest of our letters; and it has none that our alphabet has not. But though there be no K and no W used in the French language, the French use these letters when they have to write the proper names of persons or places which contain these letters; as Kingston, or WincJcester; because, if they were to put any other letter, or letters, in lieu of the K and W, they, in fact, would not be understood as speaking of the same places. Nevertheless, they do take this liberty in certain cases ; for they call Warsaw Varsovie. They have, then, twenty-four letters in their alphabet. They are written and printed in the same form that ours are. A. a. I. i. K. r. B. b. J. j. S. s. C. c. L. 1. T. t. D. d. M. m. TJ. u. E. e. Kn. V. v. F. f. O. o. X. x. G. g. P. p. Y. y. H. h. Q. q. Z. z. Of these the a, e, i } o and u are Vowels, and also the y, which the French call the y Grec, that is to say, Greek. The other letters are, as with us, consonants. The letters are written and printed like ours, except in the case of the c, which has sometimes what they call a cedille to it, thus, f ; and then it is sounded like an ORTHOGRAPHY. 17 glish s. As to the spelling of words properly, or putting the right letters into them, there can be no rule given. It is a thing to be acquired by practice only. In case of words which are derived from other words, the right spelling of the former will arise from a knowledge of the latter : thus, in our language, hairy naturally enough comes from hair; but, what reason can be given why hair should not be spelled hare, instead of hair? The best, the shortest, and indeed the only way of learning to spell all the words of a language correctly, is to write them many times over. Nothing fixes words in the mind like putting them upon paper. The eye is a much better remembrancer than the ear, and the hand is a still better than the eye. For this reason it is that I always recommend a great deal of writing. But, before I quit this head, I must notice the stops (or points), the marks and the accents; for these really make part of language as much as letters do. Some of those which I am going to give an account of here are used in both languages; but there are some of them which you will find are used in French and not in English. POINTS. These are four in number: the comma (,), la virgule; the semicolon (;), le point et la virgule; the colon (:), deux points; the full point (.), le point. MARKS. The mark of interrogation (?); that of admiration (!); that of parenthesis (); that of quotation ("). All the other marks, such as * t || IF, are merely used for the purpose of directing the eye of the reader to some note, or other matter to be referred to by direction of the writer. c 18 GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND ITS BRANCHES. The foregoing are common to both languages. Those which follow are not used in English, except the hyplwi and the elision; and these are not used by us for pur- poses at all resembling those for which they are, in numerous cases, used by the French. ACCENTS AND MARKS peculiar to the French. The hypJien (-), as in vient-il? Is he coming] The elision ('), as in c' in cest lui, and in thousands of instances. The cedilla, or cedUle, I have men- tioned before. It is the tail to the c, thus (f). The diaresis ("), called trema, in French; it serves to part two vowels, which, joined together, would form a dipWwng. Then there are the acute accent ('), the grave ( v ) and the circumflex accents ( A ). These last are things of great im- portance ; for des and des are different words ; so are a and a, la and Id, ou and ou, du and du. These accents, therefore, must be attended to very carefully. MUTE LETTERS. The e is called mute in some cases, and so is the h : that is to say, when they are not sounded in speaking the words of which they make a part. CAPITAL LETTERS. These are used at the 'beginning of every sentence, set off by & full-point ; and at the beginning of all proper names. In some other cases also, according to the taste of the writer. There is no law of grammar regulating this matter. Custom does a good deal, and that prescribes the use of capitals in writing the names of the days of the week and the names of the months, and in many other cases. 25. PROSODY means neither more nor less than PROSODY. 19 what is expressed by the more common and better understood word PRONUNCIATION; that is to say, the using of the proper sound and the employing of the due length of time in the uttering of syllables and words. To lay down principles, or rules, in writing, relative to pronunciation, seems to be a thing absurd upon the very face of it; because no one letter, no combination of letters, has any fixed sound or measure ; but varies, in both respects, with a great variety of circumstances. The sounds which some grammarians attempt to describe as being those of the several letters of the French alphabet, are, in fact, by no means perfect, and are only the sounds in certain cases. In other cases they are different. Indeed, it is impossible to write rules that can be of any real use, relative to the sound of letters. No man can describe, by writing, the different sounds of our th; and when you are told that the word Frangais is to be pronounced Frawnsey, or nearly so, of what use is it to write you down the sounds of the a, the i, anil the s ? When you are told, that the word parleraient Js to be pronounced parlerey, or as nearly as possible to that, what use can there be in giving you the sounds of the a, the i, the e, the ?^, and the t ? Again, perdreaux is pronounced peardro. It is, therefore, worse than a waste of time to attempt to give written rules relative to the pronunciation of individual letters; because such an attempt, while it cannot assist the learner, may, and indeed must, tend to mislead him. Nor has the same combination of letters the same sound in all cases. The variances, in this respect, are numerous. There are nearly a thousand words in the French language, which are very nearly the same in sound, but different in their letters. There are many words, each of which may 20 GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND ITS BRANCHES. mean different things; and some of them have one sound in one sense, and another sound in another sense. In short, to speak French in a manner at all resembling that of French people, or, indeed, in a manner to be understood by them, you must learn from the mouth of some one or more who can speak the language. In default of other assistance, tliere must be a teacher for this purpose. To understand what you read in French, and, of course, to translate from French into English; to write French words, and to put them properly into sentences, and, of course, to translate from English into French : these you may be able to do without a teacher, though not nearly so speedily as with one. But to speak, free from ludicrous impropriety, without the assistance of the speaking of others, is absolutely im- possible. You ought never, until you have been taught to pronounce, or except there be a teacher at your lbow, to attempt to pronounce a French word; for, having pronounced it viciously four or five times, it is Lard to get rid of the bad habit. To speak French any thing like well, you must be taught to open the mouth much wider than we, English, generally, or, indeed, ever do. The French say of us, that we bite our words ; that is to say, that we speak with our upper and lower teeth nearly close to each other. If we do not break ourselves of this, we never speak French even tolerably well. The harshness of our language leads us, in speaking, to slide over great numbers of our words, giving to each only a part, and sometimes a veiy small part, of its full pronunciation. This habit we naturally fall into in reading and in speaking French, unless we be, at the outset, kept constantly on our guard against it; and this sliding over is what the French language PROSODY. 21 will by no means bear. The result of these remarks is, that, though, as far as the understanding of what we- read in French, and as far as the writing of French, go, much may be done without any other assistance than that of books; but that, as to speaking with any degree of propriety, it never can be acquired without the aid of the speaking of others. When, however, we come to speak, then we find all the advantages of what we have learned from the Grammar; for then we know what words to use and how to place them ; which, with- out the study of Grammar, we can never know. This constitutes the difference between the scholar and his footman, both being of the same age, and both having the same opportunities of hearing French spoken. But, if the scholar have begun by pronouncing erroneously; if he have gone on, for even a little while, giving his English sounds to French words, it is ten to one that the footman, though he know not his letters, will, all his life-time, pronounce better than the scholar ; because he .jwill never have been misled. The age at which we begin to pronounce, is not of so much importance as is begin- ning properly, whenever we do begin. Some imagine that we can never speak French well unless we begin when very young. This is not the fact; I was twenty- six years old when I began to speak French ; and, in less than six months, French people used to take me for a Frenchman. To be sure, they are apt to stretch a point or two on the side of civility; but I really did speak the language tolerably well at the end of less . than six months ; and I ascribed this to my not having attempted to pronounce until I had competent assistance. In paragraph 17, 1 told you that I should, in this place, give you some instructions how to proceed in learning 22 GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND ITS BRANCHES. to read French. There will be no necessity for my giving you any matter merely to read, and to learn to pronounce from; for what can be so good for this pur- pose as the lists of Articles and of the words of other parts of speech, which words will necessarily be inserted in lists, or tables, of this Grammar? Your first lesson in reading would be the Articles in Letter V. Your next, the Pronouns in Letter VII. The several classes of Pronouns would give you so many lessons in reading; and, observe, these words are short, and they occur in almost every sentence. You would next read, many times over, the verbs avoir and et-re. You would then read the other verbs. Then the lists of Prepositions and Conjunctions in Letters XL and XII. Then come back to the Xouns and Adjectives in Letters VI. and VIII. And after this there will be, at the end of the Grammar, ail the twenty Exercises translated into French; and I shall take care that these Exercises contain one, at least, of each class of words of difficult pronunciation. 26. ETYMOLOGY means the pedigree or relation- skip of words. The word write, for instance, expresses an action which we perform with our hands ; but, in some cases we have to say wrote, in others written, in others writing. Yet it is always the same action that is expressed; and therefore the words, though different as to the letters of which they are composed, spring from the same root and have a relationship to each other. Etymology teaches the principles and rules according to which the spelling of words is to be varied or altered: it teaches us when we ought to use write, when written, and so on. You will bear in mind that the general principles of Grammar are the same in both ETYMOLOGY SYNTAX. 23 languages ; but as to this business of varying the spell- ing of the words proceeding from the same root, it is, as you will by-and-by find, much more extensive in French than in English. This word write, for instance, is, in one case, ecrire, but, in others, it becomes ecris, ecrit, ecrivons, ecrivez, ecrivent, ecrivais, ecrivait, ecrivions, ecrir&mes, ecrivirent; and takes many other forms. The rules of Etymology teach us when we ought to make use of one of these forms, and when of the other. You must, therefore, see at once, that this Branch of the science is of great importance : and you must also see, that it is impossible to acquire any knowledge of the French language much beyond that which the capacity of a parrot would reach, without that sort of study upon which you are now entering. Etymology you will, in the next Letter, find dividing itself into several distinct parts. I have here aimed at giving you merely a general description of its nature and use. ' 27. SYNTAX means sentence-making. Etymology teaches us how to vary the forms of our words, how to make them agree or correspond with each other; it teaches us, for instance, to say he writes, and / write, and to avoid saying he write and / writes. But there re- mains something more than this to enable us to write or speak properly; because, not only must we use the proper words, but we must give to each word its proper situa- tion, its proper place in a sentence or collection of words. Suppose, for instance, I were to say, " There is a prin- " ciple in this science, from which we must never depart." There would be a doubt whether it were the principle or the science that must be adhered to ; but place the words thus : " There is, in this science, a principle, " from which we must never depart," and you know that 24 GRAMMAR GENERALLY, AND ITS BRANCHES. it is the principle to which we have to adhere. There- fore, even in the use of our own language, the rules of Syntax are of great use ; but, in the learning of French, they are of indispensable necessity; for, without a tolerably large stock of knowledge with regard to them, we never can arrive at anything approaching to perfec- tion in the language. The words, though the same in meaning, do not follow the same order, in the two languages. For instance : He has ten white liens. The French of this is, II a dix ponies blanches. That is to say, word for word, he has ten liens white. And, bad as this sounds in English, it does not sound worse than dix blanches poules would in French. I give you this merely as a specimen, and to explain to you the nature of what is called Syntax, for the want of duly study- ing the principles and rules of which, the French hear so many English speaking broken French, and we hear so many French speaking broken English. 28. I have now spoken to you of Language and of Grammar in general, and described to you the differ- ent Branches, or Divisions, of the latter. You will bear in mind, that we have nothing further to do with ORTHOGRAPHY, except that we must always remember what has been said towards the close of paragraph 24. You will also bear in mind, that you are not to attempt to meddle with PROSODY, or Pronunciation, unless at the stage, and under the cir- stances, already fully mentioned. We have now to enter on the study of Etymology, which is, indeed, the most important part of our undertaking. Let me beg of you L o proceed steadily on: not to be in haste; not to be in. patient : and, if you follow this advice, you will soon hav ^ reason to be proud of what you have learned. LETTER IY. ETYMOLOGY: THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH, OR SORTS OF WORDS, MY DEAR BlCHARD, 29. ETYMOLOGY has been described to you in the foregoing Letter. It treats, as you have seen, of the relationship of words, of which you have seen an, example in paragraph 26. Treating, then, of the relationship of words, it first divides the words into several distinct sorts, as we would plants for a garden, before we begin to place them in rows or clumps. You will, by-aud-by, see the use of this j but, in the present ^Letter, I have to describe to you these several different sorts of words, which grammarians call Parts of Speech^ and which they name thus : ENGLISH. Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections. FRENCH. Articles, Noms, Pronoms, Adjectifs, Verbes, Adverles, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections. 30. These names are so much alike in both languages, that you will be apt to suppose that the languages themselves differ, throughout, very little from each other; but these are words taken from the more ancient into both these modern languages, whence comes 26 ETYMOLOGY. the close resemblance in this particular case. You will observe, that, to whatever Part of Speech any English word belong, the French word which has the same meaning belongs also; it is the same sort of word in both languages, just as a tulip is the same sort of flower, whether it grow in a French or in an English garden. Thus the word tree is, in French, arbre. The word tree is a noun, and the word arbre also. 31. I shall, by-and-by, have to tell you things of tliis sort ; namely, that, in French, you must, in certain cases, place the pronoun before the verb, and not after it as in English. For instance : John gives you a pen. You must write Jean vous donne une plume : that is, John you gives a pen : and not, Jean donne vous une plume. In short, I shall be continually talking to you about Articles, Nouns, and the rest of these Parts of Speech. My instructions will, indeed, consist of rules relative to Iww you ought to write and how you ought to place Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, and the rest of the sorts of words. It is, therefore, as you will clearly see, necessary that you know, as soon as possible, how to distinguish one sort of words from another. To enable you to do this, or, rather, to open the matter to you, the remaining paragraphs of the present Letter are intended. 32. APcTICLES. In English there are but two, namely, the and a. Before a vowel, or an h mute, a becomes an; but it is only another shape for the same word. There being then only the and a, no further explanation is necessary in order to distinguish our Articles from the other Parts of Speech. With the French, however, the matter is not so easy; for though they have only two Articles, le and un, these, and par- NOUNS PRONOUNS ADJECTIVES. 27 ticularly the former, frequently change their form ; the former unites itself so very oddly with prepositions ; and. both consist of the same letters of which words of other Parts of Speech consist ; so that it is a matter of great importance to distinguish them from those other Parts of Speech. Articles are little words put before other words : as, the stick, a horse ; in French, le baton, un cheval. 33. NOUNS. The word noun means name, and nothing more. Every word that stands for, or that speaks to us of, anything (alive or dead), that has a substance, such as we can see, is a noun; as man, tree, fire-, whence some grammarians call this sort of words substantives. But there are other nouns; as pride, truth, conscience, thought, misery, distress, pleasure, joy, and the like, which have no substance, and therefore substantive is an inadequate appellation. Every word that expresses anything that has an existence or being, is a noun : and more complete than this it is impossible to make our definition. 34 PRONOUNS. This word is composed of two Latin words, which mean for and names. So that Pronouns stand for nouns. Thus lie is a Pronoun, because we say, John was ill, but HE is now well. So, also, which is a Pronoun, because we say, the horses WHICH you bought are good. There are many pronouns and many important rules relating to them ; but I am, in this place endeavouring merely to give you some idea of what this Part of Speech is. 35. ADJECTIVES. The word Adjective, in its literal sense, means something added. In Grammar it means a word added to a noun, in order to express something belonging to it which it i? necessary for us to 28 ETYMOLOGY. know. For instance : send me a BLUE coat. If I had no Adjective whereby to express the colour, I should be able to say merely that I wanted a coat. In French, this phrase would be, envoyez-moi un habit BLEU. That is to say, send me a coat blue, and not a blue coat; and though it would be shockingly bad English to say coat blue, it would not be less bad French to say bleu habit. You will by-and-by find rules about placing the Adjectives, which are, in some cases, to come before, and in others after, the Nouns; and therefore it is necessary to know, as soon as possible, how to distin- guish Adjectives from other words. Words of this sort express the qualities of Nouns, as good, bad, in- different; their appearances, as handsome, ugly; their dimensions, as long, short, shallow, deep, high, low ; their colours, and various other circumstances belonging to them. If you take time to compare them with Nouns, you will soon discover the difference ; for you will find that the Adjectives speak of what has no existence of itself. For instance, great. This is nothing of itself; but put it before the Noun man, joy, or the like, and it has sense in it. 36. VERBS express all the different actions and movements of all creatures or things, whether alive or dead. To ivalk, to speak, to grow, to moulder, to work, and the like. In these cases there is movement, either visible or understood. To love, to hate, to think, to remember^ though the movement is not so readily per- ceived, we, on reflection, discover movements of the heart and mind. But to sit, to sleep, to rot, are also verbs; for they describe states of being, states in which things are ; and, therefore, they are verbs. Yerbs are, then, words, the use of which is to express the actions, VERBS ADVERBS PREPOSITIONS. 29 the movements, and the state or manner of being of all creatures or things, whether animate or inanimate. In paragraph 31,1 gave you an instance of the necessity of being able to distinguish one part of speech from another. I said that, I should have to instruct you to put, in certain cases, the pronoun before the verb, and not after it, as in English. It was this : Jean vous DONNE une plume. That is, word for word, John YOU GIVES a pen. Vous is the pronoun and donne the verb. But when I lay down a rule like this, it can be of no use to you, unless you know what words are pronouns and what words are verbs. You see, therefore, how necessary it is to know how to distinguish one part of speech from another, and each part from all the rest. 37. ADVERBS are so called because they are added to verbs; but this is not an adequate description of their use; for they are as frequently otherwise employed. They are, indeed, added to verbs, as, he writes neatly. Writes is the verb, and neatly the adverb. But there are many adverbs which are not added to verbs ; but that express, or point out, time, place, and degree. Their business is to express some circumstance in addition to .all that is expressed by the Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs ; as, He writes a VERY good hand. We, without the Adverb very, know that he writes, and that he writes a good hand: but the adverb is necessary to inform us, that this goodness is in a high degree. 38. PREPOSITIONS are so called because their position is generally before, or previous to, that of the Nouns to which they apply. They are the little words in, to, for, from, of, by, with, and several others. The French words, which answer to these and the rest of our Prepositions, are, you will bear in mind, Preposi- 30 ETYMOLOGY. tions in that language also. This is a class of words, few in number, and soon distinguished from all others. 39. CONJUNCTIONS have this name given them, because they conjoin, or join togetlwr, words, or parts of sentences; as, Richard AHT> William write; BUT tliey do not ride. Thus you see the word and joins together Richard and William, and by the means of this junction, makes the word write apply to them both. The word BUT connects the two parts of the sentence : and thus does every part of the sentence apply to the two Nouns that are the subject of it. 40. INTERJECTIONS. This name arises from two Liatin words, which mean something thrown between. The Interjections are Oh! Ah! Alas! Poh! and some others, which are, indeed, not words; they make no part of what we call language; they are mere sounds, and ought not to be reckoned a Part of Speech any more than hissing, hooting, crying, coughing, or sneezing, ought to be reckoned such. The French say, for instance, Bah! where we say Poh! It is all mere noise, wholly unworthy of our attention, and has been mentioned by me only for the purpose of expressing my disapproba- tion of the conduct of those who have considered it a fart of Speech. 41. Even the most attentive study of the contents of this Letter will not enable you to know, in all cases, what Part of Speech a word belongs to. To obtain this knowledge in perfection is a work of time, steady pur- suit, and patience. Your understanding of what you have now read will, at first, be confused; and you will, at times, be ready to think that you shall never succeed in your object. But you must take heart, and remem- ber what I said before, that nothing valuable can be INTERJECTIONS. '31 honourably gained without labour of some sort or other. You should also bear in mind, that in proportion to the greatness of the difficulty of your undertaking is the smallness of the number of those who overcome it. In war the maxim is, the greater the danger the greater the glory; in learning, it is according to the labour that the meed is apportioned. 42. Let me, before I put an end to this Letter, give you an instance of a sentence, in which you will find words belonging to all the Parts of Speech ; thus, the brown horse and the gray mare which ran swiftly in the field. The word the is an Article; horse, mare, and field, are Nouns; which is a Pronoun; ran is a Ferb; swiftly is an Adverb; in. is a Preposition; and is a Conjunction. In order to try yourself a little, it is a very good way to take any sentence in a book, and to write down on a piece of paper, against each word, the ^art of Speech which you think it belongs to : then look for the words, one by one, in the Dictionary. You find an a against Articles; s against Nouns, because they are also called Substantives; adj. against Adjec- tives; pro. against Pronouns; v. a. against Yerbs Active; v. n. against Yerbs Neuter; adv. against Adverbs; prep. against Prepositions; and con. against Conjunctions. These marks are the same in the French as in the English Dictionary, except that in the case of Nouns, or Substantives, you will, in the French, find, besides the s, an m or an/; that is to say, masculine or femi- nine] because, as you will find by-and-by, every French Noun is either masculine or feminine, which makes one of the great differences between that language and ours. 43. One thing more relative to the Parts of Speech you ought here to be informed of; namely, that what 32 ETYMOLOGY. one would call the same word often belongs to two Parts of Speech. For instance, / RECORD a deed. Here record is a Verb; but in, / put the deed upon RECORD, the same word is a Noun. In truth, however, it is not the same word: it is the same assemblage of letters, but not the same word; nor, indeed, has it the same sound. In French le is sometimes an Article, and at others a Pronoun. It is thus with a great number of words in both languages. It is their meaning, and not merely the letters of which they are composed, that determines the Part of Speech to which they belong. 33 LETTER Y. ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES. MY DEAR RICHARD, 44. Before you enter on this Letter, look again at paragraph 32. You there see, that, in our language, we have only two articles, a and the. The first some- times, as you saw, becomes an; but, it is still the same word, the difference in the spelling being merely for the purpose of harmony of sound. This is called the inde- finite article, because a noun, when it has this article prefixed to it, only serves to point out the kind of per- son or thing spoken of, without defining what person or what thing; as, A horse is dead. But, when we say, THE horse is dead, we speak of some particular horse known to the person to whom we are speaking. The tf/i^is, therefore, called the definite article. 45. The use of our own articles is so well known to ourselves, that it will be unnecessary to enlarge upon that here : my chief business in this place is to teach you the manner of using the French articles, which are also two in number, un and le, answering to our a and the; but, as you are now going to see, these two French articles assume many forms, and some of these very different from the forms in which you here see them. The first of them is, as with us, called the indefinite article, and the other the definite; and they are used, of course, according to the principle stated in paragraph 44. 46. The indefinite article un is, then, put before nouns which merely point out the kind of the person or thing spoken of; as, un livre, a book. But, here we begin to see the difference in the two languages; for D 34 ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES. every noun in French is either of the masculine or the feminine gender, and the article varies in its form, that is to say, in its spelling, to correspond with the gender of the noun to which it is prefixed. Un is the mascu- line, and une the feminine, of this indefinite article; so that we must say, un livre, a book ; but we must say, une plume, a pen, because livre is masculine and plume feminine. 47. This is the only variation of form to which, as an article, this word is liable. But, the same word, or rather the same assemblage of letters, is not always an article. It is sometimes an adjective; that is to say, when it expresses number, answering to our one; for the French say, un, deux, trois, as we say one, two, three; and this is the reason why we hear French people say one man, and the like, when they should say a man. Not having learned English grammatically, they confound the article with the adjective. It is the same word, or rather the same assemblage of letters in their language, but it is not the same in ours. Besides this, the un is sometimes a pronoun, in like manner as our one is; as, neitlier tJie ONE nor the other. In French, ni Z*UN ni fautre. But, here is a further variation to agree with the number as well as with the gender of the nouns. If, in the example just given, we are speaking of livres, books, which are masculine, we say ni TUN ni Tautre; if of plumes, pens, which are feminine, we say ni ?UNE ni Tautre; if of parcels of books, we say, ni les UNS ni les autres; and if of parcels of pens, ni les UNES ni les autres; while, you will observe, we have, in the use of our one, no variations of this sort, unless, indeed, that we do sometimes say, good ones, bad ones, and the like. I have here got out of my subject; for I am not now to talk of adjectives and pronouns; but the DIFFERENCE OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARTICLES. 3f French un, which answers to our article a, being some- times an adjective and sometimes a pronoun, I was .obliged to mention that circumstance here. 48. Though the paragraph which you have just read anticipates a little ; though it does not, strictly speak- ing, belong to the etymology of articles, it may serve to prevent you from confounding this indefinite article with the adjective, or the pronoun composed of the same letters. The 46th paragraph concludes the sub- ject of the indefinite article; and now we come to the definite article, Avhich, as you have been told, is le, answering to our the. 49. Our definite article is, in all cases, the same. It never changes its form at all. Whatever may be the noun before which it is placed, it is always composed of the same letters. It is always the. Whereas the French definite article takes, according to circumstances, ail the following different forms: le } la, V, les, du, des, au, aux. In the four last forms the word is a compound: it is an article united with the prepositions de, of, and a, to. Thus, du means de le, of the, in the singular; des means de les, of the, in the plural ; au means a le, to the, in the singular; and aux means a les, to the, in the plural. And here you perceive that what is expressed by a single word in one language, requires two words in the other. This you will find to be frequently the case. 50. However, this is sufficient about the article at present, because, in order clearly to understand the rules relative to the use of it; in order to understand when one of these forms is to be used, and when the other, you must first learn something about the branches, genders, numbers, and cases of nouns, and this you will learn from the next Letter. 36 LETTER YI. ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 51. In paragraph 33, I have described wJiat a Noun is; that is to say, what are the marks by which you are to distinguish Nouns from words belonging to other Parts of Speech. You must now read that paragraph again, for you are now entering on the Etymology of this Part of Speech ; and you have seen in paragraph 26 (which you will now read again), that Etymology teaches us the principles and rules according to which we are to vary the form or spelling of words. 52. In a Noun there are to be considered the Branches, the Genders, the Numbers, and the Cases; and these must all be carefully attended to. 53. THE BRANCHES. Nouns are divided into Proper and Common. The proper are such as are the names of particular individuals, as, Richard, London, England. The Common are the names of all the indi- viduals of a kind, as, Man, City, Country. There are, indeed, many men named Richard, and there is a London and an England in America ; but these names are not applicable to all men, all cities, and all coun- tries. Though many pointers go by the same name, such as Don, yet this is not a common Noun, like pointer, or dog, the first of which is applicable to all pointers, and the last applicable to all dogs. Such are the two Branches of Nouns; and this, simple as it appears, is a matter for you to attend to, because you THE GENDERS. 37 will find, by-and-by, that the manner of using .the other words which are employed with Nouns, will depend upon whether the Nouns themselves be proper or common; and this is the case to a much greater extent in French than it is in English. Proper Nouns are always, in all languages, made to begin, whether in manuscript or in print, with a capital letter, as in this sentence : RICHARD knows several of the MEN who live in the most of our CITIES, but he knows only THOMAS in that of BRISTOL. "We do, indeed, employ capital letters in some other cases, of which I shall say more in another place; but we always employ them at the beginning of proper nouns. 54. THE GENDERS. Here we come to that which forms one of the great differences in the two languages. In our language, the Nouns, or names, of males are masculine; those of females are feminine ; and ^ose of inanimate things, or of creatures the sex of which we do not know, are neuter. Thus, in speaking of a man, we say he; of a woman, she; of a house, it. In speaking of living creatures, the sex of which we do not know, we use the neuter gender; for though we call a cock a he, and a hen a she, we call a fowl an it. In speaking of a child, we say it; but this is only when we do not know whether the child be a male or a female. We do, indeed, in a sort of figurative way, sometimes call irrational animals hes; for instance, when we are speaking of birds or beasts as a race, and when we use the singular number instead of the plural; as, the lark sings well; the horse is a useful animal ; that is to say, larks sing well, Jwrses are useful animals. Now, if we have in this case to use the pro- noun, we very frequently say he (the lark) sings well; 38 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. he (the horse) is a useful animal. Some few birds and beasts and insects, we, when we speak thus figurative- ly, call shes. But neither being strictly grammatical, there can be no rule about the matter. We generally call the owl a she. This is all mere accident ; and he would be as proper; because neither is proper, strictly speaking. 55. How different the French language as to this matter ! In French every Noun is of the masculine or of the feminine, whether it be the name of a living creature or not. The names of living creatures that are males are, indeed, of the masculine gender, and those that are the names of females are of the feminine gender; but the names of all other things are either masculine or feminine. Panier (basket), for instance, is masculine; and table (table) feminine. This would be nothing, if it were merely calling them masculine and feminine. But the articles, the adjectives, and the pronouns must vary their form, or spelling, to agree with the genders of the nouns. We say the basket, the table; but the French say le panier, and la table. We say, the round basket, the round table ; but they must say, le panier rond, and la table ronde. We say, speaking of a basket, it is round, and we say the same of a table ; but they say, speaking of a basket, U est rond, and speaking of a table, elle est ronde. 56. Thus, you see, it is absolutely necessary to know what gender a noun is of before you use it. If I am speaking of wine, I must call it fa (il) ; but if I am speaking of beer, I must call it she (elle). Now, then, Jiow are we, when we are about to use a noun, to know whether it be masculine or feminine 1 How are we to come at this knowledge? In the Dictionary, as I THE GENDERS. 39 observed in paragraph 42, you will find against every noun either s. m. or s. f. The former means Substan- tive (or Noun) masculine, and the latter Substantive (or Noun) feminine. And this, after all that Gram- marians can do ; after all the rules that they can give, is the only sure way of learning (from books) the Gender of the French Nouns. MONSIEUR RESTAUT, in his " General Principles of French Grammar,'" makes the Scholar put this question to the Master : " How are " we to know of what gender nouns are ? " The answer of the master is this : " The nouns before which we can "put le or un are masculine, and the nouns before " which we can put la or une are feminine ; as le livre, "un livre; la plume, une plume." This is very good for those who already /know the cases which demand those different Articles respectively; but MONSIEUR RESTAUT does not tell others how they are to know it, which was the very thing that was wanted. MONSIEUR EESTAUT'S rule for knowing the gender of Nouns is excellent for those who know the gender of Nouns, and quite useless to everybody else. But MONSIEUR RESTAUT was writing a Grammar of the French language for the use of French people, who had, from their infancy, heard the le put before some words, and the la before others. It is a very different matter when the learner is of another nation. 57. Are there any rules, then, by which we English people can know the gender of French nouns? There are ; but so numerous are those rules, and so numerous the exceptions, that it is impossible for them to be of any use at all to the learner. The rules are ten or twelve in number; and the exceptions are many hun- dreds. The way which these rules point out for you 40 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. to know the gender of a noun is, by looking at the termination or ending of it. Thus, for instance, one rule says, that nouns ending in ion are of the feminine gender; but there are from twenty to thirty exceptions to this one rule; and while you must say la nation, you must say le scorpion. There are more than three score different terminations, if you go back to the fourth letter from the end of the word. So that there might be three score rules, and even these must have, in the whole, many scores of exceptions. To show the folly of all attempts to reduce this matter to rule, we have only to know that there are more than a hundred nouns which are masculine in one sense and feminine in another sense. And, after all this, there come the numerous nouns ending in an e mute, or not sounded. Of this description of nouns there are, perhaps, many more than a thousand, and there are about as many of them of one gender as of the other. What, then, can MONSIEUR DE LEVIZAC mean by the following words in his Grammar? " The gender of nouns, in inanimate " objects, is generally expressed by their terminations; " thus, final e mute is the distinctive mark of the " feminine gender, and every other final letter is the " sign of the masculine. This would be an excellent " rule were it universal, but this is far from being the " case." Far, indeed! For, in the first place, there are as many masculines as feininines with a final e mute. How, then, can the final e mute be the distinctive mark of the feminine gender? Then, of the nouns which end in eur, ion, and in some other letters, the greater part are feminines. How, then, can every final letter other than e mute be the sign of the masculine gender? 58. After this, MONSIEUR DE LEVIZAC proceeds to THE GENDERS. 41 lay down what lie calls " concise rules" for ascertaining the gender. These " concise rules" occupy eight pages of print, and present a mass of perplexity, to unravel which would demand more time than would be required to write down all the nouns in the Dictionary with an article to each, and to get the whole by heart; and after all these eight pages of " concise rules," MONSIEUR DE LEVIZAC is compelled to leave all the nouns in final e mute to take their chance ! MONSIEUR CHAMBAUD has twenty-four rules, each with exceptions, and some with numerous exceptions; and, after all, he also leaves the nouns in final e mute nearly to take their chance. MONSIEUR PALAIRET, after giving five rules with their exceptions, comes to his sixth rule, which is, that nouns in final e mute are feminine, " except the following; " and then comes a list of about jive hundred nouns, and even to these are to be added many which he says helias omitted " for shortness." MONSIEUR PORNY, after giving nine rules with their exceptions, says that the " surest way is to refer to the Dictionary;" and yet he has, in a Note, this strange observation : " This advice "is not given on a pretence of the impossibility of "reducing the gender of our Nouns to rules, as a "certain Grammarian asserts; but on account that " there can be no rules drawn on this intricate subject "but what must be accompanied with many excep- " tions ; and the whole, of course, would, perhaps, prove " more perplexing to beginners than instructive." Pass- ing over the bad English of MONSIEUR PORNY, I agree with him that the attempt to reduce the gender of the French Nouns to rules would be more perplexing than instructive; and I so well remember that the perplexity which I experienced from reading rules on this subject 42 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. gave me such disgust, and was so near driving me away from the study of the language, that I shall take good care not to expose you to the effects of reading such rules. 59. MONSIEUR PORNY calls this an intricate subject. It is by no means intricate, any more than would be the task of separating the grains of wheat from those of barley when mixed together in a sack. It is a matter of mere labour, with some memory, and requires no reflection, no reasoning, as in the case of distin- guishing the Parts of Speech from each other. The subject is not, therefore, intricate; and though it requires labour, this is rendered wearisome and dis- gusting only by the vain attempts to subject it to rules. 60. You are not to encounter the whole of this labour yet; but I shall now give you some instructions how to proceed to know the gender of nouns, which, as you have already been informed, is a thing of indis- pensable necessity to the learning of French. 61. In the first place, all nouns that are masculine in English are masculine in French, and it is the same with the feminines; that is to say, the names of all 'males are of the first, and the names of all females of the last. But if, as is observed in paragraph 54, the Noun relate to a living creature, and do not express the sex, then the Noun, in French, is masculine or feminine, as it may happen. Thus, corbeau (raven) is masculine, and perdrix (partridge) is feminine; for these do not express the sex, but merely the kind. When the French Noun expresses the sex, as coq (cock), or poule (hen), it is masculine or feminine, as in our language. So far the French language follows THE GENDERS. 43 the order of nature ; but it has no neuter gender. It makes everything either a male or a female, as was explained in paragraph 55. 62. To the rule just given, and according to which the names of all males are of the masculine gender, and those of all females of the feminine gender, there are a few seeming exceptions, that I must notice, such as sentinelle, a sentinel; patrouille, the patrol; garde, a guard of soldiers; majeste, majesty; Saint Michel, the feast of St. Michael. But, in fact, it is not the men, but their office or occupation, and the feast of the Saint, that these French words, which are feminine, express. 63. I have one more remark to make before I come to my instructions how to proceed to know the genders of other nouns. Some words are of both genders; that is to say, they are sometimes of one and sometimes of the other. They, like some words in English, some- times^ mean one thing and sometimes another. "We, for instance, have jack, the name of a, fish, and jack, to roast with. The French have livre, a look, and lime, a pound; and with them the first of these is masculine, and the other feminine; and, accordingly, we must say, le livre, in the first case, and la livre in the last. They have many of these words of double meaning; but the genders of these, as well as of all the rest, will soon be learned by the method that I am now going to point out, by telling you, what I myself did in order to learn the genders. 64. I made a paper book, in the octavo form, and divided each page into three columns, by lines drawn down the page. Then I took the Dictionary, and wrote down, all the Nouns in it. When I had filled the first column I began the next, and proceeded thus 44 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. until I had written down all the Nouns in the Dictionary. The Dictionary told me what gender each Noun was of, and I prefixed to it an Article, either indefinite or definite, corresponding with that gender. It took me about ten days to do this; and I had wasted weeks on the rules about genders without being able to make top or tail of the matter. When I had once written every Noun with its Article, I had done a good deal. I then looked at this book of my own making forty or fifty times over; so that, in a few days, my eye, when I was translating from English into French, told me almost instantly whether I was right or wrong as to the gender. If I had had a master to read to, and had read my book to him, the ear, as well as the eye, would have assisted me; but even without such aid I found, in a short time, very little difficulty with regard to the gender, which presents, beyond all comparison, the most laborious task that we have to perform in learning the French language. 65. But, as I observed just now, you are not yet to enter on this part of your undertaking. This practical part will come by-and-by; and then I shall have again to give you some instructions on the subject. I have here been explaining to you the nature of the genders, and showing you how the French language differs from ours in respect to them. I, therefore, now quit the genders and go to the Numbers. 66. NUMBERS. We may have to speak of per- sons and things that are collected together; that. is to sav, when there is more of them than one to be spoken of. The Noun must, then, have two Numbers, one to be used when we are speaking of a single person or thing, and the other when we are speaking of more NUMBERS. 45 than one. The Noun has two Numbers accordingly; the one called the singular, and the other the plural. The latter word means belonging to more. The sin- gular belongs to one, the plural to more than one. 67. The next thing to be considered is, how the plural Noun is designated so as to be distinguished from the Singular. This is generally done, in English, by adding an s to the singular ; as day, days. And the very same is the general rule in French; as chien, chiens. But, in both languages, there are some ex- ceptions to this general rule. The exceptions are not very numerous; and may, with proper industry, be soon pretty well fixed in the mind. In English, when the singular Noun ends in ch, sh, s, or x, there requires es to be added to form the plural, as church, churches. A singular ending in y changes the y into ies to form the plural; as quality, qualities; but, if a vowel im- mediately precede the y, you only add an s; as day, days. Singulars ending in f generally change the f into ves to make the plural. Some few Nouns have their plural in n; as oxen. Some few Nouns have no singular number, and some have no plural; as tongs, and gold. Nouns expressing moral qualities and feelings have generally no plural ; as honesty, meekness. Some few Nouns form their plural by changing several of the letters of which the singular is composed; as mouse, mice; goose, geese. And a few are the same words in both numbers; as deer and sheep. 68. Such is the case with regard to our English Nouns; and this is much about the case with the French Nouns. But, let me observe here, that the irregularity in one language is not found, except by Tnere chance, in the same word as in the other language. 46 ETYMOLOGY OP NOUNS. There are Four Rules for forming the plurals of French Nouns; the first is the general rule; the rest form exceptions to it. RULE 1. The plural is formed by adding an s to the singular; as, chien, dog; chiens, dogs; dia- mant, diamond; diamants, diamonds; loi, law; lois, laws. This is the general rule; but tout and gent are exceptions, and change the t into 8 in the plural, as tous, all; gens, people. KULE 2. Nouns ending in s, x, or z, are the same in both numbers; as, unfits, a son; deux fils, two sons ; le noix, the nut ; les noix, the nuts ; le nez, the nose ; les nez, the noses. BULE 3. Nouns ending in au, eau, eu, oeu, ieu, ou, form their plurals by taking an x } instead of an s; as, un chapeau, a hat; deux chapeaux, two hats; un chou, a cabbage; deux choux, two cabbages. But there are these exceptions with regard to nouns ending in ou ; namely, COM, trou, clou, filou, licou, neck, hole, nail, pickpocket, halter. fou, matou, kibou, loup-garou, fool, a he cat. owl. a ferocious man. These follow the general rule, and make, in their plurals, cous, trous, clous, and so on. RULE 4. Nouns ending in al and ail change these letters into aux to form their plural; as, un mal, an evil ; plusieurs maux, many evils ; un travail, a work; plusieurs travaux, many works. But there are these exceptions as to nouns ending in al: bal, ball (or dance); pal, pale in heraldry; cal, callous skin; car naval, carnival; regal, regale; NUMBERS. 47 all which follow the general rule, and take simply an s for the formation of the plural ; as, un bal, a ball ; trois bals, three balls, and so on. The following Nouns, ending in ail, follow the general rule, and form their plurals by adding an s to the singulars : attirail, camail, detail, (ventail, epouvantail, splendid train. a priest's dress. detail. fan. scarecrow. gouvernail, I helm. mail, portail, serail, travail, mail, portal, seraglio, travail. Besides these rules, with their exceptions, it is to be observed that there are several nouns which have no plural, and several which have no singular; as, bonheur, happiness, and hardes, clothes. The names of different sorts of grain, of herbs, of flesh, and of metals, have seldom any plurals in either language; and the things whic^i nature or art have made double, or in inseparable numbers, can seldom take nouns in the singular form. Then, there are some nouns so irregular as not to admit of being reduced to any thing like rule ; as, ceil, eye ; yeux, eyes. 69. It would be useless to give lists of these here, because such lists could only tend to load the memory. The above rules are quite sufficient for all purposes connected with the formation of the plural of nouns. They are clear and short, and will, if written down by you several times, not fail to be a competent guide. You will observe, that it is unnecessary to swell out a book of this kind with matters that are fully explained in the Dictionary. If, for instance, you want to know what eye is in French, the Dictionary says ceil; and lest you should think that the plural is formed by adding an s to the singular, the Dictionary tells you that the 48 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. plural of ceil is yeux. This is the true way of learning* with respect to numbers and genders, all that cannot be reduced to short and certain rule. I must make a remark here relative to the manner of writing the above tables. The rules of grammar require that there should be a CAPITAL LETTER to begin the word which comes next after a full point. I have not observed this rule in the tables and conjugations, because it would have been, in some cases, inconvenient in point of space. 70. CASES. The word case, as used in teaching grammar, means state, situation, or position. A. noun may be, at different times, in different states, or situa- tions, with regard to other nouns in the same sentence. For instance, a noun may be the name of a man who strikes a horse, or of one who possesses a horse, or of one whom a horse kicks. These different situations or states are called cases. You will presently see the necessity of this division of the situations of nouns into cases; fof you will find that articles, and some other words, used along with the nouns, vary tlieir form to agree with the different cases of the nouns. Therefore this is a matter of ^reat importance, and requires great care and attention. 71. In the Latin language each noun has several different endings, in order to denote the different cases in which it may be. In our language there is but one of the cases of nouns which is expressed, or denoted, by e change in the ending of the noun. In the French here is no such change to denote the case; and this you will see explained presently. 72. There are three cases; the Nominative, the Pos. sessive, and the Objective. The word nominative means najning ; the word possessive means relating to possession/ the word objective means relating to objects. CASES. 49 73. A noun is in the Nominative case, when it names or points out a person or thing which does something, or is something; as, Richard strikes, Richard is good. And, observe, it is the same in French; as, Richard frappe, Richard est bon. 74. A noun is in the Possessive case when it denotes a person or thing which possesses some other person or thing, or when there is one of the persons or things belonging to the other; as, Richard's hat, the mountain's top, the nation's fleet. And here you see that change in the ending of our English nouns, spoken of in paragraph 71. But, observe, this change is not absolutely neces- sary. We may always do without it if we please ; for, the hat of Richard is the same thing as Richard's hat. In French there is no such change; there we say, le chapeau de Richard, le haut de la montagne, laflotte de la nation. 75. A noun is in the Objective case, when the person or thing that it expresses or denotes is the object or end of some act, or of some movement; as, Richard strikes Peter; Richard gives a blow to Peter; Richard goes after Peter; falsehood leads to mischief; idleness is the nurse of vice. Here you see that all these nouns are in the objective case; that is to say, Peter, mischiej, and vice, are the object, the end, or the effect, of some- thing done or felt by some other person or thing, which is in the nominative case. 76. It would be useless to talk about these cases, seeing that inform or spelling of the noun is the same in all the cases; but when we come to the pronouns and verbs, you will soon find the necessity of attending very carefully to the cases of the nouns; that is to say, when we come to use the nouns along with the pro- E 60 ETYMOLOGY OP XOUXS. noims and the verbs; and this is, as you will find, more strikingly true in French than in English. But, before we come to them, we have to speak of the use of the definite article, the treating of which was, in paragraph 50, put off until we should come to the place where we now are. 77. Read Letter Y. all through again carefully, and then proceed with me. You see that our definite Article, the, never changes its form, but that the French Article, le, changes its form many tiroes; and as we have now spoken of the branches, genders, numbers, and cases of Nouns, you will the better understand me as I describe the mode of varying the form of the Article; for, in French, the Article varies in its form to agree with these various circumstances in the Noun. Sometimes the French Article is used before proper names, and sometimes not. "We say France is a great kingdom; fire burns. But they say, La France est un grand royaume ; le feu brule. "We say, speaking of mankind, Man; they say, PHomme. This, however, will be fully explained by-and-by, and especially when we come to the Syntax, where we shall see how the Article is used in sentences: at present, I have only to show you how it varies its forms to agree with the nouns before which it is placed. 78. The Article must agree with the noun in gender. You have been told, in paragraph 5-5, that panier (ba>ket) is masculine, and that table (table) is feminine. Now, then, of these two nouns the first takes the mas- culine article le, and the second the feminine article la. But this, you will observe, is only in the singular number; for, if the number be plural, the article is les, vhether the noun be masculine or feminine. This is ARTICLE AND NOUN. 51 not., however, always the case; for if the noun begin with a vowel, or with an h mute (not sounded), the e, or the a, is omitted in the article, a mark of elision is put over the place of the e, or the a, and the P is put before the singular nouns of both genders; as, I'oreiller, the pillow, which is masculine; and I'dme, the soul, which is feminine. These four nouns take the article as fol- lows : le panier, la table, roreiller, I'dme, the basket, the table, the pillow, the soul. les paniers, Us tables, ks oreillers, les the baskets, the tables, the pillows, the souls. The h mute is, in this respect, like the vowels. L'heure (hour), which is feminine, and Vhonneur (honour), which is masculine, both take the article in the same form ; but if the h be not mute, that is to say, if it be sounded in speaking, you must put the le or the la agreeably to the gender; as, le hibou (the owl), and la hache (the axe). But, observe, that, in all instances, the article for the plural is les. 79. We are now going to see how this definite French article unites itself with the little words de (of) and a (to). In paragraph 49 I have called it, when thus used, a compound. DE and A are prepositions, as you have seen in paragraph 38, which you will now look at again. De sometimes means/rom, and d, some- times has a meaning different from that of to; but, used before nouns, they generally answer to our q/and to. In speaking of a basket, instead of saying, de le panier, we must say du panier ; thus, this one word du answers to our two words of the. But if we are using a noun of the feminine gender, we must not say, du, but de la. Then, again, if the noun begin with a, vowel, or ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. an h mute, it must, whether it be of the masculine or of the feminine gender, have the de I; and in every instance the plural noun takes des for of the. Let us here take the same four nouns that we took in the last paragraphs. du panier, de la table, de roreiller, de I'dme, of the basket, of the table, of the pillow, of the soul. des paniers, des tables, des oreillers, des dmes, of the baskets, of the tables, of the pillows, of the souls. What was said in the last paragraph about the h mute applies here also ; and we therefore say, de ^heure, de Z'honneur, du hibou, and de la hache. 80. In like manner the French Article unites itself with the preposition a (to). In speaking of a basket, instead of saying a le panier, we must say au panier; that is to say, to the basket. But if our noun be of the feminine gender, we must use the two words ; we must not say au, but a la. Then, as in the case of du, comes the same rule about the h mute; and in the plural number, be the gender as it may, aux is the word that answers to our to the. Therefore the four nouns which we have already had twice before us, will again come before us thus : au panier, a la table, a roreiller, a Fame, to the basket. to the table. to the pillow, to the soul. aux pamers, aux tables, aux oreillers, aux dmes, to the baskets, to the tables, to the pillows, to the souls. Bear in mind what was said at the close of the last paragraph about the h mute and the h sounded, and then you will perceive that we must say a Theure, a Fhonneur, au hibou, a la hache. 81. Now, if you pay strict attention to the three last paragraphs; if you read them over in the manner that I have directed, and write them down on paper, you ARTICLE AND NOU17. 53" will soon see no difficulty in the matter, though the" French Article is applied to the Nouns in so many forms, while ours always retains the same form, and though in some of the instances above given, the French say in one word what we say in two. Let me go, here, a little out of my way, in order to inform you, that you will find the like of this to a great extent by-and-by. We say, to write, to read, and the like ; but they say, ecrire, lire. We say, you will write; but they say, vous ecrirez; making use of two words where we make use of three. The reason of this will appear very clearly to you by-and-by; but the thing itself I have just men- tioned here, to guard you against expecting to find the two languages answering each other word for word. 82. But we have not yet done with the use of the Article with nouns. As far as relates to common nouns, takpa in a definite sense ; that is to say, when we are speaking of particular persons or things by names com- mon to all of the kind, the above rules make all clear enough. But there are three other views to take of" the use of the Article with nouns; first, when the noun is the name of persons or things of whom or of which there is but one in the universe, or when it is the name of a species or sort; second, when the noun is a proper name; third, when the noun means a part, or parcel, or quantity of any thing. In all these respects the use of the French Article differs greatly from that of the English ; and this will be seen in the three fol- lowing paragraphs, to which I must beg you to pay strict attention. 83. When there is but one of the kind in the uni- verse, we, in English, sometimes make use of the Article with the noun ; and sometimes not. We say, God, 54 ETYMOLOGY OF XOUXS. Christ t Jieaven, li&ll. The French say Lieu, but they say le Christ, le del, lenfer. They, as well as we, say Id mer, the sea ; Pair, the air; la terre, the earth ; le soleil, the sun ; la lune, the moon. This is, however, a matter of such limited extent; there are so few nouns of this description, that you will very soon learn to avoid errors in applying the article to them. But when nouns are the names of whole species or sorts, the manner of applying the article in French is very differ- ent from that of applying it in English. We some- times, in English, in speaking of animals, make use of the singular number to express a whole kind, and then we use the article; as, the dog is faithful: and the French do the same ; as, le chien est fidele. Just take a look for a moment at paragraph 54, where this matter was before spoken of. In speaking of mankind we do not use the article. We say, for instance, man is the master of other animals. The French say rkomme. They adhere to the use of the article in eveiy such case. We, generally, in speaking of kinds, which consist of individuals, animate or inanimate, make use of the plural number, and, in such cases, use no article; as, baskets are useful, owls catch mice. But the French always put the article ; as, des paniers sont utiles, les hibous attrapent les souris. We sometimes, indeed, make use of the article in cases that appear to be like these ; but it is when we do not mean the whole of a kind. We say, for instance, the apples are dear, ike owls are numerous this year. But here we do not mean to speak of the whole of the kinds, but of the apples and of the owls that come somewhat within our observation and knowledge. The French make no distinctions of this sort; they always put the article. PROPER NAMES. 55 We, when we have to speak of things, the kinds of which admit not of individuality, such as sugar, water, wine, beer, and the like, do not use the article; as, sugar is sweet. But the French always use it ; as, le sucre est doux. We, as in the case of the apples just mentioned, sometimes use the article before these nouns expressing masses; but the French always do it. It is the same with regard to the nouns expressing the feelings and qualities of the mind, the virtues, the vices, and so forth. We say, for instance, friendship, shame, anger; they say, Z'amitie, la honte, la colere. 84. Next, as to proper names. You have seen, in. paragraph 53, what proper names, or nouns are. Just read that paragraph over once more, before you go on farther with this. Now, then, observe, we do not use articles before proper names of human beings, nor befof'e proper names given to animals of any sort. We sometimes make use of a sort of poetic license, and say the SWIFTS, or the RACINES, meaning men of the stamp of those celebrated writers ; and in the same sort of way, we say a SWIFT, or a RACINE. The French do the same; but this is a mere license, and has nothing to do with Grammar. But the French use the article with the proper names of countries, and in many other in- stances, when we do not, as you will find more fully explained when you come to the Syntax of Articles. 85. We now come to the noun, when used to express a part, a parcel, a quantity of persons, or things; and here the difference between the two languages is very great. We, generally, in these cases, make use of the word some; as, give me some wine; give me some beer; give me some apples. But the French know nothing at all of the word some, used in this sense. Their word 56 ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. quelque answers to our some, but they do not use it in the manner here spoken of. They use the article, united, as we have above seen it, with the preposition de (of), according to the gender and number of the noun, thus : Give me some wine, Donnez-moi du vin. Give me some beer, Donnez-moi de la biere. Give me some apples, Donnez-moi des pomrnes. That is to say, give me a part or quantity of tJie wine, and so on. But, observe, when there is an adjective that comes before the noun, the article is left out, and the preposition de (of) only is used; as, Give me some good wine, Donnez-moi de bon vin. Give me some good beer, Donnez-moi de bonne biere. Give me some good apples, Donnez-moi de bonnes pommes. The reason is, you see, the adjective changes to agree with the noun in gender and number; and, therefore, the article is not wanted. Here we have, give me of good wine] and so on, and not of the, as in the former cases. But, observe again, if the adjective come after the noun, then the article must be used; as, Give me some red wine. Donnez-moi du vin rouge. Give me some strong beer, Donnez-moi de la biere forte. Give me some ripe apples, Donnez-moi des pommes mures. That is to say, word for word; give me of the vnne red; give me of ike beer strong; give me of the apples ripe. And, strange as this seems to our ears, a French- man would not understand you if you were to say, Donnez-moi quelque rouge vin. Nay, if you were to say, rouge vin, forte biere, and mures pommes, he would wonder what you meant. Yet this is what you natu- rally would say, unless you were taught the principles and rules of Grammar. RECAPITULATION. 57 86. I have now gone through the Etymology of tJie Noun. I have considered it in its Branches, its Gen- ders, its Numbers, and its Cases; and I have, towards the close of this Letter, given an explanation of the use of the Article, which I could not so well give until I had laid before you an account of the Noun. I shall, in the next Letter, proceed to the Etymology of the Pronoun ; but before you enter on that, I beg you to read once more, very attentively, all the foregoing Letters. f 8 LETTER YIL ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 87. In paragraph 34 I described to you, in general terms, the nature and use of Pronouns. We are now going to treat of the etymology of this sort of words; that is to say, we are going to see how they vary their forms to suit themselves to the various circumstances in which they may be wanted to be used; and thisf variation of form we shall find much more extensive in the French than in the English Pronouns. 88. There are five Classes of pronouns: the Per- sonal; the Possessive; the Relative; the Demonstrative; and the Indeterminate. For you, in this early stage of your study, to be able to distinguish these Classes one from the other, is impossible. You will be able to do this by-and-by; but it is necessary for me to make the division into classes here; because I shall have, almost directly, to speak of Pronouns under these different denominations. 89. PERSONAL PRONOUNS are those which take the place of nouns. This office is, indeed, performed by all Pronouns, and hence comes their name. But the other Pronouns do not supply the place of nouns in 'the same way, and in a manner so complete. There are Three Persons: for instance, "/ am writing to you " about him" You see, then, that the pronoun which represents the person that speaks, is in the first person ; that which stands in the place of the name of the per- PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 59 son who is spoken to, is in the second person ; and that which stands in the place of the name of the person spoken of, is in the third person. This circumstance of person is a matter to be strictly attended to ; because, as you will by-and-by see, the verbs vary their endings to correspond with the person of the pronoun. 90. Pronouns of the First and Second Person vary their form to express number, and those of the Third Person to express gender also. And here we come to a comparison between the English and French in this respect. 1st Person, , 2nd Person, , 3rd Person, Masculine, Feminine, Neuter, SINGULAR. PLURAL. I je or moi. thou, tu. he, il she, elk. it we, nous. you, vous. they, Us. they, elks. they. Thus, you see, as was explained in paragraphs 54 and 55, the French have no neuter gender. All, with them, is male or female; so that they have no word to answer to our it; nor have they any use for such a word. In. speaking of a man we say, he is; of a stick, it is; but they have il est in both cases. Besides this, you see that, in the third person plural, we have only our they, whether we speak of males, females, or neuters. But they have a change in their pronoun to agree with the gender of the nouns that the pronouns represent. "Whether we speak of males, or of females, or of neuters, we say tJwy are, but the French, in speaking of males, say Us soiit, and of females, dies sont. 91. Besides the Number and Gender, there is the Case to be considered in these personal pronouns. In paragraphs from 72 to 77 inclusive, I explained the nature of the cases; and I there apprised you, that when 60 ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS you came to the pronoun, you would find that it had different endings, or, rather, that it assumed different forms, to accord with the different cases; as, I, me, lie, Mm, and so on. The following table will exhibit the difference between the English and the French in this respect; but there will still remain much to be ex- plained: SINGULAR NUMBER. Nominative. Possessive. Objective. 1st Person 2nd Person, 3rd i'erson, Masculine,.. Feminine,... Neuter, I, je. thou, tu, he, it she, tile. of me, de moi. of thee, de toi. of him, de lui. of her, d'elle. of it ' me, me, moi. thee, te, toi. him, le, lui. her, la, elle, lui. it Before we go to the Plural Number, we must pay a little attention to this table. You have been told about the numbers and genders before ; but here you see new changes to designate the cases, and you see that these changes are not nearly so frequent in English as in French. You see, in the objective case, me and moi for our me; you see le and lui for our him; you see la, elle, and lui for our her. Now, sometimes the one of these is used, and sometimes the other. When the one ought to be used, and when the other, the Syntax of Pro- nouns will teach you; but let me just give you an example here. Donnez-moi le baton que Jean me donna hier. That is, give me the stick that John gave me yesterday. The Syntax will teach you why it ought to be moi in one place, and me in the other. You see le and la in this table answering to our him and her; and this may puzzle you, because you have seen so much of the le and la, as Articles. But I observed to you before, in paragraph 43, that words frequently belonged to two parts of speech; or, rather, that though PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 61 containing the same letters, they were, in different situations, different words. Example : Envoyez ici le messager que je le recompense. r i hat is, send hither the messenger that I may reward him. Again : Prenez la jument et mettez-fo dans la basse-cour. Take the mare and put her in the yard. Here the word la comes three times: twice it is an article, answering to our the, and once a pronoun, answering to our her. For some time you will think that this is very strange, and that this French is an odd sort of language. The French think just the same of ours till they understand it; and you will find, by-and-by, that it is all precisely as it ought to be, and that it would be odd, indeed, if it were any thing other than that which it is. We now come to the plural number. PLURAL NUMBER. Nominative. Possessive. Objective. 1st Person, [we, nous, lofus, de nous, fas, now*. 2nd Person, (you, vous. of you, de vous. you, vous. 3rd Eerson, Masculine, 'they, Us, ew:r. of them, d'eux. them, les, leur, eux. f Feminine, jthey, elles. of them, d'elles. them, les, leur, ellet. Neuter, Ithey. lofthem. Ithem. Here seems to be a pretty confusion ; for here is our they sometimes answered by Us, then by eux, and both in the masculine. Then our tfiem is sometimes les and sometimes leur, in both genders ; and then it is eux in one gender, and elles in the other. Here, too, we see the plural article les answering to our them. But all this, puzzling as it is to you at present, will become perfectly plain by-and-by. You will be told, for in- stance, that when the verb signifies communication from one person or thing to another, it takes leur, and that, when it signifies something done to an object, it takes les, or eux, or elles, as the case may be. Speaking of cattle, we should say, mettez-fes dans la basse-cour, 62 ETYMOLOGY OP PRONOUNS. et donnez-leur du foin. Put tliem in the yard and give them some hay; that is to say, give to them some hay. 92. Once more let me remind you, that you must, not be at all surprised at what appears to you to be a strange placing of the French words. You must get this surprise out of your mind as soon as possible, and learn to think that it is right that one language should differ thus from another. Kemember also what I have said about the same letters not always making the same word. For instance, the leur that you see here means to them; but it means, in other cases, their. In the first instance it is a personal pronoun, in the latter a possessive pronoun. Pay attention to this, or it will cause you to waste your time. 93. Before I go to the next class of Pronouns, let me observe, that the second person singular, lu, toi, te> answering to our tlwu and tliee, are not used in French much more than our thou and thee are in English. Something more they are indeed; for the French thou little children, and also very low people. They do it, too, when upon terms .of very great familiarity. But, generally speaking, they, like us, use the second person plural, instead of the second person singular; and, as we say you instead of thou, they say vous instead of tu. The same may be observed as to thy and thine, of which you will see more presently. 94. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. These do not indeed take the place of nouns; but as they come immediately from the personal pronouns, it is better to place them here than any where else. They are unaffected by case, because they have nouns always with them, expressed or understood. They are as follows : POSSE 1st Person, SSIVE PKONOUNS. SINGULAR PERSON. my, mon, ma, mes, 63 PLURAL PERSON. our notre nos. 2nd Person .. thy, ton, tci, tes. your votre vos 3rd Person, Masculine, Feminine, Neuter. his, son, sa, ses f hers, son, so, ses. its. their, leur, leurs. their, leur, leurs. their. Here you see a great many changes of the French pro- noun ; and you see that our one word my, for instance, has three words, by either of which it may be answered. But, observe, our possessive pronouns agree in number and gender (where they meddle with gender) with the noun which is the possessor; whereas the French pos- sessive pronoun pays no attention to the possessor, but agrees in number and gender with the persons or things possessed. Thus, while we say, in English, my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters ; the French say, mon pere, ma, mere, mes freres, mes soeurs. If we have to speak of a master's maid-servant, and of a mistress's man-servant, we must say his maid and her man. But the French must say, sa servante and son domestique. So that you will remember, the gender, as s]#rted in the above table, applies to the English only. The French possessive pronoun forms itself by a rule wholly different from ours. It agrees in number and gender with the person or thing that is possessed, and not that is the possessor. But you will further observe, that, in the plural number of things possessed, the French possessive pronouns take no notice of gender. I say, mes mains, my hands, and mes bras, my arms, though the first is feminine and the last masculine. Neither, you see, is gender taken any notice of in the plural persons, though the things possessed be in the singular. I must say, mon chien, my dog, ma poule, my hen; but I must say, notre chien and notre poule. 04 ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS. The same remark applies to votre and leur, your and their. [As to mon, ton, and son, when before a noun beginning with a vowel or an h mute, see paragraph 309.] 95. But there are some of these possessive pronouns which stand without the noun. They refer immedi- ately to it indeed ; but they do not go directly before it, like the others. Such as mine and yours; as, whose pen is that ? It is mine. Thus, the pronoun, though it directly refers to the noun, and denotes possession, does not come directly before it. These, in French, take the article ; and, in the above case, in answer to the question about the pen, I must answer, la mienne ; and not call it simply mine. As the pronouns must take the article, the article must agree with them in number and gender, as with the nouns, as before shown in the Etymology of Nouns. These pronouns themselves vary their form to express both number and gender in the three persons singular, and to express number in the three persons plural; as follows: SINGULAR POSSESSION. PLURAL POSSESSION. Masculine. Feminine. Masculine. Feminine. mine, le mien, la mienne, les miens, les miennes. thine, le tien, la tienne, les tieus, les tiennes. his, le sien, la sienne, les siens, les siennes. hers, le sien, la sienne, les siens, les siennes. ours, le notre, la notre, les notres, les notres. yours, le votre, la votre, les votres, les votres. theirs, le leur, la leur. les leurs, les leurs. The Article is applied to these exactly as to nouns, and according to the instructions in paragraphs from 78 *o 83 inclusive. Thus we say, du mien, de la mienne, des miens, des mienues, au mien, cfc la mienne, aux miens, and aux miennes; and so on, throughout the whole of RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 65 these pronouns, precisely as in the case of nouns, as explained in the paragraphs just referred to. Once more let me remind you, that whenever these posses- sive pronouns express gender, it is the gender of the thing possessed, and not the gender of the possessor. 96. RELATIVE PRONOUNS. The following pronouns are called relative, because they generally relate to the nouns which have gone before in the sentence. Indeed, all pronouns relate to nouns. But it is useful to put them in classes, and, therefore, this appellation is given to these pronouns which fol- low. The Relatives, in English, are who, which, that, and what in some cases. Who becomes whose and whom : the other three do not change their form. The French Relatives are qui,] lequel, quoi; and some others that I shall mention presently. "We, in some cases, use who and that indifferently for persons and things. Which we apply only to things. These Relative pronouns of the two languages answer to each other thus : who, that, w of whom, qui. I whom, qui, que. which, de qui, dont. what, de qui, dont. que, qui. qui, que, lequel. quoi, que, quel. This is not the place to go into a detail of the cases when x one of these is to be used, and when the other. That will be done in the Syntax of Pronouns, after I shall have gone through the Etymology of Verbs; for we must speak of these when we are giving instruc- tions for the proper use of the pronouns. It seems, at first sight, that there must be great difficulty here, but you will find that all these difficulties gradually dis- appear. 97. None of the above pronouns, except quel and lequel, change their form to express number and gender. These two do it thus : p 6 ETYMOLOGY OP PRONOUNS. de quelle, de quelles. a quelle, a quelles. de laquelle, desquelles. a laquelle, auxquelles. PRONOUNS are those Masculine. Feminine. quel, quels. quelle, quelles. lequel, lesquels. laquelle, lesquelles. The former does not take the article. It merely takes the preposition. But the latter takes the article, and joins it to itself. de quel, cle quels. a quel, a quels. duquel, desquels. auqucl, auxquels. 98. DEMONSTRATIVE which point out persons or things in contradistinction to others. Ours are, this, these, that, those, and some- times ivJiat : as, this is the man whom I wanted to see ; tliose are the books which I wish you to read. The French have one pronoun of this sort, from which all the rest appear to come ; and that is ce, which, accord- ing to circumstances, means this or tliat. It becomes cet before a singular noun masculine, beginning with a vowel or an h mute; cette before all feminine nouns in the singular; and ces before all plural nouns of both genders. Besides this, several other pronouns grow out of this one, and vaiy their forms according to situation and circumstances. As follows : SINGULAR. Masculine. Feminine. ce, or cet, this, or that. cette, this, or that eel 'it i, he, or that. celle, she, or that. celui-ci, this. celle-ci, this. cdui-la, that. celle-la. that. PLURAL. fasculine. Feminine. ces, these, or those. I ces, these, or those. cenx, those. \ celles, those. ceux-ci. these. celles-ci, these. cenx- la, those. \ celles-la. those. There are, also, ceci and cela; ce is sometimes put before gui and que, making this that; as, ce que vous INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 67 dites; this that you say; or, as we should express it, that which you say. All these pronouns take the preposition de or a before them occasionally; but not tJie article. Observe, I beg you, the little words, ci and let (the latter with an accent, to distinguish it from the article). These, you see, are added to some of these pronouns. Ci means here, and let, means there. So that, taken literally, celui-ci means this here, and celui-la means this there. There is, in fact, precisely this same meaning in ceci and cela; only the two for- mer admit of variation to answer the purposes of number and gender, and the two latter do not. 99. INDETERMINATE PKONOUNS make the last class of words of this Part of Speech. Amongst the most important of the Indeterminate Pronouns are le, en, y, on, and se. These are words of great use in French ; and, properly speaking, we have, in English, nothing that answers to some of them. We sometimes, indeed, say, one is pleased, one hears, one thinks, and the like ; but this is not the French on, nor is it congenial to our language. And then, when we say ones-self, it is seldom in the way that the French use their se ; besides, the se befcomes soi in many cases, and is a most prevalent and efficient word in the French language. Therefore, I must not attempt to giye you the English of these words here ; but request you to bear them in mind k things to be explained in the Syntax of Pronouns. I shall now give you a list of the Indeterminate Pro nouns; and you will see that, though there are no variations in the form of the English Pronouns of this class, it is otherwise with those of the French. Some you will find without variations of form; but the greater part vary to express gender and number. ETYMOLOGY OF PKONOUNS. SINGULAR. PLURAL. Mate. Fern. Mate. Fern. All. tout, loule, tous, toutes. both, run *t Fautre, fune et Fautre, let unset let autret, les unes et let autret. either, Fun ou Fautre, rune ou Fautre, let uns ou let a utres, let unes ou let autret. neither, ni Fun ni I'autre, ni Fune ni I'autre, ni les uns ni let autres. ni lex unes ni autret. one another, run Fautre, fune Fautre, let uns let autres, let unet let autr somebody, ) or [ some one, ) quelqu'un, quelqu'une, quelques-unt % quelquet-unes. everybody, ) or [ everyone, ) chacun, chacune. nobody, ) no one, V none, J aucun, nul, aucune. null(. anybody, > whoever, f quiconque, * whatever, nobody, quelconqut, V Singular Number only, and of both genders. pertonne, ' many, plusieur$. Plural Number only, and of both genders. nothing, rien, Singular Number only, and of both genders. it, so, or such, } of it, of him, of her, of them, } to it, to him, to her, to them, } one, they, we, people, } self; or selves, } These never change their formal * be should find. 1 nous (rouverions,\ we should find. I votis trouveriez, I you should find. I ils trouveraient, j they should find. Now, this is not, strictly speaking, a past time either in French or in English ; nor is that which I am now going to exhibit. But it is necessary to give them names; and, therefore, the above is called the past im- perfect of the Subjunctive Mode, and the following is called the past perfect of the Subjunctive Mode; and this is in imitation of the names rather than of the things used in the Indicative Mode. This past perfect, then, is as follows : je trouvasse, j I might find. |! nous trouvassions, I we might find. tu trouvasses, thou mightest find, vous trouvassiez, you might find. iltrouvdt, j he might find. || ils trouvassent, j they might find. But you must take care to remember, that it is not always that these English phrases are translated by these French phrases. It frequently happens, that where the Indicative Mode is used in one language the Subjunctive is used in the other. These matters will be explained when we come to the Syntax. "What I ain doing here is merely teaching you the changes in MODES. 85 the form of the verbs. Of the Modes, then, there re- mains only the Imperative. It is called the Imperative, because it is used in commanding; but it is also used in calling to or invoking. It is, in fact, in English, nothing more than the present of the Indicative, accom- panied with some words expressing a command, a wish, or a prayer, or the like. In the verb trouver it causes no change at all in the form of the verb, except in the second person singular; but this is not the case with regard to some other verbs. The first person singular has no place here; because no person com- mands or calls to himself. trouve, find. qu'il trouve, . let him find. trouvons, | let us find. trouvez, I find. qu'ils trouvent, ) let them find. When we are speaking directly to another, or to others, in the second person, either singular or plural, we have only to name the act that they are to do at our request orscommand; and, therefore, if we want them to find, we simply say, find. But, when there are others to partake with us in the act, or where the parties who are to act are third parties, we make use of let. The French, you see, in the first of these cases, simply use the word describing the act ; as, trouvons, which means find we, or let us find. And in the third person, whether singular or plural, they make use of que; that is to say, that. Literally, that he find, that they find. The qidl and qu'ils are written with the elision, according to the rule which you found in paragraph 24. It must not be que il, because U begins with a vowel. This is, then, that he find. And, if you examine closely, you will find our own phrase to be precisely the same. For, what do we mean by let him find? "We may, in some $6 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. cases mean, indeed, to give him leave to do it; but, in general, this is not what we mean. Our meaning, when we make use of such phrases, generally is, let tilings be so THAT he find, or perform the act of finding. The French simply say, tliat he find. 117. I have now gone through the circumstances of Person, Time, and Mode. But the verb assumes two oilier forms, called the Participles. We have the same in English ; as, finding, found. They are called parti- ciples, because they partake of the nature of adjectives and of verbs. Of verbs they are a part; and yet they are frequently adjectives: as, I am killing a sheep; it is a killing disease. In the first of these instances killing is a verb, in the last an adjective. This is called the active participle. Killed, which is, with us, spelled like the past time of the verb, is called the passive participle. I killed a sheep; there is a killed sheep. In the first of these instances it is a verb, in the last an adjective. You will see that the French passive participle is not the same in form as the past time of the verb. (See further, as to participles, paragraph 122, and paragraph 436.) 118. Let me now lay before you a complete Conjuga- tion of the two verbs before mentioned, to find, and trouver. To conjugate means, in its usual accepta- tion, to join together; and, as used by grammarians, it means to bring together, and to place under one view, all the variations in the form of a verb, beginning with the Infinitive Mode, and ending with the Parti- ciple. These two verbs, then, I will now place before you, in all their persons, times, and modes. But before I give you the conjugation of a verb, let me observe that there are two ways of writing tlie past imperfect CONJUGATION. 87 times of the French verbs. You see, in the conjugation on next page, trouvais, trouvait, trouvaient; and again, trouverais, trouverait, trouveraient. YOLTAIRE wrote trouvais instead of trouvois, and so on in the other parts of the verb, where o used formerly to be employed be- fore i> as you will see in old French books. Since the time of YOLTAIRE the a, instead of the o, has been almost universally adopted. Observe, that there ought to be que before the ^pronouns, in the present and past perfect times especially, of the subjunctive mode; as, que je trouve, que je trouvasse, and so on; but I leave out the que for want of room in the width of the page. 88 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Trouver, [\ To find. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. jc trottve, tu trouves, ti trouve, I find. thou findest he finds. i nous trouvont, rou* trouvrz, ilt trouvent, we find, you find, they find. Past Imperfect Time. je trovvais, tu trourais, il trouvait. I found, thou fotmdest. he iound. nous trouvions, vout trouviez, ilt trouvaient, we found, you found, they found. Past Perfect Time. jl trourai, tu trouva*, il trouva. I found, thou foundest he found. nous trouvdmet, vous trouvdtes, ; il* trouverent, we found, you found, they found. Future Time. je trouvtrai, tu trouterat, il trouvera, I shall find. Il nous trouveront, thou shalt find. vaiu trourerez, he shall find. |j Us trouveront, we shall find, vou shall find, they shall find. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je trouve, tu trouves, il trouve, I may find, thou mayest find, he may find. | noun trourions, voits tronviez, Us troucetit, we may find, you may find, they may find. Past Imperfect Time. je trouverais. ' I should find. tu trouverais, ' thou shouldest find. il trouverait, he should find. noustrouverions, 1 we should find. vou* trouveriez, you should find. ils trouveraient, \ they should find. Past Perfect Time. je irnuvasse, tu trournstes, il trouvdt, I might find, thou mightest find. he might find. noustroitvassiont, vous trouvuasiez, ils trouvauent, we might find, you might find, they might find. 1MPERAT] fiiil let him find. [VE MODE. trouvont, troutez, on' Us trouvent, let us find, find, let them find. trouve, qu'il trouve, PARTICIPLES. trouvant, II finding. trouve, \ \ found. CONJUGATION. 89 119. Thus have you this French verb completely before you. You will observe that I have, all through, taken no notice of genders; but you will conclude, of course, that as, whether it be he, she, or it, the verb is the same in English, so it is in French, whether it be il or elle. I have therefore thought it unnecessary to put the she, or the it, or the elle, in any of these tables. You will also observe, that the French phrases in the Subjunctive would, in part at least, require the que before them; but the object here has been to bring you acquainted merely with the changes in the form of the French verb. According to the rules of grammar every complete sentence begins with a CAPITAL LETTER; I have not observed this rule in the Examples, Tables, and Conjugations; because it would encumber the page, and, in some cases, not leave room for placing the words in a neat and clear manner. 120. This table of conjugation should be well con- sidered by you before you go any further. You will, at first, think that all these endings of the French verb, or rather, all these various forms, make a difficulty never to be overcome. But a little time will, if you be attentive and industrious, make all this difficulty dis- appear. You will remark that the end of the verb consists of er; and that all the changes consist of letters put in the place of, or added to, the er. Now, it is the same in other verbs. For instance, grander (to scold) becomes je gronde, je grondais, je grondai, je gronderai, je gronde, je gronderais, je grondasse. So that, when you become perfectly well acquainted with the changes in the verb trouver, you will of yourself be able to make all the changes in other verbs; and you will be surprised how readily you will do this in a very short time. 90 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. Parler (to speak) will no sooner meet your eye than you will know that you must say, je parle, je parlais, je parlai, je parlerai, je parle, je parlerais, and so on. 121. This, however, would be too easy. Every per- son would learn French, if the difficulties were no greater than this. All the French verbs do not end in er; and those that do not are not conjugated in this way; that is to say, they do not vary their forms in the way that the verb trouver varies its form. But observe, the whole number of French verbs do not exceed three thousand, or thereabouts ; and of these, about two thou- sand seven hundred end in er; so that the rest are not very numerous. This rest, however, are, for the far greater part, reducible to rule. They are formed into nine other classes, which are called Conjugations, and which, together with the verbs ending in er, make ten . conjugations in the whole. There is one class which end in ir, and this class contains about a hundred and ninety-eight verbs, all conjugated in the same way. So that, if we were to make but two regular Conjugations, there would remain but about a hundred verbs not in- cluded in these two. These hundred would, of course, have no rule, and would be to be learned separately. If we make ten Conjugations, we reduce the irregular ones to about forty; and I shall make ten Conjugations, because the verbs are so considered in BOYER'S Diction- ary, which is the dictionary in general use. You will perceive, however, that this is merely arbitrary; we make two or ten, just as we please. It is a mere classi- fication of the verbs, for the sake of more easily learn- ing how to make the changes in their form. 122. Then, after we have made the ten classes, or Conjugations, there remain about forty verbs, which do NUMSER OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 91 not come into either of those classes, and these are called Irregular Verbs. In English we call those of our verbs regular, which end their past time and their passive participle in e d; as in the case of to love, which becomes loved. Those which do not end their past time and their passive participle thus, we call irregular. For instance, to ivrite, is irregular, because I cannot say writed, but must say wrote and written. So with to find, which must "be found, and notjlnded. We have, in English, about a hundred and forty of these irregular verbs; but then we have but one Conjugation of regular verbs, while in French we can make ten. Yet this will be found to be a matter by no means full of difficulty. When we have gone through the prin- ciples and rules of Etymology, you will find, in Letter XI V., all these irregular verbs brought together under one head, or into one TASK, and also an account of the ten Conjugations, and a method pointed out for learn- ing the whole. I avoid introducing this detail here, because it would too much interrupt your progress, and carry your mind too far away from what it has already been engaged in. My business here has been to show you the principles upon which the French verbs vary their forms ; arid for this purpose one verb is better than many. I, therefore, leave all the details relating to the several Conjugations, and to the Irregular Verbs, to be treated of in another place, where you will find them in due time. 123. But there are two verbs, into all the particu- lars relating to which I must go here; because there is no other verb that can be used in all its capacities with- out one of these two being used with it. These two are AVOIR (to have) and ETRE (to be). These, in French, 92 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. as well as in English, are called Auxiliary Verbs. The word auxiliary means lielping, or helper; as an auxiliary army is an army that comes to the help or assistance of another army. These verbs are so called because they lielp other verbs to express that which they other- wise would not express. Suppose the subject we are talking about to be my finding a sheep, or anything else, and that I want to tell you that the act is ended, that I have closed the work; I cannot easily, if at all, tell you this without the help of the verb to Jiave. To say I find, or found, or will find, a sheep, neither of these will answer my purpose. No ; I must call in the lielp of the verb to have, and say, I liave found a sheep. So, in the past time, it would be, I had found a sheep. It is precisely the same in French. jVu" trouvc un mouton, I have found a sheep, j'ara/s trouve un mouton, I had found a sheep. Now, observe, the verb to have, besides being a helper, is sometimes a verb of itself, a principal in the sentence, and signifies possession; as, I have a sheep ; that is to say, I possess a sheep. It is, as a principal, a verb of great use in both languages ; and in French, I think, more than in English. The French say, sometimes, son avoir, meaning a person's possessions: that is to say, his or Jier to have. Odd as this sounds to us, we our- selves say, a man's havings, though the word is rather out of use. Instead of saying, his havings are great, the French say, his to Jiave is great. This you will by-and-by find to be a turn of the French idiom. In such cases we mostly make use of the active participle, and they of the infinitive of the verb; as, killing a man is a great crime. They say, not tuant, but tuer un liomme est un grand crime. One of our weights is called CONJUGATION. 93 Avoirdupois. This is all French, avoir (to have) du (of the) poids (weight); that is to say (because we leave out the du\ to have weight; or, in other words, to have enough of it; and this is, accordingly, our heaviest weight. I was considering avoir as an auxiliary; but this digression appeared necessary, in order to show you the principle out of which has arisen the use of this verb along with other verbs. The idea of posses- sion always adheres to the verb avoir: for, when I say, I have found a sheep, I, in fact, say that the act is mine : I am the owner of the act; I have it. 124. The verb etre (to be) expresses existence, and always carries that idea along with it. To be ill, to be rich, mean to exist in illness, or in riches. This verb must have the help of to have in its compound times, of which I shall speak presently; but, in French, it is, along with verbs used in a certain way, employed as an auxiliary instead of to have, which is never the case in English; but of this I shall have to speak fully in a few minutes. 125. Let me now lay before you these two verbs, completely conjugated, in the same manner that you have seen Trouver in paragraph 118. But, let me first observe, that you must look again attentively at what I have, in paragraph 118, said about the que, which ought to be placed before the pronouns in the conjugation of the present and of the past perfect of the subjunctive mode; as, faie ought to be que j'aie. I have, as I said before, omitted the que for want of room in the page. Once more, before I give you the conjugation of avoir, let me press upon you the necessity of becoming, as soon as possible, perfectly well acquainted with this verb. You will remember that the compound times of other ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. . verbs are formed with its help; and that even the compound of tire cannot be formed without the help of avoir. It is, therefore, a verb of very great import- ance, and it merits your best attention. Write it down, in all its forms, very often : and, if you have a teacher, or any one to hear you read, read it over many, many times. What was said in paragraph 119, about the she and it in English, and about the elle or elles in French, and also about using the que in the Subjunctive Mode, applies in the case of these auxiliary verbs as well as in that of all others. Read, therefore, that paragraph again, before you go any further. Having well considered all about the verb avoir; hav- ing marked well all its changes of form, you will next come to the verb etre. But just observe that, there are two ways of spelling aie and aies. Some write aye, ayes, instead of the former. It is of little consequence which spelling we make use of. The same you will see taking place in ETRE; some write, in a part of the verb, soient, and others soyent. I mention it, lest it -hould be a stumbling-block to you; but it is, other- wise, a matter of no consequence. The verb AVOIR ought to be, in all its parts, at your fingers' ends, before you proceed further. You ought to write it many times over; and, if you have a teacher, or any one to read to, it will be good to read it, with its jironouns, fifty times over. The best way is to become very familiar with it before you go to ETRE, so that they may not get confounded in your mind. You have been told that the compound times of verbs are formed by the help of AVOIR; but you will, by-and-by, find that ome verbs take ETRE to help in the forming of their v-ompound times. The French say, je suis tomle, I am CONJUGATION. 95 fallen, and not j'aie tonibe, I have fallen. You will soon see something about reflected verbs; and then you will see how frequent and how great the use of this verb ETRE, and how necessary it is that you should have a perfect knowledge of it as soon as possible. [ISToTE. AVOIR and ETRE, whether as auxiliaries or otherwise, are of such constant use, that it must be good for the learner to see the whole of the changes oi each in one view. Each, therefore, of these verbs will here be given in the compound as well as in the simple form, the two forms standing opposite to one another, the simple form on the left-hand, and the compound on the right-hand page.] 96 ETYMOLOGY OP VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Avoir, | To have. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. J-ai, tual, i/a. I have. || nous arons, thou hast i rout avez, he has. 11 iisont, we have, you have, they have. Past Imperfect Time. fonts t't arais, it aiait, I had. |[ nous avion, thou hadst tous ariez, he had. | il* avaient, we had. you had. they had. Past Perfect Time. fetu, tueu*, 4 I had. novs eumet, thou hadst. vovs eutes, he had. ils eurent, we had. you had they had. Future Time. faurai, tu auras, ilaura, I shall have. II nous auront, tbou shalt have. vout aurez, he shall have. || il* auront, we shall have, you shall have, they shall have. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. fait, tu diet, ilait, I may have. ;| nousayoru, thou mayest have, i vous ayez, he may have. || ils aient, we may have, you may have, they may have. Past Imperfect Time. favrait, tu aurait, ilaurait, I should have. i now auriont, thou shouldesthave. 1 vousauritz, he should have. I Hi auraient, we should have, yon should liave. they should have. Past Perfect Time. feuste, tu e'isses, it tut, I might have. ! nous eutsions, thou mightest have. ! vous eussiez, he might have. ,. ils euisent, we might have. YOU might have. they might have. IMPERATIVE MODE. ait, quil ait, || ayons, have. ayez, let him have. || qu'iis aient, let us have, have, let them have. PARTICIPLES. ay ant, \\ having. tu, (1 had. CONJUGATION-. 97 COMPOUNDS OF THE AUXILIARY AVOIR. INFINITIVE MODE. Avoir eu, p To have had. ''ai eu, 'u as eu, i; a eu, I have had. thou hast had. he has had. INDICATIVE MODE. Compound of the Present Time. ii nous avons eu, vous avez eu, Us ont eu, we have had. you have had. they have had. Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. ''amis eu, \ I had had. 1 1 nous avions eu, I we had had. ',u avais eu, thou hadst had. vous aviez eu, you had had. II avail eu, \ he had had. II its avaient eu, | they had had. eus eu, 'it eus eu, I eut eu, Compound of the Past Perfect Time. I had had. thou hadst had. he had had. nous eumes eu, vous elites eu, Us eurent eu, we had had. you had had. they had had. Compound of the Future Time. ^aurai eu, I I shall have had. '.u auras eu, thoa shalt have had. 'I aura eu, \ he snail have had. nous aurons eu, vous aurez eu, Us auront eu, we shall have had. you shall have had. they shall have had. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Compound of the Present Time. 'ate eu, \ I may have had. 1 nout ayons eu, >,u uie* ?it, thou mayest have had. vous ayez eu, 'I ait eu, I he may have had. II Us aient eu, we may have had. you may have had. they may have had. Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. '"aurais eu, I 1 should have had. j! nous aurions eu, '.uauruiieu, thou shouldest have had. vous auriez eu, sions eu, I we might have had. vous nissiez eu, you might have had. ns eussent eu, \ they might have had. IMPERATIVE MODE. [Wanting.] PARTICIPLES. Past and Present, compounded. ayant eu, \\ having had. 11 98 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Eire, 1 To be. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. iesuis, tuet, ilest, lam. thou art be is. wows sommes, mus etes, ilt font, we are. you are. they ara ftiais, tu Mais, it etait, Past Impe I was. thou wast, he was. "feet Time. nous e lions, rous etiez, iU etaient, we were, you were, they were. Jef*, ? Past Perfect Time. I was. ' noun fames, thou wast i vousfutfs, lie was. II iU/urent, we were. vou were, they were. Future Time. je terai, tu sercu, il sera, I shall be. || nous serons, thou shalt be. vous serez, he shall be. 11 Us seront, we shall be. you shall be. they shall ba SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. jetoit, tu sots, ilsoit, I may be. Il nous toyons, thou mayest be. vous soyez, he may be. || ilt toient, we may be. you may be. they may be. je terais, tu serait, il strait, Past Impe I should be. thou shouldest be. he should be. feet Time. nous serions, vous seriez, iU aeraient, we should be. vou should be. they should be. Jefitsse, tu fusses, ilfut, Past Per I might be. thoumightest be. he might be. feet Time. nous fussions, vons fussiez, \ Us J 'assent, we might be. you might be. they might be. IMPERATI VE MODE. soyons, ! toyez, qu'iU soient, I let us be. lei; them ba. tots, gu'il soft; be. let him be. PARTICIPLES. tt'int, \\ being. 4*4 II been. CONJUGATION. 99 COMPOUNDS OF THE AUXILIARY ETRE. fai M. tu as 4t4, il a at, favais 4te", tu avais eie, il avail cle, INFINITIVE MODE. Avoir e'te', || To have been INDICATIVE MODE. Compound of the Present Time. I have been, thou hast been, he has been. Inousai'onse'te', I we have been, vous avcz eie, you have been. Us ont etc, | they have been.. Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. [I had been, then hadst been. I he had been. || no'is avions 4le, von s nviez e'te, Us avaient fie, we had been, you had been. they had been. feus 414, tu evs 4t4, ileutete, Compound of the Past Perfect Time. l I had been. II nous eumes4te\ I we had been, thou hadst been. vous eutes 4t4, you had been. | he had been. 1 1 Us eurent etc, \ they had been. Compound of the Future Time. faurai e'te', \ I shall have been. tu auras et\ tliou shalt have been. il aura 414, ' | he shall have been. nous aurons 414, vous aurez 414, Us auront e'te, SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Compound of the Present Time. j'aie 4t4, I I may have been. II nous ayons 414, tu aies ete, thou mayest have been. vous ayez ete, il ait e'te, | he may have been. |! Us aient eie, we shall have been, you shall have been, they shall have been. we may have been, you may have been, they may have been. Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. j'aurais etc", tu aurais ete, il aurait ete, feusse 414, tu eusses eie, il eft ete, I should have been. I thou shouldest have been. he should have been. nous aurions 414, vous auriez ete, Us auraient e\4, we should have been, you should have been, they should have been. Compound of the Past Perfect Time. I might have been, thou mightest have been, he might have been. nous eussions 4te", vous eussiez ete, Us eussent e'te, we might have been, you might have been, they might have been, IMPERATIVE MODE. [Wanting.] PARTICIPLES. Present of avoir and Past of e/re, compounded, ayant ete, || having been. 100 ETYMOLOGY OP VERSS. 126. Here, then, you have these two important verbs in all their various forms. Great, indeed, is the change from etre to fusions; but it is still the same word. Our to be, becomes vias and were; but yet these are still the same word, only under different forms; and as we know very well when to use one of these forms, and when the other, so you will, in a short time, with due diligence, know when you are to use one of the French forms and when the other. 127. I have now to call your attention to the Compound Times of verbs, and to verbs when they are called Reflected ; because it is here that you will see the use of AVOIR and ETRE as auxiliaries. The compound times are so called because they are ex- pressed by two verbs instead of one; as, I have found; I had found; and so on. But, in fact, there is nothing more in this, than that the verb to have is put before the passive participle of the principal verb : so that these compound times, as they are called, are nothing more than the simple times of the verb to liave, going before the passive participle of some other verb ; thus : j'ai trouve un mouton, j' avals trouve un mouton, feus trouve un mouton, faurai trouve' un mouton, j'aie trouve" un mouton, faurais trouve un mouton, feusse trouve un mouton, have found a sheep. had found a sheep. had found a sheep. shall have found a sheep. may have found a sheep. I should have found a sheep. I might have fouud a sheep. You see, it is always trouve; that is to say, the passive participle of the verb trouver. The change is only in the auxiliary; and this is all that need be said about the compound times, except that we have now to notice how the Reflected verbs are used, and how the auxili- aries are employed in relation to them. REFLECTED VERBS. 101 128. A Reflected Verb is one which expresses an. action that is confined to the actor; and, in this respect, the two languages differ materially. But before I say more of this matter, I must speak of verbs as active and neuter. A verb is called active when it expresses an action of one person or thing which passes to an- other person or thing ; as, the hawk kills the sparrow. A verb is called neuter, either when there is no action; as, the hawk moults (or lets fall out its feathers), or when there is an action which does not pass to any object; as, the hawk flutters. It is the same in French; that is to say, the first of these verbs is active in French, and the two last neuter, in one language as well as in the other; and the translation into French would stand thus : le faucon tue le moineau, le faucon mue, le faucon volele, the hawk kills the sparrow, the hawk moults. the hawk flutters. Thus, you see, in the first instance, there is an action, and it passes from the hawk to the sparrow. In the second, there is no action on the part of the hawk ; for his feathers merely come out without his doing any- thing. In the third, there is an action, and of the hawk himself too; but it does not pass to anything else. This distinction, therefore, between active and neuter verbs is very clear; and it is of some impor- tance, because the use of other words in the sentence must depend, sometimes, on whether the verb be active or neuter. But, mind, there is no change in the form of the verb to express the active, or the neutral character of it. 129. Thus far there is, as to this matter, no differ- ence in the two languages; but many of the verbs, 102 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. which are merely neuter in English, are refected in French; and, if reflected, they must be used with a double pronoun, or with a noun and a pronoun ; where- as, if not reflected, they are used in the usual way. Thus, the hawk perches on the tree. Here we, in English, have the verb used in the common way, just as, the hawk kills, the hawk moults, the hawk flutters. But, this to perdt, being a reflected verb, must have, in the French, the pronoun as well as the noun; thus: le faucon se perdie sur 1'arbre; or, if the pronoun be used instead of hawk, it must be il se perche sur 1'arbre; that is to say, word for word, he himself perches upon the tree. "We may, in English, say, he perches himself upon the tree, but this we do not frequently do. There are some few cases in English where it is necessary for us to use the self; as, I hurt myself; but, in French, there are great numbers of verbs that must be thus used ; and, in the Dictionary, you will find them with se always before them ; thus, Se Percher, To Perch. Any active verb may be, and, indeed, must be, used in the same way as a reflected verb, if the action be done to the actor. Thus, to kill may be used in this manner ; as, the hawk kills him- self: le faucon se tue. "When we use the myself, thyself, himself, and so on, the French verb is sure to be reflected; but it is reflected, in many cases, where we do not use the self. 130. Having explained the reasons upon which this distinction is founded, let us now see how a reflected verb is conjugated; how it is used with the double pro- noun; and let us, for this purpose, take the verb to perch. REFLECTED VERBS. 103 INFINITIVE MODE. Se Percher, |j To Perch. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je me perche, I perch. nous nous perchons, we perch. tu te perches, thou perchest. vous vous perchez, you perch. il se perche, he perches. Us se perchent, they perch. We need not carry the conjugation any further; be- cause the verb goes on changing its form, just like trouver in paragraph 118; and the only difference is, that here there are two pronouns, while in the case of the active verb trouver, there was only one. But, if trouver, or any other active verb, express an action done to, or confined to, the actor, then it must be treated as a reflected verb. So that, if I am talking of persons finding themselves, I must say, nous nous trouvons, vous vous trouvez, ils se trouvent ; and so on throughout the whole of the verb. In para- graph 99 you have seen Se placed amongst the Indeter- minate Pronouns. It is indeterminate because it points out neither gender nor number. It means self QIC selves: and it is applicable to the third person of both numbers and both genders; for whether we be speaking of males or females, of one or more, the se never changes its form : thus, il se perche, he perches; elle se perche, she perches; ils se perchent, they perch; elles se perchent, they perch. The above phrases, word for word, would stand in English thus : I me find, thou thee find, he himself finds. je me trouve, ) tu te trouves, il se trouve, je me trouve, tu te trouves, il se trouve, nous nous trouvons, vous vous trouvez, ils se trouvent, we us find. you you find. they themselves find, '104: ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. This sounds strange to us English, but not stranger than our mode of expression does to the French. I find myself, is just as strange to them. You will ask, perhaps, how it is that nous nous is translated by we us. It is because nous sometimes means we, and some- times us. And, if you think that it will be difficult to know when it means the one and when the other, pray observe that we are situated in the same manner with regard to our you. You will know when it has the one meaning, and when the other, by its connection with the other words of the sentence. 131. Let me add here, that when there is a Noun used with these reflected verbs, all the difference is, that the first pronoun is left out ; as, lefaucon se perche, the hawk perches. lesfaucons se perckent, the hawks perch. 132. Very well, then: all this is, I think, plain enough. But there is another material thing belonging to the reflected verb; namely, the compound times. I spoke of these times in paragraph 127, and showed you that they wei*e nothing more than the several parts of the verb AVOIR (to have) used with the passive participle of another verb. Head that paragraph again. But, now mind, when it is a reflected verb that you are using, or any verb in the reflected form ; when either of these is the case, it is not the verb avoir, but the verb etre (to be), that you are to use as the auxiliary, strange as this rule may at first sound to your ears. In paragraph 127 I have given you a table, in the way of specimen, of the conjugation of the verb trouver with avoir. Trouver is, in that paragraph, an active verb. I will now take it as a reflected verb also, and show you how it is con- jugated with etre as well as with avoir. EEFLECTED VERBS. 105 ' j'ai trouve un mouton, je me suis trouve, j'avais trouve un mouton^ je m'etais trouve, feus trouve un mouton, je mefus trouve, faurai trouve un mouton, }e me serai trouve, faie trouve un mouton, je me sois trouve, j'aurais trouve un mouton, je me serais trouve, j'eusse trouve un mouton, je mefusse trouve. have found a sheep. have found myself. had found a sheep. had found myself. had found a sheep. had found myself. shall have found a sheep. shall have found myself. may have found a sheep. may have found myself. should have found a sheep. should have found myself. I might have found a sheep. I might have found myself. Thus, you see, all through, it is the verb etre, instead of the verb avoir, with which the verb trouver is used in the reflected sense. I have taken here only the first person singular, which is all that is necessary, because the other persons go on in the same way; as, nous avons trouve un mouton ; nous nous sommes trouves; and so on. But in the Imperative Mode there is a further change ; thus : trouve un mouton, trouve- toi, qu'il trouve un mouton, qu'il se trouve, trouvons un mouton, trcuvons-nous, trouvez un mouton, trouvez-vous, qu'ils trouvent un mouton, quails se trouvent, find a sheep. find thyself. let him find a sheep. let him find himself. let us find a sheep. let us find ourselves. find a sheep. find yourself, or selves. let them find a sheep. let them find themselves. The INFINITIVE is S'etre trouve* : the ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, S'etant trouve. I will give you some of the above phrases word for ivord, as nearly as possible ; and, strange as they appear at first, you will, at last, find them natural enough. As far as the verb avoir goes, we think all 106' ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. natural ; but, when we come to the verb etre, we think all out of place. je me suis trouve, je m'etais troitve, je me serais trouve, trouve-toi, qu'il se trouve, trouvons-nous, trouvez-vous, I me am found. I me was found. I me should be found, find thou thee. that he himself find, find we us. find you you. This appears monstrous ; but, consider it well, and you will find that the me in the French means, in this case, myself as the doer of the deed ; and that the fair and full meaning in English, is, I, of myself, or by my own act, am found, was found, shall be found, and so on. Then, as trouve, in the imperative, means find tliou, trouve-0i is find thou thee, which is no more than find thyself. And, if we find it a fault in the French lan- guage that it requires find we us, instead of, let us find ourselves, the French will tell us that the fault is in our mode of expression, and not in theirs. Je me suis trouve is, in good English, I have found myself. Word for word, this would be, in French, fai trouve moi- meme; but this would be bad French; or rather, it would be no French at all, any more than I me am found is English. 133. I have before observed, that the Reflected Verbs are denoted, in the Dictionary, by Se being put before them. I have also observed, that any active verb, expressing an action done to the actor, or confined to the actor, may, as in the case of trouver, become a reflected verb. But, besides these, there are several neuter verbs, which must be conjugated with etre, and not with avoir ; though this is not the case with neuter verbs in general. Let us take our liawk again in the REFLECTED VERES. 107 way of illustration. Tuer, to kill, is an active verb, as we will here use it. Se percJier.(to perch) is a reflected verb. But jucher (to roost) is a neuter verb. Now, then, speaking of a hawk, we say, il a tue un moineau, il s'est perche sur 1'arbre, il a juche sur 1'arbre, he has killed a sparrow, he lias perched on the tree, he has roosted on the tree. The distinction here, though very nice, is very clear, and must, if you attend to it, explain the whole matter of reflected verbs. To perch on a tree includes an act which the hawk does with regard to himself; but the roosting is totally void of all action. It is an inactive, a neutral state of being; and, therefore, the verb which describes that state is called a neuter verb, and is, in its compound times, conjugated with avoir, and not with etre. 134. ^There are, however, some few neuter verbs, which are conjugated with etre and not with avoir; but, you will find a list of these when you come to the Syntax on the Times of Yerbs. Sortir (to go out) is, for instance, one of these neuter verbs; as, je suis sorti, I have (that is, literally, am) gone out; and not fai sorti, I have gone out. However, I put off, for the present, this list, and the details on the subject, in order to avoid, as much as possible, giving interrup- tion to this series of principles and rules, which ought to have a constant connection in your mind as you 135. There is one thing more belonging to reflected verbs; and that is, they have sometimes entre used with them. Entre means, literally, between or amongst; as, entre nous (between ourselves), when there are two of us only. Where there are more, we say, in English, 108 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. amongst ourselves; but the French say, entre nous, whether there be two or more than two. This entre is a preposition which generally means between or amongst: entre deux, between two; entre trois, amongst three. Now, this preposition is used frequently with reflected verbs; and, to make, in some sort, a part of the verbs themselves; as, S 'entre tuer, to kill one another. This is when there are two parties acting, and acting with reciprocity, on each other. [In which case the verb so used is by some grammarians called a reciprocal verb.] In speaking of two men, we say, Us Centre tuent, they kill one another. When entre is thus used, it makes no difference at all in the manner of conjugating the verb. The entre is prefixed to the verb, and that is all ; as : nous nous entre-iuons, nous nous entre-tuions, its s^entre-tuent, il$ sentre-tuaient. we kill one another. \ve killed one another, they kill one another, thev killed one another. Then in the compound times, where we make use of to have, they make use of to be; as : nous nous sommes entre-tucs, nous nous etions entre-tues, ils se sont entre-tues, ils s'etaient entre-tues, we have killed one another, we had killed one another, they have killed one another, thev had killed one another. And in this way goes on the conjugation of any and every verb with entre. [As with s' entre donner, to give to each other; sentr aider, to help one another; sentr 'aimer, to love one another ; s entre ruiner, to ruin one another.] Sometimes the same thing is expressed in another way ; as, Us se tuent Fun Fautre. This also means, they kill one another; and it would seem to be tautology; for it says, ils se tuent, which is, they kill themselves ; and then comes Fun Fautre, which means, one anothei-; so that they kill themselves and one another IMPERSONAL VERBS. 109 also, which would seem to be a little more than is possible. However, this sort of phrase is in common use, and that is enough for us. Though it may be bad philosophy, it is perfectly good French; and that is what we have to look after. 136. There remains now, with regard to the Ety- mology of Verbs, nothing to be done but to notice a particular manner of using certain verbs only in the third person singular. When used in this manner, they are called, by some grammarians, Impersonal verbs; because they are here used only in the third person singular. AVOIR, ETRE, and some other words, are used in this way; and, for want of one more appropriate, we may as well use the appellation imper- sonal: for an appellation of some sort they must have. 137. Avoir is the principal one of these impersonals; and, in this its capacity, it is always used with il y; which, thus used, mean, in English, it there. Let us, then, see how this impersonal is used. II y a un faucon sur 1'arbre. You know that a means has. So that, word for word, this phrase is, it there has a hawk on the tree; though we say, there is a hawk on the tree. If you ask, what business the il (it) has there, the French might ask you what business the it has in our it rains, it snows, it freezes. And, if you think it a sort of nonsense to say, il y a un faucon sur 1'arbre, I assure you that the French would think you down- right mad if you were to say y estiva, faucon sur 1'arbre. The verb avoir, when used in this way, ought, indeed, to be called y avoir; for that little word really makes a part of it, and with it the verb is conjugated, pre- cisely as in paragraph 125; only it is confined to the third person singular; as: 110 ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. ily a unfaucon, ily avait unfaucon, ily eut unfaucon, il y aura unfaucon, il y ait unfaucon, il y aurait unfaucon, il y eut unfaucon, ily ay ant unfaucon, there is a hawk, there was a hawk, there was a hawk, there shall be a hawk, there may he a hawk, there should he a hawk, there might be a hawk, there being a hawk. It goes through the compound times also ; as, il y a eu un faucon, tJiere lias been a hawk; and so on. [It should be observed, that although the " third person singular" only is here mentioned, the author after- wards, in paragraph 352, explains how the impersonal is used in reference to persons and things in the plural also.] 138. TRE is called impersonal, when it is used thus: il est rare de voir un faucon dans la ville ; it is rare to see a hawk in the town. This is according to our own manner; and, therefore, we need not bestow any more time upon it here. Sometimes the pronoun ce is used, in such cases, instead of il ; as, Jest rare: but we need say no more of that at present ; because, when we come to the Syntax of Impersonals, which we shall in Letter XXI., we shall have a great deal to say about il est . i d Jest. 139. But, there is the Impersonal Falloir (to be necessary), which is a verb of very great importance. It, in most cases, performs the office of our word must; but it does more than that in some cases. The uses of this word constitute one of the great characteristics of the French idiom, viewed in comparison with our idiom. The infinitive Falloir (to be necessaiy) is out of use. It is never used. The active participle is also out of use; but it has its passive participle in use. "With these exceptions it is a verb that goes ilirough IMPERSONAL VERBS. Ill all the Modes and Times in the third person singular; as: ilfaut, ilfallait, ilfallut, ilfaudra, ilfaille, ilfaudrait, ilfaMt, il afallu, it is necessary, it was necessary, it was necessary, it will be necessary, it may be necessary, it should be necessarj'. it might be necessary, it has been necessary. This is the word-for-word translation. We might usa requisite, needful, or any other word or words expres- sive of what ought to take place. Our should fre- quently answers the purpose. But must is our great word in these cases; and here the turn of the two languages is wholly different. This difference requires the greatest attention : but this will be fully explained in the Syntax, my business here being to show how the French verbs change their forms, and to explain to you the reasons for those changes. Let me, however, just give you an example or two with must, and let us adhere to our verb trouver : ilfaut queje le irouve aujourd'hui, ilfallait queje le trouvasse hier, I must find him to-day. I must find him yesterday. I must find him to-morrow. ilfaudra queje le trouve demain, These three French phrases, literally translated, are as follows : ilfaut queje le trouve aujourd'hui, it is necessary that I may find him to-day. ilfallait queje le trouvasse hier, it was necessary that I might find him yesterday. ilfaudra queje le trouve demain, it is necessary that I may find him to-morrow. So that, you see, there is no single word in French that answers to our must. The same meaning is expressed, but it is expressed in another manner. You will 112 ETYilOLOGY OF VERBS. observe, that this verb, il faut, forms its compound times like another verb; as, il a fallu; it has been necessary. 140. There are several other verbs which, for the reason before-mentioned, are usually called impersonal ; such as pleuvoir (to rain), geler (to freeze), tonner (to thunder). But there is no difficulty belonging to these ; for the French say, il gele, il tonne, just as we say, it freezes, it thunders. As to rain, indeed, they generally say, il tombe de la phde, it falls of the rain, or, in good English, rain is falling. But these are matters that properly belong to the Syntax. II fait, which means, it makes, is one of the impersonals ; but it is also part of the verb faire (to make), and will be found fully conjugated in its proper place. As impersonal, how- ever, it goes through all the Modes and Times; and it is in such common use, and. this use is so strongly characteristic of the difference between the two lan- guages, that I must give you an example here. Speaking of the weather, the French say: ilfait beau, ttfesait beazi, ilfit beau, ilfera beau, it makes fine, it made fine, it made fine, it will make fine. "We, in English, do not say, makes, made, and will make ; we say, is, was, will be. But we are not to find fault, with the French on this account. If examined closely, their mode of expression is just as reasonable as ours. At any rate, they do and will say, il fait beau ; and it is for us to learn to say it too. 141. Thus I put an end to my Letter on the Ety- mology of Verbs. It is full of matter requiring great attention. You will have observed, that its principal ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. 113 object is, to teach you how to make the several changes in the forms of the verbs, according to the several circumstances of person, number, time and mode. You will, by-and-by, when I have gone through the Ety- mology of the Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions, find the Conjugations of the Verbs at full length, and with all the details. But before you proceed even to the Etymology of Adverbs, I wish you to become very perfect in your knowledge of the contents of this letter. Write the verb Trouver down, in all its Modes, Times, Numbers, and Persons, till it becomes as familiar to you as your fingers are. Do the same with regard to the verbs AVOIR and ETRE; for one or the other of them appears in almost every sentence that you see in any book. To fix a thing in your memory, there is nothing like making it with your hand. A perfect familiarity with Trouver will make you master of the changes belonging to about eight-ninths of the whole of the French verbs; and a similar familiarity with avoir and etre will go far towards removing every difficulty with regard to the verbs. Let me, therefore, beg of you to secure this important point before you proceed any further. 114 LETTER X. ETYMOLOGY OF ADVEBBS. DEAR RICHARD, 142. In paragraph 37 I explained to you why the words belonging to this part of speech are called Ad- verbs. You will, of course, now read that paragraph again. Haying read it, you will want nothing more to inform you of the nature and use of the words of this part of speech. 143. Adverbs undergo no changes of form, like the parts of speech which we have heretofore had to do with. Therefore this sort of words will not detain us long. The main part of our English adverbs end in LY; as, happily, shortly. They are formed, in most cases, from adjectives, as in these two instances, from happy and short. It is nearly the same in the French, except that, instead of ly they add ment ; as, heureuse- inent (happily), courtement (shortly) ; from hereuse (happy), and courte (short). 144. The Syntax will teach us how to place and employ Adverbs in sentences : here we have only to ascertain how the Adverbs themselves are formed, and what connection they have with other words. And as to this matter, there are a few observations to make : FIRST. The general rule is, to add ment to the adjective to make it an adverb; as, brave, brave- ment; but, if the adjective end in e (with an. accent, mind), or in i or u, it is to the masculine of the adjective that the ment is added. Adjec- ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS. 115 tives ending in e mute are, as you have before seen, for both genders; and the ment is merely added to them to form the adverb. "When the adjective ends in a consonant, the adverb is formed by adding ment to the feminine of it. The follow- ing five words will suffice in the way of example. I shall give the English of the Adverb only : ADJEC Masc. aist, joli, goulu, vite, dur, TIVES. Fern, aisee, jolie, goulue, vite, dure, ADVERBS. aisfment, joliment, goulument, vitement, durement, easily, prettily, gluttonously, quickly, hardly". This taking the feminine, and not the masculine, of the adjective, whereon to form the adverb, is particularly to be observed in those cases where the masculine differs widely in form from the feminine ; as, franc, franche; doux, douce; heureux, heureuse; for here it must be, not francment, but franchement, doucement, Jieureusement. To the above rule there are, however, a few exceptions. The following adjectives, though ending with a consonant, or with u, take an e, t, or $ before the ment : ADJECTIVES. Expres, ADVERBS. expressement, expressly. confus, confus&nent. confusedly. precis, precise'ment, precisely. commun, communement, commonly. importun, importunement, importunately. obscur, obscurement, obscurely. profond, profondement, deeply. gentil, gentiment, genteelly. eperdu, eperdument, desperately. ingenu, ingenument, ingenuously. du, dument, duly. assidu, assidument, assiduously. A farther exception is, that the following adjectives, 11G ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS. though ending in e mute, do not, like vite, which be- comes vitement, keep the e mute in forming the adverb . but change the e mute into an e acute : ADJECTIVES. I ADVERBS. Aveugle, commode, conforme, enorme. commodement, conformement, enorm before. avant que de, ) lien entendu que, it being understood that. bien loin de, far from, so far from. bien que, though. car, for. c'est-a-dire, that is to say. c'est pour quoi, therefore. cest a dire que, that is to say that c'est pour, it is for. cela que, that that. ce/a e'tant, that being the case. cela etant ainsi, it being thus. ce rfest pas que, not but. cependant, however, in the meanwhile. comme, as, whereas. comme si, as if, as though. comme par exempte, as for example. d'accord, done, agreed. d'ailleurs, besides, otherwise. d autant que, for as much as, Avhereas, becausa d 'autant plus que, so much the more as. de Vautre cote', on the other hand. de maniere que, in such manner that. de me me que. as, just as. de meme, in like manner. de plus, moreover, besides. depuis, since. depuis que, since that. des que, from the time that de sorte que, so that. d'ou vient-il que, whence comes it that done, then, therefore. en attendant. in the meantime. en attendant quo, till, until that. LIST OF CONJUNCTIONS. 131 era cas que, in case that. encore que, although, besides that en effet, in effect, indeed. enfin, finally, at last. en tant que, as, inasmuch as. en tout cas, however, let it be as it will. ensuite, then, afterwards. en un mot, in a word. et, and. et puis, and besides. il est vrai que, it is true that. fen conviens, I grant it. joint que, add to that that. mais, but. mais aussi, but also. mais encore, but besides. mais meme, but even. meme, even. mat a, propos, out of place. neanmoins, nevertheless. ni, nor, neither. ni plus ni moins, neither more nor less. nonobstant que, notwithstanding that. ^on plus, neither. non plus que, no more than. non que, non pas que, not but. non seulement, not only. ou, or ou bien t or else. outre cela, \ besides that. outre que, } parce que, because. par consequent, consequently. par quelle raison, for what reason. pendant que, whilst. posez le cas que, put the case that. pour cet effet, for this purpose. pour conclusion, to conclude. pour lors, then. pour quoi, why, wherefore. jaourvu que, provided that. puis, then. quand, ^ quand meme, quand lien meme, ) though, although. quoique, although. t quoiqu'il en soit, x however it ma}* be. be the consequence what it will 132 ETYMOLOGY OF CONJUNCTIONS. sans, sans que, sans doute, sans mentir, savoir, 51, si lien que, si ce n'est que, ginon, si-tot qup., supposez que, sur tout, sur quoi, sur ces entrefaites, 4 tant que, taut senfaut quc, tenement que, toutefois, toutes lesfois que, vu que, without. without doubt. truly, with truth. to wit. if, whether. insomuch that. except that. if not, or else. as soon as. suppose that. above all, especially. whereupon. in the meanwhile. while these things were a-doing. as much as, as many as. so far from it in such a manner that. yet, for all that. every time that. seeing that. 167. Conjunctions govern modes of verbs: that is to say, some Conjunctions have one mode after them, and some another mode; but the full explanation of this matter must be left till I come to Letter XX VII. , in which I shall treat of the Syntax of Conjunctions. The above list contains the far greater part of the Con- junctions. You will observe, that many of these words are, as I observed before, sometimes Prepo- sitions and sometimes Adverbs. The words of these two last parts of speech are few in number, compared with the others, the Articles and Pronouns excepted; and, therefore, they may be all written down many times over without much labour. You will observe, that these are words incessantly recurring ; that there can hardly ever be a sentence without one or more of them in it; and that the sooner you become acquainted with them all, the better. As I observed in the case of the Prepositions, take care, in writing the words, to put all the hyphens, elisions, and accents. 133 LETTER XIIL OX PARSING. MY DEAR BlCHARD, 168. You have now gone through the whole of the Etymology. The object of this part of the Grammar has been to teach you to distinguish one sort of words, or part of speech, from each of the others ; and also to teach you how to make the several changes in the spelling of the words. The Syntax, when you come to it, will teach you how to choose your words in the making of sentences, and also how to place them. As yet yW cannot know how to write French correctly ; how to make a French sentence ; but, before you go any further, I shall give you an Exercise in Parsing, which will lead you to reconsider what you have learned. .169. To PARSE, is to put into parts. It comes from the Latin word pars, which means part. There is a French word, parsemer, which means, to scatter, or put asunder. And this word, to parse, is used by gram- marians to denominate the act of taking the words of a sentence, one by one, and writing against each the part of speech tJiat it belongs to. Thus : / write a letter to you. I is a personal pronoun ; WRITE is a verb ; A is an article ; LETTER is a noun ; TO is a preposition ; YOU is a personal pronoun. The same sentence in French would be, Je vous ecris une lettre. The JE and vous are personal pronouns; ECRIS is a verb; UNE is an article; LETTRE is a noun; and, you see, there is no 134 TARSTKG. preposition; for in this case vous means to you. We can say the same thing without the preposition ; as, I write you a letter. But we cannot say, / you write a letter. These latter remarks do not, however, belong to the subject immediately before us, though they may serve to make an opening and to smooth the way to the Syntax. Before you go any further, look again at paragraph 42, and attend well to what you find there. As you proceed in this work of parsing, I beg you to try yourself in the manner pointed out in para- graph 42. 170. I shall now give you a series of sentences to parse. They will be of very simple construction. I shall give the French as well as the English of each sentence. The first sentence I shall parse myself; and you will proceed with the rest, and go patiently through the whole of the sentences, taking word by word, writing them down, and writing against them in the manner that you will find in the example that I am about to give you. You have been told before, that you are never to expect that a phrase, however short it may be, is to be translated from one language into the other, word for word. You will now see that this is the case. I shall mark these little exercises A, B, C, and so on; in order that I may easily refer you to them, if necessary. When you have gone through one of these little exercises, you ought, where you have any doubt, to look at the Dictionary. It will tell you whether you have done the Exercise properly. But look well at each word before you write against it. Consider well its meaning and the function it performs in this particular case. One exercise done with care is worth a thousand done carelesslv. SELECT SENTENCES. 135 A. Le Serin est, apres le Rossignol, 1'oiseau qui chante le mieux, et qui a la voix la plus forte: il apprend aisement, quand il est jeune, a parler, et k siffler des airs de flageolet; ce qu'il fait plus facilement que le Pii^on, et il le fait mieux. The Canary is, after the Night- ingale, the bird which sings the best, and which has the strongest voice : it learns easily, when it is young, to talk, and to whistle tunes of the flageolet; which it does more readily than the Chaffinch, and it does it better. Le, Article. The, Article. Serin, noun. Canary, noun. est, verb. is, verb. apres, preposition. after, preposition. le, article. the, article. Rossignol, noun. Nightingale noun. l \ article. the, article. oiseau, noun. bird, noun. qui, relative pronoun. which, relative pronoun. chante, verb. sings, verb. le, article. the, article. mieux, adverb. best, adverb. et, conjunction. and, conjunction. qui, relative pronoun. which, relative pronoun. a, verb. has, verb. to, article. the, article. voix, la plus, forte, noun. ^ adverb. > adjective. } strongest, voice, adjective, noun. II, pronoun. It, pronoun. apprend, verb. learns, verb. aisement, adverb. easily, adverb. quand, adverb. when, adverb. il, pronoun. it, pronoun. est, verb. is, verb. jeune, adjective. young, adjective. a, preposition. to, preposition. parler, verb. talk, verb. et, conjunction. and, conjunction. , preposition. to, preposition. siffler, verb. whistle, verb. des, airs, article united with") preposition. ! noun. | tunes, of, noun, preposition. de, preposition. the, article. flageolet, noun. flageolet, noun. ce qu\ pronoun. which, relative pronoun. ff. pronoun. it, pronoun. 136 PAUSING. fait, plus, facilement, T' verb, adverb, adverb, conjunction, article. Pinion, noun. et, conjunction. i7, pronoun. fait, pronoun, verb. inieiix, adverb. does, verb, more, adverb, readily, adverb, than, conjunction, the, article. Chaffinch, noun, and, conjunction, it, pronoun, does, verb, it, pronoun, better, adverb. 171. If you examine well the words of these two little pieces of writing, the examination will show you a great deal as to the difference in tJie two languages. Look at the closing parts, for instance. The French say, il le fait mieux; that is, lie does it better; but we say, it does it better. The Canary-6irc? is a lie in French, and an it in English ; and you see the French put the words in an order very different from that which we employ. 172. Now proceed in the same way with the little pieces of French and English which follow here. They have been selected for their clearness and simplicity. The English and French both are given, in order that you may compare the one with the other. The trans- lation is not elegant, but as literal as it could be made without making the English a sort of broken English. Instead of saying, " The Canary-bird is, after the " Nightingale, the bird which sings the best, and "which has the strongest voice:" instead of this, it might have been thus ; " Except the Nightingale, the " Canary is .the best singing-bird, and has the strongest " voice." This would have been rather better English; but in order to make the matter as little difficult as possible for you, the translation has been made, as nearly as I could well make it, word for word; but SELECT SENTENCES. 137 yet, you see, it is not word for word, even in this simple instance. 173. The way to proceed with the following sentence is precisely that which has been just pointed out in paragraph 170. And let me beg of you not to slur this business over, but go patiently through it, writing down, in a plain hand, all the sentences, English as well as French ; and when you have parsed one of the sentences, examine it by the Dictionary, to see whether what you have done be correctly done. Paragraphs 42 and 43 contain matter which you should now have fresh in your mind. Head, therefore, those two para- graphs again very attentively, and, while you are at your work of parsing, act according to what is stated in those paragraphs; for, unless you attend to that, your parsing~cannot be correct, and you will not profit, in the degree you ought to profit, from your labour. It is from the Latin name Luciniola that we have formed the name Rossignol. This ety- mology is much better than all those given on the name of this bird. The goldfinch is a small bird, which has the beak of a conical shape, and whitish. It is smaller | than the sparrow ; the top of its I head is black, its gills are white, I the same as the back of its head. The singing of the lark is very pleasing; it is varied; the Bs flat and the Bs sharp are distin- guished in it very easily. The open fields have, like the gardens, their particular fruits at each season of the year. Bees are of great use in a house, on account of the honey, the wax, B. (Test du nom Latin, Lu- ciniola, qu'on a forme le nom de Kossignol. Cette e'tymologie est beaucoup meilleure que toutes celles donnees sur le nom de cet oiseau. C. Le chardonneret est un petit oiseau, qui a le bee de figure conique, blanchatre. II est plus petit que le moineau ; le sommet de sa tete est noir, ses machoires sont blanches, de meme que le derriere de sa tete. D. Le chant de 1'alouette est tres divertissant ; il est vari6 ; les bemols et les bequarres s'y distinguent tres-bien. E. Les champs ouverts ont, comme les jardins, leurs fruits par- ticuliers a chaque saison de 1'annee. F. Les abeilles, cu mouches a miel, sout d'un grand profit a, la 138 PARSING. maison, par le miel, la cire et les essaims qu'elles donnent: elles ne content rieu a nourrir, et ne demandent que quelques soins. G. Le ver a soie, 1'une des plus riches et des plus surprenantes productions de la nature, n'offre pas moins que les abeilles, de 1'utile, de 1'agreable, et meme du merveilleux. H. Comme aliment ordinaire, comme assaisonnement, comme remede, le lait est d'un excellent produit. I. Le jardinage reunit toutes les operations de 1'agricuhure, mais sous un rapport plus cir- conscrit et plus agreable: car il exige des connaissances particu- lieres et tres-etendues. J. L'exercice de la chasse ne peut etre, comme tout autre, que favorable a la sante; c'est 1'ex- ercice le plus sain, pour le corps, et le repos le plus agreable pour 1'esprit. K. Le cheval est celui de tous les animaux qui, avec une grande taille, a le plus d'ele- gance et de proportion dans les parties du corps. C'est le plus necessaire, le plus noble de tous les animaux domestiques. L. L'ane est d'un tempera- ment melancolique, patient et laborieux, mais fort-obstine; il porte des fardeux considerables pour sa grosseur: il tire a la charrette, et a la charrue dans les terres legeres: il vit de peu, et ne coute presque rien a nourrir. M. Les betes a laine sont les bestiaux qui font le plus de profit par leur fecondite, leur toison, leur chair, leur lait, leur graisse, leurs peaux. Un troupeau est Tame d'une ferme. and the swarms that they produce: they cost nothing to keep, and want nothing but a little care. The silk- worm, one of the most rich and most surprising produc- tions of nature, offers, not less than bees, that which is useful, agreeable, and even wonderful. As ordinary food, as an ingre- dient, as a remedy, milk is an article of great value. Gardening unites all the opera- tions of agriculture, but in a way more compact and much more pleasing; for it requires know- ledge at once minute and very extensive. The exercise of hunting cannot but be, like every other, favour- able to health ; it is the exercise the most healthy for the body, and the relaxation the most agree- able for the mind. The horse is, of all animals, that which, with a large frame, has the most elegance and pro- portion in the parts of the body. It is the most necessary, the most noble, of all domestic ani- mals. The ass is of a gloomy temper, patient and laborious, but very obstinate ; he carries large bur- dens for his size; he draws the cart, and the plough in light lands : he lives upon little, and costs scarcely anything to keep. Sheep are the animals which yield the greatest profit, from their fecundity, their fleece, their flesh, their milk, their fat, their skins. A flock is the soul of a farm. 139 LETTER XIV. RELATING TO THE GENDERS OF NOUNS, AND TO THE CONJUGATIONS AND THE IRREGULARITIES OF VERBS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 174. I now come to those cumbrous masses of words, which, if they had been introduced before, would have wholly broken asunder that chain of instruction which I wished to keep entire. In paragraphs 64 and 65 I put off, as you will recollect, what I had further to say on the GENDERS OF NOUNS ; and you will also recollect that, in paragraphs 121 and 122, I put off what I had further to say on the TEN CONJUGATIONS OF REGULAR VERBS, and on the IRREGULAR VERBS. If you now read again paragraph 122, it will not be necessary for me to say, in this place, anything further respecting my reasons for having thus postponed the details upon these three subjects. These details I shall now give, under the three heads just named; and I call these so many TASKS, because this word implies a rather labori- ous affair. Indeed, that which you will find pointed out by this letter is mere labour for the hand, the eye, and the memory. The Genders of Nouns belonged to the Etymology of Nouns; the Conjugations and Irre- gularities of Verbs belonged to the Etymology of Verbs ; and the principles relating to them were sufficiently dwelt on in the proper places: but the details, the lists, the mere memory part, could not be gone into there, without making, in your study of principles, chasms too wide. Having gone through the Etymo- 140 GENDERS OP NOUNS. logy of all the sorts of words, or parts of speech, we come to a proper place for introducing these details ; for, though they are matters for the memory only, they ought to be pretty well secured before we go further in advance. "When we have secured them we shall enter upon the SYNTAX; and shall find it, I trust, a matter of pleasure rather than of toil. 175. Our first task is, then, the ascertaining of the GENDERS OF NOUNS. Now read paragraphs from 54 to C5, both inclusive, carefully through. When you have done that, look attentively at paragraph 64 once more ; for I am now going to give you a specimen of my way of going to work as I have described it in this last- mentioned paragraph. I shall begin with letter A of the Dictionary; that is to say, with the beginning. I shall, in giving you this specimen, take some nouns that begin with that letter. Then take some that begin with B; and so on, till I have gone through the alphabet. 176. The TASK is, simply that of writing down in alphabetical order, in a little blank book, all the nouns in the language; and just putting le or la before each, according to the gender. In the Dictionary you will find against each noun s. m. or s. f., that is to say, substantive (or noun) masculine; or substantive (or noun) feminine. And when you write the nouns in your book, you will put before each the le or the la according as you find the noun to be a masculine or a feminine. 177. But you cannot go through the whole of the Dictionary precisely in this way; for, if the noun begin with a vowel, or with an h mute, the definite article for both genders is l\ Therefore, in these cases, HOW TO RECOLLECT THEM. 141 that is to say, as to the nouns beginning with a, e, i, o, u, and h mute, you must use the indefinite article, un or une. 178. Then, again, there are some nouns which begin with a vowel, and which have neither plural nor singular; as, argent. We cannot say un argent. So that, in such a case as this, the best way will be to put the adjective good (bon or bonne) before the noun; and that will very plainly mark the gender. 179. There are, besides, some few nouns that are plural and never singular; as, vivres, victuals. Now, the plural definite article, les, is for both genders. In such cases, also, you must put the adjective, as in the case of argent; and thus you will, of course, write, de bon argent, de Ions vivres; but, when you have to write down tuiater and snuffers, you will write de bonne eau, and de bonnes mouchettes. 180. I have not put the English opposite the French. It is of no use in this case. It can only add to the labour, and thereby cause a loss of time. The object is to get the genders of the nouns well fixed in your memory; and for the doing of this there is nothing like the writing of the thing down. But, let me now give the little specimen that I have been talking of; and, when I have done that, I have another remark or two to make on the subject. A. B. C. unaune: an alder tree, de bon babeurre. la capote, une aune: an ell. la babine. la caque. de bon argent. le bac. le couteau. D. E. F. le daim. de bonne eau. de bon froment le damas. une cbauche. la framboise, la danse. un e'blouissement. le framboisier. 142 GENDERS OF XOUXS. H. de bonnes hardes. la bache. le haricot. L. le livre: Hie book. la livre: the pound. d'etriotes liraites. 0. un ceil. nn cetif. une oie. R. le renard. la recompense. la recolte. U. une urne. un usage, une usance. Z. une reuse. le zain. le zele. la zibelina 181. In paragraphs 178 and 179, I directed you to take the adjective good (bon or bons, bonne or bonnes); but in some cases this adjective would make nonsense of the phrase. It is very well to say, de bon babeurre, good buttermilk; but it would be nonsense to say, de bonnes vacances, good holidays. Therefore I have put longues before vacances, which denotes the gender as clearly as the adjective bonnes would do it. 182. You will observe, that I have merely given a specimen under each letter of the alphabet. I have not taken the nouns which stand first under each G. le genre. la gazette, le golfe. J. la jeunesse le jeune. lejeu. K le nain. la nageoire. la naissauce. Q. la quaiche. le quartaut. la quarte. T. le tabac. la table. la tache. T. I. une image, une intrigue, un interprete. M. le mot. le magazin. de bons raateriaux. P. la pomme la poire, le puits. S. la source, le songe. le sourcil. V. le vacarme. de longues vacances. la vanne. HOW TO RECOLLECT THE3I. 143 letter; but you will begin at the first noun under A, and will write down every one in the order in which, you find it in the Dictionary. Observe, however, that where the same noun has several distinct significations, and is therefore repeated several times in the Diction- ary, as in the case of the noun mot, you need write the word down but once; unless, indeed, as is sometimes the case, the same noun, that is to say, a noun con- sisting of the same letters, and those letters placed in the same order, be masculine in one sense, and feminine in another. This is the case with regard to the two nouns which stand first under the letter A in the fore- going specimens ; and also in the case of the two first nouns under the letter L. When this is the case it will be useful to write down the English of the words, as I have donedn the two cases just pointed out. 183. Now, this is the TASK; and some labour it cer- tainly does require ; but it does not require any great degree of labour. The whole of the nouns may be written down, in this way, in six days. But when I had written the whole down upon paper of the common size, I copied them into a little book, made of very thin paper, three inches long and two wide. I divided the pages of this book each into two columns, and each column had about thirty nouns. This little book was always about me. It went into my pocket-book, and did not, perhaps, weigh the twentieth part of an ounce. Sitting, walking, riding; whatever my situation, I could always refer to my little book in a moment. This method is, therefore, the one that I beg you to pursue. Once more let me remind you of the neces- sity of writing down the words correctly. You must not omit any of the accents; for they, as you have seen 144 CONJUGATION OP REGULAR VERBS. before, are, in some cases, of as much importance as the letters. Write in a plain hand. Writing may be neat and plain, though very small, which yours must be when you come to put the nouns into the little book before mentioned. 184. Having performed this TASK, which may pos- sibly require ten days to do it well, and to make your little book in a very neat manner, you will proceed to the next TASK; but before you do this, spend two days in reading through all the foregoing THIRTEEN LETTERS ; because, by the end of the ten days, which the list of nouns will demand, it will be necessary to bring your mind back to the previous part of the Grammar. Hav- ing read carefully through the whole of the Grammar up to this place, having taken this leview of your labours, you will proceed to the next TASK, which is by no means less necessary, but is much less laborious. 185. The CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS forms the subject of the second TASK. In paragraph 118, I have explained the meaning of the word Conjugation, and have given you the conjugation of an Eng- lish Verb and of a French Verb. In paragraphs 1 20 and 121, I have spoken of the ten Conjugations of French Verbs, and, in paragraph 122, I have spoken of the Irregular Verbs. Head all these paragraphs care- fully through now. Pay great attention to all that they contain; and, when you have gone through them in this careful manner, you will be ready to enter on the ten conjugations. 186. If I had to make a dictionary, I would make but two conjugations; but I must take the Dictionary as I find it. It is, however, a matter of little conse- quence, so that we attend to what we are about. The HOW DESIGNATED. 145 French verbs are, as was observed in paragraph 121, considered as divided into ten conjugations. These are denoted in the Dictionary by the figures 1, 2, 3, and so on to 10. You have seen that a French verb takes more than thirty different forms. These forms are differ- ent according to the different conjugations. You have seen that TROUVER (to find) becomes trouve, trouvons, trouveZy trouvent. But AGIR (to act) becomes, in some cases, agis, agissons, agissez, agissent. The changes in this last verb are very different from those in the former verb. These two verbs are said to belong to different conjugations, because the changes in one of them are different from the changes in the other: and if you look into the Dictionary you will find the figure 1 after TROUVER, and the figure 2 after AGIR; because the former verb is of the first and the latter of the second conjugation. [It is not, however, in all dictionaries that these indications will be found.] 187. You will now be ready to ask, what are the marks which designate the conjugations; that is to say, what is it that makes us say, that this verb belongs to such a conjugation, and that that verb belongs to such other conjugation 1 The designating marks are the endings of the verbs; and the method adopted has been this : to call the verbs ending in er verbs of the first conjugation, those in ir of the second, in tir of the third, in enir of the fourth, in evoir of the fifth, in aire of the sixth, in indre of the seventh, in oitre of the eighth, in uire of the ninth, in dre of the tenth. 188. But you may say, What is the use of all this classifying ? Oh ! a great deal of use, as I will now show you. Suppose you have to translate this phrase, you Jind a sheep; you write, vous trouvez un mouton; L 146 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. then this phrase, you act well; you, if yon paid no attention to conjugation, would write, vous agiz bien. But, knowing by its ending that agir is of the second conjugation, and having learned the manner of making the changes in the verbs of that conjugation, you would write, not agiz, but agissez. 189. What you have now to do, then, is to learn the manner of making the changes in the verbs of all these ten conjugations. In order to teach you this, I shall take one verb of each of the ten conjugations, and con- jugate it all through; that is to say, exhibit it in all its forms, from that of the Infinitive Mode to that of the Participle, in the same manner that I have exhi- bited the verb TROUVER, in paragraph 118. The verbs which I shall take for this purpose are the following : 1. TROUVER, 2. AGIR, 3. MENTIR, 4. VENIR, 5. DEVOIR, 6. FA i RE, 7. JOISDRE, 8. CROITRE, 9. CUIRE, 10. VE.NDKE, to find. to act. to lie. to come. to owe. to make, or do. to join. to grow. to cook. to sell. Here is one verb of each of the ten conjugations; and if you were to look out these verbs in the Dictionary, you would find a figure against each agreeing with what you see here. (See the note at end of paragraph 186.) Bear in mind, then, that the verbs of the first conjuga- tion end in er, those of the second in ir, of the third in tir, the fourth in enir, the fifth evoir, the sixth aire, the seventh oindre, the eighth oitre, the ninth uire, and the tenth endre and ondre. 190. There will be some remarks to make upon each FIRST CONJUGATION. 147 ; conjugation, and in order that all may be as plain as possible, I shall make one place contain the remarks on each conjugation, and shall exhibit a verb regularly conjugated on the opposite page; so that when you turn over the leaf, you will come to a fresh conjuga- tion. 191. FIRST CONJUGATION. Paragraphs 121 and 122 have explained to you what Irregular Verbs are; and you are to observe, that there are some of those of each Conjugation. But, besides these irregu- lars, there are some little irregularities in several of the verbs of this first conjugation. FIRST. When there is a g immediately before the er, the e is not dropped in those parts of the verb :sdiich require an o or an a to come after the g. In NAGER (to swim), for instance, we should, if we followed the general rule, say, je nagais: but this would introduce the hard sound of gais: we therefore say, je nageais. And in the active participle we say, nageant, and not nagant. SECOND. "When a question is asked, and the verb is immediately followed by the pronoun je, the e is changed into an e; as, trouve-je ? Find I ? THIRD. Verbs which end in uyer, oyer, ayer, and eyer, are, by some writers, made to change the y into i, in those parts of the verb where the y comes immediately before an e mute; and there- fore, instead of je paye (I pay), such writers use je paie. The verb envoyer (to send) makes en- verrai, in the future, and enverrais in the past of the subjunctive. 148 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. FOURTH. The verbs appeler (to call) smdjeter (to throw) double the I and the t in those parts of the verb which take an e mute immediately after the I and t; as, fappatte, and not fappele; je jelte, and not je jete. This is the case in a very few other instances. FIFTH. When the verb ends in cer, the c must have a cedille placed under it, when it is im- mediately followed by an a or an o; as, tracer (to trace), je traqais, il traga. These irregulari- ties amount to very little ; and all the verbs in er are to be considered as regular, except ALLER and PUER. SIXTH. In the part of the verb which ends with a vowel, and which, when a question is asked, is followed by il or elle, there must be a t put between the verb and the U or elle, with a double hyphen ; thus, trouve-t-il ? does he find ? trouva-t-U ? did he find] This is merely for the sake of the sound, which without the t would be very disagreeable. FIRST CONJUGATION. 149- FIRST CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Trouver, To find. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je trouve, tu trouves, il trouve, I find, tli oti findest he finds. Inous trouvons, vous trouvez, ils trouvent, we find, you find, they find. je trouvais, tu trouvais, il trouvait, Past Impt I found, thou foundest. he found. rfect Time. nous trouvions, vous trouviez, ils trouvaient, we found, you found, they found. je trouvai, tu trouvas, il trouva, Past Perfect Time. I found. Il nous trouvames, 1 we found, thou foundest. vous trouvates, you found, he found. II ils trouverent, | they fouud. Future Time. je trouverai, tu trouveras, il trouvera, I shall find. || nous trouverons, thou shalt find. vous trouverez, he shall find. || ils trouveront, we shall find, you sliall find, they shall find.- SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je trouve, 1 I may find, tu trouves, thou mayest find, il trouve, | he may find. Inous trouvions, vous trouviez, ils trouvent, we may find, you may find, they may find. je trouverais, tu trou serais, il trouverait, Past Imp( I should find, thou shouldest find, he should find. irfect Time. nous trouverions, vous trouveriez, ils trouveraient, we should find, you should find, they should find. je trouvasse, tu trouvasses, il trouvat, Past Pei I might find, thou mightest find, he might find. feet Time. nous trouvasslons, vous trouvassiez, ils trouvassent, we might find, you might find, they might find. IMPERAT IVE MODE. | trouvons, trouvez, ||qu'ils trouvent, let us find, find, let them find. trouve, qu'il trouye, find, let him find. PARTICIPLES. trouvant, trouv6, il finding. il found. 150 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 192. SECOND CONJUGATION. The verbs of this conjugation end (in their infinitive mode) in ir. There are, however, two other conjugations which end in. ir; namely, the third and the fourth, as you have seen in paragraph 189. But these two end in tir and enir. Of the second conjugation, the verb on the following page is one. There are about 200 verbs of this second conjugation. In the Subjunctive Mode a que is understood always; as, que fagisse, that I may act. This matter will be fully explained in Letter XXI V., where I shall show how the French supply the place of these little words. It may be useful to add a word or two here about the PARTI- CIPLES. The active participle, as TROUVANT, AGISSANT, never changes its form [see, however, paragraph 436]; but the passive participle does change its form in ome cases. Trouve, for instance, is the passive parti- ciple of the verb Trouver; but this participle is some- times trouve, at others trouves, at others trouvee, and at others trouvees. When the passive participle ought .to change its form, and when it ought not, is not to be learned by us without great attention. This matter, which is of the first importance, I shall treat of fully in the Syntax of Verbs, in Letter XXIII. The changes in the form of the passive participle are not given in the conjugations, because the participle is not always subject to change. The changes depend upon the construction of the sentence in which the participle is used; and you have not yet come to the construction of sentences. SECOND CONJUGATION. SECOND CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Agir, 1| To Act INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 151 J'agls, I act. II nous agissons, we act,. tu agis, ilagit, thou actest. vousagissez, he acts. || ilsagissent, you act. they act Past Imperfect Time. J'agissais, tu agissais, I acted, thou actedst. nous agissions, vous agissiez, we acted, you acted. 51 agissait, he acted. ils agissaient, they acted. Past Perfect Time. j'agis, I acted. nous agimes, we acted. tu agis. thou actedst. vous agites, you acted. 11 agit, he acted. ils agirent, they acted. Future Time. J'agirai, I shall act. It nous agirons, we shall act tu agiras, ilagira,.' thou shalt act vous agirez, he shall act. [| ils agiront. you shall act. they shall act. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. j'agisse, tu agisses, 11 agisse, I may act. 11 nous agissions, thou mayest act vous aj;issiez, he may act. 1 1 ils agissent, we may act. you may act they may act Past Imperfect Time. j'agirais, tu agirais, I should act. thou shouldest act. nous aglrions, vous agiriez, we should act you should act 11 agirait, he should act. ils agiraient, they should act Past Perfect Time. j'agisse, tu agisses, ilagit, I might act || nous agissions, thou mightest act. vous a^issiez, he might act. H ilsagissent, we might act you might act they might act. IMPERATIVE MODE. agis, act agissons, agissez, let us act act qu'il agisse, let him act. qu'ils agissent, let them act. PARTICIPLES. agissant, n acting. agi, II acted. 152 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 193. THIRD CONJUGATIOK These are verbs in tir, though it ought to be observed that there are some of the verbs of the SECOND conjugation which end in tir. However, this can produce no mistake, because I shall here subjoin a list of all the verbs of this con- jugation. There are THIRTEEN of them; and they are as follows : Consentir, Dementir, Desservir, Mentir, far tir, Prtsientir, Repartir, to consent, to give the lie. to clear the table, to lie. to set out, to foresee, to set out again. Ressentir, Jitssorlir, Sentir, I Servir, Repentir, (Se) Soilir, to resent, to co out again, to feel, to serve, to repent, to go out You will see that several of these verbs are derived from others of them; as, repartir comes from partir. I have, however, placed them here in alphabetical order. I must also observe that the English is not, in these cases, always a full translation of the French. Sentir, for instance, means, sometimes, to smell; and repartir, with the accent, means to divide or distribute, while without the accent (repartir) it means to reply, to set out again. But these matters you will soon become well acquainted with by those frequent re- ferences to the Dictionary which will be required when vou come to translate. At present you have more to do with the forms of words, and with the changes in those forms, than with the various meanings of words. Paragraph 115 should be read with attention. The observations which it contains relative to the manner of using the will, shall, and so forth, apply to all the conjugations. Small letters have, at the beginning of words, been used as much as possible, instead of capitals, in order to save room. THIRD CONJUGATION. THIRD CONJUGATION. 153 INFINITIVE MODE. Mentir, || To Lie. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je mens, tumens, il ment, I lie. II nous mentons, thouliest vousmentez, belies. 11 ilsmentent, we lie. you lie. they lie. Past Imperfect Time. je mentals, tu mentals, il mentait, I lied, thou liedst. he lied. nous mentions, vousrnentiez, iis mentaieut, we lied, you lied, they lied. Past Perfect Time. je mentis, tu mentis, il men tit, I lied, thou liedst. he lied. nousmentimes, vous mentites, ils mentireiit, we lied, you lied, they lied. , Future Time. je mentirai, tu mentiras, il mentira, I shall lie. thou shall lie. he shall lie. nous mentirons, vous mt'iitivez, ils mentiront, we shall lie. you shall lie. they shall lie, SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je mente, tu mentes, il mente, I may lie. || nous mentions, thou mayest lie. I vons mentiez, he may lie. ils mentent, we may lie, you may lie. they may lie. Past Imperfect Time. je mentirais, tu mentirais, il mentirait, I should lie. || nous mentirions, thou shouldest lie. vous meutiriez, he should lie. | iis mentiraient, we should lie. you should lie. they should lie. je mentisse, tu mentisses, il mentit, Past Perj I might lie. thou mightest lie. he might lie. ict Time. nous mentissions, 1 we might lie. vuus mentissiez, 1 you might lie. ils mentissent, | they might lie. IMPERATIVE MODE. mens, qu'il mente, II mentons, lie. mentez, let him lie. II qu'ils mentent, let us lie. lie. let them lie. PARTICIPLES. mentant, II lvir>. meiiti, II lied. 154 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 194. FOURTH CONJUGATION. The verbs of this conjugation end in enir; as you see in the case of VENIR. There are TWENTY-FOUR of them, as follows : Abstenir, (S') to abstain. Parvenir, to succeed. jlppartenir, to belong. Precenir. to prevent. Contenir, to contain. Prorenir, to result from. Contretenir, to contravene. Retenir, to retain. Conrenir, to acree to. Jtessouvenir, (Se) to call to mind. De'tenir, to detain. Rerenir, to come back. Devenir, to become. Sovlenir, to sustain. Disconvenir, to dissent from. Souvenir, (Se) to remember. Entretenir, Jnterrenir, to keep up. to intervene. Sutivenir, Survenir, to come to the help ot to happen. Maintenir, to maintain. T.nir, to hold. Obtenir, to obtain. Venir, to coine. Here are, in fact, but two original verbs, all the other twenty-two being partly made out of them ; and it is curi- ous enough, that these two should be the two last upon the list. Eveiy one of these verbs expresses something about holding or coming. ABSTENIR is to back hold, or hold back. APPARTENIR is to apart Iwld, or hold apart, or, rather, to be lield apart. MAINTENIR is to Jiand hold, or hold fast, or firmly. INTERVENIR is to come between. PARVENIR is to come by, or at. PREVENIR is to come before. This is, too, the meaning of our word prevent ; and hence, in one of the prayers of the Liturgy, we say, "Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doing;" that is to say, come before ILS, or lead, or guide us. I observed, in paragraph 193, that some of the verbs, in all these lists, had other meanings besides those expressed by the English words put against them. Such is remarkably the case of this verb prevenir, which means (besides to prevent) to apprize, to anticipate, to be before-hand with. Bear this in mind ; for it will be of great use to you when you come to translate. FOURTH CONJUGATION. FOURTH CONJUGATION. 155 INFINITIVE MODE. Venir, I To Come. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Je viens, tu viens, il vient, I come, thou comest. he comes. nous venons, vous venez, 1 ils viennent, we come, you come, they come. Past Imperfect Time. je venais, tu venais, il venait I came. II nous venions, *hou earnest (vousveniez, he came. | ils venaient, we came, you came, they came. Past Perfect Timz jevins, tu vins, il vint, I came, thou earnest, he came. ' nousvlnmes, vous vintes, ils viurent, we came, you came, they came. Future Time. je viendrai, tu viendras, il viendra, I-sTiall come, thou shalt come, he shall come. nous viendrons, vous viendrez, ils viendront, we shall come, you shall come, they shall come. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je vienne, tu viennes, il vienne, I may come, thou mayest come, he may come. nous venions, vous veniez, ils viennent, we may come, you may come, they may come. Past Imperfect Time. je viendrais, tu viendrais, il viendrait, I should come, thou shonldestcome. he should come. nousviendrions, vous viendriez. ils vieudraieut, we should come, you should come, they should come. Past Perfect Time. je vinsse, tu vinsses, il vlnt, I might come. II nous vinssions, thou mightest come, vous vinssiez, he might come. || ils vinssent, we might come, you might come, they might come. IMPERATIVE MODE. viens, qu'il vienne. il venons, come. venez, let him come. il qu'ils vienncnt, let us come, come, let them coma PARTICIPLES. venant, II coming, venu, II come. 156 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 195. FIFTH CONJUGATION. This consists of verbs ending in evoir. There are but six of them. It was hardly worth while to make a conjugation of these; but it has been done in the Dictionary which is the most in use, and therefore I do it here. These six verbs are : Apercevoir, (') I to perceive. || Percecoir, I to levy, or collect Concevoir, to conceive. Recevoir, to receive. Devoir, \ to owe. || Redevoir, \ to owe again. There is the verb decevoir; but it is not much used. DEVOIR, the verb conjugated on the following page, is a verb of great use. It answers, in many cases, to our ought, and in other cases to our should. Our ought is, in fact, a part of the verb to owe, and is become ought by corruption. For instance, " I ought to write to " you," means, that " I owe the performance of the act of " writing to you." The French phrase would be, " Je " dois vous crire;" which is, " I owe to you to write." However, you will find more as to this matter when you get into the Syntax. Let me, as I have room in this place, remind you again of the great advantage of writing in a plain hand. You will write these conju- gations down, as before directed; but if you write in a slovenly Jiand, you will not place the matter so safely in your memory as if you wrote in a plain and neat hand. In short, the best manner of doing a thing is, in the endj also the least troublesome and the quickest. FIFTH CONJUGATION. FIFTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Devoir, || To Owe. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 157 Je dois, tu dois, il doit, I owe. II nous devons, thouowest. vousdevez, he owes. 1 \ ils doivent, we owe. you owe. they owe, je devais, tu devais, il devait, Past Imperfect Time. I owed. || nous devions, thou owedst. vous deviez, he owed. 1 1 ils devaient, we owed, you owed, they owed. je dus, tu dua, il dut, Past Perfect Time. I owed. il nous dftmes, thou owedst. vous dfites, he owed. II ils durent, we owed, you owed, they owed. je devrai, tu devras, il devra, Future Time. I shall owe. || nousdevrons, Hum shalt owe. vous devrez, he shall owe. || ilsdevront, we shall owe. you shall owe. they shall owe. je dolve, tu doives, il doive, SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may owe. |j nous devions, thou mayest owe. vous deviez, he may owe. || ils doivent, we may owe. you may owe. they may owe. je devrais, tu devrais, il devrait, Past Imperfect Time. I should owe. n nous devrions, thou shouldest owe. vous devriez, he should owe. > I ils devraient. we should owe. you should owe. they should owe. je dusse, tu dusses, ildut, Past Perfect Time. I might owe. il nous dussions, thou mightest owe. vous dussiez, he might owe. II ils dussent, we might owe. you might owe. they might owe. IMPERATIVE MODE. dois, qu'il doive, n devons, owe. devez, let him owe. 1 1 qu'ils doivent, let us owe. owe. let them owe; PARTICIPLES. devant, II owing, da, 11 owed. 158 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 196. SIXTH CONJUGATION. These are the verbs ending in aire; and there are SEVEN of them, as follows : Contrefaire, Defaire, Faire, Refaire, to counterfeit to undo. to do, or to make, to do again. Redefaire, Satisfaire, Surfaire, to undo again to satisfy, to overdo. You will see at once that this is, in reality, all one original verb; for every one of these verbs expresses something about doing. To counterfeit is against to do ; and satisfy is enough to do, or enough doing. DOCTOR JOHNSON, in his Dictionary, says, that our satisfy comes from the Latin word satisfacio; but, why, Doctor? Is not our word much more like satisfaire ? Is not the fy manifestly fait, or faire ? And a great number of our words come in part from this root; as feat, feasible. The country people in Hampshire commonly say, it does not fay; meaning it does not do, it does not go on ivell. Many of our words, ending injfy, come in part from this French word faire; and many others which end in ait or eit. Our word surfeit is, indeed, French, if the e were exchanged for an a. Sur is over, and J eit (fait) is done. But faire is, sometimes, to make: we have two verbs here to the one French verb ; and, as our two verbs are words of great use, so is this French verb faire, as you will see by-and-by; therefore, take particular pains in learning to conjugate it. It is to be observed, that in the past imperfect time of the indicative mode there are two ways of spelling this verb : je fesais, tu fesais, or, je faisais, tu faisais, and. so on throughout that time. The latter form, with the ai, is more modern than that with the e. SIXTH CONJUGATION. 109 SIXTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Faire, || To Do. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Jefais, Tdo. 1 Inous faisons, we do. tu fais, thou doest. vous faites, you do. ilfait, he does. Us font, they do. Past Imperfect Time. je fesais, tu fesais, I did. thou didst. nous fesions, vous fesiez, we did. you did. il fesait, he did. Us fesaient, they did. Past Perfect Time. jefis, 1 I did. Inous fimes, we did. tuns, thou didst. vous fites, yon did. ilfit, 1 he did. ils firent, they did. Future Time. je ferai, I shall do. nous ferons, we shall do. tu feras, ilfera, thou shalt do. heTshall do. vous ferez, ils feront, vou shall do. they shall do. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je fasse, tu fusses, I may do. thou mayest do. inous fassions, vous fassiez, we may do. you may do. il fasse, he may do. ils fassent, they may do. Past Imperfect Time. je ferais, tu ferais, I should do. thou shouldest do. 1 nous ferions, vous feriez, we should do. you should do. il ferait, he should do. | ils feraient, they should do. Past Perfect Time. je fisse, I might do. nous fissions, we might do. tu lisses. il fit, tli on miffhtest do. he might do. vous lissiez, ils fissent, you might do. they might do. IMPERATIVE MODE. 1 faisons, let us da fais. do. faites, do. qu'il fasse, let him do. I qu'ils fassent, let them do. PARTICIPLES. fesanr, 1 doing. fait, done. 160 CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS. 107. SEVENTH CONJUGATION. These are verbs that end in aindre, eindre, or oindre. The dif- ference in the ending of these makes no difference in the manner of conjugating them. But before I speak further of this, let me give you a list of the verbs of this conjugation, of which there are only FIFTEEN, as follows : Astreindre, Atleindrt, Cein'ire, Contraindre, Craindre, nceinrtre, Enjoindre, Eteindre, to bind, to reach, to gird, to constrain, to fear, to surround, to enjoin, to extinguish. ! Fein* re, i JnintJri; Peindre, Plaindre, PlnnHre, (Se) Restreindre, Teindre, to feiffn. to join. to paint to pity, to complain, to restrain, to tint, or dye. There are three or four other verbs of these termina- tions; but they are out of use, and therefore I will take no further notice of them. Here are three different endings, if you go back to the sixiJi letter from the end ; but the changes of all three being the same, these verbs are all put into one conjugation. You see what the changes are in joindre. Now, suppose you have to conjugate craindre. Je crams, je craignais, je craignis, je craindrai, and so forth. And, if you take feindre, you say, je feins, je feignais, je feignis, je feindrai. All this becomes familiar in a very short- time; and especially if you write the conjugations down over and over again, and in a neat and plain hand. SEVENTH CONJUGATION. SEVENTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Joindre, U To Join. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 161 je joins, tu joins, il joint, I join. Il nous joignons, thoujoinest. 1 vousjoignez, he joins. II ilsjoignent, we join, you join, they join. jejoignais, tu joignais, il joignait, Past Imperfect Time. I joined. n nous joignions, I we joined, thoujoinedst vous joigniez, you joined, he joined. || ilsjoignaient, | they joined. je joignis, tu joignis, iljoignit, Past Perfect Time. \ I joined. |j nous joipnlraes, thoujoinedst. vous joignltes, he joined. [j ils joignirent, we joined, you joined, they joined. Future Time. JejMndrai, 1 I shall join. n nousjoindrons, tujoindras, tlHrashaltjoin. vousjoindrez, iljoindra, | he shall join. l| ils joindront. we shall join, you shall join, they shall joia SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. jejoigne, tn joignes, iljoigne, Present Time. I may join. [1 nous joignions, thou mayest join. vous joigniez, he may join. || ilsjoignent, we may join, you may join, they may join. je joindrais, tu joindrais, iljoindrait, Past Imperfect Time. I should join. |j nous joindrions, thou shouldest join. vousjoindriez, he should join. 1! ilsjoindraient, we should join, you should join, they should join. jejoignisse, tu joignisses, iijoignit, Past Perfect Time. I might join. I; nousjoignissions, 1 we might join, thou mi licst join. vousjoignissiez, you might join, he might join. || ilsjoignissent, | they might join. IMPERATIVE MODE. joins, qu'il joigne, [I joignons, join. joignez, let him join. |i qu'ilsjoignent, let us join. join, let them join. PARTICIPLES. jo^gnnnt, || joining. Joint, II joined. M 1G2 CONJUGATION OF VERBS. 198. EIGHTH CONJUGATION. this conjugation end in oitre and aUre. in number, as follows : Accroitre, Connaitre, Croilre, Decrollre^ Disparuitre, to accrue, to know, to grow, to pet less. to disappear. M&onnaitre, Parai're, Kecroltre, Reconnaitre, The verbs of They are NINE to forget, to appear, to grow again, to recognize. There are two or three law-terms, -which I do not notice here. They are of no use, and can only serve to load the memory uselessly. Observe, that in some books these words have not a circumflex accent ( A ) over the i, but merely a single dot, as in other cases. It is, perhaps, of very little consequence; but I mention it that you may be prepared for such a case. Many French words formerly had an s where they now have none. For instance, people used to write maistre, estre, instead of maitre and etre; and the A is put to signify the omission of the s. It is the same with crottre, which used to be written croistre. EIGHTH CONJUGATION. 163- EIGHTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Croitre, || To Grow. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Je crots, I grow. nous croissons, we grow. tu crois, thou growest. 1 vous croissez, you grow. il croit, he grows. II ils croissent, they grow. Past Imperfect Time. je croissals, tu croissaia. I growed. thou didst grow. j nous croissions, vous croissiez, we growed. you growed. il croissait, he growed. 1 ils croissaient, they growed. Past Perfect Time. je cms, I growed. inous crumes, we growed. tu crus, thou didst grow. vous crutes, you growed. il crut, he growed. ils crui'ent, they gTowed. Future Time. je croltrai, tu croitras, il croitra, I shall grow. 4lK>u shall grow, he shall grow. nous croitrons, vous croltrez, ils croitront, we shall grow, you shall grow, they shall grow. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. Je croisse, I may grow. Inous croissions, we may grow. tu croisses, il croisse, thou mayest grow, he may grow. vous croissiez, ils croissent, you may grow, they may grow. Past Imperfect Time. je croltrais, tu croltrais, il croltrait, I should grow, thou shouldest grow, he should grow. | nous croltrions, 1 we should grow, vous croitriez, you should gro * \ ils croltraient, | they should grow. Past Perfect Time. je crasser I might grow. Inous missions, we might grow. tu crusses, il crfit, thou mightest grow. he might grow. 1 vous crussiez, ils crusseht, you might grow, they might grow- IMPERATIVE MODE. . 1 croissons, let us grow. crois, grow. croissez, grow. qu'il croisse, let him grow. qu'ils croissent, let them grow. PARTICIPLES. croissant, 1 1 growing. crfl, grown. 164 CONJUGATION OF VERBS. 199. NINTH CONJUGATION. This conjuga- tion consists of the verbs that end in uire, which are EIGHTEEN in number, some of them having a little of irregularity, which will be noticed when I have given you the list. Conduire, Comtruire, Cuire, Ue'tiuire, JJe'truire, Enduire, Jnduire, Jntroduire, Jnstruire, to conduct, to construct. to cook, to deduct to destroy, to plaster over. to induce, to introduce, to instruct. Luire, Nuire, Produire, Reconduire, Recuire, Reduire, Reluire, SeJuire, Traduire, to shine, to give light to hurt, to produce, to reconduct to cook again, to reduce, to glitter, to shine, to seduce, to translate. LUIRE, RELUIRE, and NUIRE, are irregular in their passive participles, where they drop the t; and instead of luitj reluit, and nuit, they make lui, relui, and nui. The passive participle is called, by some, the past parti- ciple; and the active participle is, by those persons, called the present participle. But " I was walking " is certainly not present. One of these participles always expresses action, and the other does not; there- fore I use the words active and passive, as applied to these participles respectively. NINTH CONJUGATION. 1G5 KINTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Cuire, || To Cook. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Jecnis, tucuis, il cuit, I cook, thou cookest. he cooks. || nous cuisons, vous cuisez, I! ilscuisent, we cook, you cook, they cook. je cuisais, tu cuisais, il cuisait, Past Imperfect Time. | I cooked. il nous cuisions, thou cookedst. vous cuisiez, he cooked. || ils cuisaient, we cooked, you cooked, they cooked. je cuisis, tu cuisis, il cuisit, Past Perfect Time. I cooked. M nous cnisimes, thou cookedst. 1 vous cuisites, he cooked. 1 1 ils cuisirent, we cooked, you cooked, they cooked. jc cuirai, tu cuiras, il cuira, Futui I shall cook, -thou shalt cook, he shall cook. e Time. nous cuirons, vous cuirez, ils cuiront, we shall cook, you shall cook, they shall cook. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Je cuise, tu cuises, il cuise, Present Time. I may cook. i nous cuisions, thou maycst cook. | vous cuisiez, he may cook. j| ils cuiseat, we may cook, you may cook, they may cook. je cuirais, tu cuirais, il cnirait, Past Impe I should cook, thou shouldest cook, he should cook. rfect Time. nous cuirions, vous cuiriez, i ils cuiraient, we should cook, you should cook, they should cook. je cuisisse, tu cuisisses, il cuisit, Past Perj I might cook, thou mightest cook, he might cook. r ect Time. nous cnisissions, 1 vous cuisissicz, ils cuisissent, we might cook, you might cook, they might cook. cuis, cook. qu'il cuise, | let him cook. IMPERATIVE MODE. || cnisons, cuisez, II qu'ils cuisent, let us cook. cook. let them cook. PARTICIPLES. cuisant, cuit, cooking, cooked. 166 CONJUGATION OF VERBS. 200. TENTH CONJUGATION. These are verbs which end in endre and ondre. There are TWENTY- THREE of them, as follows : Attendre, to wait for. Perdre, to lose. Coxdescendre, to condescend. Pondre, to lay ecps. Confondre, to confound. Prtiendre, to pretend. Correspondre, to correspond. Refonrire, to recast. DescenJre, to descend. it endre. to render. Entendre, to hear. Ite'panrtre, to spread. Etendre, to extend. Reoondre, to answer. Fendrt, to split Tendre, to bend. Fondre, to melt Tondre, to shear. Mordre, to bite. Torrire, t twist Morfondre, to give cold to. Vendre, to selL Pen'dre, to hang. The remarks made in paragraph 197, relative to the effect of the three different endings of the verbs of the seventh conjugation, apply to this conjugation. If it were TONDRE instead of ve?idre, I should say je tonds, je tondais, and so on; and in the participles I should say, tondant and tondu, instead of vendant and vendu. So it is, of course, in the other cases ; and, knowing how to conjugate one verb of any conjugation, you know how to conjugate, or make the changes in, all the other verbs of that conjugation. But, there are three verbs which are deemed to be of this conjugation, and which end in rdre: perdre, mordre, tordre. They are conjugated in the same manner as vendre. They are, therefore, inserted in the above list. TENTH CONJUGATION. TENTH CONJUGATION. INFINITIVE MODE. Vendre, B To Sell. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 167 Je vends, tu vends, il vend, I sell, thou sellest. he sells. nous vendons, vous vendez, ils vendent, we sell, you sell, they sell. je vendais, tu vendais, il vendait, Past Imperfect Time. I solcL 1; nous vend ions, thou soldest. ! vous vendiez, he sold. i ! ils vendaient, we sold, you sold, they sold. je vendis, tu vendis, il vendit, Past Perj I sold, thou soldest he sold. r ect Time. nous vendlmes, vous vendites, 1 ils vendirent, we sold, you sold, they sold. Future je vendrai, MTshall sell, tu vendras, thou shalt selL ilvendra, I he shall sell. Time. \ nous vendrons, vous veridrez, 1 ils vendront, we shall sell, you shall sell, they shall sell SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je vende, tu vendes, il vende, Present Time. I may sell. II nous vendfons, thou mayest sell. vous vendiez, he may sell. II ils vendent, we may sell, you may sell they may sell je vendrais, tu vendrais, il vendrait, Past Impei I should sell. thou shouldest sell. he should sell. -feet Time. i nous vendrions, I vous vendriez. 1 ils vendraient, we should sell, you should sell, they should sell je vendisse, tu vendisses, il vendit, Past Perfect Time. I might sell. II nous vendlssions, thou mightest sell. vous vendissiez, he might sell. 11 ils vendissenL we might sell, you might sell, they might sclL rends, gu'Il vende, IMPERATIVE MODE. . ii venclons, sell. vendez, let him sell. !| qu'ils vendent, let us sell sell. let them sclL PARTICIPLES. vendant, vendu, U selling, sold. 1CS IRREGULAR VERBS. 201. IRREGULAR VERBS. This is the THIRD TASK; and it is no trifling one. Having done with the ten conjugations of Regular Verbs, I have next to treat of the Irregulars, of which I have spoken before, especially in paragraph 122. In paragraph 191, I observed, that there were some Irregulars of every one of the conjugations; that is to say, that there were some verbs ending in er, some in ir, and in all the rest that were irregular; or, in other words, that did not undergo the same variation as the regular ones. Let us take a proof in TROUVER (to find) and ALLER (to go). INFINITIVE MODE. Trouver, A Her, To Find To Go. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. I find. I go. thou findest. thou goest. he finds, he goes. 1 nous trouvons, nous allons, vous IrouveZj vnus allez, its trouvent, \ ils vont, we find, we go. you find, you go. they find, they go. je trouve, je vais, tu trouves, tu vas, il trouvc, \ ilva, You see here how different is the manner of making the changes in ALLER from that of making them in TROUVER. Indeed, you see, in some of the persons, not one letter of the word ALLER left, as in vais and vont. Therefore, seeing the changes in it are not made in the same way that they are in TROUVER, which is a regu- lar verb, ALLER is called an Irregular verb. As 1 observed to you before, there are some of these of every one of the conjugations; but I shall now give a list of the whole of the Irregulars, placed in alphabeti- cal order. Afterwards I shall conjugate them fully; LIST OF IUllECULA.il VERBS. 163 but, first of all, I shall give a list of them. There are, however, a few other remarks to make in the way of preface to these Irregulars. There are, as you will see, THIRTY-NINE Irregulars in the list; but many of them have others derived from them; ecrire, to write; souscrire, to subscribe (or underwrite) ; and so on. Then, there are some, even in the alphabetical list of Irregulars, which are defective; that is to say, which are not used except in some parts of them ; that is, in part of the modes, or part of the times. These defec- tive parts will be pointed out in the conjugations, but the sooner you are aware of the circumstance the bet- ter. I shall now give the list of Irregulars, with those verbs that are derived from them. This list you will first read all through, without looking at the con- jugations. Th^n you are to go over the list again, and you are to stop at each verb and turn to its conju- gation, and go through that. Then go to tlie next verb; and so on, until you have in this way gone through the whole list. The conjugations will be easily referred to, because, besides the alphabetical order, they will be numbered as paragraphs, and I shall refer to them as such. I do not put avoir and etre in this list; because, though they are Irregulars, all things relating to them are fully explained elsewhere. ACQUfiBIR: To Acquire. The following are conjugated in the same manner: conquerir, enquerir, requerir, and querir. These are all defective verbs; that is, they are used in only part of their forms. Practice will soon teach you this. See conjugation, Paragraph 202. ALLER,: To Go. This is the only irregular verb of tke first conjugation. There is, indeed, Puer, 170 LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. which formerly was irregular in the three persona singular of the present of the indicative ; but is now written je pue, tu pues, il pue, and so forth. See Paragraph 203. S'ASSEOIR : To Sit down. It has other mean- ings ; but this you will learn from the Diction- ary; and, besides, care will be taken to intro- duce words like this into the Exercises; so that, by the time that you have gone through the Grammar and the Exercises, you will be well acquainted with these distinctions. Sur- seoir is conjugated in the same way, and also seoir; but it is defective ; and neither is much in use. See Paragraph 204. BATTRE : To Beat. The verbs abattre, to beat, or put down; conibattre, se debattre, s'ebattre, r abattre, and rebattre, are all conjugated like batlre. They all, indeed, belong to that word. See Paragraph 205. BOIPvE: To Drink. See Paragraph 206. BOUILLIR : To Soil. This verb is, in French, always neuter. The French do not use it as we do : they use it only in the third person ; as, il bout, it boils. They do not say, / boil the cabbage ; but, je fais bouillir le cJiou ; that is, I make the cabbage boil. The verb rebouillir means, to boil again, and it is, of course, conju- gated like bouillir. See Paragraph 207. CONCLURE : To Conclude. Exclure is conju- gated in the same way, except that, in the passive participle, we sometimes write exclus for the masculine, and excluse for the feminine. See Paragraph 208. LIST OF IRREGULAR VERES. 171 CONVAINCRE: To Convince, is conjugated like vaincre; but it is little used in the present of the indicative mode. See Paragraph 209. COTJDRE: To Sew. It is hardly necessary to say, that decoudre, to unsew, and recoudre, to sew again, are conjugated in the same way as coudre. See Paragraph 210. COURIR: To Run. Accourir, concourir, en- courir, discourir, parcourir, recourir, secourir, are conjugated like courir. They all come from it, and belong to it. See Paragraph 211. CROIRE: To Believe. There is the verb ac- croire; but it is used only in the infinitive. It must have faire with it; and then it answers to our make believe. See Paragraph 212. CUEILLJR: To Gather. Recueillir, to gather together, or to collect, is conjugated like cueillir, as well as accueillir, to welcome, to receive kindly; but in some of its tenses we prefer making use of the verb faire with the noun accueil. See Paragraph 213. DIRE: To Say. This verb also means to tell. There are eight other verbs, which are conju- gated like Dire; namely, contredire, se dedire, medire } maudire, interdire, predire, redire, con- fire. But observe, all of them, except redire, make, in the second person plural of the present time and indicative mode, disez instead of dites. Observe also, that maudire takes the double s, where there are other letters coming after the *: as, je maudis, I curse; je maudissais, I cursed. See Paragraph 214. DORMIR : To Sleep. The same manner of con- 172 LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. jugating is applied to endormir, a' endormir, re- dormir, and se r endormir. See Paragraph 215. feCRIRE: To Write. Eight others are conju- gated like ecrire; namely, decrire, inscrire, pre- scrire, proscrire, recrire, souscrire, transcrire, cir- conscrire. They are all, in fact, the same word, with a preposition put, before each; and they mean, to write of, to write in, to write against, to write again, to write under, to write in an- otlier place, to write round about. Besides these, there is the verb frire, to fry, conjugated like ecrire; but frire is seldom used except in the singular of the indicative mode, the future, the , conditional, and the passive participle. To supply the tenses that are wanted, the French make use of the word faire, which they join to the infinitive, as in bouillir. See Paragraph 216. FUIR : To Flee. There is senfuir, which means to flee from it, from this place, from that place, from something. This verb is seldom in use in the past perfect times. See Paragraph 217. HAIR: To Nate. This verb, like the last, is seldom used in the past perfect times. See Paragraph 218. LIRE: To Read. Elire, relire, and reelire, are conjugated in the same manner. There are two other verbs, circoncire and suffire, to circumcise and to suffice, which are also conjugated like lire, except that, in its passive participle, the first makes circoncis, and the last suffi; and also except that, in the past perfect times, they make je circoncis, je suffis. The past perfect circon- UST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 173 cisse, suffisse, and the participle active, circon- cisant, are never used, on account of their harsh sound. See Paragraph 219. METTKE: To Put. This is a verb of great use. The following eleven, all proceeding from it, are conjugated in the same way: admettre, commettre, demettre, omettre, s'entremettre, per- mettre,promettre } remettre, compromettre, soumettre, transmettre. See Paragraph 220. MOTJDRE : To Grind. Emoudre and remoudre are conjugated like moudre. See Paragraph 221. MOURIR : To Die. See Paragraph 222. MOUVOIR : To Move. Not much used. Emou- voir, demouvoir, promouvoir, apparoir, choir, choir, dechoir, are used merely in the infinitive. They are technical terms, and very rarely used. Mouvoir itself is nearly as little used. The verb that is generally made use of where we make use of move, is the regular, remuer. See Para- graph 223. NAITRE: To be Born. Renaitre is conjugated like naitre; but has no past perfect time. Paitre and repaUre are conjugated in the same way, except that in the past perfect of the sub- junctive they make pusse and r&pusse; but these times are never used. Their passive participles are pu and repu. See Paragraph 224. OTJVRIR: To Open. Conjugated in the same manner are souffrir, offrir, mesoffrir, couvrir, and decouvrir. See Paragraph 225. PLAIRE: To Please. There are three others, which are conjugated in the same manner : de- 174 LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. plaire, taire, and complaire. See Paragraph 226. POUVOIR: To be Able; or To Jiave Power. This is a word of great use. It sometimes sup- plies the place of our can and could, and may and might. This is one of the most important words in the French language ; and you ought to know every part of it as well as you know your own name. See Paragraph 227. PRENDRE : To Take. The verbs which are derived from this are conjugated like it. They are, apprendre, desapprendre, comprendre, entre- prendre, se meprendre, reprendre, and surprendre. See Paragraph 228. RfiSOUDRE : To Resolve. Absoudre and dis- soudre follow the same manner of conjugation. They are not, however, in use in the past per- fect times, and their passive participles are absous and dissous. Soudre is used only in the infinitive. See Paragraph 229. REVETIR: To Invest. Vetir and ou'ir follow, as far as they go, the conjugation of revetir; but the first is used only in the infinitive, and the latter only in the passive participle. See Para- graph 230. HIRE : To Laugh. To smile is sourire, which is conjugated in the same way as rire, See Para- graph 231. ROMPRE: To Break. Vorrompre and inter- rompre are conjugated like rompre. See Para- graph 232. SAYOIR: To Know. This is a word of great use in the French language. See Paragraph 233. LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 175 SUIYE-E : To Follow. Poursuivre and s'ensuivre are conjugated in the same way. See Para- graph 234. TRAIRE : To Milk It means also to draw; and the French never say, tirer une vache (draw a cow), but they say, traire une vache. Abstraire> distraire, extraire, soustraire, and rentraire, are, as far as they go, conjugated in the same manner. But they are all defective, more or less. The first four have only the infinitive, and the singular of the present and future, in use. The last has, like traire, no past perfect times in use. See Paragraph 235. TRESSAILLIR : To Burst Out, or Start. Saillir means to jut out, leap forth, or project. Assaillir, to assail^ or fall upon. See Paragraph 236. YALOIR: To be Worth. Revaloir and prevaloir are conjugated like valoir, except that the latter makes prevale, and not prevaille, in the present time of the subjunctive mode. See Paragraph 237. "VTVRE : To Live. Revivre and survivre are con- jugated like vime. See Paragraph 238. VOIR : To See. There are conjugated in the same manner as voir, these four : entrevoir, revoir, pourvoir, and prevoir; but observe, the two latter have their future and their past im- perfect of the subjunctive in oirai, oirais, and so forth: and not in errai, errais, like voir. Be- sides this, pourvoir has its past perfects in us and usse, and not in is and isse. See Paragraph 239. VOULOIK: To be Willing. This verb, like 176 LIST OP IRREGULAR VERBS. pouvoir, is of vast importance in the French language. It is used very frequently where our will occurs. It answers also to our verb to wish. See Paragraph 240. Thus ends the list of Irregular Verbs. There remain a few defectives, just to notice, but not to dwell long upon. Braire, ferir, bruire, faillir, clorre, eclore, gesir, tistre. These are all verbs; but too defective to merit any attempt at conjugating them. They are become a sort of adjectives. At any rate, when they occur, which is very seldom, the Dictionary will explain their meaning. Now follow, in alphabetical order, the full conjuga- tions of the Irregulars according to the foregoing list. I look upon the conjugation of each of the verbs as forming a paragraph, and I number the conjugations accordingly. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 177 202 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Acquerir B To Acquire. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. I acquire, thou acquirest. he acquires. nous acquerons, I we acquire, yous acque'rez, you acquire, ils acquerent, | they acquire. Past Imperfect Time. I acquired. n nous acquerions, thou acquiredst. vous acqueriez, he acquired. || ils acqueraient, Past Perfect Time. I acquired. \ nous acqulmes, tlion acquiredst. | vous acqultes, he acquired. ils acquirent, Future Time. I shall acquire, thou shalt acquire, he shall acquire. nous acquerrons, vous acquerrez, ils acquerront, I we acquired, you acquired. I they acquired. I we acquired, you acquired, they acquired. we shall acquire, you shall acquire, they shall acquire. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may acquire, thou niayest acquire. he may acquire. nous acque"rions, vous acqueriez, ils acquibrent, Past Imperfect Time. ', we may acquire. I you may acquire. I they may acquire. I should acquire. i. nous acquerrions, I we should acquire, thou shouldest acquire, vous acquerriez, you should acquire, he should acquire. j ils acquerraicnt, | they should acquire. Past Perfect Time. I might acquire. nous acquissions, we might acquire, thou mightest acquire, vous acquissiez, j you might acquire, he might acquire. ; , ils acquissent, I they might acquire. IMPERATIVE MODE. acquire. | let him acquire. acque"rons, acque'rez, qu'ils acquierent, let us acquire. acquire, let them acquire. PARTICIPLES. aoque'rant, It acquiring, acquis, 1 1 acquired. N 178 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAB VERBS, 203 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Aller, | To Go. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Jeyals, tu vas, I ga || nous allons, tliou goest vous allez, he goes. || ils vont. wega you go. they ga J'allals, tu allais, ilallait, Past Imperfect Time. I went || nous allions, thou wentest vous alliez, he went II ils allaient, we went you went. they went MM, tuallaa, ilalla, Past Perfect Time. I went || nous allames, thou wentest 1 vousallates, he went II ils allerent, we went yon went they went j'iraU tn ir.is, ilira, Future Time. I shall ga || nous irons, thou shalt KQ. vous irez, he shall go. ils irtut, we shall go. you shall ga they shall go. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. J'aille, tu aillcs, il aiue, Present Time. I may go. nons al'ions, thou mayest go. vous alliez, he may go. ils aillent, we may ga you may go. they may ga j'irais, tu irais, il irait, Past Imperfect Time. I should go. nousirions, we should ga thou shouldest go. ! vous iricz, ' you should ga he should go. ils iraient, they should ga j'allasse, tu allasses, iiai&t, Past Perfect Time. I might go. nous allassions, thou mightest go. vous allassiez, he might go'. 1, ils allassent, we might go. you might ga they might ga IMPERATIVE MODE. rZ . let him go. 1' allons, allez, qu'iis ail'ent PARTICIPLES all ant, j] going, alle. [) gcn& letusga KO. 1 let them a CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 179 204 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. S'Asseoir, | To Sit down. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Je m'assieds, tu t'assieds, il s'assied, I sit. il nous nous asseyons, thou sittest vous vous asseyez, he sits. II ils s'asseient, we sit you sit they sit je m'asseyois, tu t'asseyois, il s'asseyoit, Past Imperfect Time. I sat. II nous nous asseyions, thou satest vous vous asseyiez, he sat I! ils s'asseyaient, we sat you sat they sat je m'assis, tu t'assis, il s'asBit, Past Perfect Time. I sat. I] nous r.ous asslmes, thou satest vous vous assites, he sat. || ils s'assirent, we sat you sat. . they sat jem'asseierai, 4u t'asseieras, : ". 'asseira, Future Time. I shall sit. N nous nous asseierons, thou shalt sit vous vous asseierez, he shall sit. 1 1 ils s'assaieront, we shall sit you shall sit they shall Kit SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je m'nsseio, tu t'asseies, il s'asseie, Present Time. I may sit II nous nous asseyions, thou mayest sit vous vous asseyiez, he may sit II ils s'asseient, we may sit you may sit they may sit je m'asseierais, tu t'asscierais, il s'asseierait, Past Imperfect Time. Ishonldsit. i| nous nous asseierions. thou shouldestsit vous vous asseieriez, he should sit. 1 1 ils s'asseieraient, ' we should sit you should sit they should sit je m'assisse, tu t'assisses, il s'assit, Past Perfect Time. I might sit || nous nous assissions, thou raightest sit vous vous assissiez, he might sit '! ilss'assissent, we might sit you might sit they might sit assieds-toi, qu'il s'asseie, IMPERATIVE MODE. II asseyons-nous, sit. asseyez-vous, let him sit. I! qu'ils sasseient, let us sit Bit let them sit PARTICIPLES. 8'asseyant, n sitting. J80 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 205 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Battre, | To Beat INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je bats, tu bats, il bat. I beat, thon beatest he beats. ; nous battotis, , vous battez, i ils battent, we beat you beat they beat. je battais, tu battais, il battait, Past Imperfect Time. I beat II nous battions, thou beatest vous battiez, he beat II ils battaient, we beat you beat they beat je battis, tu battis, il battit, Past Perfect Time. I beat M nous battlmes, thou beatest vous battitef, he beat II ils battirent, we beat, you beat, they beat Future Time. je battrai, tu battrus, il battra, I shall beat thou shall beat he shall beat. j nous battrons, vous battrex, 1 ilsbattront, we shall beat. YOU shall beat they shall beat SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. Je batte. tu battes, il batte, I may beat thou mayest beat he may beat. nous battfons, vous battiez, ils batteut, we may beat you may bent, they may be.it. je battrais, tu battrais, 11 batti-ait, Past Imperfect Time. I should beat. |! nous battrions, 1 we should beat, thou shouldest beat ! vous battriez, 1 you should bent, he should beat iis battraient, | they should beat je battisse, tu battisses, il battit, Past Pei I might beat thou mi ch test beat he might beat -feet Time. nous battlssions, vous battissiez, ils battisseiit, we micht beat, you might ben r. they might beat. IMPERATIVE MODE. bats, qu'ii batte, beat leat him beat. ! battons, : battez, qu'ils battent let us beat beat. let them beat PARTICIPLES. battant, battu, || beating. 11 beaten. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 181. 2C Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Boire, To Drink. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. fe bols, tu bois, il boit, 11 drink. u nous buvons, thou drinkest. ; vous buvez, he drinks. 1! ilsboiveut, Iwe drink., you drink; . they drinlc. je bavais, tu buvais, il buvait, Past Imperfect Time. II drank. || nous burions, thou drankcst. ! vousbuviez, he drank. 1 i ils buvaier.t, |v**e drank, you drank, they drank. jebns, tubns, ilbut, Past Perfect Time. II drank. n nous bumes, thou drankest. 1 vous butes, he drank. H ils burent, Ivre drank, you drank, they drank. Future Time. je boirai, tu boiras, il boira, II shall drink. \\ nous boirons, thou shalt drink, vous boirez, he shall drink. 11 ils boiront, Iwe shall drink, you shall drink, they shall chink. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je boive, tuboives, il boive, 11 may drink. 11 nous buvions, thou mayest drink. vous buviez, he may drink, i! ils boivent, Iwe may drir.k. you may drink, they may drink. Je boirais, tu boirais, il boirait, Past Imperfect Time. II should drink. II nous boirions, thou shouldest drink, vous boiriez, he should drink. || ils boiraient, (we should drink, you should drink, they should drink. jebusse, tu busses, il but, Past Perfect Time. II might drink. II nous bussions, thou mightest drink, vous bussiez, he might drink, II ilsbussent, Iwe might drink, you might drink, they might driiik. IMPERATIVE MODE. Lois, " qu il boive, li hnvons, drink. buvez, let him drink. || qu'ils boivent, Ilet us drink, drink, let them drink. PARTICIPLES. Imvant, II drinking, \>u, II drunk. 182 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 207 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Bouillir, J To BoiL INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. jebous. tubous, about, I boil II nous bouillons, thouboilesL vous bouillcz, he boils. II as bouillent, we boil. vou boil, they boiU je bouillais, tu bouillais, il bouillait, Past Imperfect Time. I boiled. | nous bonillions, thou boiledst. vous bouilliez, be boiled. ils bouaiaieut, we boiled, you boiled, they boiled. je bouillis, tu bouillis, a bouillit, Past Perfect Time. I boiled. 1] nous bouilllmes, thou bo-ledst vous bouillites, he boiled. H ils bouillirent, we boiled, you boiled, they boiled. je bouillirai, tu bouilliras, a booaiira, Future Time. I shall boil. II nous bonillirons, 1 we shall boil, thou shall boa. vous bouillirez, 1 you shall boil. he shall boil II ils bouaiiront, | they shall boiL SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je bouille, tu bonilles, a bouille. Present Time. I may boil. II nous bouillions, thou mayest boil. voua bouilliez, he may boil. 11 ils bouillent, we may boil, you may boil, they may boa. je bouillirais, tn bouillirai?, a bouillirait. Past Imperfect Time. I should boiL 1 nous bouil Unions, I we should boll thou shoulelest boil. vous bouilliriez, you should boiL he should boil. ils bouilliraient, | they should boiL Sbouillisse, bouillisses, U bouillit, Past Perfect Time. I might boil. II nousbonillissions, thou mightest boiL vous bouillissiez, he might boiL 11 as bouillissent, we might boiL you might boil, they might boil. IMPERATIVE MODE. bous, qu'U bouille, II bouillons, boil. bouillez, let him boiL 11 qu'as bouillent, let us boil. boiL let them boiL PARTICIPLES. bouillant, II boiling, bouilli, 11 boiled. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 183 508 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Conclure, 3 To Conclude. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je conclua, tu conclus, il conclut, I conclude, thou concludest. he concludes. I nous concluons, vous concluez, I ils concluent, we conclude, you conclude, they conclude. je concluals, tu concluais, il conclualt, Past Imperfect Time. I concluded. 1 1 nous conditions, thou conclmledst vous concluiez, he concluded. || Us concluaient, we concluded, you concluded, they concluded. je conclus, tu conclus, il conclut, Past Perfect Time. I concluded. II nous conclumes, thou concludedst. vous conclfttes, h* concluded. l| ils conclureut, we concluded, you concluded, they concluded. Future Time. je conclurai, tu concluras, il conclura, I shall conclude, thou slialt conclude, he shaU,conclude. nous conclurons, vous conclurez, ils concluront, we sliall conclude, you shall conclude, they shall conclude. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je conclue, tu condues, il conclue, I may conclude, thou maycst conclude, he may conclude. 1 nous conclnVons,, vous concluTez, ! ils concluent, we may conclude, you may conclu !e. they may conclude. je conclurais, tu conclurais, il conclurait, Past Imperfect Time. I should conclude. |i nous conclurions, thou shouldest conclude, vous concluriez, he should conclude. || ils concluraient, we should conclude you should conclude, they should conclude* je conclusse, tu conclusses, il conclut, Past Perfect Time. I might conclude. il nous concessions, thou miirhtest conclude. vous conciussiez, he might conclude. II ils conclussent, we might conclude you might conclude, they might conclude. IMPERATIVE MODE. conclus, qu'il conclue, conclude, let him conclude. concluons, concluez, qu'ils concluent, let us conclude, conclude, let them conclude PARTICIPLES. concluant, i coiiclu, 1 concluding; concluded. 184 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 209 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Conraincre 1 To Convince. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je convaincs, 1 1 convince. ;; nous convainquons. we convince. tu convaincs, thou corn-incest. i; vous convainquez, you convince. il convainc, | he convinces. ! ils convainquent, they convince. Past Imperfect Time. Je convainquais, I convinced. ij nous convainquions, I we convinced. tu convainquais, thou convincedst. '' vous couvainquiez, you convinced. il couvainquait, he convinced. , ils convainquaieut, 1 they convinced. Past Perfect Time. je convainqnis, I convinced. il nous convainquimes, we convinced. tu convainquis, il couvamquit, thou convincedst vous convainquites, he convinced. li ils convainquirent, you convinced, they convinced. Future Time. je convaincrai, I shall convince. Il nous convaincrons, | we shall convinc< tu convaincras, il convaincra, thou shalt convince. |j vous convaincrez, he shall convince. il ils convaincront, you shall convinc | they shall conviu SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je convainque, tu convainques, il convainque, I may convince. : nous convainquions, thou mayest convince. ; vous convainqniez, he may convince. 1 1 ils convainqueut, 1 we may convince you may convinc they may convin Past Imperfect Time. je convaincrais, tu convaincrais, il con vain crait, I should convince. || nous convaincrions, thon shouldest convince. \\ vous con vaincriez, he should convince. 'I ils convaincraient, 1 we should convin you should convii [ they should convi Past Perfect Time. je convainquisse, 1 1 might convince. Il nous convainquissions, tn convainquisses, thou mightest convince, vous convainquissiez, il convainquit, ) he might convince. 11 ils convainquisient, we might convinc you might convin they might convi IMPERATIVE MODE. il convainquons, let us convince. convaincs, convince. convainquez. convince. qu'il convainque, let him convince. 11 qu'ils convainquent, let them convince PARTICIPLES. convainquant, II convincing. convaiiicu, H convinced. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 210 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Coudre, 3 To Sew. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 185 Je couds, tu couds, il coud, I sew. thou sewcst. he sews. nous cousons, vous cousez, ils consent, we sew. you sew. they sew. je cousais, tu cousais, il cousait, Past Imperfect Time. I sewed. |j nous cousions, thou sewedst. vous cousiez, he sewed. II ils cousaient, we sewed, you sewed, they sewed* je cousis, tu cousis, il cousit, Past Perj I sewed, thou sewedst. he sewed. fat Time. nous cousimes, vous cousites, ils cousirent, we sewed, you sewed. they sewed. Future Time. je coudrai, tu coudras, il coudra, I shall sew. thou shall sew. ^Jie shall sew. 1 nous coudrons, vous coudrez, 1 ils coudront, we shall sew. you shall sew. they shall sew. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je conse, tu couses, il couse, I may sew. thou mayest sew. he may sew. j nous cousions, 1 vous cousiez, ! ils cousent, we may sew. you may sew. they may sew. je coudrai s, tu coudrais, il coudrait, Past Impe I should sew. thou shouldest sew. he should sew. 'feet Time. nous coudrions, vous coudriez, ils coudraient, we should sew. you should sew. they should sevr, je cousisse, tucousisses, il cousit, Past Per I might sew. thou mightest scv, r . he might bew. feet Time. | nous cousissions, vous cousissiez, 1 ils cousissent, we might sew. you might sew. they might sew. IMPERATIVE MODE. couds, qu'il couae, sew. let him sew. cousons, cousez, qu'ils cousent, let us sew. sew. let them sew. PARTICIPLES. cousnnt, 1 rowlnff. 186 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 211 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Courir, | To Kun. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Je conrs, Iran. Inous conrons, we run. tu cours, thou rnnnest. vous coarez, you run. 11 court, he runs. ils courent, they run. Past Imperfect Time. je conrais, Iran. nous courions, we ran. tu courais, thou rannesL vous couriez, you ran. il courait, he ran. iis couruient, they ran. Past Perfect Time. Je conrns, tu counts, Iran, thou rannesL nous courumes, vous conrutes, we ran. you ran. ilcourut, he ran. ils cuururent, they ran. Future Time. Je conrrai I shall run. nous courrons, we shall run. tu courras, il courra, thou slialt run. he shall run. vous courrez, ila courront, you shall run. they shall run. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. Jecoure, tu coures, ilcoure, I may ran. thou mayest run. he may run. I nous courions, vous couriez, 1 ils coureut, we may run. you may rnn. they may run. Past Imperfect Time. Je conrrais, I should run. nous courrions, we should run. tu courra is, thou shouldest run. vous courriez, yon should ran. je courrait, he should run. ils couiraient, they should rua. Past Perfect Time. je cournsse, tu courusses, I might run. thou mightest run. ! nous cournssions, vous coumssiez, we might run. yon might run. ilcourut, he might run. ils courussent, they might run. IMPERATIVE MODE. . Ucourons, let us ran. cours, run. courez, run. qu'il coure, let him run. qu'ils courent, let them ran. PARTICIPLES. courant, 1 running. COUl'U, 1 run. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 212 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Croire, B To Believe. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 1ST je crois, tu crois, il croit, I believe, thou believest. lie believes. nous croyons, vous croyez, ils croierit, we believe, you believe, they believe. je croyais, tu croyais, il croyait, Past Imperfect Time. I believed. II nous croyions, thou believedst. vous croyiez, he believed. || ils croyaient, we believed, you believed, they believed. je crus, tu crus, il crut, Past Perfect Time. I believed. 11 nous crumes, thou believedst. vous crates, he believed. || ilscrurent, we believed, vou believed, they believed. Future Time. je croirai, tu croiras, il croira, I shall believe. II nous croirons, thou shalt believe. vous croirez, Jie bhall believe. || ils croiront, we shall believe, you shall believe, they shall believe. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je croie, tu croies, il croie, I may believe, thou mayest believe, lie may believe. nous croyions, vous croyiez, ils croieiit, we may believe. you may believe, they may believe. je croirais, tu croirais, il cioirait, Past Imp I should believe, thou shouldest believe, he should believe. zrfect Time. nous croirions, vous croiriez, ils croiraient, we should believe, you should believe, they should believe. je crusse, tu crusses, il crut, Past Perfect Time. I might believe. II nous missions, thou mightest believe. vous crussiez, he might believe. |i ilscrussent, we might believe, you might believe, they might believe. IMPERATIVE MODE. crois, qu'il croie, believe, let him believe. croyons, croyez, qu'ils croient, let us believe, believe, let them bulieve. PARTICIPLES. croyant, II believing, cru, II believed. 538 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS, 213 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Cueillir, | To Gather. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. Je cneille, 1 1 gather. tu cueilles, thou gatherest. ii cueille, | he gathers. nous cueillons, vous cueiliez, ils cueillent, Past Imperfect Time. je cueillais, 1 1 gathered. tu cueillais, thou gathercdst il cueillait, | he gathered. : nous cueillions, ! vons cueilliez, ils cueillaient, Past Perfect Time. we gather, you gather, they gather. we gathered, you gathered, they gathered. Je cneillis, 1 1 gathered. tu cueillis, thou gatheredst il cueillit, | he gathered. nous cucilllmes, I we gathered. vous cueillites, you gathered, ils cueillirent, | they gathered. Future Time. je cueillerai, 1 1 shall gather, tu cueilleras, thou shalt gather, il cueillera, | he shall gather. nous cueillerons, vous cueillerez, ils cucilleront, I we shall Rather, yon shall gather, they shall gather. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je cneille, 1 1 may gather. tu cueilles, I thou mayest gather. il cueille, | he may gather. i nous cueillions, I we may gather. vous cueilliez, I you may gather. I ils cueillent, | they may gather. Past Imperfect Time. je cueillerais, ] I should gather. I nous cueillerions, tu cueillerais, thou shouldest gather, j vous cueilleriez, il cueillerait, | he should gather. i ils cueilleraient, Past Perfect Time. je cueiliisse, 1 1 might gather. tu cueillisses, thou mightest gather, ii cueillit, 1 he might gather. we should gather, you should gather, they should gather. nous cueillissions, I we might gather, vous cueillissiez, you might gather, ils cueillisscnt, | they might gather. cueilles, qu'il cueille, IMPERATIVE MODE. II cueillons, j let ns gather, gather. cueillez, gather, let him gather. J! qu'ils cueillent, | let them gather. PARTICIPLES. cncill:>nt, II gathering, cuciln, I' gathered. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERES. ISO 21-1 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Dire, | To Say. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, je di, tu dis, il dit, I say. thou sayest he says. I nous disons, vous dites, ils disent, we say. you say. they say. je disais, tu disais, il disait, Past Imperfect Time. I said. |j nous disions, thousaidst vous disiez, he said. il ils disaient, we said, you said, they said. jedis, radii, ildit, Past Per, I snid. thou saidst. he said. feet Time. nous dimes, vous dltes, ils dirent, we said, you said, they said. Future Time. je dirai, tu diras, il dira, I shall say. thou shall say. he shall say. nous dirons, vous direz, ils diront, we shall say. you shall say. they shall say. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je disc, tu discs, il disc, I may say. II nous disions, thou may est say. vous disiez, lie may say. || ils disent, we may say. you mtiy say they may say. je dirais, tu dirais, 11 dirait, Past Imperfect Time. I should say. h nous dirions, thou shouldest say. vous diriez, he should say. || ils diraient, we should say. you should say. they should say. je disse, tu disses, il dit, Past Pe I might say. thou mightest say. he might say. "feet Time. j nous dissions, vous dissiez, ils dissent, we might say. you might say. they might say. IMPERATIVE MODE. di?, qu'il disc, say. let him say. disons, 1 let us say, dites, 1 say . qu'ils disent, | let them sa/. PARTICIPLES. disant, || saving, die, it aa'id. 190 CONJUGATION OF IRREGTJLAK VERBS. 215 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Dormir, | To Sleep. INDICATIVE MODE Present Time. jedors, tn dors, il dort. I sleep. j thou sleepest he sleeps. nous dormoris, vous dormez, ils dorineut, we sleep, yon sleep, they sleep. Je dormais, tu dormais, il dormait, Past Jmpe I slept, thou sleepedst he slept rfect Time. nous dormions, vous dormiez, ils dormaient, we slept, you slept, they slept je dormis, tu dormis, il dorxnit, Past Per I slept, thou sleepedst he slept feet Time. nous dormimes, vous dormires, ils dormirent, we slept you slept they slept je dormirai, tu dormiras, il dormira. Future Time. I shall sleep. || nous dormirons, thou sh a! t sleep, vous dormirez, he shall sleep. l| ils doriniront, we shall sleep, you shall sleep, they shall sleep. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Je dorme, u domes, il dorme. Present Time. I may sleep. jj nous dormions, thou mavest sleep. vous dormiez, he may sleep. 1 1 ils dorment, we may sleep, you may sleep. they may sleep. jedormirais, tn dormirais, il dormirait, Past perfect Time. I should sleep. || nous dormirions, thou shouldest sleep. vous donnlrfes, he should sleep. II ils doriniraient, we should sleep, you should sleep. they should slcej Past Perfect Time. je dormisse, 1 I might sleep. jj nous clormissions, tu dormisses, thou mightest sleep, vous dormissiez. ildormit, | lie might sleep. 11 ils dormissent, we might sleep, you might sleep, they might sleep IMPERATIVE MODE. II dormons, sleep. | dormez, let him sleep. j| qu'ils dorment, let us sleep, sleep, let them sleep. dors, qu'il dorme, PARTICIPLES. dormant, l| sleepinc. tonm, sleet. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 191 216 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Ecrire, II To Write. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. J'ecris. tu dcris, il dcrit, I write. 1 thou writest. he writes. nous dcrivon^ vous dcrivez, ils dcrivent, ire write, you write, they write, j'ecrivais, tu e"crivais, il dcrivait, Past Imperfect Time. I wrote. Il nous dcrivions, thou wrotest. vous dcriviez, he wrote. 11 ils ecrivaient, we wrote, you wrote, they wrote. j'dcrivis, tu dcrivis, il dcrivit, Past Perfect Time. I wrote. |j nous dcrivtmes, thou wrotest. vous dcrivites, he wrote. 11 ils dcrivirent,. we wrote, you wrote, they wrote. j'dcrirai, tu dcriras, il dcrira, Future Time. I shall write. 11 nous dcrirons, thou shall write. vous dcrirez, heshalHvrite. || ils e'criront, we shall write. you shall write, they shall writ*. SUBJUNCTIVE MODS. j'<5crive, tu derives, il derive, Present Time. I may write. .1 nous dcriviona, thou mayest write, i vous d;riviez, he may write. |! ils dcrivent, we may write, you may write, they may writ*. j'dcrirais, tu dcrirais, il dcrirait, Past Imp I should write, thou shouldest write, he should write. zrfect Tims. nous dcririons, 1 we should Trrite. vousdcririez,,' you should writ*, ils dcriraient, | they should writ* j'dcrivisse, tu dcrivisses, U dcrivit, Past Pe I might write, thou mi eh test write, he might write. rfect Time. nous dcrivissiono, vous ecrivissiez, ils dcrivissent, we might write, you might write, they might writ*. IMPERATIVE MODE. deris, qu'il derive, write, let him write. Idcrivons, dcrivez, qu'ils dcrivent, let us write, write, let them writ* PARTICIPLES. dcrivant, farlt, ! writing; ! written. 19-2 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. S17 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Fair, | To Flee. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je fiiis, tufuLs, il full. I flee, thou flecst he flees. 1 nous fnyona, vous fuyez, 1 ils fuient, we flee, you flee, they flse. je fuyais, tu fuvais, il fuyait, Past Impe. I fled, thou fledst. he fled. rfect Time. nous fuyions, vous fuyiez, ils fuyaient, we fled, you fled, they fled. jefuis, tu fuis, ilfuit. Past Perfect Time. I fled. 1! nous fuimes, thou fledst. vous fuites, he fled. 11 ilsfuirent, we fled, vou fled, they fled. je ftiirai, tu fuiras, IHuira, Future Time. 1 shall flee. 11 nous fuirons, thou shalt flee. vous fuirez, he shall flee. || ils fuiront, we shall flee, you shall tiee. they shall flee. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Jefnie, tu fuies, ilfuie, Present Time. I may flee. || nous fnyions, thou mavest flee. I, vous fuviez, he may flee. 11 ils fuient, we may flee, you may flee, they may flee. je fuirais, tu fuirais, il fuirait, Past Impe 1 should flee, thou shouldest flee, he should flee. rfect Time. nous fuirions, j vous fuiriez, j ils fuiraient, we should flee, you should flee, they should flee. Je fuisse, tu fuisses, n fuit. Past Per I might flee, thou mishtest flee, he might flee. feet Time. 1' nous fuissions, vous fuissicz, ils fuissent, we might flee, you might flee, they might flee. IMPERATIVE MODE. fuis, le. [they shall be able. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je puisse, tu puisses, il puisse, je pourrais, tu pourrais, il pourrait, je pusse, tu pusses, Present Time. I may be able, thou mayest be able, he may be able. nous puissions, voiis puissiez, ils puissent, Past Imperfect Time. 1 1 should be able. I! nous pourrions, thou shouldest be able, j vous pourriez, I he should be able. || Us pourraient, Past Perfect Time. I might be able. n nous pussions, thou mightest be able, i vous pussiez, he might be able. \ \ ils pussent, !^e may be able, you may be able, they may be able. we should be able, you should be able, they should be able. we might be able. you migrht be able, they might be able. IMPERATIVE MODE. [Not used in this Mode.] PARTICIPLES. pouvant, pa, being abla. been able. CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 228 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Prendre, || To Take. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. 203- je prends, tu prends, il prend, je prenais, tu prenais, il prenait, , I take. ii nous prenons, thou takest. vous prenez, he takes. II ils prenneiit, Past Imperfect Time. I took. ii nous prenions, 'thou tookest. vouspreniez, he took. II ils prenaient, we take, you take, they take; . we took, you took. ' they took. jepris, tu pris, il prit, Past Perfect Time. I took. Il nous primes, thou tookest, vous prltes, he took. I! ils prirent, we took, you took, they took. je prendrai, tu prendrus, il prendra, Future Time. I shall take. i nous prendrons, thou shahXlake. 1 vous prendrez, he shall take. i ils prendrout, we shall take, you shall take, | they shall take. SUBJ-UNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je prenne, 1 1 may take. il nous prenions, tu prames, thou mayest take. vouspreniez, il prenne, | he may take. II ils prenneiit, , we may take, you may take, they may take. je prendrais, tu prcndrais, il prendrait, Past Imperfect Time. I should take. it nous prendrions, thou shouldest take, vous prendriez, he should take. | j ils prendraient, we should take, you should take, they should take. je prisse, tu prisses, ilprit, Past Perfect Time. I might take. II nous prissions, 1 we might take, thou mightest take, vous prissiez, you might taKe. he might take. Ii ils prissent, ' J they might take. IMPERATIVE MODE. prends, qu'il prenne, prenons, take. - prenez, let him take. 1 qu'ils prennent, let us take, take, let them Uke. PARTICIPLES. prenant, II taking, pna, takeu. 204 CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 229 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Rdsondre, fl To Resolve. INDICATIVE MODE. jc rfaom, 1 1 resolve. tu rdsous, tlion resolveat il ix'soud, 1 he resolves. Present Time. nous re"solvons, | we resolve, vous re'solvez, you resolve, ils resolvent, . 1 they resolve. je re"solvais, tu re'solvais,, il rdsolvait, Je r *= K 53 o> -a c fe c - s o -3 as as .x oj -w c o> - S 5 5 I S S-c c|-=| -5.-S-3-3.|-S.2.-S .2 ||tllll S-3-3.2*5-oS, HI: - . * v III ill Hi III ill sll HI 220 CONJUGATION OP VERBS. i! ADHUBE TO UNIFORMITY. 221 245. Before I quit the conjugations, let me once more observe, that in writing certain parts of some of the verbs, great authorities differ. I observed before, that some write je vinae, and others je vinsse: some write je cous, and others je couds. There are several other verbs with regard to the writing of some parts of which there is some little difference in the practice of different writers. But this is a matter of no consequence, pro- vided you adhere to one practice. [NOTE. It will be useful, as with the compounds of Avoir and Etre, for the learner to have one example of an active verb conjugated, throughout, with Avoir, in the compound form. The verb Trouver will, therefore, be thus given, on the next page. j 222 CONJUGATION OF VERBS. COMPOUND FORM OF TROUVER, WITH THE AUXILIARY AVOIR. INFINITIVE MODE. ' Avoir trouve", | To have found. J'ai trouve*, tu as trouve*, il a trouve", j'avais trouve*, tu avais trouve*, il avail trouve', j'ens trouve", tu eus trouvg, il cut trouve", j'anrai trouve", tu auras rrouve", il aura trouve", I have found, thou hast found, he has found. INDICATIVE MODE. Compound of the Present Time. nous avons trouve", yous avez trouve', ils ont trouve', we have found, you have found, they have found. Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. 1 1 had found. || nous avions trouve", I we had found. thou hadst found. . he had found. vous aviez trouvd, ils avaient trouve", Compound of the Past Perfect Time. 1 1 had found, thou hadst found, i he had found. nous eumes trouve*, vous eutes trouvd, ils eurent trouve', Compound of the Future Time. 1 1 shall have found. II nous aurons trouv, thou shalt have found. | vous aurez trouve, I he shall have found. | i ils auront trouve", you had found, they had found. we had found, yon had found, they had found. we shall have found, you shall have found they shall have fouu SUBJUNCTIVE MODE, Compound of the Present Time. j'ate trowve". I may have found. I! nous ayons trouve", tu aies trouvg, thou mayest have found. vous ayez trou% r e", il ait trouve, he may have found. 1 1 ils aieut trouve", Compound of the Past Imperfect Time. j'aurais trouve", 1 1 should have found. I i nous aurions trouve", tu aurais trouve", thou shouldest have found, vous auriez trouv^, il aurait trouve\ j he should have found. 1 1 ils auraient trouve', Compound of the Past Perfect Time. J'eusse rronve", tu ensses trouve*, ii cut trouve, I might have found, thou mightest have found, he might have found. nous eussions trouve", vous eussiez trouvd, ils eussent trouve", we may have found, you may have found they may have fouui we should have foun you should have fou they should have foi we might have foum you might have four he might have foum PARTICIPLES COMPOUNDED. The active of AVOIR with the passive of TROUVER. Ayant trouvd, I having found. 223 LETTER XV. SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED. MY DEAR RICHARD, 246. In paragraph 27, which you will now read again, I described to you what SYNTAX meaned. It is the art of constructing sentences : it is the business of making sentences according to the rules of grammar. All that you have hitherto learned is, how to construct, or make, or form words; how to vary the spelling of articles and nouns and pronouns and adjectives to make them express the different numbers and genders and casesy-and how to vary the spelling of verbs to make them express the different modes, times, and persons, and also to make your spelling accord with the rules relating to the conjugations. These are the things which you have hitherto learned; and they relate to the making of words : to the spelling of words in a proper manner; and to the making of the proper changes in their form, according to the change of cir- cumstances. This is what you have learned ; and this is ETYMOLOGY. 247. SYNTAX is quite a different thing. It teaches the forming of sentences. In the forming of sentences you have to attend to what is called concord, and also to what is called government. Concord is only another word for agreement. The words of a sentence must agree with each other, according to the rules of gram- mar. They sometimes govern each other; that is to say, one word causes, or requires, another word to be 224 SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED. in such or such a form. If I say, le chapeau blancfo, my words disagree; there is not concord, because I have the feminine adjective with the masculine noun. I ought to say le cluipeau blanc; and then I have concord in my sentence. 248. As to government, if I, for instance, say, ilfauf quefecris une lettre, my words do not govern each other according to the laws of grammar: for, ilfaut requires the verb that comes after it to be in the subjunctive mode ; and ecris is, as you will know by this time, the Indicative mode of ecrire. The Subjunctive is ecrive; and, therefore, I ought to say, il faut que j ecrive une lettre. But, say you, how am I to know what words govern other words, and in what manner words are to agree ? You cannot know these things until you be taught them ; and SYNTAX is to teach you. 249. Besides, however, the concord and government, there is the placing of the words. We, for instance, say in English, a wise man ; but the French say, un homme sage. We say, white paper; they say, papier blanc. Then, there is the placing of phrases, or parts of sentences; and in both languages, we must take care that we place all the parts properly; for, if we do not, our meaning will not be clear to the reader. However, you will see enough of this when you come to the Exercises, with which the rules of Syntax will be interspersed. 225 LETTER XVI. THE POINTS AND MARKS USED IN WRITING. MY DEAR RICHARD, 250. The forms of all these Points and Marks were given you in paragraph 24. Of the accents I need say nothing here. They belong to the ETYMOLOGY, as they are component parts of words. But, the points and marks come under our present head ; because they are necessary in foe forming of sentences. 251. The FULL POINT, which in French is le point, and which is thus formed (.), is used at the end of every complete sentence. The COLON, which the French call deux points, and which is written thus (:), is next to the Full Point in requiring a 'complete sense in the words after which it is placed. The. SEMICOLON, called, in French, un point et une virgule, and which is formed thus (;), is used to set off parts of sentences when the Comma is thought not to be quite sufficient. The COMMA, la virgule, in French, is written thus (,), and is used to mark the shortest pauses in reading, and the smallest divisions in writing. 252. This work of pointing is, in a great degree, a matter of taste. Some persons put into one sentence what others mould into two or three sentences. It is a matter that cannot be reduced to precise rules ; but, whether we write in French or in English, these points are necessary; and we ought to be attentive in using them. 253. The Mark of INTERROGATION (1) is put at the Q 226 THE POINTS AND MARKS USED IN WRITING. close of words which put a question. The mark of ADMIRATION (!) is used to denote surprise. The APOS- TROPHE, or mark of ELISION, is a comma placed above the line ('). The HYPHEN connects words (-). 254. As to the marks for the purpose of reference, such as *tj, and the like, they do not belong to grammar. People may make them of what form they please, and may call them what they please. But the Points and Marks in the three foregoing paragraphs belong to grammar : they assist in the forming of, and in the giving of meaning to, sentences; and for that reason it is, that they have been now, for the second time, pointed out to your attention. 227 LETTER XVII. SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. MY DEAR RICHARD, 255. You will now turn back to Letter. V., and read it, once more, carefully through. Then read para- graphs from 77 to 85 inclusive. These two parts of the Grammar will have taught you a great deal as to the Article. In the next Letter also, which will treat of the Syntax of Nouns, there will, in treating of Nouns, be something about the use of the Article; but, still, there^is much belonging more directly to the Article itself; and this I* shall say here. The thing that you now want to know is, how the manner of using the Articles in French differs from that of using them in English ; and this we are now going to see. 256. There are, you know, the INDEFINITE Article, the DEFINITE Article, and what I called the COMPOUND Article ; that is, the Article united with the preposi- tion de or a. 257. Our INDEFINITE ARTICLE is a (which becomes an when followed by a vowel) : the French is un,, or une. In both languages this Article can be applied, to nouns in the singular only. We apply it to hundred, thou- sand, and other words of multitude; but, this is no deviation from the rule; for, we consider the hundred, or other number, as one body, parcel, or mass. The French do not, however, use this article before cent (hundred) and milk (thousand), but say, cent pommes, 228 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. and not, un cent pommes; though we must say, a hun- dred apples. 258. When we use this Article after such (tel or telle), and before a noun, the French give the phrase a complete turn ; thus : Such a look is a treasure, | Un tel litre est un tresor. That is to say, " a such book." We say, Mr. such a one; they say, Monsieur un tel; that is, Mr. a such. And mind, though theirs sounds shockingly to us, ours does the same to them. "We use our article after so in certain phrases; thus, so good a man. The French say, in such a case, un si brave homme; that is to say, a so good man. 259. We, in speaking of nouns of weight, measure, or tale, mostly use a (or an) ; but the French, in such cases, use the definite Article ; as : I sell my corn at six shillings a bushel. Je vends mon blc a six schelins le boisseau. We iu English, may, in general, use the definite article in these cases. We may say, six shillings the bushel ; five pence the score ; and so on : but we do not use this mode of expression in general ; and the French cannot do otherwise. We cannot very well do it before piece. We cannot, with any propriety, say, ducks at two shil- lings tlte piece. But this is the mode that the French must make use of. They must say, deux schelins la piece. 260. We, in speaking of portions of time, make use of the indefinite article, where the French make use of par (by); as, ten shillings a day; which, in French, is, dix schelins par jour; that is to say. literally, ten shil- lings by day, which is evidently more reasonable than HOW TO USE THE ARTICLE. 229 our mode of expression. We say, working by the day. We also say, paid by the day. Why not say, then, ten shillings by day, and not a day ? The meaning of our phrase is, so much for a day; and the meaning of the French is, so much day by day. 261. We put a (or an) after the verb to be, before a noun in the singular, expressing profession, rank, state, situation, country, or any distinctive mark; as, he is a gardener; I am an Englishman. The French do not do this; they say, il est jardinier; je suis Anglais. This observation applies, however, only to cases where the business of the phrase is solely that of expressing the distinctive mark. If it have other objects, the rule does not hold; as: lie hjjsjt gardener, II a un jardinier. I see an Englishman, Je vois un Anglais. You see, the article is, in the former cases, left out, in the French, with very good reason; for, the words gardener and Englishman, being used solely for the purpose of designating the profession and the country of the man, the article cannot be necessary; but in the latter cases, there is something more. Here the main business is, to make it understood that he has a gar- dener, and that I see an Englishman. 262. We put a (or an) after what, in an exclama- tion ; as, what a house ! The French never do this : they say, quelle maison ! When there is another a in English, and two nouns, as, what a fool of a lawyer, the French simply put the preposition before the last noun; as, quel sot d'avocatf When we use an adjective in sentences of this sort, we still use the article ; but the French never. When our exclamation begins by what, followed by a, and goes on to use a verb before 230 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. it has done, the difference in the two languages is great indeed; as: What a good boy Richard is! Le bon ganjon que Richard! What a fine country Italy is! Le beau pays que 1'Italie ! These two sentences, put into English literally, would stand thus : The good boy that Richard- The fine country that Italy! These seem, at first sight, to be two pieces of prime nonsense ; but they contain perfectly good sense ; and are much more obviously consonant with reason than the English sentences are. They are purely exclamatory : they, therefore, need neither article nor verb. They are fully as expressive in French as they are in English ; and they are, beyond all comparison, more elegant. 263. It is hardly necessary for me to repeat to you, that the article must agree in gender with the noun to which it applies. Our article has no change to express gender; but this is a most important matter in French, and must be scrupulously attended to. There are, as you have seen, some nouns which are masculine in one sense, and feminine in another, though spelled, in both cases, in the 'same way. If, for- instance, I say, un ange, I mean an angel; but, if I say, une ange, I mean a fish of that name. If -I say, un aune, I mean an alder tree; but if I say, une aune, I mean an -ell. Nothing can more forcibly show the necessity of strict attention to the gender of the articles. 264. Being now about to dismiss this indefinite article, let me again remind you, that, in French, these two words, un and une, are indeterminate pro- THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE. 231 nouns (see paragraph 99), and also adjectives of number, as well as articles. In short, they answer to our word one in all its capacities, except when our one answers to the French on, which is a word widely different from un or une. It is of great importance, that you boar in mind, that un and une answer to our one as well as to oui' a; as : A man had one horse, one cow, and two oxen. Un homme avait un cheval, une vache, et deux bceufs. Thus, you see, un and une 'answer to our one as well as to our a. 265. Having now done with my rules about the indefinite article, I shall give y6u what is called an Exercise relating to that article ; that is to say, I shall give you some phrases in English for you to translate into FrencfiT^ There 'must, of course, be, in these phrases, words of the other parts of speech ; and these you must translate also ; but I shall make the phrases so simple, so easy, that you will have little to attend to besides your articles, which are, just at present, to be the object of your care. The first sentence is, " a hundred pounds, five shillings.'" You look into your Dictionary, and there you find, that hundred is cent, that pound is livre, that shilling is schelin, and that five is cinq. Your rule has just told you, that the English a is not, in this case, expressed in French. Your translation will, therefore, be this : " cent livres, cinq schelins." If the phrase had contained a little more; thus : " He had a hundred pounds, five shillings;" here you know that He is II, and that had is avait. Your translation must, of course, be : " II avait cent livres, cinq schelins." You will now proceed to the performance of the first Exercise. 232 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. EXERCISE I. 1. A hundred pounds, five shillings. 2. Pens at six shillings a hundred. 3. Ducks at ten pence a piece. 4. Have you heard speak of such a thing ? 5. If such a one come hither. 6. A thousand soldiers have perished. 7. A hundred have returned. 8. He is so good a father. 9. A garden, having a wall on one side. 10. It is rare to see so bad a man. 11. A good poet, but not a Boileau. 12. He is a doctor, and his brother is an attorney. 13. He is rich, a thing that he likes. 14. Such a thing has seldom happened. 15. Such a fault is despicable. 1 6. What a noise ! What a fine flower ! 1 7. What a pretty girl Emma is ! 18. What a rich man her father is ! 19. What charms money has ! 20. What a horrible cry ! What a fool of a boy ! 21. Such a mistake surprises me. 22. A Jew's beard. One Barbary horse. 23. A hen with one chick. A veil and one sail. 24. A box of books. A book and a flower. 25. One gardener and a footman. A hundred knives. 26. An hour and a half. Half an hour. This will be sufficient for the present. Phrases like these will frequently occur as you proceed in the future Exercises. But in order that you may, when you have finished your Exercise, know whether your translation be correct; or, in other words, whether THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. 233 you have well learned thus far; in order that you may know this, I shall, in Letter XXVIIL, put the French of all these Exercises ; and, as the French will have numbers to correspond with those of the English, you can, as soon as you have finished an Exercise, turn to my translation, when you will see whether yours be correct. If you work under the eye of a master, he will tell you at once. But, pray, have the good sense to finish your Exercise before you look at my translation ! By a contrary mode of proceeding you may possibly deceive your master for a while ; but, bear in mind, it is you who must be the loser by it. As I am here giving you, for the first time, instructions relative to your Exercises, let me caution you against doing your work in sjiasty and slovenly manner. Make a book to write all your exercises in ; but, before you insert any translation in your book, you must make it upon a piece of paper ; and, even upon that piece of paper, you ought to write it in a clean, neat, and plain manner. Do not neglect to put any of the points, marks, or accents. When you come to see much of the writing of French people, you will find that those among them who are illiterate do, as well as the English, disregard these matters in their letters and other manuscripts ; but, let that be no example for you : make your writing as correct, if you can, as print itself. This will, in the long run, save you a great deal of that precious thing time. I shall so make the Exercises that they will, if you be diligent, lead you gently and easily over every difficulty. 266. Let us now come to the DEFINITE ARTICLE. We have in English only one, and it is always THE. In paragraphs 77 to 85, you have seen how often the 234 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. French article changes its form. We are now to see how the manner of using it differs from the manner of using ours. This article is often omitted in French in cases where it must not be omitted in English ; and, still oftener is it omitted in English in cases where it is indispensably necessary in French. 267. In both languages it is a general rule that proper nouns of persons do not take the article before them. See paragraph 53 on the subject of proper nouns. But, the names of countries, provinces, islands, and some other parts or divisions of the earth, take the article in French. Also the names of metals, virtues, vices, arts, sciences, grain, seed, and many other things. These do not, as we well know, take the article in English; or, at least, they seldom do. Proper nouns of cities, towns, and villages, follow, with a few ex- ceptions, the rule relative to the proper names of persons. Take a few examples : France is in Europe, Normandy is in France, Rouen is in Normandy, The estates are in Jamaica, Patience is very useful, Intemperance destroys health, Wheat is dear, Iron is heavy, La France est dans TEurope. La Normandie est dans la France. Rouen est dans la Normandie. Les biens sont dans la Jama'ique. La patience est bien utile. Z/'intemperance detruit la sante. Le froment est cher. Le fer est lourd. There are some exceptions as to the names of those countries which take their names from those of their capital cities; as, Venice, Florence, and others. These, however, will come under your eye in the course of the Exercises, and, therefore, need not be more par- ticularly mentioned here. The French use the article with the proper names of a few celebrated Italian poets and painters. But this is not worthy of particular notice. WHEN TO USE THE ARTICLE. 235 268. But, you must observe well, that, when we speak of going to a country, of coming from it, or remaining in it; or, when we speak of something belonging to a country; in these cases, the article is not used in French any more than in English. For we say, " il vient de France," and not, de la France. We say, "il va en France; il demeure en France," and not, en la France. "We say, " drap cTAngleterre," and not, de Z'Angleterre. However, there are many exceptions to this rule : there are a great many countries and islands, and some towns and cities, the names of which always keep the articles under all circumstances. Many of these will, however, come into the Exercises ; and, as to those which do not, they very seldom occur. They are of too little importance to occupy a large portion of Our time here. The manner of using them is hardly reducible to rule. As to the names of moun- tains and rivers, we generally put the article before, their names in both languages, and much in the same manner. 269. When we use proper names in the plural number, we use the article with them ; as the Tudor s, t/ie Bourbons. The French do the same, whether speaking literally or figuratively. 270. Things of which there is but one of the kind, or one collection of the kind, in the creation, as : sun, moon, earth, world, stars, take the article in both languages, except GOD, which takes it in neither language; and except that heaven and hell, which do not take the article in English, take it in French. If the word GOD be restricted in any way, we use the article in both languages; as, the God of Truth. And, thus, we may use the other article, for we may say, L'36 SYNTAX OF "AKTICLES. a God of truth. The two languages do not at all differ in this respect. These exceptions do, however, \vhen we come to the practice, amount to very little. After a few weeks of steady application, these little difficulties all disappear. 271. We, in speaking of persons in certain situations of life, give them the appellation belonging to the situation, and put their proper names after that appellation ; as, Doctor Black, Captain White. But, in French, you must use the article, and say le Docteur, and le Capitaine. We do not put Mr. before any of these names of titles, offices, posts, occupations, and situations. The French do; and you must take special care not to omit it. You must say, Monsieur le Prince, and Monsieur le Cornmissaire de Police. Mark this; for, to say Mr. the Prince, in English, would be shocking, and to say Mr. Prince, would be an insult. 272. In speaking of a thing in general, that is to say, in merely naming the sort of thing, we do not use the article in English; as, "bread is necessary to "man." Again, "dogs guard sheep." But in these, and all similar cases, the article is used in French ; and you must say, " le pain est ne*cessaire a Thomme ;" and " les chiens gardent lea moutons." 273. When we use the singular number to express a whole kind; as, "the dog is a faithful animal;" then the article is applied by us as well as by the French; but, if we use the noun in the plural, we say dogs, and the French, les chiens. However, there is an exception to the former part of this rule ; for, if we employ the singular man to express the whole kind, we do not use the article, and the French do use it. Let the two EXERCISE ON THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. 237 great rival poets, POPE and BOILEAU, furnish us with examples. The proper study of mankind is man, Le plus sot animal, 'a mon avis, c'est FJiomme. 274. In the French language, as in our own, the definite article is used in some cases, and omitted in others, from, it would seem, mere habit or fashion. We say, for instance, he is in town; but we must say, he is in the country. And why must we ? They say, en mile; but they say, dans la ville, and the same of the country. There are certain prepositions which require the article after them, and there are others after which you cannot correctly put the article. The examples afforded by the Exercises will, however, make all this familiar to you in a short time. EXERCISE II. 1. America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. 2. Prussia is a part of Germany. 3. Venice, Valencia, and Grenada, 4. He comes from Rochelle. 5. He lives at Havre de Grace. G. He has set out for Cayenne. 7. I live in England. 8. You come from Portugal. 9. They live in Martinico. 10. She is going to Italy. 11. The Thames. The Rhine. 12. The Severn. The Seine. 13. Drunkenness is detestable. 14. Murder deserves death. 15. Loam at top, clay next, and then chalk. 16. Barley is dear this year. 238 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. 17. Horses eat grass and hay. 18. The horse is a useful animal 19. Birds fly, hawks fly. Hawks kill other birds. 20. He comes from China. Summer is past. 21. The cloth of England. The wine of Burgundy. 22. The horses of Flanders. The cows of Normandy. 23. Trees grow well in fine summers. 24. I see that the trees grow well 25. Captain White has set off. 26. How do you do, Captain? 27. Pears are ripe in Autumn. Birds sing in Spring. 28. Dr. Johnson dreaded death. 29. Queen Elizabeth and Pope Sixtus. 30. Rooks eat corn. The boys kill the rooks. 31. Philosophers disagree. 32. He is in the country. She was in town. 33. God, heaven, and hell. 34. Gardens look gay in Spring. 35. Flowers fade in Summer. They die in Autumn. 36. Love was the subject of the letter. 37. Apples are very good fruit. 38. The apples are not dear this season. 39. Bread, meat, flour, butter. 40. Earth, air, fire, water, all combine. 41. The air is cold to-day. Winter is near. 42. Cheese is very scarce. Foxes kill fowls, 43. I like black better than blue. 44. He likes hunting. Exercise is good for man. 45. Prudent men avoid quarrels. 46. Birds sing while sluggards snore. 47. Here, man ! That way, woman ! 48. Light and darkness, heat and cold. 49. Articles are a part of speech. THE COMPOUND ARTICLE. 239 50. He has arms. He has black hair. 51. The Dutch carry on commerce. 52. The Americans divide the Lakes with the English. 53. They are going to Canada. 54. Nova Scotia is a cold country. 55. Indian corn grows well in France. 56. Tobacco is a product of Virginia. 57. Cotton comes from Georgia. 58. From Florida, and from the Brazils. 59. The Peruvians have gold in abundance. 60. The Mexicans have a great deal of silver. 275. The COMPOUND ARTICLE (as I call it) is the last that we have to treat of. I call it compound, because it is made up of , an article and a preposition. Before you go any~?urther, read, once more, paragraph 79, and also paragraph, 85. You see, then, that the words du, de la, des, are, in fact, not simply articles, but a sort of compound words, answering, in many cases, to our some. In hardly any respect do the two languages differ so materially from each other as they do in this respect. 276. .These little French words are sometimes partly articles, and sometimes they are really adjectives. When they are the former, we must render them in English by our article an4 preposition; when they are the latter, we must render them by some word of qualifi- cation as to quantity. In this phrase, "parlez du 11 cheval," the little word is article and preposition; and, therefore, we render it by our article and preposition, thus: "speak of the horse." But in this phrase, "j'ai "efofoin," the same little word is an adjective; and, therefore, we render it by an adjective. Some is, in 240 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. general, the word; but we may say a quantity, a parcel; or, we may use any words denoting an uncertain, or unfixed, quantity; or, if it were the plural, des, any words denoting an uncertain or unfixed number. The word some, and, in interrogations the word any, and all those other words expressive of quantity or number, must be adjectives, as you must clearly per- ceive when you reflect on the office of the adjective. In my " Mattre a" Anglais" I had this illustration of the matter. J'ai plusieurs amis ici, I I have many friends here. J'ai quelques amis ici, I have some friends here. J'ai des amis ici, | I have some friends here. Now, plusieurs and quelques, thus used, are unquestion- ably adjectives, purely adjectives. And, if they are adjectives, is not this des an adjective also? 277. What we have to do, then, is to consider when it is an adjective that we have to render into French, and when it is an article along with a preposition. We have seen, that in numerous cases where we make use of no article at all, the French use the definite article; and we shall now see that when we use some, any, or any phrase limiting the noun as to quantity or number, and yet leaving the quantity or number unfixed, we must render such word, or phrase, into French by du, de la, or des. Our some, or any, is made use of to designate an unfixed part of an unde- fned whole; as, "give me some sugar." Here the largeness or the smallness of the part is not fixed on ; and the whole mass of sugar out of which the part is to come, is not at all defined, or pointed out. But, if you define the latter, you must use the definite article ; as : " give me some of the sugar which you have bought THE COMPOUND ARTICLE. 241 "to-day" Bear in mind that the French have no words that, in this work of limiting nouns, answer to our some or any. The business of these words is performed by du, de la, and des. 278. Bear in mind that a noun must be used, first, in a general, or boundless, sense, expressing the whole of a species; as, trees grow, hares run; or, second, in a strictly confined sense, expressing particular indivi- duals, or bodies, or masses; as, the trees which are in my garden, the hares which I have killed; or, third, in a sense which signifies limitation, but without at all fixing the limits. In the first case, the article is used in French, and not in English ; in the second case, it is used in both languages; in the third case, it is not used in English, but it is used in French, united with de, and, in^tnis its use, it answers to our some or any; though, in many cases, it is used when we omit even the some, or the any; as in this phrase, " he sells "books;" in which case the French say, "il vend des " livres." 279. However, if there be an adjective coming directly before the noun, the French do not use the article, but merely the preposition, as was said in paragraph 85. But if the adjective come after the noun, the article is used; as, ils ont du pain; ils ont de bon pain; ils ont du pain blanc. We say, in these cases, they have bread; they have good bread; they have white bread: or we may, if the case demand it, say, some bread; but we use no article and no pre- position. 280. After certain words of quantity and number, as, beaucoup (much), assez (enough), peu (few), and many others, the article is not used, but merely the pro- 212 SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. position ; which is also the case when we have an adjective or passive participle following some word of number; as, quelque chose de bon; cinq ponies de grasses; dix arpens de terre de laboures. However, bien, when used instead of beaucoup, must have the article before the next noun, though beaucoup has it not 281. Many other niceties relative to the article might be pointed out, but it would be worse than useless; because practice, which there must be after all, will give you a knowledge of these niceties without further time bestowed on rules. In the Exercise which I am about to give you here, you will find phrases containing examples relative to the indefinite and definite articles, as well as examples relating to what I have called the compound article. But you will find, as we advance, that the Exercises will embrace more and more of the parts of speech. EXERCISE III. 1. He has hay to sell. He has some hay in his cart. 2. Hay is abundant. Hay is dear this year. 3. She wears silk. Silk is very light. 4. Has he any horses ? Yes, he has some horses, 5. Have they any birds ? 6. Dogs bark. He keeps dogs. 7. I hear a noise. I hear a great noise. 8. There are six white and two black. 9. Five killed and one wounded. 10. They have good meat. She has fine eyes, 1 1. Sheep eat grass. I have some sheep. 12. The sheep that I have sold. 13. You had some cheese. So many books. 14. She will have a good deal of bread. EXERCISE ON THE COMPOUND ARTICLE. 243 15. A quantity of earth. There is danger. 1 6. Give us more money. Nothing very rare. 17. Very little wisdom. How many windows? 18. How much land? Much sorrow. 1 9. Much pleasure. Much patience. Much pain. 20. They are very honest people. 21. Cabbages are plentiful at this time. 22. Some onions and some parsley in the garden. 23. The apple-tree is a garland when in bloom. 24. Cherry-trees are very handsome also.. 25. Pears are cheap this year. 26. Raspberry-bushes are insignificant things; 27. But their fruit is excellent. 28. The spinach and the kidney-beans. 29. The market is full of vegetables. 30. The hay is all spoiled. 31. Hay will be dear next year. 32. Kidney-beans are very abundant. 33. Lettuces are good in salads. 34. Oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, and mustard/ are very useful things. 35. Olive-oil is much better than poppy-oil. 36. The first is made in France and Italy. 37. The last is made in Germany. 38. Stones do tha land, no harm. A great quantity- of land, 39. Larks remain in the fields^ 40. Fish, flesh, fowl, grain, flour* 41. We have some fish. Bees do not like wasps. 42. Honey is very useful in a family. 244 LETTER XVIII. SYNTAX OF NOUNS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 282. In paragraphs from 51 to 85 you had the Etymology of Nouns. That taught you that you had to attend to the gender, the number, and the case. The TASK which you had set you in Letter XIV., and in paragraphs from 174 to 180, taught you how to store your memory with regard to the gender of nouns, which, as you now well know, is the great thing of all, as far as relates to this part of speech. 283. As to the placing of nouns in sentences, there is little difference between the French and the Eng- lish. The peculiarities are only two or three in number. These I will point out; and then, an Exercise, embracing a great variety of nouns, will be quite sufficient; especially after what has been said on the subject of the Article, which does, in fact, belong also to the Noun. 284. We, in English,' express possession by putting an s and an apostrophe to the end of the singular noun, and if the noun be plural, an apostrophe only; as, John's book, tlie tico brothers' book. In French this mode of expression is wholly unknown. They say, le livre de Jean, le livre des deuxfreres. "We can say, the top of the house, or the houses top; but, in French, it is always the top of the house, le haut de la maison. There can be no mistake here, for the French rule is invariable. 285. There is a great proneness in our language to make compound words; as, y old-watch. The French COMPOUND WORDS. 245 have none of these words : they say, montre cFor, watch of gold. The same may be said of our compound words which express the kind or occupation of the noun; as, water-rat, school-master, the kitchen-door. All these are rendered into French in the way just men- tioned; rat d'eau, maitre d'ecole, laporte de la cuisine. 286. These compound words of ours are sometimes translated into French by the help of a and not of de; as, drinking -glass, verre a boire. This seems reason- able, because it means, glass to drink with; but they also say, cruche a Veau, water-jug, and poudre a canon, gunpowder. It is not easy to give a rule without numerous exceptions for the using of a and de in answer to our compounds; but this much may be said, that when the first part of our compound expresses an action which is performed by. the use of the thing expressed by the latter word of the compound, the French make use of a and not of de; as, writing-paper, papier a ecrire; dining-room, salle a manger. In other cases they make use of de. 287. In translating the following Exercise, pay .par- ticular attention to the genders, and to the forming of the plural numbers. Have your little book of the genders of nouns before you. The rules for forming the plural numbers which you, have in paragraph 68, you must look at again. Bear in mind that the articles and adjectives must agree in gender and number Avith the nouns to which they apply. Bear in mind that there are many nouns which are feminine in one sense, and masculine in another. Before you translate a phrase, consider well the meaning of the English noun ; and then think of the gender of the French noun by which you are going to translate the English noun. 246 SYNTAX OF NOUNS. EXERCISE IY. 1. The house is large. A hand and a foot. 2. Two houses and three fields. Four sons, five daughters. 3. Six children, seven friends. A horse, a cow, a Pig- 4. Eight horses, nine cows, ten pigs. Eleven wal- nuts. One walnut. 5. One child, twelve children. 6. An engagement. Thirteen engagements, 7. A very fine cabbage. Fourteen cabbages, 8. A black hat. Fifteen hats. 9. A great deal of wealth. 10. Sixteen owls. Seventeen nails. 11. Evils in great number. A very great evil 12. The eye of the horse. My eyes are weak. 13. The water is clear. The waters of Bath. 14. Eighteen baskets. Nineteen night-caps. 15. Twenty garden-doors. Twenty-one river-fish. 16. The wolf's head. The cat's claw. 17. The king's palace. Thirty gold candlesticks, 18. Forty pewter plates. Fifty silver spoons. 19. Sixty leather shoes. Seventy wooden huts. 20. Eighty fire-shovels. Ninety lambs. 21. A hundred oxen. A thousand birds. 22. God is all-powerful. The gods of the Greeks. 23. A solitary place. Solitary places. 24. He has a post. In the post-office. 25. A pound of bread. A book for you. 26. The king's page. A page of a book. 27. At his house. From the street. 28. To the field To the parks. EXERCISES. 247 29. Chapter the first. Book the second. 30. Walk in, sir. Ask the gentleman to coine in. 31. Sir, I have seen the gentlemen. Walk in, gentlemen. 32. As many fine gardens. Before the throne. 33. Except the servant. Amongst the bushes. 34. In the bird's nest. Since Tuesday last. 35. Towards London. After the coach. 36. The lords stay here with the ladies. 37. Get away, Mr. Impudence. 38. River-water to make beer with. 39. Madam, I have seen the lady. 40. Ladies, I am going away. 41. Go to Mr. White's. 42. William, John, and Richard's property. 43. Whose pen is that ? 44. The situation of this country. 45. The governor's situation. 46. Sheep's wool is good to make cloth. 47. They talk of the lady's house. 48. Mrs. White is dead. 49. Joseph, Peter, and some friends. 50. A silver spoon full of wine. 51. A mug full of beer. 52. This path is a hundred feet long. 53. His mother's death. His son's marriage. 54. His brother's good luck. 55. He has dealt in copper. 56. Coaches and horses cost money, 57. The oak is a fine tree. 58. Oak-boards are durable, 59. Elm-trees in the hedges, 60. The sand-hill is high. 218 LETTER XIX. SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 288. "Now read over very carefully the paragraphs from 87 to 100 inclusive. Do not think that this is not necessary. It is necessary, and therefore do it. You will not understand what I am now about to write half so well, unless you first read over again the part that I have just pointed out. 289. Having read those paragraphs, you will have again seen, that there are FIVE CLASSES of Pro- nouns; that is to say, the Personal; the Possessive; the Relative; the Demonstrative; and the Indetermi- nate. In the paragraphs jiist mentioned I treated of the etymology of these; I am now going to treat of their Syntax ; that is, to give rules for using them in sentences; and, as this is a very important part of speech, you ought here to be uncommonly attentive. 290. First Class, or PERSONAL PRONOUNS. After all the repetitions in the Conjugations of the Verbs, it would be waste of time to dwell upon de- li nitions of the personal pronouns. You must know what they are as well as I do. But that which you can- not yet know so well is, how they are used in sentences. Look now at paragraph 91. Read it very carefully. I there tell you that the Syntax will teach you some- thing; and I am now about to make good my word. 291. These cases are things of great importance with regard to pronouns, and especially with regard PERSONAL PEOXOUXS. 249 to French pronouns. The French personal pronouns are, in many instances, placed in the sentences very differently from ours; and, in some instances, one word in French makes two words in English. Hence the matter demands a great deal of attention ; but that attention will soon do the business. 292. The verb must now be brought into great use in the Exercises ; because, without the verb, the use of the pronoun cannot be explained. For instance, I have to tell you that, in this phrase, / see you, though the second pronoun comes after the verb in English, it must come before the verb in French ; as, je vous vois. Thus, you see, we could not get on at all here without knowing a great deal about the verbs. 293. The^-use of the personal pronouns in their nominative cases is plain enough : je, tu, il, die, nous, vous, Us, elles, answer to our I, thou, he, she, it, we, you, they. But nous is both we and us; and, then, there is the manner of placing nous, vous, lui, and others of them, in the sentence, which is very different from our. manner of placing them. 294. Look at the tables in paragraph 91. There you have all the personal pronouns, first in their singular and then in their plural number. You have them exhibited in their number, person, gender, and case, and in both languages. Let us now take them, then, one by one, and compare the manner of using them in French with the manner of using them in English. 295. The first person singular is I JE. Our 7 is always a capital letter ; but the French je is written like another word. Our 7 is sometimes separated from the verb, and placed after a conjunction, leaving 250 SYNTAX OF PHOXGUNS. another verb to be understood; as, you are richer than I. But the French je is never thus used : you must never say, vous etes plus riche queje. The place of the French pronoun je is before the verb only ; and it is never, as our / is, separated from the verb, nor placed after a conjunction, as in the above case. In interrogations theje may come after the verb; but you will see enough of that by-and-by. In the possessive case our / becomes of me, and in the objective, me. In the French, the je becomes, in some cases, moi in the nominative, de moi in the possessive, and me, or moi, in the objective. "We say, of me, but the French must say, de moi, and never de me, or d, me; though, observe, their me, in other cases, answers to our me. This same moi is sometimes answered by our 7. If there were only the je and the me in French to answer our / and me, we should do very well with them : but there comes in this moi to puzzle us ; and it is to this, therefore, that we have to pay strict attention. I have just said, that the place ofje is before the verb; as: Je frappe souvent, I I strike often. Je bois du vin, I drink wine. When our / is placed after the verb, or after a con- junction, leaving a verb to be understood, it is not answered by je, but by moi; as : It is I who act, He knows it better than I, He writes as well as I, She is wiser than I, C'est moi qui agis. II le sait mieux que moi. II ecrit aussi bien que moi. Elle est plus sage que moi. In these instances we see moi answering to our /. Let us now see it answering to our me ; which it always does when there is a preposition coming before the French pronoun, or when the verb in French comes PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 251 before the pronoun. I beg you to pay attention to this ; and to observe well the following examples : He comes to me, Give me some paper, They speak of me, It is for me, II vient a moi. Donnez-moi du papier. Us parlent de moi. C'est pour moi. And not, il vient & me, and so on. But when there is no preposition coming before the pronoun, and when the verb does not come before it, the English me is rendered in French by me; -as: He strikes me, You give me some paper, They speak to me, It is agreeable to me, James has stricken me, II me frappe. Vous me donnez du papier. Us me parlent. II m'est agreable. Jacques m'a, frappe. You see that we have no word in English that answers to this moi. We have, for the first person singular, only the / 'and the me, both of which, as we have just seen, are, sometimes, answered by moi; to know when this is, I have, I hope, now taught you. 296. Before I proceed to the second person, let me tell you that I shall reserve the rules for placing the personal pronouns, till I have, in the above way, gone through the three persons plural, as well as singular. 297. The second person singular is THOU TIT. The pronouns of this person singular, are, as you have seen in paragraph 93, very rarely used. We use, in both languages, the plural pronoun instead of the sin- gular: we say you, and not thou; and vous, and not tu. However, we must notice them in the same way as we should if they were in common use. Thou is answered by tu; and thee, which is our other case of this pronoun, is sometimes answered by te, and some- times by toi. Look at the table in paragraph 91. 252 SYNTAX OF PKOXOUXS. Observe, that what is said of moi, -or rather, of the occasions when it is used to answer to our 7 and me, applies to toi supplying the place of tu and te. Toi is used, as is the case with moi, when there is a pre- position or a verb before the pronoun ; or when there is a conjunction before our tJwu, leaving a verb to be understood. I will take, as nearly as possible, the same examples that I took to explain the use of the pronouns of the first person singular : Tu frappes souvent, Thou strikest often. Tu bois du vin, Thou drinkest wine. Here, as was observed in the parallel case in the first person, there is no verb and no preposition coming before the French pronoun, and no conjunction before ours. Therefore the toi is not used. But, now, attend to the following examples : It is thou \vho actest, He knows it better than them, He writes as well as thou, She is wiser than thou, He comes to thee, They speak of thee, It is for thee, He strikes thee, I. give thee some paper, They speak to thee, It is agreeable to thee, James has stricken thee, C'est toi qui agis. II le sait mieux que toi. II ecrit aussi bien que tni, Elle est plus sage que /j,r. Besides this, our they is sometimes rendered by eux. The thing to know, then, is, when our they is to be Us, and when eux, and when our tJiem is to be les, when leur, and when eux. As to the first, our they is to be ils when, in French, there is no preposition and no verb before the pronoun, and when our ttiey has no conjunction, PEESOXAL PEOXOUNS. before it in the English, with a verb understood to follow. It is the same as in the case of il and lui, and will be explained by the same examples. They strike often, They drink wine, It is they who act, She is wiser than they, Us frappent souvent. Us boivent du vin. C'est eux qui agissent. Elle est plus sage qu'ez&r. Now, as to our them. It is to be lea when it is the object of an action; it is to be eux when a preposition is used before it ; it is to be leur when the verb, used with it, leaves a (to) to be understood; as: James strikes them, She talks of them, I give them some papeY, Jacques les frappe. Elle parle d'eux. Je leur donue du papier. But I must now mention what I until now omitted, to avoid confusion. By looking at the table last mentioned, you see, in the nominative casej Us or eux, to answer to our they, in the masculine. Now this eux, used thus, appears very strange. But it may be used thus, and so may lui. The feminine differs only from the masculine in this; that, in the nominative, our they is answered by "dies instead of Us, and, in all the cases where eux is made use of in the masculine, elles is made use of in the feminine; and here are the examples to show it. They strike often, They drink wine, It is they who act, He is wiser than they, James strikes them, She talks of them, I give them some paper, Elles frappent souvent. Elles boivent du vin. C'est elles qui agissent. II est plus sage quW/es. Jacques les frappe. Elle parle Belles. Je letir donne du papier. After what has just been said, at the close of para- graph 298, it would be useless to make any further remarks on our neuter gender. They and them, wheu s '258 SYNTAX OF PROXOUX3. they relate to neutral nouns, are to be dealt with in the same manner as directed for our it. 303. There now remains, with regard to these per- sonal pronouns, the instructions as to the manner of placing tfiem in the sentence, which is very different from our manner; but which is, with a little attention, very soon learned. The je, nous, tu, vous, U, die, Us, dies, take the lead in the sentence, when they are the actors, in the same way that our I, we, thou, you, he, she, and tliey do ; as, je bois du vin, nous frappons a la porte ; I drink wine, we knock at the door. But we, in English, very frequently put other words between the pronoun and verb; as, I very often drink wine, we every day knock at the door. This must not be in French. The nominative case of the pronoun must not be separated from the verb. You must not say, je tres souvent bois du vin; but must place the words thus: I very often drink wine, I Je, boia du vin tres-souvent We every day knock at the door, | Nous frappons a la porte tous les jours. 304. "When there is a pronoun that is the object of the action, it comes before the verb, and not after it, as in English. "We say, James strikes me; but, in French, you must say, Jacques me frappe; that is to say, James me strikes. When the verb is in the imperative mode, indeed, the pronoun comes last; as, frappez-le. But the cause of this is obvious. The general turn of the French language brings the pronoun, when it is tlie object, immediately before the verb; as, je le pense, il le dit, nous le jurons; I think it, he says it, we swear it; or, word for word: I it think, he it says, we it swear. 305. These are the principal things to attend to it*. EXERCISE ON THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 259 the personal pronouns. I shall now give you an Exer- cise on the subject. There are other things to notice by-and-by, connected with these pronouns, and espe- cially the manner of placing them in negative and interrogative sentences : but, for the present, we have enough of them; and will proceed to our Exercise, which will contain an instance or two of nearly all the kinds of phrases that are necessary to our present purpose. The phrases are placed promiscuously; that is to say, not in the order of the rules which they are intended to illustrate. EXERCISR V. 1. You and I are going to supper. 2. You and your sister and I shall have some money to-morrow. 3. She and I are very happy in this country. 4. They strike me as well as him. 5. They love me as well as her. 6. May you become rich. 7. Were you to abandon me for ever. 8. Yes, answered he. No, said he. 9. I see him and his father every day. 10. He always gives them something to eat. 11. They very frequently dine at our house. 1 2. Do that, I pray you, for my sake. 13. The horse is. mine, and the cow, is hers. 14. Give me some of the wood that you have. 15. He tells them all that I say to him. 16. She had not any love for them. 17. The fields belong to them. 18. It is he that they always speak to. 19. They look for them here to-day. 2 GO SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 20. Give her something to eat and drink. 21. I will send you some flowers they are very fine. 22. They have sent us some fruit to-day. I 1 '. They rob and insult us. 24. He writes and sends messengers to the Secretary. I'."). They are richer than I and than he also. 26. Send a messenger to them. 27. Seize him, bind him, and put him in prison. 28. We eat meat, and drink water. 29. They often come to us to get wine. 30. I gave him gold for you, 31. You saw them go to her, 306. Second Class: POSSESSIVE JPHONOUN3. See them in their table in paragraph 94. In these there are no cases to attend to. There are only the Number, the Person, and the Gender. Read paragraph 94 all through; and you will need nothing here but a brief Exercise. 307. But, in paragraph 95 there is another table of possessive pronouns. Those also are so fully spoken of in that paragraph, that little more than the exercise is required here. The main thing in both these is, to attend to the agreement in number and gender. This agreement must be perfect. Bead with great care the two paragraphs just mentioned. 308. There is one remark to make, and this you must particularly attend to. We, in speaking of harm done to, or pain suffered in, our members, or bodies, make use of th possessive pronoun; as, my head aches, my finger smarts. The French, in these cases, use the article, thus : j'ai mal a la tete; j'ai mal au doigt. He hurts my arm; il me fait mal au bras. The pronoun EXERCISE ON THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. 2C1 may sometimes be used; but this that I have been describing here is the French idiom. 309. Observe that here, as in the case of the articles, when the noun begins with a vowel or an h mute, the singular masculine pronoun is put before it, be it of whichever gender it may; as, mon ami, mon amie, though one be masculine arid the other feminine. The same is to be observed with regard to ton, and son. EXERCISE VI. 1. My hand, my pens, my paper, my ink, and my books. 2. Your pens are not so good as mine. 3. Take the chairs from my room and put them in 4. Take them from their room and put them in mine. 5. Take them from mine and carry theny to. hers. 6. Their oxen are finer than yours. 7. Put my oxen into their field. His shoes are better than hers. 9. Our coats are blue, but theirs are red, 10. Our field, their meadow, their sheep. 1 1. Your trees are well planted. 1 2. The table is bad : its legs are weak. 1 3. That coach is yours : this is mine. 14. Brother, I beg you to come to my house. J 5. Adieu, captain. I am glad to see you, neigh- bour. 1 6. These are my birds, and those are yours. 17. Thy father and mother and brothers are dead, 1 8. His brothers and sisters are all gone away. 19. Their servants are coming here. 2G2 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 20. Father, have you seen her cloak? 21. Come to me, sister, I want to speak to you. 22. No, friend, I cannot aid you. 23. Take your sheep and put them to mine. 24. Take your hens from mine. 25. His house, her house, our house, their house, your house. 2G. His hand, her arm, our fingers, their legs, my feet 27. Her gown, her cap, her head, her neck, her teeth. 28. Put your hay to mine : take yours from mine. 29. He does not talk of your beauty, but of mine. 30. They do not talk of hers, but of ours. 310. Third Class: RELATIVE PKOSTOUNS. Look at the table in paragraph 96. You see that there are but few of these ; but they require attention. Our wJto is answered by qui, except when a question is asked, and then it may be by quel or quelle followed by the noun or by a pronoun ; as, quels sont ces honmies- la 1 Who are those men 1 But in all other cases our wlw is answered by qui; as: Thomme qui vient de sortir, | the man who is just gone out. 311. As our that may be, in some cases, used instead of who; as it may, indeed, in the instance just given; so it is, in these cases, translated by qui. That, how- ever, can be rendered by qui only when the person or thing to which it relates is not the object of a verb coming after the relative. Take examples: rhomme qui vient de partir, le cheval qui mange 1'herbe, le foin qui est pour le cheval, the man that (or who) is just gone away. the horse that eats the grass, the hay that is for the horse. RELATIVE PEONOUNS. 2G3 But when there is such a verb in the sentence, the relative pronoun in French, to express our that or our whom, must be que. As : 1'homme que j'ai vu partir, [ the man that (or whom) I have seen go away. le cheval que vous montez, le foin qite nous ddnnons aux the horse that you ride. the hay that we give to horses. chevaux, And here you will observe, also, in the first three of these examples with qui, that though we cannot with propriety use who as the relative to the names of things inanimate or irrational, the French use qui with such names, if its antecedents be in the nominative. Que is abbreviated before a vowel, but qui never is. Hemark this : le cheval qui a vu mon domestique ; that is, the horse which ns seen my servant; but, le cheval qua vu mon domestique, means, the horse which my servant has seen. 312. Our whose is answered by de qui, or dont: but de qui is confined to rational animals, like our whose and whom. Dont is used for all sorts of objects, except when a question is asked ; and then it must be de qui, or duquel, or de laquelle, according to the number and gender of the antecedent. 313. Our whom, as already shown in paragraph 311, is answered by que; as, 1'homme que vous voyez; the man whom you see. But if there be a preposition, our whom is rendered by qui or lequel; as, the man to whom I have sent; 1'homme a qui or auquel, j'ai envoye. 314. Our which is answered by qui, as our that is, as we have seen in paragraph 311. And here again the same rule as that given in paragraph 311 is to be followed ; that is ; when to translate which by qui, and 2G4 SYNTAX OP PHOXOUXS. when by que. Our which would apply in all the fonr examples, tJie horse, the hay, while the French qui ap- plies to the first couple, and the que to the second couple of those examples, just as in translating our that. So in the following : le boeuf qui laboure la terre, the ox which ploughs the land, le bceuf que je vous ai vendu, j the ox which I have sold you. Our which is sometimes answered by lequel; and this pronoun takes the article with it, as you see in para- graph 97. Indeed, here is the le in this word, which means the which, being used as a relative to a singular masculine. If it were a feminine, it must have been laquelle; if a plural masculine, lesquels; and so on. And, as with wltom, mentioned in paragraph 313, so with which when there is a preposition. As : C'est le cheval duquel, OR dont, il vous a parl, La mort est un mal aitquel U n'y a point de reinede, It is the horse of which he has spoken to you. Death is an evil for which there is no remedy. Observe, that the French word ou, which means where, is frequently used, and very frequently too, to supply the place of dans lequel (in which), dans laquelle, and so on; as, Tetat ou je suis ; the state in which (where) I am. 315. Our what is answered by quoi, que, or quel. But the former is not used (as a relative) in speaking of persons, and is most frequently used with a pre- position; as, de quoi, a quoi; which means of what, to what. But our what is also frequently answered by que; as, que voulez-vous 1 What would you have? Que dites-vous? What do you say? Our what is answered by quel, when questions are asked with a noun; as, What bouse is that? Quelle maison est cclle-la ? RELATIVE PROXOUXS. 2G5 316. You must take care, in using relative pronouns, to keep their ANTECEDENTS constantly in your eye. In my ENGLISH GRAMMAR (paragraph 245), I have con- tended, that the relative pronouns never can be the nominatives of Verbs. I will quote the passage : for it serves most admirably to illustrate what I am about to say with respect to the functions of the French relative pronouns: "In looking for the nominative of a " sentence, take care that the relative pronoun be not " a stumbling-block ; for relatives have no changes to " denote number or person; and, though they may " sometimes appear to be, of themselves, nominatives, " they never can be such. The men WHO ARE here : 11 the man WHO is Jiere: the cocks THAT crow: the cock " THAT crows*- Now, if the relative be the nominative, " why do the verbs change, seeing that here is no " change in the relative 1 No; the verb, in pursuit of " its nominative, runs through the relatives to come at " their antecedents, men, man, cocks, cock. BISHOP " LOWTH says, however, that ' the relative is the nomi- " ' native when no other nominative comes between it and " ' tlie verb :' and MR. MURRAY has very faithfully copied " this erroneous observation. Who is in the house ? " Who are in the house 1 Who strikes the iron ? Who " was in the street ? Who were in the street 1 ? Now " here is, in all these instances, no other nominative " between the relative and the verb, and yet the verb " is continually varying. Why does it vary ? Because " it disregards the relative, and goes and finds the " antecedent, and accommodates its number to that *' antecedent. The antecedents are, in these instances, " understood : What person is in the house ? What " persons are in the house ? What person strikes the 2C6 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. " iron ? What persons strike the iron ? What person " was in the street ? What persons were in the street ? " The Bishop seems to have had a misgiving in his " mind when he gave this account of the nominative " functions of tJie relative; for he adds, ' the relative is " ' of tlie SAME NUMBER and PERSON as the antecedent; " ' and the verb AGREES WITH IT accordingly.'' Oh, oh ! " But the relative is always the same, and is of any " and of every number and person. How, then, can " the verb, when it makes its changes in number and " person, be said to agree with the relative ? Disagree, " indeed, with the relative the verb cannot, any more " than it can with a preposition, for the relative has, " like the preposition, no changes to denote cases ; but, " the danger is, that, in certain instances, the relative " may be taken for a nominative, without your looking " after the antecedent, which is the real nominative, " and that, thus, not having the number and person of " the antecedent clearly in your mind, you may give " to the verb a wrong number -or person." Now, then, let us see how this matter is in French. MONSIEUR RESTAUT, in his rules respecting the relative pronoun, tells us, that the verbs and adjectives are to be some- times in the plural, and sometimes in the singular, after qui (who), and that the adjective, or participle, is affected in the same way. He has these two examples : Ciceron fut un de ceux quifurent sacrifies a la vengeance des Triumvirs. Hegesisochus fut un de cenx qui travailla le plus efficacement a la ruine de sa patrie. What ! Here is the phrase, fut un de ceux qui (was one of those who) in both cases ; and yet, in one case, the verb (furent) is in the plural; and, in the other RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 267 case, the verb (travailla) is in the singular. How, then, can the qui be the nominative of these verbs ? It is clearly the nominative in neither instance. "Well, but what are the antecedents 1 Is the pronoun CEUX the antecedent in the first case? It must be so; and thus we should have it in English : Cicero was one of THOSE, who were sacrificed to the vengeance of the Triumvirs. But, then, where is the antecedent in the second instance 1 ? MONSIEUR RESTAUT says, that UN is the antecedent here. Why? For what? There is no reason at all. MONSIEUR RESTAUT says that qui is sometimes in the plural and sometimes in the singular. Strange remark! and that, too, from a very clever man. But let us have another instance. MONSIEUR RESTAUT gives his scholar this sentence : " CT^SIAS est " UN des premiers QUI AIT ex6cut6 cette entreprise." Kow, mark his reasons, which I shall give in English. " The verb is here put in the singular, because its " nominative, qui, is a relative pronoun in the singular, " and has for antecedent the word un. When we say, " CTESIAS est un des premiers qui AIT execute cette entreprise, " we mean not only that nobody had executed it before " him, but, moreover, that he executed it before all " others, and that he set them the example. But when, " on the contrary, we say, ".CTESIAS est un dea premiers qui AIENT execute cette entreprise, " we mean, that several persons executed tJie enterprise " at the outset, and that CTESIAS was one of them" - Very good, MONSIEUR RESTAUT. But then, pray, why do you call the qui the nominative of the verb ? You 2GS SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. prove as clearly as day-light tliat UN is the nomi- native in the first example, and that DES PREMIERS is the nominative in the second; you make the verbs agree with these nominatives in number, and yet you persist in calling the qui the nominative! And, in order to give a show of reason for this, you say, that qui is in the singular in the first example, and in the plural in the second, though it never changes its form. Therefore, mind, my dear son, the thing for us to attend to here is this : that we are never to look upon qui as the nominative of the verb. "We must look for the antecedent; and, according to tfiat, make the number and person of our verb. Les soldats qui marchent, arid le soldat qui marcJie; but, if we were to look upon qui as the nominative, why should it be niardient in one case, and marche in the other ? The principle applies to both languages; but the truth of it is most clearly seen in the French, because in it the verb makes such conspicuous changes in its form to agree in number with its nominative case. [NOTE. The examples here above given are appli- cable also to the part of Syntax which relates to the Number of the Verb. See Note at the end of paragraph 385, "where reference is made back to this place.] EXERCISE VIL 1. The people who live in that street. 2. The carpenter who made my table. 3. The cow which feeds in my meadow. 4. The sheep that are on the hills. 5. The man whose friendship I value. G. The horse that goes in their coach. EXERCISES ON THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 2G9 7. The wheat that you sold at the market 8. The wheat that grows in your fields. 9. Love those from whom you receive kindness. 10. The merchant to whom he owes so much money. 11. The company whom he has received to-night. 12. The bird which has seen the bird-catcher. 13. The bird which the bird-catcher has seen. 14. The age in which we live. 15. The gentleman to whom it belongs. 1 6. The country which I like best. 17. The weather which pleases me the most. 18. The ink that I made use of. 19. The people whom you spoke of yesterday. 20. The man whom I most dislike. 21. WhaVdo you want with us ? 22. What do they say to you and your family ? 23. That is the business which they spoke of. 24. It is you and your son that they are talking of. 25. There are the ladies whom he was speaking of. -26. The gentleman from whom I received so much kindness. 27. Whom are you speaking oft 28. What man is that t What boy is that 1 29. Which of the two chairs do you like best ? 30. Which of the three looking-glasses do you like best? 31. The trouble from which he has escaped. 32. My friend, who died yesterday, and whom I loved so well. 33. What do you talk of? What is that ? 34. What gentleman is that ? 35. With what fleet did he come 1 3G. Who has told you that ? 270 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 37. One of those who came last night. 38. One of the first who did it. 39. The hawk that my brother has shot. 40. "Who can tell what may happen ? 317. Fourth Class: DEMONSTRATIVE PRO- NOUNS. Look now at paragraph 98. Attend to the whole of it, and particularly to the table. You see here a great variety of words to answer to our this, that, tJiese, and tlwse. You see he and she in the table. That is because the French make use of these pronouns sometimes to supply the place of these two personal pronouns. In fact, the celui is the lui (he or him) with the ce (this) prefixed to it; and the celle is the die (she or her) with the ce (dropping the e) prefixed to it. The same may be said of ceux, which is eux (they or them) with the ce (dropping the e) prefixed to it. So that, if we were to put these words into English literally, CELUI would be this he; CELLE would be this she; CEUX would be this they masculine; and CELLES would be this they feminine. The CECT and CELA are this here and this there. CELUI-CI is this he here; and CELUI-LA, is this he there. The same explanation holds good as to CELLE-CI, CELLE-LA, CEux-ci, and CEUX-LA, CELLES-CI, and CELLES-LA. Ci and la are adverbs, meaning here and there. 318. The original word is, as we have seen, CE (this) ; which is CET before a vowel, CETTE for the feminine, and CES for the plural of both genders. This is all that there is of the word itself; all the rest is personal pronoun and adverb. The ce is greatly used with the verb to be, etre, instead of the personal pro- noun U; as, dest une bonne chose, que de se lever de bonne heure: IT is a good thing to rise early. It is a DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 271 softer expression than il est, and it is a great favourite with the French. 319. These pronouns are, or, rather, this pronoun is, called Demonstrative, because it is used to point out the noun in a direct manner; almost to show it; as, this house, that field, these oxen, those fowls. When we use these words, we seem to be almost pointing with our finger at the house, the field, the oxen, and the fowls. To demonstrate means to show' in the clearest manner; and, therefore, these are called Demonstrative pronouns; or, rather, this is called a demonstrative pronoun; for, as I have shown, there is, in fact, only the pronoun ce, all the rest being the same word under different forms. Nor have we but one word of this kind; namely, this. The other three demonstratives are only so many changes in the form of this. The first change is that, the next is these, and the third those. These changes are to express situation and number. The French, in addition to situation and number, express gender, which, in this case, we do not. "We say, tMs boy, this girl, this hat, this pen ; but they say, ce gargon, cette fille, ce chapeau, cette plume. In the plural they have ces for both genders; but this answers to our these and those only in part; only when there is a noun coming directly after it; as, ces gargons, ces filles; and then there must generally be ct, or la, after the noun; as, ces gargons-ci, these boys; ces filles-la, those girls. 320. Our those is frequently used indifferently with the personal pronoun they; but when this can be done in English, the French requires the demonstrative; as: 272 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. la the singular number, -we cannot, in English, use the demonstrative in this way. We cannot say, speaking of a man : This who is very tall. That who is very rich. We must use the personal pronoun, thus : He who is very tall. He who is very rich. Then, in speaking of a woman, we must say, She who is very tall. Slie who is very rich. But, in French, the demonstrative is used in all these cases; celui in the first four instances, and celle in the two last. 321. But, the main thing in regard to these demon- stratives, the great difference in the two languages, and great object for you to attend to, is, the use of CE witli the verb etre; in which use it generally answers to our it, but sometimes to our he or site. The use of ce, in this way, is of endless occurrence. We say, It is a good thing. He is a good man. She is a very handsome girl. In all these cases the French say, c'est une bonne chose, c'est un brave homme, and so on. The ce means this, but no matter: the French language chooses to say, this is a good thing, and not, it is a good thing. But mind, in certain cases you have no choice : for, when we, in English, use it with the verb to be followed by a noun or a pronoun, thus, it is I who see the enemy ; when we, iii English, have a phrase of this sort, we must, in French, employ ce y and not il. We cannot EXERCISES ON THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 273 say, il est moi. qui vois I'eimemi. We must say, c'est moi. la all such phrases, it was I, it is you, it was we, it was the people, and the like, you must use ce for our it; as, c'etait moi, c'est vous, and so on, always with ce, and not with il. How the verb is to bo managed in these cases you will see when you come to the impersonal verbs. At present we have to do with the pronouns ; and particularly with the use of ce for our it. Having now, I think, pretty well explained the nature and offices of these pronouns, I shall give you an Exercise on them. EXERCISE VIII. 1. There is a great deal of fruit in that country. 2. This garden is very full of flowers. 3. Which of these flowers do you like best ? 4. Do you like this best, or that 1 5. It is I who order you to do it. G. It is the master of the house who. is coming. 7. It is a very fine country. 8. It is a great pity. 9. This pen is better than that. 10. These pens are as good as those. 11. This corn is cheap, but it is not good. 1 2. Your land is as good as that of your neighbour. 1 3. Those who think that they gain by roguery de- ceive themselves. 14. He who goes to bed late must get up late. 15. She who thinks too much of her beauty. 16. He who lives a sober life is more happy than he who does not. 17. He does not know how fine this country is who has not seen it. T 274: SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 18. That which you have sent I like well. 1 9. He tells us what he knows of them. 20. She tells her mother all that she hears. 21. What vexes me most is, he will not see me. 22. Those only speak ill of him who do not know him. 23. They do not know what hunger is who have always had an abundance. 24. These are the oxen that I like best. 25. Those that you have are but poor animals. 2G. That dog appears to be of the same kind as this. 27. Yes; but this is better than that. 28. This bird sings better than that which you have. 29. These partridges are bigger than the English ones. 30. These woodcocks fly swifter than those. 31. Which of them are best to eat ? 32. Those that fly swiftly, or those that fly slowly ? 322. Fifth Class: INDETERMINATE PRO- NOUNS. Now go back to paragraph 99. Read that paragraph, and also paragraph 100, very attentively; and examine well the list of indeterminate pronouns in paragraph 99. First of all, after you have looked well at this list, observe this; that, though there are certain English words placed opposite the French words, and though, in some cases, the latter answer to the former, they do not always do it. It is not this table alone, therefore, that will teach you how to use these French words, and especially the five last, which, though called indeterminate words, are really amongst the most important in the language. When the scholar sees of it, of him, oflier, of them, and nothing but the French en placed opposite them; when he sees that this one little word is to answer to all these different INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 275 phrases, the difficulty seems insurmountable. At the end, however, of a few days' attentive study, the difficulty disappears; and, before the end of an hour, you will, I trust, perceive it begin to disappear. 323. ALL TOUT, which, as you see, becomes tons, toute, and toutes. This word answers, in this sense, to our ALL. This all, you will bear in mind, is not a pronoun in all cases. It is not one in this very phrase, "all cases." It is an adjective. It is a pronoun only when it stands for a noun : and, it is. quite clear to me, that it ought never ta be called a pronoun, seeing that I know of no^ case where a noun, is not understood when all is used. 324. BOTH L'UK ET L'AUTRS. The French have no single wxwd to answer to our both. They are obliged to say, the one and the other; and this phrase changes, you see, according to number and gender. There can, however, be no difficulty here; and the same may be said of either, neither, and one anotJier. The first, is Pun ou Vautre (the one or the other) ; the next, ni Pun ni Vautre (neither the one nor the other); and the last is, I'un Vautre (the one the other) ; which last phrase is, you will find, if you look well into, it, just as consonant with reason as our one another. It is now, I hope, unnecessary for me to dwell on the changes to foe made here on, account of number and gender. These must, by this, time, have become as familiar to you as the use of your eyes or teeth. 325. SOMEBODY, or SOME ONE QUELQU'UN. EVERY- BODY, EACH, EVERY ONE CHACUN. These apply to things as well as persons in French; though where body is used they do not so apply in English. CHACUN has gender, you see; but no change to denote a 270 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. difference in number. However, these things are so little embarrassing, that a very few instances in the Exercises will be sufficient to make them clear to you. 326. NOBODY, NONE AUCUN, NTJL, NULLE. In the French all these three pronouns apply to things as well as to persons. They admit of no changes except those you see in the table. 327. ANYBODY QUICONQUE, is of both genders, and never used but in the singular number. Whoever is also translated by quicongue, as well as by qui que ce soit. Whatever is translated by quoi que ce soit, quoi que, quelconque, quel que, and quelque. [NOTE. Quel que is written in two words when followed by a verb, and is then a kind of adjective, which must agree in gender and number with the noun to which it refers; as, quel que soit son age; quels que soient ses desseins. Quelque, before a norm, whether accompanied by an adjective or not, takes an s for the plural ; as, quelques bonnes plumes que vous ayez. Quelque, in the sense of however, never changes its form.] 328. NOBODY PERRONNE. This is a word much in use. It is written like the feminine noun personne (person) ; but it is a negative pronoun, meaning nobody, or no one; and it is wholly unchangeable in its form. PLUSIEURS (many) and RJEN (nothing), the first being always plural and the last always singular, merit no particular remark. They experience no changes in tlieir form, and have, in all cases, the same meaning. 329. Very different is it with the remaining five pronouns, which, as before observed, are amongst the most important words in the French language, I INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 277 shall devote one paragraph to each of them, and, in order to obviate confusion and to make reference easy, 110 more than one paragraph. 330. LE. This is, you know, the definite article, the; it is also the personal pronoun, him; it is the per- sonal pronoun it; as : Le pommier porte beaucoup de fruit, Je le taille tous les ans, C'est mon domestique: je le maintiens, The apple-tree bears a good deal of fruit. I prune it every year. He is my servant: I support him. Thus, then, we have this same LE acting in three capacities. But we are now to view it; in its fourth capacity, in which we shall, agreeably to . the table in paragraph 99, find it sometimes answering to so, or such, sometimes to it, and sometimes supplying the place of great part of a, sentence. Let us take an instance of each : Vous etes faborieux, et il ne rest pas. Je crois qu'il va venir; du moins je le desire., Etes-vous le propritftaire de cette maison ? Oui, je le suis. In the first of these instances, we should put so; in the second it; in the third nothing, or we should nearly repeat all the words of the question, and say, yes, I am the proprietor of it. So that this little word performs a great deal. It makes the sense precise and clear without repetition and a great mass of words. Per- haps, however, if we look well into the matter, we might, without any very great violence done to our language, translate this le by our it. Let us take the three examples just given : You are industrious, and he is not it. I believe that he is coming ; at least I wish it. Are you the proprietor of that house ? Yes, I *m ft. 278 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. We have now done with this LE, till we come to the interrogatives and negatives, where we shall find it a great actor. 331. EN. This word, the table says, answers to our of it, of him, of her, of them. But it answers, perhaps, to a great deal more than all these. It is a word of most extensive use. It is always in the objective case, and it never changes its form. Its use is to save repetition. This is, indeed, the office of all pronouns; but en applies in so many ways, that it would fill a volume to describe minutely all its functions. You must bear in mind, that EN is sometimes a preposition ; and that, then, it means in. However, that is wholly a different word, though containing the same letters. EN, pronoun, may have relation to, or may stand for, a noun of either gender, or either number. It is always preceded by some noun, expressed or under- stood ; and it is made use of to save the repeating of that noun, or the employing of many words, which are rendered unnecessary by employing it. A few examples will give you an idea of its use : 1. Savez-vous ou il ya des choux? Oai; il y en a dans mon jardin. 2. Avez-vous parle de la fille ? Otri ; j'en ai parle. 3. Voulez-vous des noix ? Oui; j'en veux. 4. Tenez-vous des chiens ? J'e tiens plusieurs. 5. Combien de moutons avez-vous ? J'en ai trois cents. 6. II a vendu du sucre ; mais il en a encore. 7. Us avaient des fleurs, et ils en ont encore de tres-belles. 8. Voici de belles peches : en voulez-vous ? Now let us make, as nearly as possible, a word-for- word translation of these sentences : 1. Know you where there are cabbages ? Yes ; there are of them in my garden. 2. Have you spoken of the girl ? Yes; I of her have spoken. 4J. Wish you to have some walnuts? Yes; I of them wish to have. INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 279 4. Keep you dogs? I of them keep several. 5. How many sheep have you ? I of them have three hundred. 6. He has sold some sugar; but he of it has yet. 7. They had flowers, and they of them have yet very fine. 8. See, here are fine peaches: of them do you wish to have? You see, then, what an important word this is : and yet, till you Come to interrogates and negatives, you see but a part of its importance. Besides its appli- cability to all persons and things, it applies to place, and stands for, from this, from tltat, or from this place, or that place; as : II en vient, Je m'era vais, Allez-vous-ew, He comes, or is 'come, ./row that place. I am going away. Go hence ; or, go away. In all these cases the en is a pronoun, though trans- lated by a noun or an adverb. If tire translation were strictly literal, it would stand thus : he from it comes ; I from it go; go you from it; or, at least, from that and from this (place). Always look well into these literal meanings; for, by doing that, you get at the reason for the thing being thus, or thus; and, mind, it is not really learning to do a thing, unless you get at the reason for doing it. 332. Y. This is a word of the same character, and of nearly as much importance as the last. In the table (which look at very often) Y is exhibited as answering to our to it, to him, to her, to them, in the same sort of way that EN answers to the same pronouns with of or from before them. But Y, like en, does more than the table promises; for, it answers to at it, in it, at, or, in, that place; and, in short, to many other phrases. Y, like en, is confined to neither gender and to neither number. It is made to relate to persons as well as things ; and, like en, it never changes its form. 2SO SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. In short, it performs the same functions as en, or very nearly the same, only the nouns or pronouns which it represents have to, at, in or by before them, instead of of or from. Let us, as before, take a few instances: II apprendra le Francois, parce qu'il s'y applique. Avez-vous mis le miroir dans la salle ? II y est. Ont-ils songe a mon affaire ? Oui ; ils y ont songe. Pensez-vous a ce pauvre homme? Oui; j'y pense. Ils m'ont fait des promesses; mais je ne m'y fie pas. Ils ont fait le travail ; mais ils r\'y gagneront rien. Allez a la campagne. J'^ vais. These may suffice. Let us, as we did before, translate them as literally as possible. 1. He will learn French, because that he himself to it applies. 2. Have you put the looking-glass in the parlour? It in it is. 3. Have they thought of my business? Yes ; they to it have thought. 4. Do you think to this poor man ? Yes ; I to him think. 5. They to me have made promises; but I in them confide not. 0. They have done the work ; but they by it will gain nothing. 7. Go to the country. 1 am thither going. Observe : the French say think to, and not think of, a thing. Now, look at the power of this letter Y. Here we have to it, in it, to him, in them, by it, and thither, all expressed in French by this word Y. And, observe, as EN is, besides its capacities as pronoun, a preposition, answering to our in; so Y is, besides its capacities as pronoun, an adverb, answering to our there, or, rather, t/tither. 333. ON. I have, in the table, represented this word as answering to our one, tliey, we, and people. We shall find, however, that this is not all. But first, pray mind that this has nothing to do with our number ONE. We sometimes say, in English, " one thinks, one " eats, one sleeps," and the like. But this is not, in fact, English. It is a mere imitation of the French ON, INDETERMINATE FRONOUNC. 2$\ "which has no more to do with number ONE than it has to do with nine. The French ON is best answered by our tJiey, or people; as: p e ^j \ say, that we shall have war. On dit que nous aurons la guerre. Sometimes we use we; and sometimes the impersonal; as, it is said that we shall have war. Indeed, we can- not be used in all cases : it cannot in the instance just given. It can never answer to the French ON, except in a very large and un confined sense, meaning all man- kind, or at least a whole people. The ON applies to persons only; but it applies, or by use is made to apply, to both genders and both numbers, and to all the persons, e^en to the first; for it is so convenient a word, that the French often make use of it instead of je. But, the great and regular use of it is, where we use the impersonal, or the participle with the verb to be; as: On croit qu'il viendra, I It is believed that he will come. On lui a dit de venir, j He has been told to come. We do not say, one believes that he will come; one has told him to come. This is not in the character of our language. Indeed, it is shocking nonsense; because, as I said before, ON is no more translated by ONE than it is by NINE. When we, in English, speak in very general terms, we may, and we do, now and then, make use of ONE as an indeterminate pronoun; but, mind, it can be merely for once and away; for if wo attempt to keep it up, we find that we are gabbling a sort of broken English. The ON is, you will observe, always in the nominative case. It is never the object in the sentence. When ON is preceded by a word 282 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. which ends with a vowel, it is written Ion for the sake of better sound ; as, apres cela Von dine : after that they dine. But, if on be repeated in the sentence, it must be written all the way through in the same way that it is at the beginning. I will not here insert any more examples. Several relating to ON will be found in the next Exercise, which will of course relate to the whole of the Indeterminate Pronouns; of which there remains one to be attended to. 334. SE, which sometimes becomes SOL The se is self or selves; and soi is the same word, in fact, but has generally a preposition before it. It has no other changes, and applies to the third persons of both numbers and both genders. But before you go any further, turn back to paragraph 129, where you will find my first mention of this pronoun, SE. You will see the principal use to which it is applied. Indeed, the paragraphs from 129 to 134 inclusive, contain all that is necessary to be said on the subject of SE. I was, as you will see, obliged to treat of it fully there ; because, without making the use of it clearly under- stood, I could not make myself comprehensible with regard to the reflected verbs, of which I was compelled to treat in that place. You will, therefore, now read that part over again with great attention. You will see the part that SE acts in the conjugation of a verb. To this if we add a few instances of the manner of using soi, we may come to our promised Exercise on Indeterminate Pronouns. Soi, when used in a general sense, answers to our themselves, ourselves, or one's-self; as, people, or they, like themselves : in French, on s'aime soi-meme. Again, people like themselves only: on n'aime que soi. The French word soi-disant has EXERCISES ON THE INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 283 almost become English. It is, literally, self-saying, and, properly translated, it is, self-calling, or self- styling. I am now going to insert the Exercise re- lating to all these indeterminate pronouns. Consider well before you translate; and look back continually at your table and your rules. EXERCISE IX, 1. Every body ought to be rewarded for his labour. 2. All men must have food and raiment. 3. Every one goes whither he likes. 4. The judges were seated, every one in his place. 5. Each of them gave his opinion on the subject. 6. Give some food 'to each of the two, but none to the third. 7. Every body knows that, and many say it. 8. Some say that he is going to quit his house. 9. Several have assured me that he is coming. 10. Some people like that way of travelling. 11. Some are better than others. 12. We must not take the goods of others. 13. Other people do not do that. 14. He spends other people's money. 15. They esteemed one another. 16. All is sold, and carried away from the house. 17.. The sheep are all dead. What! all? 18. Whoever goes in that road will tumble. 19. Whoever neglects his business will be ruined. 20. I will maintain that against any body. 21. Give us the whole; every thing whatever. 22. He succeeds in whatever he undertakes. 23. Whatever he may say, he will not escape it. 24. Whatever may be the price, you must give it. 284 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 25. Who is the man that has stolen your money ? 26. I do not know; but whoever he may be, he ought to be punished. 27. The man is caught. We do not know what he is; but whatever he may be, he shall be punished. 28. Some say that she will be very rich ; others say that she will not. 29. However rich she may be ; whatever riches she may have ; 30. Whatever fine houses and gardens they may have ; 31. They do not like one another, I assure you. 32. One or the other will come to-morrow; but neither will come to-day. 33. He has done nothing for me, and he will do nothing for you. 34. Nothing succeeds that they undertake. 35. Nobody believes that. I have told it to nobody. 36. Did any body ever see the like before 1 37. Not one of his people came last night. 38. Not one of the soldiers escaped the enemy. 39. Have you any pears ? Not one, upon my word. 40. Nobody is come with the fruit and the wine. 41. We do not like that others should meddle in our family-affairs. 42. People say that you are going to be married. 43. It is said that there is a great crop of wheat. 44. He has been advised to leave the country. 45. We lead a pleasant life ; we rise early, we walk out, then we breakfast, and then we walk again ; or perhaps we ride. 46. You may translate such phrases as this, and the EXERCISES ON THE INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. 285 last, in either of the two ways; that is to say, with the ON, or with the nous or the vous. 47. Do you know that there are soldiers in the town ? Yes; for I have seen many of them. 48. What noise is that 1 What is the cause of it ? 49. Where are the ladies ? I do not know any thing of them. 50. What have they done with my sword ? I know nothing about it. 51. Are there many vessels in the port? Yes; there are more than a hundred. 52. If she come from the country to-day, she will return to it to-morrow. 53. They are praised very much; but not more than they ought to be. 54. They are very poor, but many of tlieir neigh- bours are not. 55. Is it bread that you are eating ? Yos, it is. 56. There is my glass : put some wine in it. 57. He has bought the estate : he has been aiming at it a long time. 58. She is come home. She will leave it again to- morrow. 59. They care for nobody but themselves. 00. Pride becomes nobody. Covet not the goods of others. 61. Nothing is good enough for him. 62. They will go thither to her. 63. We talked of it then. 64. Give them some of it. 65. Send some of it to them. 66. They have come away quickly. 67. He says and stands to it. 28G SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 335 Thus I close the Letter on the Syntax of Pronouns; and now, before I go to the Syntax of the remaining Parts of Speech, I shall give you a letter on the NEGATIVES and INTERROGATIVES, and another on the IMPERSONALS. But let ine pray you to take great pains about the pronouns before you quit them. They are very important words ; they occur in almost every sentence. They are little words of great meaning ; and if great attention be not paid to their meaning, it is useless to read them, and even to write them. You now begin to know how to write a little French. That is a great thing. If hard pushed, you could write a note to a Frenchman to ask him to lend you a pony. That is something gained, at any rate. You have only to persevere, and you will be able to write a letter in French to a French lady, most humbly beseeching ker to honour you with her hand at a ball 287 LETTER XX. SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND INTERROGATIVE^. MY DEAR RICHARD, 336. Words of all the Parts of Speech come into negative and interrogative phrases. The words which are called negatives, belong principally to that part of speech which are called adverbs. But it is the placing of the words which is chiefly to be attended to in negative and interrogative sentences. 337. Our principal negatives are no and not, the former mostly applying to nouns and pronouns, and the latter to Verbs, as, I have no apples, you do not walk. The French generally use two of these words where we use but one. We say, I possess no land : they say, je ne possede pas de terre; that is, I possess not of land. But, indeed, you cannot translate here word for word. NE and PAS amount in this case to no; and they must be made use of to answer to it. Let us take our verb TROUVER, and conjugate it with the negatives; or, at least (for that will be enough), let us conjugate it as far as relates to the first person of each mode and time. We will put the infinitive also; for, in that case, both the French negatives come before the verb. Not to find, I do not find, I did not find, I shall not find, I may not find, I should not find, I might not find, Not finding, Not found, Ne pas trouver. Je ne trouvepas. Je ne trouvais pas. Je ne trouverai pat. Je ne trouve pas. Je ne trouver ais pas. Je ne trouvasse pas. Ne trouvant pas. Ne pas trouve. 288 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND INTERROGATIVES. In the compound times of the verb, the negative comes before and after the auxiliary ; as : Not to have found, JVe pas avoir trouve". I have not found, Je n'ai pas trouve'. I had not found, Je n'avais pas trouvf. I shall not have found, Je riaurai pas trouve. I may not have found, I should not have found, I might not have found, Not having found, Je n'aie pas trouve. Je n'aurais pas trouve. Je n'eusse pas trouvtf. Wayant pas trouve. Not being found, N'e'tant pas trouve. 338. That is the way that we use the negatives with the verb; and here, as you see, ne and pas together answer to our not. When we, in English, have a noun to use the negative with, and not a verb, we make use of no for our negative; as, I have no wine. The French, however, adhere to their ne and pas; as, je n'ai pas de vin. Sometimes, however, point is used instead of pas. There is only this difference in them, that point always requires de before a noun that follows ; and pas does not always require it. Point means, more decidedly, no, not, or none at all; as : He does not know you (at all), I II ne vous connait point. There is no man (at all), I II ny a point d'homme. But we may say indifferently, je n'ai pas d'argent; je ne possede pas de terre; or, je n'ai point d'argent; je ne possede point de terre. There are a few words that require pas exclusively; but these are of such common use as to prevent all chance of error. 339. The French use NON to answer to our NO, when we put no other words; as, will you go with me ? No. Youlez-vous aller avec moi ? NON. This NON sometimes becomes NON PAS, when the speaker wishes to give a very decided negative. In cases where we should say, no, indeed! the French would, perhaps, NEGATIVES. 283 say, non pas; but the non being sufficient, it may be test to use it only. Our adverbial phrase NOT AT ALL is commonly expressed by pas du tout, or, in familiar speech, by du tout, dropping the pas. When we say, not that, the French do very often make use of non pas; as, I eat brown bread, not that I like it better than white; je mange du pain bis, non pas que je 1'aime mieux que le blanc. 340. When there is a negative word, such as pas un, pcrsonne, aucun, nul, rien^ nullement, guere, jamais, and some few others, the pas or point is not used at all; but ne is ; as : F.Ve na personne pour la consoler, Je n'aijamais etc dans ce pays-lay Vous ne lui dites rien, She has nobody to console her. I have never been in that country. You say not hing to him, or, to her. There are some others which are negatives in them- selves, and, of course, they do not require the double negation. There are two words, a great deal used, that require the double negative always, except when used with dire and voir, to say, and to see. These two words are mot and goutte. The first means word; the last (in this negative sense) not a jot, or a bit, or tJie least. The word mot is (in this sense) understood to mean not a word. They are two very common ex- pressions, and are used thus : Je ne disais mot, i I said not a word. Je ne voyais gofttte, I saw nothing at all. But, with other verbs than dire and voir, these are not looked upon as negative words; and, of course, they tak& the ne and pas, or point. 341. There are some words which require ne after them before tJie next verb, though there appears, at firnt sight, to be nothing of the negative quality in our u 290 SYNTAX OP NEGATIVES AND IXTERROGATIVES. English sentence that answers to any of those in which this NE is found ; as : II craint que sa re'colte ne soit gatde, I Re fears that his crop may be spoiled. A moins qu'il ne soit blessd, | Uuless he should be wounded. But though there may be no negative in the English phrase, there is fear or apprehension expressed that something may, and perhaps hope that something may not happen. If the same verbs do not express a feeling of this sort, then the two negatives are used in the usual manner. 342. Ne is used without pas or point, before the verb that follows plus, moins, mieux, autre, and autrement : also before verbs that are coupled by ni; and also after que and si, signifying until, unless, or but, when these come in a sentence, the former part of which is negative; as, je ne chante ni ne. danse; I neither sing nor dance. Je ne lui ecrirai pas qu'il ne m'envoie mes livres; I will not write to him unless he sends me my books. 343. But there are some cases in which the French use but one negative, though there be no other word of a negative nature in the sentence. These cases are worthy of particular attention; because, to use the two negatives instead of one, is a great and glaring error. I shall, therefore, be very particular in pointing out to you when the second negative is to be omitted. 1. When de follows the verb, and is used in the describing of a space of time ; as : Je ne lui parlerai de ma vie, | I will not speak to him as long as I live. 2. "With the adverb plus (more); as, je ne viendrai plus ; I will come no more. But mind, this is only when our more is used in the sense of again, or in addition; for, when more is used NEGATIVES. 291 in a comparison ; when it is more than some- thing, then the two negatives must be used. Pay attention to the following examples : f I wil ( I wil will see him no more; Je ne le verrai plus, { or, " will not see him again. ( I do not want any more ; Je n'en veux plus, < or, ( I do not want of it in addition to what I have. Je n'en veux persdeplus helle que la votre, I T do not want any finer than ynnrs. 11 ne s'y en trouve pas de plus belle, | There is no finer to be seen tiiere. 3. When in English we use but in a negative sense, or only, or nothing but, the French take que (which is their but, though it is sometimes also their than, their as, their that, their whom, or their which) ; they take their que, and leave out tJleir pas and point : Vous ne posse*dez que deux choses, I You possess but two things. Il n'ont que peu de bien, | They have but little property. Our BUT, besides this, is turned into French sometimes by que with ne coming after it. And again, when the French si and que are used in the sense of unless, the ne is used without the pas or point. 4. II y a is one of the IMPERSONAL verbs. You will see enough about them in the next Letter. This impersonal means sometimes it is; and when it is made use of in the present time of a verb used along with the verb avoir, the nega- tive that follows it must be ne only; as, il y a trois jours que vous w'avez mange; you have not eaten for these three days; or, literally, it is three days that you have not eaten. 5. Ne may be used alone with the verbs oser, savoir, prendre garde, cesser, and pouvoir ; and as these are very important verbs, and are constantly re- i^2 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND INTERROGAT1VES. eurring, you ouglit to pay particular attention to this rule : Us r'osent vons le dire, They dare not tell it yco. 11 r.e pcut le faire, | He cannot do it. It would, however, be perfectly correct to say, Us n'osent pas vous le dire, 11 ne pcut pas le faire; and in these latter phrases the negative is more strongly and emphatically expressed. C. "When we employ why in the asking of a question, and the French do not employ pourquoi, but que, to answer to our why, then the ne is used without pas or point; as : Que n'allez-vous la voir? Why do you not go f:> see her? Que ne parloz-vous ? | Why do you not speak? But mind, if you make use of pourquoi in French, and not of que, you must employ the double negative ; as, pourquoi w'allez^vous pas la voir; pourquoi ne parlcz- voiis pas ? 344. Read these rules over several times before you enter upon the Exercise. I do not suppose that you will carry them all in your head: but some part of some of them you will make fast in your mind at once ; and as you read in books (for now you may begin to read French), these rules will occur to you ; for, twenty times in an hour, perhaps, you will meet with passages to illustrate them. EXERCISE X. 1. They have not been thither these four or five years. 2. I shall not now give you such short sentences to translate as I have given you up to this time 3. You have not been in that country for a long EXERCISE ON NEGATIVES. 293 4. I have not seen tlie man who came here last night. 5. Certainly I will not give you more than ten pounds. 6. You will have been only six years in your office. 7. You have no land and no flocks. 8. That is not a good man. That is not true. Sir. 9. There is no straw and no hay in the loft. 1 0. I have none of those trees that you sold me. 11. I had none of the cattle that he spoke to me of. 12. I have seen none of them for some time. 13. Lend me some money. I cannot; for I have none. 14. Have they been here to-day? No. 15. Not that I dislike the people of that country. 1 6. Not that I cannot go if I like it. 17. Will you go with me? No; I will not. 1 8. She can neither read nor write. 19. He cannot write, neither can he read. 20. We shall not sail to-morrow; and perhaps not next day. 21. Neither master nor man will be here. 22. Neither he nor his wife nor their children have good health. 23. They have but twenty acres of land. 24. We speak to them very rarely. 25. There is only one good man in the company. 26. Why do you not go to see your estate? 27. Why do you live continually in the town? 28. He does nothing but talk and sing. 29. They do not know what to do. SO. Bid I not tell you that you could not come int 31. Have you brought me a bag of gold? No, indeed ! 32. It is not that I dislike the dinner; but I do not like the manner of cooking it. S3. He does not cease to talk and make a noise. 204 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND IXTERROGATIVES. 34. They dare not do what they threaten to do. 35. They cannot come to-morrow, I am very sure. 36. You neither eat nor drink with us; and why not, my friends? 37. Why will you not sit down and dine with us? 38. No ; I am much obliged to you ; I cannot stop now. 39. Well, then, come to-morrow. I cannot, indeed. 40. They have only bread and water to eat and drink. 41. Man is not to live on bread alone. 42. I doubt not but he will pay you what he owes you. 43. I cannot write if I have not a candle. 44. I shall not write to her unless she write to me first* 45. Take care that you be not deceived. 46. There is more wine than is wanted. 47. He said more than was necessary. 48. Iwillhinder them from doing mischief in the country. 49. I do not deny that I said that he was a bad man. 50. She is older than people think. 51. She is less rich than was thought. 52. He is quite different from what I expected. 53. They are better off than you thought. 54. I am afraid that he will come too soon. 55. I am afraid that he will not come soon enough. 56. She apprehends that there will be a quarrel. 57. They are afraid that their mother is ill. 58. They are afraid that the army will come. 59. They are afraid that the army will not comei 60. Not to talk too much of the matter. 61. It is good not to go too fast. 62. Do you think that this is too long? Not at all. 63. Not to do according to your word is very bad. 64. Is not this a very cold summer? 65. Not colder than the last, though cold enough. INTERROGATIVES. 205 345. We now come to the INTERROGATIVES. When you consider how large a part of all speaking and writing consists of QUESTIONS, you will want nothing said by me to convince you of the importance of this part of your study. Let us take the verb TROUVER again here, and conjugate it in the interrogative form, as we did in the negative form; for, you will observe, that there must be a verb belonging to every negative and every question. I shall conjugate only a part of the verb ; because it would be waste of room to put the whole conjugation. Present Time, Singular. r-<^vp;/ Plural - (trouvenl-ilsf ( frouvais-je f < trouvais-tuf Singular. \ trouvait _ u? r> B . m. a Pas Time, IluraL (trouvions-nous? \ trouviez . vous? trouvaient-ib? do I find ? dost thou find? does he find V do we find? do you find ? do they find? did I find? didst thou find? did he find ? did we find ? did you find ? did they find ? That is enough. You see (and, indeed, you saw it long ago,) the French have no do and did, and will and sltaU, and the like. They ask the question by the verb itself. They say, find I? find we? find they? and so on. Nothing can be plainer than this. But before I proceed to show how questions are put if there be a noun instead of a pronoun, let me explain a little matter that may appear odd to you. You see all these French verbs connected with the pronouns by hyphens. This is a general rule : you see it in all cases. But iu ^DG SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND LSTERROGATIVES. the first question of all, you see an accent over the e in trouve. This is to soften the sound; and the accent is used with the verb only in this particular case. See paragraph 191, for a full explanation of this; and sec the close of that paragraph for the reason why there are a t and two hyphens placed after trouve in the third question above. 346. Well, then, the above is the manner in which the French put questions with the pronoun. Let us now see how they put questions where there is a noun ; where they are asking something about a third party, and making use of the noun and not the pronoun. They begin by naming the party ; as : Richard est-il venu f Pierre est-il malade f Mes soeurs sont-elles arrirces? Vos clievaux courent-ils f Is Richard come? Is Peter sick ? Are my sisters arrived? Do your horses run ? 347. But there is another manner of asking questions in French; and, indeed, it is the manner most in use. The question, let the persons or things be of what number or of what gender they may, begins with these words, EST-CE QUE. I put them in large letters; for you must become exceedingly well acquainted with them, they being everlastingly upon a French tongue : Est-ce que votts avez dine? Est-ce qrfelle s'en vaf Est-ce qu'il se porte lien f Est-ce qiiil fait fr old f Est-ce que nous avons de Tarrjentf Est-ce que Richard tst venu f Have you dined ? Is she going away ? Is he well ? Is it cold ? Have we any money ? Is Richard come? E*t-ce que Jean et Pierre sont malades f j Are John and Peter sick ? What, then, is this Est-ce que ? Word for word it is, is this tfiat? or, is it that? And the first of these questions is, in fact, this: Is it that you have dined? IKTEKROGATIVES. 297 The French make use of ce, and not of il, as was observed in paragraph 321 (which I beg you to look at directly). They make use of this and not of it; but with this exception, there is nothing at all strange in the question, "Is it that you have dined?" We fre- quently, in English, make use of expressions like this : "Is it that you disbelieve me that you do not attend to me?" "Is it that, I am beneath your notice; or, is it that you cannot see your danger in neglecting my advice?" We do not, in English, make use of this manner, except in serious discourse and writing; but the French make use of it in their familiar discourse. It rids them of all the stiffness and awkwardness that their questions would otherwise have. Trouve-je? and Trouve-t-il -fbr instance, become Est-ce que je trouve? and Est-ce qu'il trouve? and all is smooth and har- monious. 348. But let me beg of you to pay great attention to this Est-ce; for it is surprising how great are the functions that it performs. Sometimes it has the que after it, and sometimes before it : Est-ce, qtfdle est ricfie ? N'tst-ce pas quelle est riche ? Qu'est-ce que cest ? QjLest-ce que c'est que Jean (lit ? Is she rich? Is she not rich ? What is it? What does John say? Literally, it is, what (or ivhich) is this that this is that John says ? Never think it wild or foolish ; it is all right enough, and that you will find in a short time. Do not waste your time in finding fault with the French language ; learn it as quickly as you can. Quest-ce que c'est que cela f \ What is that? There are various other ways of turning such phrases, some more, some less frequent or elegant; as: 208 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND INTERROGATIVES. E*t-c.e qu'elle n'est pas riche ? N'est-ellepos riche? F.st-elle riche. ? Quest-ce que Jean dit ? Que dit Jean f Qn'esl-ce que cela ? Qv'est-ce ? Is she not rich ? Is not she rich? Is she rich ? What does John say ? What says John ? * What is that ? What is it ? [NOTE. There are some who tell us that the phrase Quest-ce que cest que is merely vulgar, or at least old- fashioned, and that the use of it should not be taught : also that Qu'est-ce que, and even Est-ce que, as we see them in the foregoing examples, should rather be avoided, as cumbersome. They are, however, very common expressions in practice; although Que dit-il? What does he say ? may be much better than Qu'est-ce que cest qu'U dit ? or even than Quest-ce qu'il dit ? Qu'est-ce que vous voulez ? } or > What do you want, or wish ? Que voulez-vous? ) Qu'esl-ce que vous ditea ? "I or V What do you say ? Que dites-vous? ) Qu'est-ce que vous demandez ? "i or j- What do you ask for? Que demandez vous ? ) Est-ce-que son pere est au logis ? \ or > Is his father at home ? Son pere est il au logis ? ) Est-ce que sa soeur est a 1'ecole ? ) or ' Is his sister at school ? Sa soeur est elle k 1'ecole ? ) The latter form, in each of these, is said to be the one preferable.] 349. I will now give you an Exercise with a great variety of questions; and before I close it, I will in- troduce negatives as well as interrogatives, and both in abundance. Go through this Exercise with great care ; EXERCISE ON IXTEREOGATiVES. 299 and if you make a tolerably correct translation of it, you may truly say that you know something of the French language. EXERCISE XL 1. Are you talking to the gentlemen about the house 1 2. Did the army march this morning 1 3. Will the carpenter come to-morrow ? 4. Why will he not come directly '? 5. Was the house on fire when you were in town 1 6. Does not Richard come to-night 1 7. Did he strike you 1 8. Did they take away your coach and horses ? 9. Did you think of that 1 10. Is that your book ? Yes, it is. 11. Is that your brother.? Yes, it is. 1 2. Do you talk of her very often 1 13. Does he go in search of the merchandise that ho has lost ? 14. Will they pay us what they owe us 1 15. Will they have paid us when they have paid ten pounds more 1 16. Would they have thought of it ? 17. Has he any of it left? 18. Do you give it to me ? 19. Did she tell it to him 1 20. Did he not tell it to her ? 21. Will they speak of it to you ? 22. I get up in the morning ? 23. I do not get up. 24. Do I get up? 25. Do I not get up ? 26. Does he not get up early ? 300 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND I5TEHEOGATITES. 27. Have you not told it to me ? 28. Had she told it to him ? 29. Will they have paid it to us ? 30. Would he have spoken of it to you ? 31. Did you seek for your money in his box I 32. Did you find some of it there 1 33. Will they not strike and hurt you ? 34. Does he not speak of it to them ? 35. Would he not have done you great injury I 36. Do you not give it to me ? -7. Do you not apply yourself to the French 1. 38. Did she not tell it to him ? 39. Will they not give it to us ? 40. Will he not speak of it to you 1 41. Have you not told it to me ? 42. Had she not told it to him 1 43. Does corn grow well in that land ? 44. Are not the trees very fine in the woods of America ? 40. No: they are not very fine in all parts of the country. 46. But the plains are very large, are they not ? 47. Would he not have spoken of it to you ? 48. Would not Thomas come, if you were to send for him ? 49. Are the pheasants and hares all destroyed ? 50. No : but a great many of them have been caught. 51. I do not tell you not to go thither. 52. I did not tell you not to speak of it. 53. Not to talk too much of one's-self. 54. I have told him not to pay more than twenty pounds. 55. Is he not a captain, or a colonel ? EXERCISE ON INTEIUJOGATIVEd. 301 56. Will the fleet go to Jamaica ? 57. Do you not think that it will be fine ? 58. You have great estates, not to mention your reacly- money. 59. "Will John not be there sooner than will be neces- sary ? GO. I do not think that he will. 61. Do you see nothing at all in it ? 62. Has he not said a word to you about the matter ? 03. Do you not fear that the money will come too late ? 64. Did they see nobody going that way ? Co. Have the labourers but little to eat and drink ? 66. Is not that the poorest man who has the least to eat and to wear ? 67. They willsiever forgive him unless he ask pardon of them. 68. Is not mine a very pretty room ? Is not this Exercise a very long one ? It is very long, but, I hope, not more long than usefuL 302 LETTER XXL SYNTAX OF IMPERSONALS. MY DEAR KlCHARD, 350. You must now go back to paragraph 136. There I have explained the nature of the Impersonals. You must read from that paragraph to 141 very at- tentively. Pray observe, that what I am now going to say you will be able to understand but very im- perfectly, unless you first go back and read very attentively the paragraphs just mentioned. 351. There are, then, four principal IMPERSONALS; that is to say, IL Y A, IL EST or C'EST, IL FAUT, and IL FAIT. Let us take them one by one. 352. IL Y A answers to our there is, or there are; and some; as: if y a un faucon sur Varbrr. ii y a ries oiseaux dans le nid. il y a det hommes qui aiment cela. There is a hawk on the tree, There are birds in the nest, Some men like that, Some of them did not like it, il y en avail qui ne Vaimaient pus. There will be ten bushels of wheat, ' tV y aura dix boitseaux de bte. This impersonal changes its form to express time and mode; but not for any other purpose. You see, in the above examples, the present il y a, the past il y avait, and the future il y aura. 353. We, in speaking of distances from place to place, make use of it is; as, it is twenty-six miles from London to "Windsor. The French, in such cases, make use of il y a, and say, il y a vingt-six milles de Londres a Windsor; which is, mind, literally speak- ing, it there has twenty-six miles from London to IL Y A. 303 Windsor. And this is just as reasonable as to say it is; for one might ask, what is ? What do you mean by this it ? 354. The same rule applies to our it is, when em- ployed to designate a space of time; as, it is four months since I came hither; il y a quatre mois que je suis ici. When we speak of something that happened some time ago, the French answer our phrase by il y a and the present time of the verb ; as : That tree was planted fifty years ago, 1 11 y a cinquante ans que cet arbre est I plant^. 355. In questions where we begin with how long, or how far, and then proceed with our is it; in these cases the French begin with combien; that is, Iww much or how-many. You know that Jww is comment, and that far is loin; but you must not, when you go to France, and are on the road from Calais to Paris, and want to know hoio far you have to go to get to St. Omers ; you must not, in this case, say to the person to whom you address yourself, comment loin (how far), but combien (how much, or how many). Thus it is, too, with regard to space of time, and with regard to numbers. And mind, when a question is asked, the order of the words of the impersonal is reversed. It is y a-t-il, and not il y a. You see that the t and the double hyphen are used here. You have seen the reason for this at the close of paragraph 345 ; at which, however, you may now take another look. Take now a few examples : How many cities are there in France? How much sand it there in the cart ? Ilnwfar is it from this to St. Omers? Uy a verb coming next after the impersonal, or when the word thing is, under any circumstances, expressed in the sentence, cest, and not U est, is to be used. But, if there be an adjective so coming directly after the impersonal, and if the word thing be not mentioned in the sentence, il est is used. [NOTE. One cannot in a few words fully explain when to use the one and when the other, U est or c'est. But, in the first place, it may be said that il est, used IL EST OR CEST. 305 impersonally, applies only to things or circumstances, as distinguished from persons, while c'est applies to all things, persons included. Thus the French say, c'est 1'homme qui, it is the man who ; Jest 1'arbre qui, it is the tree which; Jest moi, toi, lui, elle, nous qui, it is I, thou, he, she, we who. But il est, in accordance with the rule stated in the foregoing paragraph, applies only in such cases as the following, where the use of il and that of ce will be seen contrasted : // est impossible de connaitre tout le monde, C'est une chose impossible, Oui, ce serait impossible, // etait defendu d'en parler, C'etait son fr&re qui m'en a parlc, // est a croire que cela arrivera, C'est dcj& de fait, 11 est fucheux de devoir vous quitter, C'est facheux, mais cest votre faute, // est agreable d'entendre chanter les oiseaux, Xon seulement agr^able ; cest delicieux, It is impossible to know every- body. It is a thing impossible. Yes, it would be impossible. It was forbidden to speak of it. It was his brother who spoke to me of it. It is to be believed that that will happen. It is already the fact. It is unfortunate to have to leave you. It is unfortunate, but it is your fault. It is agreeable to hear the birds sing. Not only agreeable ; it is delight- ful. What is here expressed by il may be considered as something merely supposed, or in contemplation, because the U is connected in meaning with nothing but the phrases, de connaitre tout le monde, d'en parler, que cela arrivera, and so on. But the ce (this, that, or it), which is a demonstrative pronoun, points to the dif- ferent persons or things as having actual existence, so far at least as this, that they stand identified by a noun or pronoun, or are recognized subjects of previous 306 SYNTAX OF IMPEKSOXALS. remark. One thing helping to explain the difference is, that where the ce is used we might, instead, often use the word cda: oui, cela est impossible; cda est deja de fait; cela est delicieux.] 358. This impersonal is sometimes used instead of il y a; but in this case U est is used; and not Jest : as, il est des gens qui ne sont jamais contens; there are people who are never contented. "We may say, also, U y a des gens qui ne sont jaraais contens. But mind, you cannot always use il est for il y a. It is only when the noun referred to is a plural, and of a general and indefinite character, like gens. [Grammarians differ as to the use of il est in place of il y a. CHAMBAUD calls it an elegance to write, II est des amities veYitables, there are true friendships (instead of il y a). Some con- demn this altogether, except with a negative, as: il riest rien qui me plaise da vantage, there is nothing that pleases me more; il riest rien tel que d'avoir du bonheur, there is nothing like having good fortune.] And mind, you cannot employ Jest to supply the place of il y a. 359. II est, and not Jest, is used in speaking of por- tions of time as counted by the clock, or as relating to the different times of the day. The French do not say it is twelve o'clock (which is a very odd phrase), but, it is twelve hours. They say, it is one Jwur, it is two hours, and so on. Now, in saying this, they do not use Jest, but il est; thus, U est une Jieure, il est deux heures. But, in answer to questions relating to time, Jest may be used. When we ask what it is o'clock, they say, quelle heure est-il? and not quelle heure est-ce ? 360. I noticed in the rules on the articles, that we jsay, he is a captain, she is a mantua-maker, and so on; IL FAUT. 307 and that the French say, he is captain, she is mantua- niaker, without the article. In these cases they use the personal pronoun il and elle; but if the French use the article, they use c'est. 361. In all other cases cest may be, and indeed ought to be, used. This impersonal may be used in the plural of the verb of the third person. It may, indeed, be also used in the singular of that person; but, it is used in the plural also ; as : (Test les loups qui ont tue les moutons. Ce sont les loups qui ont tue les moutons. But in interrogations the impersonal adheres, in all cases, to -the third person singular of the verb to be; as : Est-ce les loups qui ont tue les moutons ? Eft-csJs lpup,qu'on a attrape? 362. IL FAUT comes next. This impersonal, like most other good and useful things, is to be rendered available to us only by great labour and attention. I explained the source and the nature of it in paragraph 1 39. I am now about to explain to you the manner of using it. But I must beg you to read that para- graph very attentively. If I did not suppose that you would do this, I should repeat the whole of it again here; for that which I am ow going to say is nothing, that is, it will be of no use, unless you first read that paragraph with great care. 363. You see, then, that no two things can be more unlike than the two languages are in this respect. The il faut consists of the pronoun that answers to our it, and of a part of the verb to be necessary; and, taken together, they answer to our must, but in some cases to a great deal more than our must. For instance, faut-il aller chez-lui? Is it necessary to go to his 308 SYNTAX OF IMPERSONALS. house ? Then, our must, cannot be translated literally into French. / must, we must, and the like, cannot bo expressed in French at all, if they stand thus without other words. / must go. To answer to this, the French say, il faut que faille; that is, it is necessary tJiat I gOj or, / am obliged to go, or, there is compulsion for my going. 364. And mind, this il faut applies to all persons and all things : to me, to you, to him, to her, to it, and, in short, to all nouns and pronouns. It states that there is necessity, or obligation : then comes the noun or pronoun representing the party obliged; then comes the statement of what the necessity or obligation is to produce; as: II faut que je. fosse, II faut que voia fassiez, II faut quil fosse, II faut quilsf assent, II faut que nous fassions, I must make, you must make, he must make, they must make, we must make. There is, in these cases, always a que, you see, coming after the il faut; and you have seen the reason of this before. The French words, being literally translated, mean : it is necessary tliat I make, and so on ; and que, in this case, means that. 365. But it is not thus in all cases; for there is no que when il faut is followed by the infinitive of the verb; as, il faut oiler; it is necessary to go. Mind, the infinitive is often used thus in French to answer to English phrases in which the verb is not in the infini- tive; as: /"one must do one's duty. llfautfaire son devoir, < we must do our duty. ( they must do their duty. And, in many cases, the phrase may take this turn ia English : one's duty must be clone. IL FAUT. 309 366. Where we, in English, express a want of some- thing the French sometimes make use of the verb avoir, followed by besoin (want) and de; as, I want a stick, j'ai besoin d'un baton. This French phrase literally is, / have want of a stick. And this is an expression in great use. J'az besoin rf'or, Vous aviez besoin eTune chaise, Us auront besoin d'une brouette, I want some gold. you wanted a chair. they will want a wheelbarrow. Now mind, il faut is, in many cases, made use of in- stead of avoir besoin de. But then the phrase must take a different form, and the pronoun must be in the objective case; as: II me faut de 1'or, 11 vous fallait une chaise, II leur faudra tme brouette, I want some gold. you wanted a chair. they will want a wheelbarrow. Pay great attention to this turn of the phrase ; for it is in these seemingly little matters that much of the most useful part of your study lies. 367. Sometimes we express want by the use of the passive verb; that is to say, by the passive participle of to want and the verb to be ; as, men are wanted to make an army. Here il faut is the expression; as, il faut des hommes pour faire une arm6e. Pour faire la guerre il faut de 1'argent, | To make war there must be money. 368. When we speak of the manner of doing a thing, or of the manner of being, or of the manner of conducting one's-self, and employ, in phrases of this description, ought or should; as, you do not know what you ought; in these cases the French employ ilfaut; as : You work as you ought, They do not write as they should, They do what they ought, I have what I ought to have, vous travaillez comme ilfaut. ils n'e'crivent pas comme ilfaut. Us font ce qu ilfaut. fai ce qrfil me faut* 310 SYNTAX OF IMPERSOXALS. Comme il faut means, also, as it is necessary to be, as it is proper to be, and hence conie the expressions, des geiis comme il faut, une femme comme il faut, and so on ; which mean, respectable people, a respectable woman; or, literally, people as they ought to be, a woman as she ought to be. 369. IL FAIT is the last of these impersonal verbs. Literally it means, it makes. This is an expression so different in its nature from that by which we effect the same purposes, that it is necessary to notice it; though this impersonal is not of very extensive use. It is nearly confined to phrases relating to the weather, or the state of the air and sky, or that of the ground as affected by the elements. We say, for instance, it is fine weather; the French say, il fait beau temps; that is, it makes fine weather; for temps is weather as well as time. Thus, they say : Ilfaitfroid, II fait chaud, 1 1 fait jour, II fail sombre, it is cold, it is hot. it is light, it is dark. II fait is used in some other cases, when the English it is relates to one's being well or ill off with respect to circumstances of place ; but this is rather a liberty than otherwise. As to rain, there is the verb and the noun, pleuvoir and pluie; and it is the same with hail and snow. However, the French frequently say, tomber (to fall) de la pluie, de la grele, de la neige : and they even put il fait before these nouns, as well as before the adjectives jour and nuit, light and dark, not day and night. 370. Now, before I give you the exercise on these IMPERSONAL Verbs, I ought to observe, that every EXERCISES ON IMPERSONAL VERES. 311 phrase may be called an Impersonal, if it be the nomi- native, and if there be no noun to which the it relates ; as, it suits well to ride on horseback. Here is no noun that the it refers to; or, at least, there is no noun that you can name. The verb VALOIR (to be worth) is one of those which is often used in the impersonal form, and it is in great use. Employed in this way, it answers to our is better, was better, is not so good, and the like ; as : It is better, It was better, It will be better, It is not so good as, It was not BO good a~s, It will not be so good as, il vaut mieux. il valait mieux. il vaudra mieux. il ne vaut pas tant que. il ne, valait pas tant que. il ne vaudra pas tant que. This is, then, a word of great consequence. The French, you see, say, it is worth better, and not, it is better. And we sometimes say, in English, that one thing is better worth a pound than another is worth a penny. You know this verb well ; you have it fully conjugated at paragraph 237; and you have it in, your table of irregular verbs on your card. From this verb comes the appellation of VAURIEN, which means a good-for-nothing person. This verb, used as imper- sonal, answers also to our worth while, the French using peine instead of while; thus, it is not worth while, il ne vaut pas la peine ; that is, it is not worth the trouble or labour. EXERCISE XII. 1. It is fine weather in that country almost all the year. 2. Last autumn it was very bad weather in America. 3. In that country it rains almost continually. 4. They say that at Lima it never rains at all, 312 SYNTAX OP IMPERSOXALS. 6. There are seven acres of land, and six very fine 6. There is a great quantity of mud at the bottom of the pond. 7. There is a great variety of peaches. 8. There are many of them in that garden. 9. There are wood-buds and fruit-buds. 10. There was a terrible out-cry in the town. 11. If it be stone-fruit trees that you have to prune. 1 2. There are many of them there. 1 3. You must examine, and be sure whether there be a good wood-bud. 1 4. See that there is no corner lost, and no plat that remains un cropped. 1 5. You must not let any of them come in. 1G. We want fine weather for the harvest. 17. I want friends to assist me in so great an enterprise. 18. To get good corn and meat there must be good land. 19. Plenty of manure and good tillage are necessary to produce good hops. 20. There were twenty; the whole of the twenty were wanted, but they left us only seven. 21. This is an act that we must never forget. 22. It was his servant who told it them. 23. There were sixty houses knocked down by the cannon-ball. 24. It is better to remain as you are for a few months. 25. It is a great deal better to be poor and healthy than rich and unhealthy. 26. It is very bad to travel when you are not well. 27. It is very painful to be obliged to leave you in your present state. EXERCISE ON IMPERSONAL VERBS. 313 28. He is an honest man. He is a knave. 29. He is honest. lie is knavish. She is good and wise. 30. It was your father who gave you that diamond. 31. Was it they who did so much mischief in the village? 32. It was they who cut down the trees and set fire to the houses. 33. No : it was she that ordered it to be done. 34. I do not know that it was she who gave the order. 35. My uncle has been dead these forty years. 36. I have lived here for more than twenty years. 37. It is seventeen miles from this place to that. 38. How far is it from this to the top of the mountain 1 39. How long will it be before you come back? 40. How many oxen are in the park? 41. And how many of them are there in the stable? 42. People must have children to be able to feel for parents. 43. Has there not been a very long debate to-night? 44. Has there ever been a longer one ? 45. There is only that which is not useful. 46. Are there any vineyards in this country? 47. No : there are not any that I know of. What ! are there none ? 48. It is the finest land that ever was seen; but the climate is bad. 49. It is about four miles, and I suppose that we can get to it about nine o'clock. 50. Will it be dark before we can get to it ? No : for it is light now till past nine. 51. It is very dirty since the last rain ; and it seems as if it would rain again before to-morrow night. 314 SYNTAX OF IMPERSONATE. 52. It has been a very fine day to-day. 53. Do you believe that? Is there any one that believes it ? Is there any one of them who does not de- spise the man who says it'? I must not dismiss this subject without a remark or two upon the nature of the 'Impersonals. In my English Grammar, I contended that DR. LOWTH, MR. LINDLEY MURRAY, and others, were in error in sup- posing that plural nouns and pronouns ought never to be placed after our IT, used as an impersonal. I gave an instance in this phrase : "!T is the dews and showers " which make the grass grow." I contended that it was proper, because the verb is did not relate to dews and sf lowers; but to IT, which it meant, if well looked into, a state of things. Now, it is the same in French ; for we^say, "C'EST les loups qui tuent les moutons." I, in my Grammar, paragraph 60, contended, that though there was no visible noun to which the it related, yet that there would be found to be a noun understood, if the matter were well looked into. I took as an in- stance, " it will rain ;" and I said that the full meaning was this: "A STATE OF THINGS called rain WILL BE." In consulting the work of MONSIEUR RESTAUT, I find him agreeing with me as to this matter. He takes the instance of "U pleut" and he says, that the full mean- ing is, "QUELQUE CHOSE qui est la pluie EST." The utility of this explanation is great : for it gives you the reason for using nouns and pronouns in the plural after it is, it was, it will be, and so forth ; and to do a thing well with a reason is a great deal better than to do it well without a reason. "We say, in English, IT is THEY who write. BISHOP LOWTH says that this is not correct. OTHER EXAMPLES. 315 No? What will he put, then 1 ? The French, however, settle the question for us; for they say, C'EST EUX qui ecrivent; C'EST LES LOUPS qui tuent les moutons. [In practice, the French here use the verb either in the singular or in the plural, with the plural noun or pro- noun, as already shown in the example in paragraph 361 : Jest (or ce sont) eux; c'est (or ce sont) les loups.] [NOTE. There are several verbs, besides those here particularly mentioned, which are constantly used as impersonals. These are referred to in paragraph 370, The most important of them are the following^ AGIR DE, AKKIVER, CONVENIR, IMPORTER, PARAixRE, SEMBLER, SUFFIRE, to have to do with, or affect. to happen, or come to pass. to become, or be fitting. to matter, or be of consequence. to appear. to seem. to suffice, or be enough. These, like the verb etre, are used with U in the third person ; as : il s'agit de la vie, it is a question of life ; il arrive quelque ibis, it sometimes happens ; il me con- vient, it is fit, or proper for me; and so on.] 31G LETTER XXII. SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. MY DEAR RICHARD, 371. I went, in the Etymology, very fully into the subject of adjectives. You will now read what I there said. You will find it between paragraphs 101 and 111, both inclusive; and you must read those ten over now with great care; because, if you do not, you cannot well understand the matter now about to be addressed to you. In those paragraphs I very fully described the nature and properties and offices of this part of speech ; I described its changes for the purpose of ex- pressing gender and number and comparison; I gave the rules for the making of these changes ; and I told you that you would learn from the Syntax how to place adjectives in sentences, which, as I then told you, is a matter of some importance. However, there are other things to attend to now besides the proper placing of the adjectives. 372. You have seen that adjectives change their form to express gender and number. That is all, how- ever; for they have no change to express person, time, case, or mode. Therefore, this is not a part of speech so full of difficulties as the pronoun and the verb. There are two things to attend to in using the adjec- tive; first, to see that it agrees in number and gender with the noun to which it relates; and, next, to see that it be put in its proper vlace. As to the agreement, enough was said in the Etymology, except with regard GENDER AND NUMBER. 317 to one or two particular cases, which I am now about to notice. The adjective is put in the plural, though it relate to a singular noun, when that noun is a noun of multitude and followed by a plural noun in the possessive case ; as : La plupart des dames furent I The greater part of the ladies malheureuses, \ were unJiappy. and not La plupart des dames fid mat- I The greater part of the ladies heureuse, was unhappy. If plupart had not been followed by des dames (the noun in the possessive case), the adjective must have been in the singular : La plupart fut malheurcuse. and not x - La plupart furent malheureuses. Another of the exceptions alluded to above, is this: adjectives are put in the plural when they relate to more than one singular noun. To be sure; for two or more singulars make a plural; as, Richard et Thomas sont malades, and not malade. This is the general rule; but when there are two singular nouns to which the adjective relates, and when these nouns have the same, or nearly the same, meaning, writers sometimes put the adjective in the singular. I merely mention this because it is a liberty that writers take ; but I do not recommend you to take it. You may say : Un gout et un discernement ex- j An excellent taste and discern- cellent, nient. But it is better to say, . Un gout et un discernement excellens. As to agreement in gender, you must observe, that, if 318 SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. there be more than one noun to which, the adjective relates, and if they be of different genders, the adjective must be put in the masculine; as : La vache et le boeuf sont Ions I The cow and the ox are good. (not bonnes), But, if there be two or- more nouns, one or more of which is a feminine, and if in such a case a feminine noun come immediately before the adjective, the ad- jective is, or at least may be, put in the feminine; as: Le breuf et la vache blanche I The white ox and cow. (not blancs\ And, observe, the adjective is put in the singular, too, in this case, though there are two nouns going before it. However, as it certainly would not be incorrect to say, le boeuf et la vache blancs, I should employ that phrase instead of the other. These exceptions, though worthy of notice, are but mere trifles. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of every thousand, the adjective must agree in number and gender with the noun or nouns to which it obviously relates. 373. Care must, therefore, be taken to put the adjective in its proper place. You have, as you have already been taught, first to take care that your adjective agree in gender and number with its noun. The next thing is the proper place for the adjective. You are speaking of a cow, for instance. You want to say, in French, that she is brown. You know that the singular number of the adjective is without an s; you know also, that the feminine of this adjective is brune, there being an e added *to brun. But, you do not know where to put this adjective. You do not know whether it be to come before or after, the noun PROPER PLACE OF ADJECTIVES. 319 vache. Observe, then, that adjectives which express colours are put after the noun ; as, vache brune. Also those that express nationality;, as, du drap A nglais.. Also those that express shape; as, cl^apeau rond. Also those that express the qualities, or condition of the elements, or that relate to any natural productions; as, de 1'eau/roiWe. Also those which- end in ie, ique, and if; as, un verbe passif. Also those ending in able; as, un e*tat miserable. [Though some of these may either follow or precede; as, une personne euimable, or une aim- able personne.] Also^ose ending in esque, He, ule; as, une pidce burlesque. Also the participles when they are used as ad- jectives; as, un homme respecte. [Or when they are derived' from the. verb; as, n ouvrage divertissant.~\ 374. Adjectives put before, the noun are all .those of number; as, tmeporte, six carosses; le premier bourg, le second village. The- Royal style, indeed, makes Henry the Fourth, Louis the Eighteenth, and so on. [It should be noticed that in speaking of Sovereigns, the French use the Cardinal number, and not the Ordinal, saying, Henri Quatre, and not Quatrieme; Louis Dix-huit, and not Dix-huitieme. So with the days of the month : it must be le trois de Mars, le quatre de Juin ; and not le troisieme, le quatrieme : except with the first day, with which the ordinal number, le premier, must be used, 320 SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. and the second day, which may be called either le deux or le second. ] Also pronouns when they act the part of ad- jectives; as, chaque prune. Also the following ones of very common use: beau, bon, brave, cJier, chetif, grand, gros, jeune, joli, mauvais, mechant, meilleur, moindre, petit, saint, vieux, vrai. 375. When there are two adjectives used with the same noun, you may sometimes put them before the noun ; but you cannot do wrong in putting them after it. If there be more than two adjectives, they must follow the noun. There are some exceptions to these rules; but these are of no importance. If you attend well to the above, you will in a short time place your adjectives properly. 376. So much for the placing of the adjectives. We have three more things to attend to relating to this part of speech. The first of these is, that there are certain adjectives which, in French, require the pre- position de before the next noun, pronoun, or infinitive verb; as, capable de tout; capable aTaller. Then there are other adjectives which require the preposition a before the next noun, pronoun, or infinitive ; as, sem- blable a Tor. These adjectives are, however, too many in number to be inserted in a rule. If, at any time, you have a doubt about the matter, the Dictionary will put you right ; for it has the a, or the de, placed after those adjectives that require these prepositions after them. [See paragraph 431, and the Note at the end of paragraph 454.] 377. The next thing is, that adjectives of dimension EXERCISES. 321 come before the words which express the measure, and not after those words, as ours do; as : Une riviere large de trois cents pas, I a river three hundred paces broad. Une tour haute de soixante pieds, j a tower sixty feet high. The French, however, have other modes of expressing dimensions. They put the noun instead of the adjec- tive ; une riviere qui a trois cents pas de largeur. Thus they make use of longueur and of hauteur, leaving out the adjective altogether. However, this is no very important matter : one exercise of a dozen sentences is quite enough to prevent you from ever making a mis- take in the use of these words of dimension. 378. Lastly comes COMPARISON; but that has been so fully explained before, in the paragraphs from 101 to 111, and again more recently in the use of que and mains and ^plus with the negatives, that it would be, I hope, a waste of time to say anything more upon the subject of comparison, EXEECISE XIII. 1. The tower is four hundred and forty feet high. 2. Your room is twenty feet long and ten wide. 3. A square field and a high gate. 4. A saucy, lazy, and foolish man. 5. A young and fine ox, and a pretty little dog. 6. He is a great deal older than she is. 7. You are not so tall as he by a great deal. 8. They have more than six thousand acres of land. 9. This is a very bad hat; the worst I ever had in my life. 10. This is a better day than yesterday : but this is cold and miserable enough. 11. This is the worst road I ever saw. Y 322 SYNTAX OP ADJECTIVES. 1 2. That is the greatest rogue that exists. 13. Have you many bottles of wine in your cellar? 14. Give him a little wine and a few grapes. 15. I have not much oil, but I have a great many olives. 1 6. Has he not many horses and a great deal of hay ? 17. Give me a few nuts, and bring a little of that sugar. 18. He is equally zealous in a good and in a bad cause. 19. Sixty thousand pounds for an estate and household goods. 20. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. 21. London, fourth of June, one thousand eight hun- dred and twenty-four; 22. George the Fourth and Charles the Tenth reign at this time. 23. I like an open enemy, better than a secret one. 24. You are unworthy of honour and distinction. 25. He was overjoyed at seeing her arrive. 26. They are perfectly free from blame on that account. 27. He is fit for any sort of business. 28. They are given to all sorts of mischief. 29. "We are subject to .a legal process for your neglect. 30. He is a man very much esteemed in that country. 31. She is a French woman, he is an Englishman, she is an American woman, 32. A French hat, an English coatj an- American shoe. 33. A black hat, a blue coat, white shoes. 34. White as snow, black as the chimney, heavy as lead. 35. You are taller than he by two inches. 36. I do not think that he is so tall as she. 37. They are the most wicked of all mankind. 38. It is the most unjust and most abominable of acts. ADJECTIVES WHICH CHANGE THEIR MEANING. 323 It should be noticed that there are some adjectives which have one sense when placed before the noun, and another sense when placed after it ; as, un homme honnete, means a civil or well-behaved man; but un honnete homme, means an honest man. Un grand homme, means a man of great merit; but un homme grand, means a man of a great size. Une femme sage, means a sensible and modest woman; but une sage femme, means a midwife. However, there are very few adjectives that vary their meaning thus, and you will find little difficulty in the use of them. It is, never- theless, a matter not to be disregarded. I know of no adjectives that thus change their meaning, except ban, commun, mauvais, brave, certain, cruel, furieux, galant, gentil, grancf^gros, honnete, pauvre, plaisant, sage, vilain. There are some words, which some persons call adjec- tives, which are indeclinable; that is, which do not change their form to express number and gender. But these are, in fact, adverbs, and not adjectives : they express place, time, or, manner \ and not quality or characteristic mark. 324 LETTER XXIII. SYNTAX OF VERBS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 379. This, as you have been before told, is the most important of all the parts of speech. There can, as I have observed in my English Grammar, be no sentence, there can be no sense in words, unless there be a verb, either expressed or understood. Each of the other parts of speech may alternately be dispensed with, but the verb never can. This being the case, you will, I hope, set about the study of this Letter with an un- common degree of resolution to be industrious and attentive. 380. You itfast, that you may have the whole sub- ject clearly before you, that you may not drop abruptly into the middle of it, go back to paragraph 36, where I have described the nature and character and functions of the verb, and shown how it differs from other parts of speech. You must then go to paragraph 112, and read from that to paragraph 141 inclusive. When you have done that, and in a very attentive manner, cast your eye over the Conjugations; and then come to the subject of the present letter. 381. The parts of the Grammar which I have here referred to, teach you what a verb is, distinguish it from other parts of speech, show you all the variations of form to which it is liable, tell you how it changes that form to fit itself to divers circumstances; but it remains for me to tell you something about the NUMBER AND PERSON. 325 manner of using it in sentences, something about that concord and that government, which I mentioned in paragraph 247 ; something about when the verb is to be used in this number, and when in that number ; when in this person, and when in that ; when in this time, and when in that; and when in this mode, and when in that. I shall, therefore, place my matter under four heads : first, The Number and Person, be- cause they depend one on the other; second, The Times; third, Tlie Modes; fourth, TJie Participles. 382. THE NUMBER AND PERSON. The verb must have a noun or a pronoun used with it. The verb speaks of an action, a feeling, or a state of being of some person or thing; therefore there must be a noun or a pronoun tp express, that person or thing; and, whatever person and number that noun and pro- noun may be in, the verb must be in the same person and number. Thjls is what is called agreement, or concord. The ploughmen in Hampshire invariably say, they walks, and tha like; and it is very curious that those of Norfolk and Suffolk as invariably say, he walk, and the like. The illiterate country people in France say, gallons and favons. This is not to be expected from any person who has ever looked into a book; but, in writing French, we English people must take care, or else we shall fall into very gross errors of this sort. 383. When two or more nouns, or pronouns, are the nominative of the same verb, the verb is in the plural , number, though each of the nouns and pronouns be in the singular number. They are taken together, and thus they make a plural, and, of course, the verb must be in the plural; as: 326 SYNTAX OF VERES. Le cheval, le bouc, et le chien gtaient dans Fecurie, The horse, the goat, and the dog were in the stable. 384. In French, as in English, two nouns or pro- nouns, with ou (or) between them, take the verb in the singular, because the or, though it connect them on the paper and in speech, disjoins them in sense; as: Le seigle on Forge qui est dans le champ, The rye or the barley that w in the field. But in French, if the conjunction be not ow, the verb is generally in the plural ; as : Ni le seigle ni Forge ne se vendent cher, Neither the rye nor the barley stlls dear. Here, you see, the verb is in the plural in French, and in the singular in English. If there be several nouns, which are nominatives of the verb, and if there be one or more of them in the plural number, the verb must be in the plural, though some of the nouns may be in the singular; as: Le maitre ou ses gens vicndraient denrain, si. ... The master or his people would come to-morrow, if. ... This holds good in both languages; but if the last ntjuti be in the singular,- and be preceded by mals. (but), the verb is put in the singular. This happens when there is non-seulement {not ' only), or some phrase of that meaning, in the former part of the sentence. It is, however, the same in both languages; and no error can well happen in the constructing of such sentences. But there is one difference in the two languages, re- specting the number of the verb, that must be care- fully attended to; -it is this: we, in English, when we use a noun of multitude, such as crowd, assembly, public, or any other, may, as we please, consider the noun as a singular or a plural, and of course we may use, as NUMBER AND PERSON. 327 relating to such noun, pronouns and verbs in the singular or in the plural. This cannot be done in French. Whatever the noun is, the pronoun and the verb must agree with it. Examples: The crowd made a great noise, They were in ths street, or, Jt was in the street, The public -do not like that They have rejected it, or, Lafoulefesait tin grand bruit Elk e'tait dans la rue. Le public n'aime pas ceia. II 1'a rejet<5. Jt has rejected it, The French adhere to this even in the use of the word people. They say, as we do, le peuple; but they always make the word a singular, and give it singular pro- nouns and Verbs. We, on the contrary, cannot Very well use thgse singulars with people, though we, in speaking of a nation, sometimes say, a people. In other cases we make use of plurals with the word people, and the French never do; as: The people are tired of being treated in that manner, Le peuple est las d'etre traite de la sorte. They will not be treated thus much longer, 77 ne souffrira pas qu'on le traite long-temps ainsi. The people have their follies; but they are not wicked, Le peuple a ses folies; mais il rfest pas me'chant. Thus, you see, pronoun, verb, adjective, all are in the singular in French; and, in English, the two former are in the plural, and the latter has no change to express number. But there are some few exceptions to this; and those you will find particularly dwelt on in the Syntax of the Relative Pronoun, paragraph 316; and in the Syntax of the Adjective, paragraph 372. You must now read both those paragraphs very care- fully over. Their contents belong to the numbers of 323 SYNTAX OF VERBS. verbs t as well as to the heads under which they are placed. 385. When there are two or more pronouns, which are the nominative of the verb, and which are of dif- ferent persons, the nominative must agree with the lirst person in preference to the second, and with the second in preference to the third. It is, however, the same in English ; as, you and I are poor, vous et moi nous sommes pauvres. Mark, however, the manner of forming these phrases in French. You see there is a pronoun more here in French than in English : Vons et moi nous irons & la campagne la semaine prochaine, You and I shall go to the country next week. Lui, Monsieur Lechamp, et moi nous nous en allons, He, Mr. Lechamp, and I are going away. Elle, vous et votre oncle vous alliez vous promener, She and you and your uncle were going to take a walk. Sentences of this sort may be turned thus : Nous irons k la campagne vous et moi la semaine prochaine, Vous alliez vous prorneuer, elle, vous et votre oacle. However, the verbs are in the plural in both lan- guages; and that is the main thing that you have to attend to here. I might, in the Letter on Personal Pronouns, have spoken of this manner of using these pronouns ; but I thought it would be best here, when I came to speak of the agreement between the pro- noun and the verb. You see the additional pronoun is used to make all clear. Our mode of expression is not so unequivocal. Take an example : He, she, and I have been very ilL "We understand this very well. "We are almost sure that it is meant that all three have been sick; but it NUMBER AND PERSON. 329 really is not a point beyond dispute. The French say, therefore : Lui, elle et moi nous avons ete tr&s malades, He, she, and I we have been very ill. And, to a certainty, this is a better mode of expres- sion, because it is perfectly unequivocal. [NOTE. The examples from M. Eestaut which are given in paragraph 316, touching the relative pronoun and the antecedent, should also be referred to in this place, because they equally have to do with the num- ber of the verb. They are the examples beginning with the names Cicero, Hegesisoclms, Ctesias, in which occur the verbs etre, travailler, and avoir. Cobbett's Grammar has been criticised for not condemning the use of the verb in the singular number in all such cases; because while, in the first example, Cicero fut un de ceux qmfurent, the verb is rightly in the plural, as having relation to the pronoun ceux, it ought, in the other sentences given, to have been un de ceux qui travaitterent (and not travailla), un des premiers qui aient (and not ait") ; and for the same reason, namely, that these two latter verbs have relation to the ceux and the premiers. It has been said that to use the verb, as here, in the singular, is bad French, and that modern writers do not do it. No doubt it is strictly an error. Never- theless, it is frequently seen with French writers to the present day. ROLLIN says, "Amasis est le seul de3 rois i Amasis is the only king of Egypt d'Egypte qui ait conquis Tile who has subdued the Isle of de Cypre." Cyprus. Here it is clear that the verb is correctly in the 330 SYNTAX OF VERBS. singular, there having been but the one king who sub- dued, Amasis. Yet we find CHATEAUBRIAND writing, Mon pelerinage au tombeau de Scipion est un de ceux qui a My pilgrimage to the tomb of Scipio is one of those which has le plus satisfait mon coeur," j most gratified my feelings. Properly, this should have been, in French as in Eng- lish, un de ceux qui ONT, ] one of those which HAVE, in the plural; and the error arises, obviously, from a certain degree of confusion which is occasioned by there being two antecedents, one singular and the other plural, our thoughts being most engaged with the former of the two.] 386. You will see that the verb is placed in the sentence much about in the same manner that ours is, when nouns are used with it : but when pronouns are used, very different is the manner of placing the French verb ; of which, indeed, you have seen instances enough. When the verb has a noun or nouns as its nominative, its place is, as in English, after the noun ; as, le mouton mange 1'herbe, Yoiseau vole dans 1'air. .Thus it is also in English. But, in both languages, when a sentence is thrown into the middle of the main sentence, the verb goes first ; as : I will not give it to you, said Richard, unless you come after it, Je ne vous le donnerai pas, dit Richard, & moins que vous ne veniez le chercher. This manner of using the verb is, in cases like this, the same in both languages. But the French some- times put the verb before the noun when we do not, especially after que (whom, which, or that) and comms (as): Le chien que m'a vendu le garde-chasse, The dog that to me has sold the game- keeper. EXERCISES. 331 This is word for word ; but we say, the dog that the game-keeper has sold me. Take an example with comme : Les choux, les asperges, et les oignons sont gates, comme me dit Richard, The cabbages, the asparagus, and the onions are spoiled, as Richard tells me. Again, the verb is frequently put after oh (where, in which, in which place) : La campagne ou demeure mon ami, The country place where my friend lives. L'endroit ou se cdchent les renards et les loups, The place -where the foxes and wolves hide themselves. These are very common expressions with the French, who niake wonderful use of this se, and especially with the Verb trouver (to find), which they make use of instead of <%re, in innumerable instances; as : I am very well, How is he now? We are very well here, Je me trouve fort bien. Comment se trouve-t-il maintenant Nous nous Irouvons bien ici. EXERCISE XIV. 1. We see such things as that every day. 2. Neither -threats nor money will make him cease complaining of it. 3. The carpenters or the masons will finish their work to-morrow. 4. He or she will pay for the dinner and the wine. 5. It was they who said that she should go away. 6. Not only the oats and the hay, but the very straw was spoiled. 7. John, Paul, Stephen, Mary, and their mother will write to-morrow. 8. John, Paul, Stephen, Mary, and you will write to- morrow. 332 SYNTAX OF VERBS. 9. Your brother and she have read a great deal to-day. 10. My grandfather and I have travelled from one end of the country to the other. 11. The cucumbers and the melons grow well in that soil. 1 2. The gardener ^s well as his people like flowers. 13. It was very far from being good, as the gardener told me. 14. The piece of ground where the shrubs were planted. 1 5. The hedge where the thorns were growing. 16. The plantations that my grandfather made. 17. The house that the brother and sister live in. 18. The basket that the flowers had been put into. 19. The committee has been sitting this month. 20. They will not have finished for two months to come. 21. The people have been very quiet. 22. They have been exceedingly well used. 23. Nobody can deceive them. 24. The best way is always to tell them the truth. 25. He hates the people and always speaks evil of them. 26. I will give you a pound, said he, if you will tell me the truth. 27. Ah ! said they, we have caught you, then. 28. !N"o, answered I, you have not caught me. 29. Well, said he to them, say no more about it. 30. Go off as soon as you can, I beg of you. 31. She and I are the owners of that wood. 32. They wish to write to them. 33. Clover and sanfoin grow well in that land. 34. They are excellent for all sorts of cattle. THE TIMES. 303 35. Turnips or mangel-wurzel is good for cows in winter. 36. Neither hay nor straw is sold in the town. 37. The greatest part of the world do the same. 38. A great part of his friends left him. 39. The curious plants that my friend has given me. 40. The painter that my sister has sent. 41. The painter who has sent my sister. 42. The printer that the people like so much. 43. The printer who likes the people so much. 44. I plant lettuces and celery. 45. Give me some of both, if you please. 387. THE TIMES. You have just seen enough (for you have just been reading the Etymology of Verbs) of the reason for there being changes in the form of the verb to denote different times. You have seen enough also, and, I hope, know enough, of the manner of making those changes. You have now to learn when one of the TIMES is to be used, and when another ; for, as you have seen, there are two past times in French : and besides this, the French do not, in all cases, use their times so as to answer to the corres- ponding times in English. 388. Time is, and must be, present, past, or future. To express the present, we, in English, have three forms; as, I find, } I do find, > je trouve, I am finding, j The French have only this one form to answer to the whole of the three. "VVe, from our infancy, learn to distinguish with the greatest nicety the import of one of our forms from that of either of the other two; but, 334 SYNTAX OF VERBS. in the present case, we are happy in having to do with a language which has but one present time at any rate : I am writing a letter, Indeed I do write letters every day, I write to my friends very often, JVcris une lettre. En verite jVcris des lettres tous les jours. JVcra fort souvent a mes amis. It is, you see, always ecris. This is very easy, then ? Yes, much too easy to last long. Every blockhead would learn French, if all were as easy as this. 389. The French have two past times. "We have, in our past time, the do and the ing; that is to say, the do become did, and, in the above example, the am become was; as, I was writing; I did write; I wrote. Ay, but the French have two distinct sets of words to express the past by. Look now again, for a moment, at the conjugation of TROUVER, in paragraph 118. There you see, that, in what they call the past imper- fect time, I found, is, je trouvais, and, in the past perfect time, I found, is, je trouvai. In the other persons of the verb, the change is greater : so great indeed as for the words to appear not to belong at all to one another. Nous TROUVIONS is the past imperfect, and nous TROUVAMES the past perfect. Now, mind, each of these means WE FOUND. 390. Well, but as they mean the same thing, cannot they be used indifferently? Indeed they cannot; for, though we express them, in English, by the same word, they have a meaning, in French, clearly distinct from each other. To know when one of them is to be employed, and when the other, attend very earnestly to what I am now going to say. But, first of all, let me, in an extract from a French history, show you how these two past times are used. I shall give the THE TIMES. 335 translation. It is an account of an explosion in the fortified town of VERDUN in France : Le 18 Novembre, 1727, le moulin k poudre, construit dans cette ville, sauta en 1'air, par la faute, dit on, d'un ouvrier, qui fesait secher de la poudre dans une poele. Les efFets en furent affreux. La terre s'enfonca en cet endroit de plus de quinze pieds: I'hemisphere parut tout en feu, et la terre tremUa a plus de deux lieues k la ronde. Get accident abattit de fond en comble cin- quante maisons des environs. Tout ce qui s'y trouva, hommes, femmes, enfans, domestiques, fut ecrase sous les mines. II y eut soixante-dix autres maisons fort endommage'es, dont aucune n'a pu elre habitee avant de 1'avoir re- paree. II y en eut d' autres encore, en grand nombre, dont les portes furent arrachees de leurs gonds, quoique fermees a clefs et a ver- rous; et tons les vitrages de la ville-basse furent fracasses. II y eut aussi des marques de la vio- lence de ce coup dans, la ville- haute, et dans la citadelle, quoi- qu'eloignee de plus de six cents toises du lieu oil le moulin etait construit. Outre les maisons bour- geoises il y eut trois eglises parois- siales, et divers convents endom- mages considerablement, ainsi que I'hopital general, et celui des sol- dats. Les Dames de la Congre- gation furent les plus maltraite'es, leurs dortoirs ayant ete renverses, pendant qu'elles e'taient k Com- plies. La quantite de poudre, qui prit feu, consistail en quatre milliers de poudre fine, et six milliers de poudre commune. On the 18th November, 1727, the powder-mill, built in this town, blew up, from the fault, it is said, of a workman who was drying some powder in a frying-pan. The effects were dreadful. The ground at the place itself was forced down more than fifteen feet : the hemi- sphere seemed all on fire, and the ground shook for more than two leagues round. This accident knocked down, from top to bottom, fifty houses of the neighbourhood. All who were in them, nven, women, children, servants, were crushed under the ruins. There were seventy other houses very much damaged, not one of which could be inhabited until repaired. Besides these, there were others in great number, the doors of which were torn from their posts, al- though locked and bolted; and all the windows in the lower- town were smashed to pieces. There were also marks of the violence of this shock in the upper-town and in the citadel, though at more than six hundred fathoms from the spot where the mill stood. Be- sides the houses of the town's- people, there were three parish churches and divers convents con- siderably damaged, as well as the general hospital, and that of the soldiers. The Nuns of the Con- gregation were the most roughly handled, their dormitories being shaken in while they were at Even- ling Prayers. The quantity of I powder that took fire consisted of four thousand weight of fine, and I six thousand weight of common. SYNTAX OF VERBS. 391. The verbs, you will perceive, are put in Italic characters. We will, when we have laid down the rules, see how the use of the verbs agrees with those rules. MONSIEUR RESTAUT has the following passage upon this subject I shall translate it entire; because it will be useful as the groundwork of my observations, and because it will enable us to see how the above practice squares with the rules of this able gram- marian. 392. MONSIEUR RESTAUT says: "The preterit (past " perfect) time points out a thing passed, and passed, " too, in a time no part of which remains, and in " which we no longer are; as, JE FUS MALADE L'ANNEE " DERNIERE. It is essential to observe, that we ought " not to make use of this past time to denote any time " which is not further back than the day in which we " are talking. So that we must not say, JE FUS " MALADE CE MATIN. We must say, J'AI ETE malade " ce matin. Also, we must not use the past perfect in " speaking of this year, this century ; nor of any time, " any part of which remains yet to pass away." To this he adds, that " the past perfect time must, on r no " account, be employed except as applied to a time " absolutely completely passed; whereas, there are many " cases in which it is not a fault to use, instead of the " past perfect, the compound of the present; as, " Alexandre FUT le plus grand capitaine de son siecle ; " or, Alexandre a ete le plus grand capitaine de son " siecle." 393. Now, how does this agree with the above passage ? Read that passage attentively, and look at, and compare with one another, the several verbs in it. It is very true that the year 1727 is wholly gone and THE TIMES. 337 past ; that no part of it remains ; that we are no longer in it. Therefore it is very right, of course, to say, sauta en 1'air, \ f sautait en 1'air. s'evfon$a, I 1 s'enfongait. parut en feu^ V and not < paraissait en fea. s'y trouva, I I s'y trouvait. fut ecrase, / \ e'laient eerase. This is all very right, and according to tae rules of MONSIEUR BESTAUT, who has said, as I have just quoted, and who says, with regard to the imperfect, that it is to be used to denote the past with regard to the present; and that it designates that a thing was present in a time that is now past; as, " I WAS at " table when you came. My being ; at table is now " past, but this manner of using the verb points out, " that it was~ present when yon -arrived." 394. So far all is very well; and it is easy enough for you to know om case when the imperfect ought to be used; namely, when we use the active participle and the verb to be in the past time; Twas at table, that is, sitting at table, when you arrived. Thus you see very clearly why "fesait secher" was put, instead of fit secher, in the first sentence of the above extract; for this is the translation: Un ouvrier qui fesait secher de j A workman who was drying some la poudre dans une poe'le, powder in a frying-pan. Here is the active participle and the past time of tho verb to be. But in the last sentence of this passage there is the verb consistait. You cannot say, was consisting. How will MONSIEUR BESTAUT here make out something that was present when another thing happened, which other thing is now passed also? But, stop; here is another verb in the same sentence, and z SYNTAX OP VERBS. in the past perfect too. " La quantite de poudre, qui " prit feu, consistait en quatre milliers de poudre fine." Why, then, I ask, have we prit instead of prenait ? Or, why have we consistait instead of consista ? You cannot turn consistait into was consisting, any more than you can turn prit feu into was taking fire. The time, observe, is quite past. It is entirely gone. We are no longer in it. The verb consistait cannot be turned into was consisting; and yet it is in the im- perfect time. 395. The rules are, then, defective. The instruc- tions are not clear. The distinctions are obscurely stated. First, it is clear enough that the imperfect, or (which is a much better word) the unfinished form of the French verb, must always be used when we can turn the phrase into English by the active participle and the verb to be; when we can turn it into English by the verb and our word used; or, when we can turn it into English by the help of any word, signifying the habit of doing or being; as : I was planting peas yesterday, vrhei I wrote to him every week, 1 was in the habit of going thither, They continued there for six years, 1 used to eat a good deal of sugar, je plantait des pois hier, quand . . je mi ecrivais toutes les semaines. i'avais coutnme d'y aller. ils y rettaient pendant six ans. je mangeais beaucoup de suere. But when you can discover none of these English marks of a demand for the imperfect, or unfinished, form of the verb, observe this; that we sometimes make use of the past time of the verb, without having any intention to mark any time at all; but to point out a fact; a fact, indeed, relating to a past time, but the time being, nevertheless, of no importance ; as : The Jews were a wicked race ; I les Juifs ttaienl une me'chante race ; they were seditious and avaricious, | ils etaient sditieux et arares. Here, you see, is continuity. The Jews loere, and went THE TIMES. 339 on to be, a bad race of people; but here is nothing finished, nothing brought to a close; and that, mind, is necessary to justify the use of the past perfect time. 396. Look again at the above quoted passage, and at the sentence before the last There are two verbs in that sentence, the first in the past perfect, the last in the past imperfect. "Les dames de la Congre*ga- " tionfwent les plus maltraite"es, leurs dortoirs ayant. " e'te' ren verses pendant qu'elles etaient & Complies." Here wefurent and etaient in the same sentence, and applying to the same persons. But if you look well into the matter, the reason is as clear as daylight. Furent relates- to a matter done with, finished, com^ pletely over, and that, too, in a past time.- But in that same past time the ladies were at their Complies, or Evening -Prayers ; elles etaient a Complies: their dormi- tories were demolished while, they were at Prayers. The prayers were, in the time spoken of, going on; but the dormitories were done for: -the misfortune of the ladies was over* 397. Let us take another instance. " SEDAN (a "town of France) etait autrefois une petite, Souve- " rainete, de laquelle dependaient dix-sept villages. " Elle appartenait aneiennement aux archevques de " Rheims, un desquels Yechangea avec le Roi t pour " Cormicy." Now, you see, etait autrefois, and appar- tenait and dependaient all include the idea of continua- tion. This little district was formerly a lordship. We might say, that it used to be a lordship. We might also say, that the villages used to depend upon it, and that it used to belong to the archbishops, of Rheims. But (and now mind) we could not say that one of these bishops used to exchange it with the king. That 340 SYNTAX OF YESES. an act done, finished, not going on; not spoken of as being (in the past time alluded to) in a state of being continued. 398. Now the matter clears up. "We begin to see the reason for this distinction in the past time; for, if you can, by a change ill the ending of the verb, dis- cover at once whether an act was finished or was going on, at a certain time, it is a great advantage. You can now see, I think, the reason for employing consis- tait, as mentioned in paragraph 304, and also for using prit in the same sentence. " La poudre, qui prit feu, " consistait en quatre -millief s." Why not, said I, put consista as well as prit ? ^STou could now, I hope, tell me why: namely, beca*ose the taking of fire was a thing done wiili. The fire took, the mill blew up, and there was an end. The matter was finished in th past time alluded to. But, mind, the powder s consisting of such a quantity was a : matter without any limit as to time. It had consisted for some time; its consisting Iwd been going on. There had been c&ntimiation in it; and, therefore, the writer could not say consista. Take two more instances, and then, I think, I may leave this matter : II Yaimait long-temps, t a la fin il Vepousa, Hier, qui eta.it dimanche, il alia a 1'eglise, He loved her for a long time, and at last he married her. Yesterday, -which was Sunday, he went to church. Here, you see again, there is continuation in the loving and in the Sunday; but none in the act of marrying nor in that of going to church. But, Elle Vaccosta comme il allait a I She accosted him as he teas going 1'eglise, to church. Here, you see, the case is different. His going to THE TIMES. S41 church is here spoken of as a thing that was going on at the time alluded to; a thing that was, in that time, in a state of continuation. 399. Thus have I, I think, made this matter clear. However, it is, observe, one of the great difficulties of the French language; and it is one which the makers of grammars have taken special care to slide by without scarcely touching it. In grammars written for French people, to go into the matter thus minutely is not necessary, because they are, from their infancy, in the habit of making use of these words in their two forms. But without explanation, and clear explanation too, how are we to know when he had is to be il avait, and when it is to be il eut ? 400. Having now done with these two Times, let us speak a little of the rest. "We have seen in the rule of MONSIEUR RESTAUT, that the compound of the present time may be frequently used instead of the past perfect time ; and this is very common ; as : Elle chanta hier au soir, } or, > She sang last night. Elle a chante hier au soir r } We do not make use of this manner of expression in English. We do not say, she has sung last night. We say, she sang last night. 401. As to the FUTURE TIME, it has, in the Etymo- logy, been explained to you, that our will and shall, which help to form the future time of our verbs, are wholly unknown in the French language, which, with more elegance and ease, and with less equivocation, expresses, by a change in the ending of the verb itself, all that we express, and that we wish to express, by the use of these nasty little harsh-sounding words. 342 SYNTAX OF VERBS. Foreigners have great difficulty in learning when they ought to use will and when shall. Those who learn French have no such difficulty. I shall p^ my hand in my pocket,) . I will put my hand m my pocket,) J And thus it is always. If, however, shall is used to denote obligation, and will to denote determination, they must be answered in another way, as we shall see by-and-by ; but, as far as simply declaring or stating goes, the above is the manner of rendering the English future into French. 402. I have said, and well I may, that time must be present, past, or future; yet some grammarians have contrived to find, in French and English, a great many more times than three; or, at least, states of the verb which they call times. It may, in some languages, be necessary to make those numerous distinctions under the name of times. In French and English it is not only unnecessary, but it produces great confusion, and tends greatly to bewilder and disgust the learner, whether of English or of French. I will give you an instance of this, and will keep to our old verb TROUVER, je trouve, I .present, I find, jetrouvais, past imperfect, > j jetrouvai, past perfect, j je trouverai, future, I shall find. j'ai trouve, j 'avals trouve, j'eus trouve, j 'aural trouve, the past indefinite, the more perfect, \ the past perfect anterior, f the future anterior, I have found. I had found. I shall have found. It is in the grammar of MONSIEUR DE LEVIZAC that I find these pretty names given to times. The two forms for the past times are, as we have seen, necessary in THE TIMES. 343 French, and they must, of course, have two names. But of what use are the four names here placed under the line ? What are these times, after all, more than those above the line ? Above the line, you have the changes in TROUVER to mark the four times ; and below the line, you have the changes in AVOIR to mark the same four times. If, indeed, TROUVER changed its form here eight times instead of four, it would be necessary to have eight names to distinguish them by. But, as it is, the four additional names only serve to puzzle, retard, and disgust the scholar. 403. In paragraphs from 125 to 128 I have fully explained the offices of AVOIR and ETRE, as auxiliary verbs. When they are used with the verb, the several times are said to be compound, which they are, because they consist of more than one thing : thus, I have found is the compound of the present time; because have belongs to one verb, and found to another. Why, then, not call these times the compound of the present, of the past, and of the future ? I have found, I had found, I shall have found, j'ai trouve. j' avals, or feus trouvtf. j'aurai trouv& It is, you see, the verb to have, used in all its times with the passive participle of the principal verb (trouver) coming after it. It is, in fact, a mere conjugation of the verb to have, with that participle always coming after it. 404. But, as you have seen in paragraph 132, the compound times are formed with etre, and not with avoir, when the verb is reflected. And observe also^ that ete, the passive participle of etre, is, as in English, sometimes, and very frequently, used along with avoir 344 SYNTAX OF VERBS. and the passive participle of the principal verb; as, j'ai ete trouve, I have been found. This may be called the compound of the passive; that is all. The verb avoir is conjugated throughout all its times, and the two passive participles come after it. Now, let us see an instance of each of these that I have been speaking of in the three foregoing paragraphs. I find, found, shall find, have found) had found, shall have found, I have been found, I had been found, I shall have been found, je trouve. je trouvais, or trouvai. je trouverai. j'ai trouve. j' avals j or yews, trouve. faurai trouve. j'ai &e trouve. j'avais, orj'eus ete trouve. faurai ete trouve. 405. As to. the times of the Subjunctive Mode, all that has here been said holds good with regard to them. Time is always present, past, or future ; and there can be no need of imagining other times, and giving names to them. When the times are compound; that is to say, when avoir, or (in reflected verbs) etre, comes into use, you are to, take it, and conjugate it instead of the principal verb, the passive participle of which you are to add all the way through, as you see it done in the six last of the nine examples just given you. But, mind, you are to conjugate the compound times with etre, instead of avoir, in a few neuter verbs, as well as in all the reflected verbs. These neuter verbs are, accourir, oiler, aborder, arriver, choir, deceder, descendre, devenir, entrer, monter, mourir, naUre, partir, passer, rester, retourner, revenir, sortir, tomber, venir. Thus you must say, je suis entre dans la chambre, and not j'ai entre dans la chambre. THE TIMES. 345 [NOTE. Some verbs of this last-mentioned class are either active or neuter, according to the sense in which they are used, like some English verbs; and even when only neuter, some of them may be used in one sense with etre but in another with avoir : as, He had gone out, or was from home. II Mail sorti, J'oz sorti des marchandises, Le printemps sera bientot passe, Nous avions passe deux heures a lire, Elle est descendue de la chambre, Elle a descendu Tescalier, I have sent out some goods. The spring will soon have passed. We had passed two hours in reading. She has gone down from the room. She has come down the stairs. It is easy to perceive that where etre is thus used the participle of the other verb is often an adjective, agreeing in, gender and number with the noun or pro- noun, as with the above Elle est descendue. And so, again, it would be with passer : La procession est passte, I The procession has gone by. Les processions &ontpass&s, I The processions have gone by.] 406. I shall conclude my remarks on the times of verbs by noticing some little peculiarities in the use of the French times. I have already noticed, that, in French, the compound of the present is very frequently employed instead of the past perfect; and even instead of the future; as : Je dined chez lui hier, "I or, V I dined with him yesterday. Vaidint chez lui hier, ) Avez-vous bientot fini f \ will you. soon have done ? We cannot choose thus in English. We cannot say, I have dined with him yesterday. When we make use of the compound of the present, it must relate to some portion of time not completely passed. The French may say, la recolte fut bonne l'anne"e derniere, or a ete 346 SYNTAX OF VERBS. bonne [and the latter is the most common]; but we must say, the crop was good. But, on the other hand, we can apply the past time to a period not ended; as, she was here this morning; whereas, as we have seen, the French cannot apply their past time to a period not ended. 407. When there is no time at all specified or cared about, we can, in both languages, make use of the compound of the present; as: We have seen evil enough, | Nous avons vu aasez de mal. The reason is, that in our lives, in our time, in our day, or something denoting a period not passed, is under- stood; as, he lias read much, il a lu beaucoup: but in this respect the two languages are very nearly alike. 408. There is one thing more to point out, but it is of importance. The French frequently make use of the present of the verb etre instead of the compound of avoir and etre. H y a un mois que le vent ett k 1'Est, Elle est depuis plus d'un mois hors de chez elle, Jl y a plus d'un an que je nit malade, Je suit depuis dix jours en route, It is & month that the wind it in the East. She it more than a month from home. It is more than a year that I am sick. I am ten days on my journey. This is a word-for-word translation, as nearly as I can well make it. Now, we never express ourselves thus : we say, The wind has been in the East for a month. She has been more than a month from home. I have been sick more than a year. I have been ten days on my journey. The French may use the same form, and they fre- quently do : as, II y a un mois que le vent a ete a 1'Est; j'ai ete malade il y a plus d'un an. [NOTE. As to the two past times of the verb, in the THE TIME3. 347 compound form, there is a pretty certain rule by which to use the one or the other. Neither can be used without our having in view two circumstances, of action or occurrence, each having reference to the other in point of time. And therefore it is that these forms of the verb are almost always accompanied by an adverb or conjunction denoting a point of time, such as quand, lorsque, pas plus tdt, des que, aussitdt que, a peine que, apres que. The rule is, that if what you express in the compound form is that which it is your principal object to say, the compound must be that of the past imperfect; and if, on the contrary, the expres- sion with the compound is but as an incident to, or merely beaming a relation, in the way of time, to your main subject, then it must be the past perfect. For example : J' avals trouvele mouton quand vous etes arrive, Aussitot que je Yens trouv, je m'en allai, I had found the sheep when you arrived. As soon as I had found it, I went away. In the first instance, the finding of the sheep is the main thing to be told, and the arrival is mentioned only as an incidental occurrence. In the second, the going away is the principal subject spoken of, and the finding is but the incident, with reference to the time of which the going has occurred. Observation in reading French will show this to be the rule. And it applies, of course, to the auxiliaries, avoir and etre, in distinguishing their two compounds, favais eu and feus eu, favais ete and feus ete. There is another com- pound of the past which Grammarians speak of as rarely employed. We find it, however, in practice. It is formed by the compound of the auxiliary avoir, in its 348 SYNTAX OF VERBS. present, past imperfect, or past perfect time, together with the participle passive of the principal verb. Thus, instead of fai trouve, favais trouve, feus trouve, the French sometimes say fai eu trouve, favais en trouve, feus eu trouve; and so on.] EXERCISE XV. 1. The guide who conducted the observer, from whom I had the description, told him that, some time before the war which closed with the peace of Ryswick, having guided the Germans to this spot, they found it covered with snow. 2. The palace was a temple dedicated to the tutelary gods. Its form was oblong, and it had eight columns on each side longways, and four along each end, which made up the number of twenty- four ; of which eight remained when they were taken down in order to enlarge the castle. 3. The fountain which is called d'Audege sends forth so large a quantity of water that it forms a rivulet, very useful to the tanners who live in the suburbs. 4. Do you study well, and do you not neglect any part of your duty ? 5. "When he has finished building his house, he will go to the country. 6. When she goes to town she will find a great many friends very glad to see her. 7. Every thing is to be done that can be done for him. 8. He has been very ill-used by those who owed him a great deal. 9. She was very sick : she suffered exceedingly. They did all they could to comfort her. THE MODES. . 349 10. He lias been to the church. 11. She fell from the top of the house. 12. They went away last year. 13. We have not been to see the play. 14. He went to bed at ten o'clock last night. 15. He had gone to bed 'earlier. 1 6. They rise early. 17. We rose every morning at four o'clock. 18. You ought to rise much earlier than you do. 409. THE MODES. Now, though you, at the be- ginning of this Letter:; that is to say, at the beginning of your study of the Syntax of Verbs; though you read throughout the Etymology of verbs, yet these Modes are a matter of so much importance that you must once more read paragraphs 116 and 117; and read them, too, with very great attention. 410. As I have there observed, the modes would be a ^matter of less 'consequence if the French verbs did not change their form in order to accommodate them- selves to the different modes, or, at least, if this were not so frequently the case ; but, as you will find, it is almost always the -case. In English we say, I make, I must make; but in French we must say, je fais, il faut que je fasse. Ours is make in both cases; but in French it is fais in one case and fasse in the other. If you were, in translating I make, to say, je fasse; or, in translating I must make, to say, il faut que jefais, French people wooild hardly understand you; they might guess at your meaning, but that would be all. They would not laugh outright at you, as we generally do at the French people when they speak broken English, but they would laugh to themselves. This is, then, an affair of great consequence. 350 SYNTAX OF VERBS. 411. You have just read (in paragraph 116) a de- scription of the four Modes. I need not, if you have read that paragraph and the next, describe those modes again. What I have now to do is, to teach you when the one is employed and when the other. The INFINI- TIVE, as being the root of the verb, stands first in the conjugations; but I shall speak of it last. I shall take the other three in their due order; the INDICA- TIVE, the SUBJUNCTIVE, and the IMPERATIVE. 412. But before I speak of the manner of using these modes, let me again caution you not to look upon the signs of our verbs, as you see them placed in the conjugations : let me caution you not to look upon those signs, I mean should, could, would, may, and might, as being to be translated upon all occasions as you see tliem translated in the conjugations. I have, indeed, in these conjugations, put only shall, may, should, and migJrf, for want of room for the others. The danger is, that, seeing should, for instance, placed against a certain time in a certain mode, you will conclude, that our should must always be translated in that manner. That is not- the case; and, therefore, you must take care not to adopt this notion of the matter. It was necessary to place some signs before our verbs in the conjugations: those which I have there placed do, in certain cases, answer, with their verb, to the verb against which they are placed ; but, mind, they do not thus answer in all cases ; and this you must take care not to forget, 413. We are to begin now with the INDICATIVE MODE. As you have before been told, it simply indicates or declares, as its name imports. It does not express an action or state of being, which is de- THE INDICATIVE MODE. 351 pendent on any other action or state of being. It is the unconditional state of the verb, affirming or deny- ing, without, as our saying is, " any of your ifs and ands;" as: I go to London, I je vais a Londres. I do not go to London, je ne vais pas a Londres. These verbs are in the indicative : but, if there be a dependence, a condition, a something subjoined, the verb is in the subjunctive; as : II importe que faille & Londres, II importe que je tfaille pas a Londres, it is of consequence for me to go to London. it is of consequence for me not to go to London. Here, you see, is a consequence attached to the thing expressed by the verb. There is something subjoined, or joined on, to. the simple act of going, or not going, to London. Accordingly, you see that the verb changes itss-form. ALLER (to go) is, you know, an irregular verb. Look at the conjugation of it in paragraph 203. You there see that vais is the first person singular of the indicative, and that aille is the first person singular of the subjunctive. There are, perhaps, a hundred words in the indicative for one in the subjunctive. The Infinitive is attended with little difficulty, and the Imperative with less. The great thing, then, as to the modes, is to know when we ought to put the verb in the subjunctive. The indicative may be said to be the rule, and the subjunctive the exception. The exception is, however, very extensive; but there are rules re- lating to it, and those rules we are now going to see. In English we have no change, or very little, in the form of the verb, to distinguish the subjunctive from the indicative; but, if we had, the guide would not be 352 SYNTAX OF VERBS. perfect : for it is not always that a French verb in the subjunctive is properly translated by an English verb in tJie same mode. 414. THE SUBJUNCTIVE must always be used after certain conjunctions, which are said to govern that mode. But, first of all, it :s best to seek for some principle; for, even if we fall short of perfection in principle, the veiy effort does something for us. "We have seen that the subjunctive is used where there is dependence on some other act or state of being. It is also used generally when passion, desire, or strong feeling is expressed; as, je veux qu'il s'en aille, I wish him to go away; or, literally, I will that he himself from this go. Verbs also denoting joy, sorrow, doubt, fear, suspicion, permission, and prohibition, take the subjunctive. The verb permettre, for instance, causes the one that follows it to be in the subjunctive: as, "perwettez que je vous le dise," "permit me to tell it " you." If this last verb, dire, tell, were in the indi- cative, it would be dis; but, being in the subjunctive, it is dise. Now, observe ; Yous savez que je le dis, Vous permettez que je le dise, \ousjurez qu'elle \efait, you know that I say it you permit me to say it. you swear that she does it. TUUO^U/C^ queue ic^uu, } uu swear mai sue uues iu Vous (fesirez qu'elle le/osse. you desire that she may cfo it. Here, you see, are dis and cfe, fait and. fosse, only because sares and jurez govern the indicative, and permettez and desirez the subjunctive. You see, too, that there is a twisting in our English; we do not say after permit and desire what we say after know and swear. After desire we have a real subjunctive; may do. 415. A dictionaiy explaining the governing of the THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 353 subjunctive should be resorted to here. "When you are going . to use a verb (until you know them all), look to see whether it govern the subjunctive. If it do, the verb which it so governs must be put in the subjunctive mode. 416. The subjunctive mode has, in almost every instance, que before it. Sometimes it has qui, but not often. However, the use of these words is not con- fined to this mode by any means; so that you are not to suppose that a verb is in the subjunctive merely because it may have que or qui before it. 417. The French subjunctive in the present time, is very often used to answer to the English future of the indicative; as: Craignez-vous qu'elle n'e meure? Croyez-vous qu'elle lefasse? Pensez-vous qu'il vienne? Do you fear that she will die? Do you believe that she will do it ? Do you think that he will come ? A great deal of attention and a great deal of writing, will very soon put you in possession of a knowledge of this matter. You see that there is, in all these cases, more or less of uncertainty, of doubt, of fear, of some- thing creating a dependence of "one verb upon the other. After all, there must, as to the examples just given, be something left to be aco i uired by experience, by the habit of reading, writing, and speaking ; for while you may say, and indeed must say, " croyez-vous qu'elle le "fosse;" you must, if the first verb be in any time but the present or the future of the indicative, put the second verb in the past perfect of the subjunctive; as : Croyiez-vom qu'elle lefit, \ Did you think that she did it and not Croyiez-vous qu'elle lefasse. Because croyiez is not in the present, nor in the Juture, of the indicative. There are certain pronouns and 2 A 354 SYNTAX OF VERBS. conjunctions which, with que after them, govern the subjunctive mode. The pronouns are quelque, quoi- que, and quds-que, when these words bear the sense of whatsoever, wJuttever, or however. This mode is also used after si, when si means so, or so much of; or when si has. any such comparative meaning, and when it is followed by que. Also after quoique, although. Qnelqne riches qu'elles soyent, Quoique vous toyez riche, Quels que toyent les voyageurs, Quelques arbres qu'on pttisse avoir, Quelque vieille qu'elle/tk, Quoi qu'il en toit, Quelles-que/Mwen* ses soeurs, Quoi qu'on en dise, il en. mourra^ .si vous y allez et que vou's y re-ttifz, EJle n'est pas si prudente qu'elle np fasse jamais de fahte, Us n'e'taient pas si cd naitent tout leur bien, u'ils don- However rich they may be. Though you may be rich. Whoever the travellers may be. Whatever trees they may have. However old she might be. However it may be ; or be it as it may. Whatever his sisters might be. [of it. Whatever people may say, he will die If you go there and remain there. She is not so prudent that she never commits a fault They were not so generous that they gave all their property. 418. There are certain Adjectives which, with il est (impersonal) before them, require the subjunctive mode after, them; or, as it is called, they govern the subjunctive mode. I do not like to insert lists of words: it is the business of the Dictionary to do that. But as the Dictionary does not always place against these Adjectives the fact that they, with U est before them, govern the subjunctive, I shall insert these Adjectives here. They are as follows: agreable, dur, injuste, aise, disgracieux, juste, affligeant, ennuyeux, malheureux, a propos, etonnant, mal-aise, bienseant, facile, mieux (with vaut before it), beau, facheux, mortifiant, cbagrinaut, glorieux, necessaire, cruel, gracieux, possible, expedient, heureux, plaisant, dangereux, honteux, sensible, difficile, important, surprenant, divertissant, impossible, triste, QOUX, indifferent, vilain. douloureux, THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 355 These must have the il est before them to make them require the subjunctive after them. Some of them may always have c'est instead of il est; for you may say, il est impossible qu'il aille; or, c'est impossible; but, at any rate, you can always use c'est if you employ the word chose; as : Jl est possible que cela soit, ) T , . _ n ,, !Mp ,* ,,.. mav hp Que cela soit c'erf une chose possible,; When I say, the Impersonal il est, I mean il with some part of the verb etre. It may be il est, or il etait, or il sera, as we have seen in the Letter on Impersonal Verbs. [See paragraph 357.] You know this already, but it is not amiss to remind you of it. We, in Eng- lish, do not use this manner of expression, except with some of these adjectives; or, rather, with our own adjectives that answer to these. We say, "it is " possible that that may be;" but we do not say, "it is " shameful that that may be" In this case we may say should be. It is therefore necessary to attend to the above rule. Write this list of adjectives down ten or twenty times, and you will seldom forget them after- wards. To fix a thing well in the memory, there is nothing equal to the putting of it into writing. 419. But, besides these Adjectives, there are certain nouns and conjunctions which also govern the sub- junctive mode. They, like the Adjectives, all have a meaning that makes us perceive, that there is a dependence of one act, or state of being, on another act, or state of being. The nouns are : bienseance, necessite. These take the il est also; and they take the article; cFune necessite, de la bienseance. Then there are moyen, honneur, deshonneur, honte, gloire, 3J6 SYNTAX OF VERBS. with the article before them preceded by il y a; as, "il n'y a pas moyen qnellefasse cela." 420. You have seen instances enough, already, of il faut requiring the subjunctive mode. Importer is a verb which means to signify, or to be of consequence, or, as we say sometimes, to matter. To signify is, in French, siynifier; but they do not use this verb very often to answer to our signify. They do not employ it commonly to express mattering, or being of conse- quence. They use the verb faire, in some cases, and the verb importer, in others ; and in this case importer requires the subjunctive after it; as, "il importait " qu'ils lefissent" and not "qu'ils lefirent" II importe que vous soyet sobre, II importe que nous ayons du pain, It is of consequence that you should be sober, it is of consequence that eexijirent instead of faisaient, the one being, as you know, the perfect, and the other the imperfect of the indicative; but neither bears much resemblance to fiasent. It is, then, of great importance to have well THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 3G1 fixed in your mind the conjunctions that require, or govern, the subjunctive : there are but thirty-eight of them. Write them over and over until they become very familiar to your eye : and then you will have only to bear in mind, that all other conjunctions followed by que govern the indicative; and that these thirty-eight are all the conjunctions that govern the subjunctive. 423. The subjunctive is used after qui, when qui comes after an adjective in the superlative degree, or after a negative; as: Le plus joli jardin gu'il y ait dans ce I The prettiest garden that there is in pays-Ill, I that country. and not Leplus joji jardin qu'il y a dans ce pays-l&. It is tliequi, observe, coming after leplus, that demands the subjunctive of the verb. If there were no qui, or if there were qui without the le plus, the indicative would be used. Let us take an example of the three : La plus jolie fille qu'il y ait dans cette ville, La, plus jolie fille est dans cette ville, La jolie tille qui est dans cette ville, the prettiest girl that there is in this town. the prettiest girl is in this town, the pretty girl that is in this town. It is, you perceive, the superlative and the qui together that require the subjunctive to follow. Not only qui, however, but any other relative pronoun proceeding from qui, if such relative come between verbs expressing desire or necessity. But first let us take an example of the effect which the negative has upon the mode in this case : II n'y a pas d'homme qui soit plus es- time' que lui, II y a un homme qui est plus estime" que lui, Je ne vois pas de ftemsquisoient plus belles que celles-la, Je vois des fleurs qui sont plus belles que celles-ci, These examples make the matter plain so far. They show you, that it is the negative which requires the there is no man who is more esteemed than he. there is a man who is more esteemed than lie. I see no flowers which are finer than those. I see flowers which are more gay than these. 3G2 SYNTAX OF VERBS. subjunctive, and which causes you to have, in the first example, soil, while in the second you have est, though both are in the present time, and both in the third person singular, and though both are translated into English by is. The same remark applies to the third and fourth examples, except that they are in the plural instead of the singular. Here you have soient in one case and sont in the other, though both are translated into English by are. But, as I noticed above, any relative pronoun proceeding from qui, if such relative come between two verbs, and if it relate to a person or thing that is desired, wanted, or wished for, requires the subjunctive; as: il me faut un domestique qui soil la- I want a servant who is industrious, Find me a house that is large and convenient, I wish to have a meadow that you think good, and that is to be sold, borieux. trouvez-moi une maison qui soil grande et commode, je veux un pr que vous trouviez bon, et qui toil a vcndre. However, if qui or que do not relate to a person or thing that is desired, wanted, or wished for, then the subjunctive is not used; as, "je n'aime pas un domes- " tique qui fait son devoir a contre-cceur," " I do not " like a servant who does his duty unwillingly." But let us take an example or two more : I want a garden which is well situated, \ j'ai besoin d' (or, je veux) nn jardin I qui soil bien situe". He has a garden which is full of weeds, Tell me, said she, of a husband who ts young and handsome, and rich at the same time, I despise a man who is nothing but rich, il a un jardin qui ett plein de mauvaises herbes. parlez-moi, dit-elle, d'nn mari qui toil jeune et joli, et riche en menie ternps. je m^prise 1'homme qui n'est que riche. You see, when the qui or que, that is, the who or whom, or vshich, relates to a person or thing that is desired or wished for, or for the having of which, or the existing of which, there is necessity, want, or need; then the verb that follows must be in the subjunctive; THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 363 otherwise not. This is, I think, made quite clear by the above examples. 424. It now remains for me to speak, as far as the subjunctive mode is concerned, of the different times of the subjunctive. There is a present, a past imperfect, and a past perfect. Now, mark : when the verb which goes before the subjunctive is in the present or in the future of the indicative, then the present time of tJie sub- junctive must be used ; as : Je desire qu'il vienne, I I desire that he may come. Je d&irerai qu'il vienne, I shall desire that he may come. But whan the governing verb is in any time other than the present or the future of the indicative, then tho subjunctive verb must be in the past perfect; as: \ Je desirais qu'il vint, Je desirai qu'il vint, J'ai desire qu'il vmt, J'avais desire qu'il vint, I desired that he might come. I desired that he might come. I have desired that he might come. I had desired that he might come. You see it is vienne after the present and the future of the indicative, and vint after the past times and after the compound times. 425. We have might come in these examples ; but it is not always that this translation takes place. In the conjugations you find you may be put against vous soyez. But though you may be is, in some cases, the translation of vous soyez, it is far indeed from being always such : now mind, for this is a very important matter. We have good use for one of our subjunctives here, in order to say, " il importe que vous fassiez la " plus grande attention a ce que je dis," that is, " it is " of consequence that you should pay the greatest " attention to what I am saying." II desire que vous soyez puni, I he desires that you may be punished. 11 couvient que vous soyez puni, [ it is proper that you should be punished. 3C4 SYNTAX OF VERBS. That is enough! Here is soyez translated by may le, and in the next line by should be. Some gram- marians say, that should does not belong to the sub- junctive; yet we here see it answering to soyez. In short, our SIGNS, will, shall, should, would, could, may, and might, cannot be reduced to any thing like a com- parison with the different terminations of the French verbs. These signs, besides helping to show the time, have meanings which the endings of the French verbs have nothing at all to do, with. The slwnld, for instance, in the last of the above examples, has in it something of the meaning otougJit. The French verbs, do not answer to these signs, except in part; to answer, to these signs the French have principal verbs, of which I shall speak by-and-by. [See paragraph 444.] What I wish to do here is, to caution you against supposing that might, should, and the rest of those words, are always translated into French in tl\& same manner. Take another instance : De peur que cela ne soil, Je souhaite que cela soil, Je voudrais qu'il vint r For fear that that should be. I wish that that may be. I wish that he would come. Je souhaite qu'il vienne, \ I wish .that lie may come. Here, in these two last examples,, there are the would and the may, in English, to answer to the French vint and vienne. The truth is, that besides expressing the wish of the party speaking, the would expresses the power to act in the person who is wished to come, while may simply expresses the wish that he may come. 426. There is one instance where the subjunctive is used without either verb or conjunction to govern it; this is in the case of the verb savoir, which, in the first person singular, and when it has a negative, THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 30 5 takes tlie subjunctive instead of the indicative form; as, "je ne sache pas;" that is, instead of "je ne sais "pas" which latter would be the more ordinary expression. But there must be a negative, mind, or else the rule does not hold good. [NOTE. There is also a case in which the French frequently use the past time of the indicative in place of the compound of the past of the subjunctive. It is where our would have or should have are employed along with our passive participle, after such words of conditional meaning as if, without, unless, or but for. For example, in these sentences, which are in the writing of M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND : Si la Pologne cut etc reformee, la race Slave reprenait son independence, Si ces maraudeurs avaient eu plus d'audace, Bonaparte demeurait prisonnier, Sans votre intercession, ma tete roulait sur 1'echafaud, have rolled) on the scaffold. So it is, with the French, when our if, along with the phrase were to, accompanies the verb, and expresses what is only supposed ; as, again, the same writer says, Que feriez vous, si je vous I what would you do, if I put (were mettais en liberte ? to put) you at liberty ? The English now and then use such expressions as, "but for your aid, he was (instead of would have been) " a ruined man." The difference is, that while these are rare in our language, they are very common in French.] 427. So much for the indicative and the subjunctive If Poland had been reconstruc- ted, the Slavonic race regained (would have regained) its in- dependence. If those marauders had had more boldness, Bonaparte remained (would have remained) a pri- soner. Without, or but for your inter- cession, my head rolled (would 3G6 SYNTAX OF VERBS. modes. I observed before, that the far greater part of the verbs, or, rather, forms of verbs, are indicative. You may sometimes read whole pages of print without meeting with a verb in the subjunctive. But f there is, nevertheless, an absolute necessity to learn this part of the grammar well, in order to become a French scholar; for, observe, to say, " il faut que je vais" is broken French. It is as bad and as broken as 7 must went would be in English. The modes embrace some very abstruse matter; but if there were no difficulties to overcome, there would be no honour and no plea- sure in the acquisition. 428. THE IMPERATIVE MODE. This will give us but little trouble: it has been fully explained in the ETYMOLOGY. It subjects the verb to no changes. It has no times: it is simply the verb, in its present indicative time, uttered, or addressed, to the first person plural and to the second persons of both numbers ; and in the third persons of both num- bers, it is the verb in the present of the subjunctive. The whole thing is, in fact, exhibited at the end of every one of the conjugations. I will, however, for convenience sake, exhibit it again here, and then make a few short remarks on the use of the imperative mode. Va, Qiiil (or qu'elle) aille, Allans, Allez, Qu'ils (or gu'elles) aillent, go, or, go thou. let him, or her, go. let us go, or, go we, go, or, go you. let them go. I have, at the close of paragraph 116, fully explained the source and reason of these expressions. Now, as to the manner of employing the imperative mode in sentences, it is generally the same in both languages : THE IMPERATIVE MODE. 3(57 but you must observe that the third persons of the imperative mode must always have the que before them. 429. Exclamations are generally formed by the use of verbs in the imperative mode. But there is one verb (voir) used in this way, which is of so much importance that it merits a paragraph to itself. The expressions void and voila are composed of part of the verb voir and the adverbs ci and let. In both cases we have the second person singular of the imperative of voir, which (see paragraph 239) is vois; that is, see thou. You have, in. paragraph, 317, seen the im- portant part, that ci and let, act along with the De- monstrative Pronouns. The first, you, know, means here, and the other tJiere; as, "ce livre-ci, ce livre-Zefc," " this book here, this book there." So, you see, though the Cockneys have been so much ridiculed for their this here pie, and that there pudding, they have the polite French language to keep them^in countenance. But the truth is, for our this and that the French have only ce; they are, therefore, compelled to resort to the use of ci and lei. Well, then^ now comes void and voilct. The s of vois is. dropped as unnecessary; but the expressions are vois ci and vois Id,.; that is, literally, see here and see there; and endless is the number of ways in which the French use them, and particularly the latter; the manner of employing which is one of the greatest beauties of the language. They are not employed to express any thing about seeing. If we want to tell any one to look at or to see any thing, we use regardez or voyez; as : Regardez 1'oiseau, I look at the bird. Voyez 1'heure qu'il est, see what o'clock it is. SYNTAX OF VERBS. Void and voila are used to express parts of our verb to be, used with our adverbs here and tJiere; as: Here is a basket of cherries for you, I voici un panier de cerises pour vous. There are ten baskets for them, | voila dix paniers pour eux. But these words are made use of instead of that w, this is, and it is, and instead of other pronouns used with etre. Lf voici qui travaille, I here he is working, "or at work. LSI voila qui chante, there she is singing. Ne ot/a-t-il pas une drule d'affalre? | is not this an odd affair ? Voici qui est beau, this is fine. Voila qui est beau, that is fine. Voila done qui est fini, | there, then, it is all over. In narratives, when the writer or speaker wishes to give life to his narrative, he uses voila, and thus, in a manner, brings the persons and things before you ; as : II commencait a pleuvoir, et me voila sans aim, Comme nous allions nous mettre a table Haifa un messager, qui entre dans la it began to rain, and there was I with- out shelter. as we were sitting down to table, a messenger entered the dining-room. salle a manger, In this last example there is, in the English, neither there nor is. The voila is not expressed at all: nor can it be with propriety. "We do, indeed, see, even in printed translations, attempts to translate the voila in sentences like this: we do hear translators say; "as " we were sitting down to table, behold, a messenger " entered." But this is not English language. We must have entered, and who enters; and if we have not the entering in the present time, what becomes of the behold? Take care, then, how you translate passages with voici, or voila, in them. Ne voila-t-il pas une belle journde ? I is it not a fine day ? Je 1'ai donn^ au Monsieur que voila, \ I have given it to that gentleman. I beg you to pay great attention to what I have said with regard to these words. They are in constant use. They occur, perhaps, on an average, once a THE INFINITIVE MODE. 369 minute in every conversation. We may say, in French, " il commengait a pleuvoir, et petals Id, sans " abri:" but this is not French language, though the words are French. 430. THE INFINITIVE MODE. Bead again (though you have so recently read it) paragraph 114, and then go on with me. One of the greatest differ- ences in the two languages lies in the manner of employing the infinitive and the active participle. We, in English, make continual use of the latter; the French very little; and in many cases where we always use it, they never can. This is the case, as we have seen, in the present and past times ; as : I am drinking, I jebois, V , f je suit buvant. You were eating, , yous mangiez, > and riot < rous elicz mangeant. They are marching, | tit marchent, ) t Us sont marchant. The three last' are" not "only not good French, but they are nothing at all. They are letters and sounds, marks upon paper, and noise ; but they form no part of language. Pray mind this; for there is nothing that we English break ourselves of with so much difficulty as of the proneness to cling to dur ings, and to force the French language to 'admit the words which literally answer to them. 431. The French use, in WMny cases, the infinitive, when we use the active participle ; but I shall notice this more under the head of PARTICIPLES. The main thing respecting the infinitive is this; that there are certain verbs and adjectives which require de before the infinitive; certain other verbs and adjec- tives which require a before the infinitive; certain other verbs that take neither de nor a nor any other preposition before the infinitive; certain other verbs 2s 370 SYNTAX OF VERBS. that take either de or ct before the infinitive ; and, last of all, certain nouns that take de before the next infinitive. But to give any thing under the name of rule, to teach you when to use & and when to use de, would be to disgust you : at the end of each of twenty rules, or more, there must come more, perhaps, than twenty exceptions, making four hundred in the whole ; so that to enter into detail here would be to go far in the making of a dictionary. [See the Note at end of paragraph 454.] 432. But there are these observations to make; that when our English verb is followed by the pre- position of, from, at, upon, about, with, or after, before an active participle, the DE is commonly used before the infinitive in French ; and that when our preposition is to, in, or for, the French preposition commonly is A; as: I employ myself in writing, je m'occupe a tcrire. I keep myself from writing, je nrabstiens d'ecrire. That is to say, " I employ myself in to write : " " I keep " myself from to write."" The sense of the words affords a good reason for the use of a and of de in these cases; but this is far from being always the case. The use of these prepositions before verbs in the infinitive seems, in numerous cases, to be quite capricious. All that we can say is, that the French language will have it thus ; and that the difficulty being great, our perse- verance and patience must be great also. However, you will, even by this time, have acquired, from writ- ing, reading, and speaking, the habit of using a and de in a proper manner three times out of four. 433. Besides de and a, there is pour, used before the THE PARTICIPLES. 371 infinitives of French verbs. This pour is used \vhen our to means in order to, or for t/ie purpose of; as : De 1'eau pour boire, \ water to drink. But pour is also used in cases where we use for fol- lowed by the active participle ; as : II sera recompense pour avoir I he shall he rewarded for having bien travaille, | worked w.ell. We might say for working. But neither of these; neither pour ayant nor pour travaillant can be used in French. Guard yourself against the attempt by all means; for this mode of expression is no more the language of the French than it is the language of horses. 434. When the infinitive is (as wae observed in paragraph 114) a noun : as, "to quarrel is disagreeable;" it may be expressed in English by the active participle ; as, " quarrelling is disagreeable." But in French you must adhere to the infinitive, and say, " disputer est " desagreable." It is much better to say, " il est " desagreable de disputer;" but, at any rate, you must avoid translating quarrelling by disputant. 435. A verb which has before it a word . expressing sufficiency, or too much, takes pour; as, " ils sant-assez " forts pour le faire," they are strong enough to do it But, observe, if the word of sufficiency do not come before the verb, there is no pour before it. [See the Note at the end of paragraph 454.] 436. THE PARTICIPLES. In paragraph 117 [and also in paragraphs 192, 199, and 373] I spoke of the Participles; I told you why they were so called; and in the Conjugations you have seen enough of them as far as relates to their formation. I have just spoken, l SY> T TAX OF VERBS. also, of our English ACTIVE PARTICIPLE as answering, in many cases, to the French infinitive. This active participle is, with us, verb, adjective, noun, alternately; as: 1. Seeing that he was going a-way I spoke to him. 2. A seeing man is not easily deceived. 3. Seeing is believing. Now, as verb, we use this participle in French; but never as adjective or as noun. Therefore, when we find it either of these, in English, we must give the French phrase a wholly different turn. 1. Voyant qu'il s'en allait, je lui parlai. 2. Un homme qufvoit n'est pas facile a tromper. 3. Voir c'est croire. And never un voyant homme, voyant c'est croyant: never, on any account, is a word of this sort to be con- sidered an adjective or a noun. Therefore, this par- ticiple is always indeclinable; that is, it never changes its form to denote either number or gender. There are a few law-terms, indeed, that appear to be excep- tions; but even these are not; and you will be sure to bear in mind, that it is, in French, never adjective and never noun. This constitutes one of the great differ- ences in the two languages. When you have an ING to translate into French, take good care how you attempt to translate it by the French active participle. [See Note following paragraph 440.] 437. Even in its verbal capacity this participle must be used vSry sparingly. We, in English, say, for instance, instead of going ; the French never; they say, "au lieu cFaller;" that is, instead of to go. After almost all the prepositions we, in English, use this participle ; but the French use it after en (in) only : THE ACTIVE PARTICIPLE. 373 After having, For fear of being, For want of asking, Without speaking, By writing, Instead of swimming, Save giving, apres avoir, de crainte d'etre, faute de demander. sans parler. par frrire. au lieu de nager. savfa donner. I give you all these examples that you may have a visible and striking proof of the difference in the two languages in this respect. 438. The active participle is frequently used after en when it is a preposition, answering to in; and, at times, when it answers to our by, or while, and, per- haps, some other of our prepositions and adverbs; as : in doing that you will much oblige me. it is by ttudying that one learns a foreign language. all the while that she was burning my omelet,she kept eyeing me from head Enfesantcelz vous m'obligerez beau- coup, C'est en etudiant qu'on apprend une langue e'trangere, Tout en brulant mon omelette, elle me toisait, to foot. I have introduced this word toiser to give you an instance of how much is sometimes said by a word more than can be said by any other word (answering to that one) in another language. 439. The active participle is, as we have seen, in some cases, in English, a noun; as, the falling of the house killed the inhabitants. Here are, article, noun in the nominative case, verb, and noun in the objective case. Literally the sentence would be thus translated : The falling of the house killed the in- I le tombant de la maison tva les habi- habitants, | tans. Now, mind, the like of this can never be said in French. The language of geese would be as intelligible to a Frenchman as this. You must say, La chute de la maison tua les habitans, ou, La maison, en tombant, tua les habitans, the fall of the house killed the inhabi- tants, or, the house, in falling, killed the inhabi- tants. le bdlement det moutont. lafourherief'iite a son mnitre. tet pliiintes centre ton mtiri. la cause pourquoi il s'en alia hier. 374 SYNTAX OF VER2S. Either of these English phrases will do ; but neither is so good as that from which the French language flees as from head-splitting dissonance. "Whenever there is, in English, an article, a possessive pronoun, or any word which being put before the active participle shows it to be a noun, it never can be rendered in. French by the active participle, unless with en: it must be answered by a noun or by an infinitive : The bleating of the'sheep, Tlie cheating of his master, Her complaining of her husband, The cause of his going away yesterday, BOILEAU, in one of his poems, addressed to Louis XIV., exclaims, " Grand Roi! cesse de vaincre ou je cesse eZVcrire." Now, though we say, Great King, cease to conquer, or I cease to write, we may also say, Great King, cease conquering, or I cease writing: but this you must never attempt to say in French; and against such attempts I cannot too often caution you. I know of no part of our language which so puzzled me to turn into French, as those sentences in which we find the article, or the possessive pronoun, before our active participle; and I cannot refrain from adding another example or two in order to make this quite clear to you : The running away of the army left the la fuite de l'anne"e a laisse" la ville ex- town exposed to the enemy, pose'e a 1'ennemi. The defeating of the enemy opened the i la detaite de 1'ennemi nous a ouvert lo way for us into his camp, j chemin a son camp. Eli perfect sobriety and his great in- i sa sobrie'te' parfaite et sagrande indus- dustry have been the cause of kit trie ont e"te" la cause qu'on a eu taut being so much respected, j de respect pour lui. Her being young is much in her favour, ' sa jeunesse fait beaucoup pour elle. Their coming hither has ruined them, | ils ont e"te mine's a cause qu'ils sont 1 veuus ici. THE ACTIVE PARTICIPLE. 375 I expect hit coming with great impa- tience, Our going to America was expected by nobody, Your losing your sight was a sad thing for your wife and children, His coming here has made his fortune, Her pleasing them made her get a rich husband, j'attends son arrivde avec bieu de 1'im- patience. notre depart pour rAme"rique n'dtait attendu de personne. c'e'tait malheureux pour votre femme et vos enfans que vous eussiez perdu la vue. il doit sa fortune a ce qu'il est venu icL elle a trouve" un mari riche parce qu'elle a su leur plaice. Nothing can more strongly characterize the two lan- guages. Not the least resemblance is there between them in this respect. 440. It only remains for me to speak of the em- ploying of the French active participle before an adjective, or before a passive participle, or with que before a noun, or a pronoun ; as : Having been at the play last night, Seeing that it was going to rain, Having heard that they were coming, Perceiving that it was not very late, Knowing very well that she would not come, Believing that he dared not go thither, Walking in the street I met them, Being ill I could not go to their house, ayant 416 a la come'die hicr au soir. voyant qu'il allait pleuvoir. ayant appris qu'ils allaient venir. s'appercevant qu'il n'dtait pat fort tarcf. sachant tres~bien qu'elle ne viendrait pat. croyant qu'il n'osait y aller. en me promenant dans la rueje les ren- contrai. 'etantmaladeje nepouvais aller chezeux. The manner of using the participle is, in this case, nearly the same in both languages. We say, having seen; the French say, ayant vu; we say, seeing that; they say, voyant que. So that, in this respect, there is no difference worth speaking of. Indeed, nearly all that you have to do with regard to the French active participle is, never to employ it as an adjective, nor as a noun. [NOTE. This last sentence, like what is said in paragraphs 192 and 436, means literally more than the author intended. There are some instances, though comparatively few, in which the French active parti- ciple does become a noun, answering to our active par- 376 SYNTAX OP VERBS. ticiple, or to our noun when derived from a verb, and ending in er, or or; as : un vivant, les vivants, un croyant, un voyant, un m&disant, un conguerant, a living person. the living, or those alive. a believer, or Christian. one having sight, a seer. a re viler. a conqueror. These are the participles of vivre, croire, voir, medire, and conquerir. But there are vast numbers of French adjectives which are simply the active par- ticiple, whether of active or of neuter verbs, used in an adjective sense, and, therefore, by some grammar- ians, called verbal adjectives. Thus, M. DE LAMARTINE speaks of "les Turcs, le seul peuple tolerant,'" the Turks, the only tolerant (tolerating) people. So, in " il est fatiguant d'etudier toujours," it is fatiguing to study continually, the participle in each language becomes an adjective. The word when adjective inust, of course, follow,, the rule as to agreement, in number and gender, with the noun, the final ant changing to ants, ante, antes, accordingly. Thus, from the verbs entreprendre, divertir, humilier, fleurir, convaincre, monter, surprendre, dominer, changer, choquer, the French have homme entreprenant, hommes entreprenanfs, ouvrage dlvertissant, joug humiliant, empire florissant, preuve convainquante, preuves convainquantes, maree montante, chose surprenante, religion dominante, couleur changeante, manieres choquantes. enterprising man. enterprising men. amusing work, humiliating yoke, flourishing empire, convincing proof, convincing proofs, rising tide, surprising thing, dominant religion changeable colour, shocking manners. THE PASSIVE PARTICIPLE. 377 Some of these may come either before or after the noun; as, affligeant spectacle or spectacle affligeant, afflicting sight; charmante demoiselle or demoiselle charmante, charming young lady.] 441. We now come to the PASSIVE PARTICIPLE You know it well, as to what it comes from, and as to the reason of its name. You ought to go back to paragraph 117, and there read my description of the nature of the PARTICIPLES. Here you see, then, that, while our active participle sometimes performs the /office of an adjective, at others of a verb, and, at others, of a noun, the passive participle sometimes performs the office of an adjective, and at others of a verb. We have just seen a great deal about the active participle; but let us take a view of both together here ; thus : ( A proscribing man, Active, < A man who is proscribing, ( Proscribing is horrible, .p (A. proscribed man, passive, | A man who has proscribed; un homme qui proscrit. un homme qui est aproscrire. proscrire est horrible. un komme proscrit. un homme qui a proscrit. Here we see both these words in all their functions. It is the passive participle that we have now to do with; and here you see it in both its capacities, namely, that of an adjective and that of a verb. These distinctions would be useless were the form of the word always the same. Little need we English care when our passive participle is adjective, or when it is verb, seeing that we always write it with the same letters. The active participle is, in both languages, unchangeable in its form [excepting as mentioned in the preceding Note], and is, therefore, attended with little difficulty, compared with the passive participle, 378 SYNTAX OF VEE2S. which, in French, is liable to changes in its form; which, in fact, like an adjective, changes its form to agree in number and gender with its noun ; and which makes its changes precisely according to the rules laid down in Letter VIII, for the forming of the numbers and genders of adjectives. How different from our passive participle, which never undergoes any changes of form ! It is always written in the same way. We say, " a proscribed man, a proscribed "woman;" but the French must say, "un homme " proscrit, une femme proscrite" "We say, "two " proscribed men;" they, "deux hommes proscrits." Well, but we know how to form plural numbers and feminine genders'? Yes," but the French passive participle is not, in all cases, liable to changes of form. It is, in some cases, a word which, like an adverb, has no changes of form; and our difficulty is, to know wJien we ought to make it a changeable word, and when we ought not. This is a real difficulty; though it, like all our other difficulties, is to be quickly overcome, if we be attentive and indus- trious. You must perceive, that it is of great con- sequence to know when you are to write (and pronounce also) proscrit, when proscrits, when proscrite t and when proscrites. And, mind, you cannot ascer- tain this from the Dictionary, as you can the gender of nouns and many other things. This is a matter which depends upon the construction of the sentence, and upon other circumstances, which are of infinite variety, and are purely contingent. In such a case, therefore, no dictionary can exhibit examples to be of any use. Take an instance in the use of the passive participle of our old acquaintance TROUVER. TIIE PASSIVE PARTICIPLE. O, ( J J'ain>Ht que Jacques a vendue, Les vaches que Jacques a vendues. The same authors insist that'when there comes, next after the participle, a noun in the objective case, or an adjective relating to the noun or pronoun which has gone before, the participle ought not to change its form. MONSIEUR RESTAUT gives this example : "Dieu les avait " cree innocents." The les (them) would require crees; but those authors say that the adjective innocent, coming after the participle, and having relation to les, the participle ought not to change its form. However, this seems to be a disputed point; we may adopt either the one manner or the other; and I have mentioned this matter here only to enable you to account for what might otherwise appear strange to you. I here con- clude my remarks on the passive participle. They are long; but the matter is of uncommon importance. Every page of French print contains, in general, many of these words. When you are about to use one of them, you cannot, as in the case of the gender of nouns, get your information from the Dictionary. You must Lave it, if you have it at all, from principles and rules, EXERCISES. 591 I shall now give you an Exercise relating to the Modes of Verbs, which, of course, include the Participles. EXEECISE XVI. 1. She is not rich enough to live without working. 2. He did that to provoke his brothers and sisters. J3. They will be too wise to prevent the land from being cultivated. 4. What does he deserve for having betrayed his country to its most deadly enemy? 5. Coming here has made the fortunes of thousands of adventurers. 6. Putting up a house on that barren spot of land is very unwise. 7. Study constantly if you be in good health. 8. Give to the poor rather than take from them. 9. Little means as she may have, she makes a pretty good figure. 10. It is for you to talk to them about an affair which belongs to you. 11. It is very proper for you to take effectual means to punish him. 12. He is exceedingly addicted to the shameful vice of gaming. 13. I am tired of living here and doing nothing. 14. Go and tell my bailiff to come to me as soon as he can. 15. Go and inquire about our neighbour who was so ill the other day. 16. They greatly rejoice at your victory over your enemies. 17. By going to London you will gain a great deal 392 SYNTAX OF VERBS. 18. In minding your business you will make yourself and your parents happy. 1 9. I wish with all my heart that you may do it. 20. I know nothing more fortunate than that. 21. It is better for a country to be destroyed than for it to be governed by wicked men. 22. It was better for him to go on horseback than to ride in a coach. 23. It is of great consequence that they should ex- plicitly declare themselves. 24. I do not believe that the weather will be fine to- morrow. 25. If the fine weather begin and continue for some time. 26. He is the greatest rogue in the whole world. 27. Coming to England has saved his life. 28. Going to France, in the summer time, is very pleasant. 29. Mowing, or reaping, is hard work. 30. It does not become you to be very nice about it. 31. Whatever they may say about it, it is a bad affair. 32. I know nothing more provoking than that. 33. Few things are more dishonourable than lying. 34. Drinking to excess soon makes a man despised, 35. Eating, drinking, and sleeping, are necessary. 36. I am very sorry that your brother is not come. 37. "Why should he not come next week? 38. It seems that they set off very early in the morn- ing. 39. Is it well known that the town is taken? 40. It is well known that the town is taken. 41. It is clear as day-light that the evil will come. 42. It is not quite clear that the evil will come. EXERCISES. 393 43. It was evident that he could not defend himself. 44. It was not evident that he could not defend him- self. 45. It seems to me that you are in the wrong. 46. It seems that he is in the wrong. 47. It is not just, nor is it decent, that he should do that. "?8. Do you believe that you will come next Saturday ? 49. Would to God that he were well ! 50. Were you to lose your fortune you ought to go. 51. God grant that she may recover her health ! 52. You say that she will recover : God send it ! 53. I hope she will not die. God forbid ! 54. God forbid that I should do any such thing ! 55. What! should we pardon them for -that? 56. What do you want me to do ? 57. I want you to rise early and to be .industrious. 58. I want a good saw; do ..you think that I shall find one? 59. I think that you will not find one in this village. 60. I do not doubt you will find one in the town. 61. They must be very industrious if they suppress him. 62. I do not doubt of that, I confess. 63. I doubt that he will do it. 64. I doubt that he will not do it. 65. I do not believe that she will come next week. 66. His talking to them has done the mischief. 67. Their babbling has made their master angry. 68. The singing of birds is very delightful. 69. What I like best in birds is their singing. 70. Though he sell his land, he will not be ruined. 71. He was killed during the last war. 304 SYNTAX OF VERBS. 72. The tents have been taken by the enemy. 7 3. The tents which the enemy has taken. 74. What tents has he taken? 75. He has taken all the tents that we had. 76. I am surprised that you have done it. 77. They are writing in my room. 78. You have lost your money by not having asked for it. 79. It is very indecent to behave in this manner. 80. My father is seeking for a large and fine farm. 81. They are very angry that you have been able to do it. 82. They insist absolutely that she shall stay no longer. 83. We were all very much surprised. 84. There are four men planting trees. 85. I see the greyhounds running after the hare. 86. Bring us some good and hot coffee. 87. Let us have a large and fat leg of mutton. 88. I am far from saying or from thinking that she will dia 89. There he is coming to ask you how you do. 90. This is my whip: there is yours; and there is theirs. 91. Do you suppose that I will give you my house and furniture for nothing? 92. The corn was sold in the market. 93. The apples were sold to him, 94. The oxen were sold last week. 95. The cows have been sold this week. 395 LETTER XXIV. SYNTAX OP VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. MY DEAR RICHARD, "* 444. Before you enter on the subject of this letter, look at paragraphs 424 and 425. Indeed, you must not only look at them, but read them with attention. You see, then, that the different endings, the differ- ences in the form, of the French verbs, are not always sufficient to express, in French, that which is expressed in English by our little words, which are called signs, and which are, shall, will, can, could, might, should, would, and ought. "We have must besides ; but that is, as we have seen, answered by the ilfaut of the French. Let us take an example of this insufficiency : I shall come here to-morrow, I je viendrai ici demain. I will come here to-morrow, je viendrai ici demain. Thus, you see, there is only the one French word, viendrai, to answer to shall come, and will come, and we all know how different these are in their meanings. When I say, / shall come, I simply tell you of my intention; but will come expresses my resolution, or, at least, a promise, or assurance, on my part. Yet the French verb has no change to express this difference. Their verb does for the simple telling or announcing ; but, to do justice to I will, the French must have some other word, or words, brought in; such as, "je vous " promets," or, " je suis resolu" You shall not have that card, I vous n'aurez pas cette carte. YOU will not have that card, vous n'aurcz pas cette carte. 396 SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. The French, verbs are the same, you see, in both cases : but, in the first phrase, I express my will and deter- mination against your having the card; and, in the second, I merely foretell or observe that you will not have the card. See, now, how the proper translation of these two English phrases would stand, supposing me to be talking to you. (je ne teux pas qne vous ayez cette carte, You thall not have that card, < or, (je ne vous permettrai pas d'avoir cette carte. You will not have that card, vous n'aurez pas cette carte. In the latter case I say, in,, this French phrase, simply that you will not have the card : but, in the other case, I say, my will is that you have not the card; or, I will not, permit you to have the card. So that, you clearly see that the changes in the form of the French verb . are by no means sufficient to express that which is expressed in English by our little words. As long as the business of the verb is merely to announce or declare, the French changes answer the purpose pretty well ; but, wherever our little words, or verbal signs ; wherever there is will, permission, power, or duty ex- pressed by these signs; there the changes in the form of the French verb fail cf being sufficient for the purpose of answering fully and. clearly to .our verbs. 445. But the French have . words which (in great part at least) make up for this deficiency. These are three verbs which express, respectively, will, power, and duty; and which, therefore, are employed to answer (in most cases) to our will, and would; our may, can, could, and might; and our should and ought. I say in great, part, in most cases; because, there is no complete rule as to the matter. You will observe (and, indeed, you must already have observed in the conjugations), SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, 397 that VOULOIR, POUVOIR, and DEVOIR are verbs complete in all their parts. In short, you know them perfectly well in all their numbers, persons, times, and modes ; and you can, I hope, write down the conjugations of them without looking even at your card of verbs. You will, however, mind now, that VOULOIR means, to will, to be willing, to desire, to wish, to be determined, to be ~resolved, and, when in the negative, it expresses objec- tion and opposition. You will mind, also, that POUVOIR means, to be able, to have power, to have liberty or pel-- mission, to do or to be. Mind, moreover, that DEVOIR, though it means to owe, means also to have the duty of doing or of being. Now then, mind, that in general, these signs of ours are answered by some part of these French verbs, as placed in the following table : wou'ld, } b ? 80me P art of voul0 *' 80me P art of P woir - by some part of***. , ,, ( sometimes by the change in the verb, and sometimes ' \ by some word expressing obligation or permission. After all, however, you must bear in mind, that it is not always that any of these signs are thus turned into French. But you will soon learn (after all that you have learned) to make use of these important French words properly. 446. "We will begin with VOULOIR. When we make use of our signs, will, would, the French employ the infinitive of their verb ; and they employ some part of vouloir to answer to our will, or would; as : 398 SYNTAX OF VOULOIE, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIB. I will find, I would find, You will find, They will find, je veux trouver. je voulais trovver, vous voulez truuver. ils veulent trouver. This is always the manner of turning these signs into French. Our will applies to both present and future. I suppose it here to apply to the present, where it ex- presses will or resolution, and must be translated by vouloir. When it simply intimates or foretells, the changes in the French verb are sufficient; as: You will find, vous trouverez. He will find, tV trouvera. The French, you see, take our principal verb ; they translate it; they put it in the infinitive; they then put before it a part of the verb vouloir, to answer to our will or would. Thus, in this sentence : I will write in spite of him, | je veux ecrire malgre luL You see, they take our write (not our to write), and put ecrire in place of it; and then they put a part of their verb vouloir, according to mode, number, and person. If, instead of will or would, we use any part of to wish, to desire, to be willing, or the like, the French take this verb, and translate it by some part of vouloir; as : I wish him to write to me, I je veux qu'il m'ecrive. I desire him to write, J je veux qu'il ecrive. We may also say, je souhaite qu'il m'ecrive, je desire qu'il derive: but custom and idiom lean strongly towards vouloir. I should observe, before I quit this verb, that when we use the verb to be willing, or any expression of the same, or nearly the same, meaning, -the French, in rendering the phrase, put bien before vouloir; as: SYNTAX OF POUVOIB. 399 I am willing for him to write, "J I consent to his writing, V je veux lien qu*H crfvt. or, I like for him to write, J When we use tjie verb IQ have with will or would, the French use voulmr without noticing our to have; as : We will have him go, You would have it so^ They will always have it their own way, I will have it so, nous voulons qu'il aille. VOHS le vauliez ainsi. ils le veulent toujours a leur maniere. je le veux ainsi. When we make use of the verb want to express wish- ing, or desiring, the French- render it by vouloir; and, in this way, vouloir is in very common use ; as : What do you want? I want some bread and some wine, if you please, I want to see fine weather, She does not know what she wants. que vowfez-vous ? je veux du pain et du vin, s'il vous plait. je voudrais voir du beau temps, elle ne sait ce qu'elle veut. Very numerous are the, uses of tfye verb vouloir; but what has been here said, respecting it, will, I trust, be sufficient. 447. POUVOIR. This verb, besides being a verb, is a noun, meaning power. As a verb, its meaning has just been described in paragraph 445. The verb pouvoir means, then, in general, to be able. Our may, might, can, and could, are all translated into French by pouvoir. Great care is necessary, in foreigners, to distinguish when one of these is to be used in English, and when the other; but there is no difficulty in turn- ing them into French, seeing that they are all rendered into that language by one and the same verb ; and, as to the circumstances of time and mode and person, the French verb changes its form as in other cases. It is, 400 SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AXD DEVOIR. in fact, the conjugation of pouvoir, with another verb; pouvoir, like vouloir, being used in this case instead of our signs. Examples : You may come next week, He may go away when he will, They can read and write very well. We could not come yesterday, They might be rich if they would, If he can come I shall be glad of it, vous pouvu venir la semaine pro- cbaine. il pent s'en aller qnand il vondra. ils peuvent lire et e'crire fort bien. nous ne puma venir hier. ils pourraient etre riches s'ils le trou- laient. s'il peut venir j 'en serai bien aise. Thus, then, it is merely conjugating the verb pouvoir, as in the case of vouloir, and putting the French principal verb in the infinitive. This verb, like VOU- LOIR, is in constant use ; as, indeed, it must, from the nature of its functions, necessarily be. It is often employed to express capability, possibility, and the like; and in many other cases which have nothing to do with can, could, may, and might; or, at least, where they are not employed in English; as: That is not possible, He was quite done for, That is possible, cela ne se peut. il n'en pouvait plus. cela est possible, or, cela te peut. These are odd expressions. Such they appear to us ; but they are correct, and they are lively and smooth. However, they forcibly characterize this verb pouvoir. Again : Can he come? May he ride your horse ? Could he ride your horse ? Could he not ride my horse? peut-i\ venir? peut-il monter votre cheval ? pouvai t-H monter votre cheval ? ne pouvait-il pas monter mon cheval ? Mind, in some cases, savoir is employed synonymously with pouvoir. In this sense savoir means to know how; and, if you observe, to know Iww to do a thing is, in English, nearly the same thing as to be able to do it ; as : SYNTAX OP DEVOIR. 401 I know how to make books, or I am able to make books, je sais faire des livres. je peux faire des livres. But it is pouvoir that you are to look to for the answer- ing to our signs, may, might, can, and could. When an English phrase, having either of these words in it, is to be put into French, look to POUVOIR. -^.448. We now come to DEVOIR, which answers to our should and ought : or, at least, to should generally, and to ought always. Devoir means to owe, and our ought is, doubtless, a part of our verb to owe; for what is "I ought to go," but "I owe to go?" The origin of should is less evident; but the main difference in the two is, that ought takes the to after it before a verb, and that should does not. This shuts out should from being used before infinitives, and ought from being used before the other parts of the verb. But, in the eye of the French language they appear to be of equal merit and power, for DEVOIR answers to both ; as : Yoa ought to be obedient to your master,} voug ^ oMif k ^ You thould be obedient to your master, ) maitre ' There is, however, this difference in these two English verbal signs; that ought always implies duty, while should does not always do this: and, which is the material point for us, ought must always have devoir to answer to it, while should may be rendered by a change in the form of the French verb ; as : If he should travel in Spain, I s'il voyageait en Espagne. If he ought to travel in Spain, | s'il devait voyager en Espagne. Devoir is made use of sometimes for must. It is in cases where must does not imply any command or necessity; as, "you must be very hungry," "vous devez 2 D 402 SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUYOIR, AND DEVOIR. " avoir grand faim." You may say, in French, "ilfaut " que vous ayez grand faim." One may be as good as the other; but observe this phrase, "il doit se marier " demain." You cannot say, as a translation to this, "he must be married to-morrow." Neither will should nor ought do. The real English of it is, "he is to be married to-morrow." You see that these verbs are of great importance. They answer to whole English phrases in many instances. They are of more conse- quence than hundreds of other verbs. They are amongst the pivots on which the French language turns. To this knowledge that I have of their im- portance you have to ascribe this present LETTER, which, when I have added a short Exercise to it, will, I trust, leave you with very little to do in the learning of the French language. EXERCISE XVII. 1. Now I will give you the seventeenth Exercise. 2. Shall it be a long one, or a short one ? 3. If I should find your son, I will send him home. 4. He would soon make a fortune, if he might work the mines. 5. Would you soon make a fortune if you might soon work them ? 6. I cannot ride that wicked horse without breaking my neck. 7 You and he might take that liberty, but she might not. 8. She ought not to do it at any rate. 9. You should give him that farm. 10. If he could give it to them he would do it. 11. He will go from this place, and his brother shall go. EXERCISE. 403 12. We shall sell our corn and wine, and they shall sell theirs. 1 3. They shall have all that I ought not to keep. 1 4. I am very willing to let you stay here. 1 5. But I am unable to give you victuals and drink. 1 6. Can that be ? What can he want with me ? 17. What do they want with us ? IS. Is it possible that they want our money ? 1 9. Can there be such wicked people in the world ? 20. Did they wish to see the town on fire 1 21. Will you have some kidney-beans, or some peas ? 22. I do not want any of either. 23. What do you wish to have, then ? 24. Shall she have some flowers ? 25. Does she desire to have any of those that I sowed 1 26. Would to God that they would get up early ! 27. God forbid that I should have a paccel of sluggards in my house ! 28. Though, it were to cost me my life. 29. Might he not have asked her what she meant ? 30. He might have done it, but she might have refused to answer. 31. Ought you not to compel him to answer ? 32. Is there a ;road to be found equal to that ? 33. Are there not a great many questions here ? 34. Can you find more in a. similar space, in any book ? 35. Can they be angry with me ? 36. Will there be eggs for supper ? 37. My eyes will be dimj 38. Shall I make a knot in the string? 39. His heart would ache if he were to lose his cause. ., 40. There ought to be 400 leaves in the book 41. You shall gather some flowers. 40 A SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIE. 42. They will be in mourning next week. 43. His eye will be cured soon. 44. I wish they would come without delay. 45. He might go, if he would. 46. They may come whenever they please. 47. He was to have gone off for Paris last week. 48. You shall tell them what you think of it. 49. It may happen that they will go. 50. It may happen that they cannot write. 51. Can she come ? May be so. 52. You ought not to take iL 405 LETTER XXY. SYNTAX OF ADVERBS. MY DEAR ElCHARD, """ 449. In paragraph 37 I explained to you the nature of Adverbs; and, in paragraphs 142 to 151 inclusive, I gave you rules for the forming of the words of this part of speech. You will now read all those para- graphs over again, and pay strict attention to what you find in them. 450. I have, in this place, only to make a remark or two as to the placing of the adverb in sentences. The place of the French adverb is, in many cases, the same as that of our adverb, but not in all cases. It gene- rally comes after a verb and before an adjective; as : Ils travail lent bien, they work weU. Le vin est *m-bon, the wine is very good. 451. When the French verb is in the infinitive, the adverb is sometimes put before it, when it is not before it in English ; as, " pour Hen faire," in order to do well. But this is very rarely the case. 452. When adverbs are compound, that is to say, consist of more than one word (as was before fully explained), they follow the verb invariably. There is, and there can be, no difficulty attending the use of this part of speech. The only difference worth notice in the two languages, with respect to the using of the adverb, is this; the French hardly ever put the adverb before Hue verb, and we often do it; as, "j'ecris souventf and not, as we say, " je souvent e"cris ; " I often write. 406 SY2TTAI OF ADVEK2S. [With the compound times of verbs, the adverb in French generally stands next after the auxiliary; as, "je n'ai jamais fait cela," I have never done that; " nous 1'avons loujours trouve," we have always found him.] EXERCISE XVIII. 1. They, at this moment, do not know it. 2. They do not now go on horseback. 3. It is the fashion now-a-days to go on foot. 4. I will do it directly. 5. She came yesterday, and also the day before. 6. Formerly there were trees in that field. 7. They told me of it before. 8. You must come hither to-morrow. 9. I beg you to write to me very soon. 10. I often eat cherries and apples. 11. They will very soon finish their work. 12. We shall write to-morrow or next day. 13. He will go shortly to see his father. 14. The affair will be ended next week. 15. Where have they been this long while ? 16. Give them some food from time to time. 17. Whence come all these people ? 18. What do they all come hither for ? 19. What induces them to come this way? 20. It is easier for them to go that way. 21. They set out thence every day at one o'clock. 22. When you go up stairs, stay there. 23. He is to be found nowhere. 24. There is too much water in your wine. 25. Perhaps you will see him by-and-by. 26. They said it in jest, but it is too true. EXERCISE. 407 27. They are constantly writing and reading. 28. She was taken away by force. 29. That is extremely wicked on their part. 30. You speak at random. 31. How often have you been there. 32. How far is it to the wheat-field ? 33. I very well know what you mean. 408 LETTER XXVI. SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. MY DEAR RICHARD, 453. It is almost mere matter of form to make separate divisions relating to the Syntax of these inde- clinable parts of speech. The words belonging to them are nothing of themselves : they cannot be used without nouns, pronouns, and verbs; and therefore, in treating of the Syntax of these, I have, in fact, treated of that of Prepositions. 454. Go back, however, to paragraph 38; and also to the whole of Letter XL, including paragraphs from 152 to 161. Pay attention to what you there find, and there is little to add here. The business of Syntax is, first, to teach us how to make our words agree with each other in sentences. There can be no disagreement in the case of prepositions; for they never change their form. Then, as to government, prepositions, when put before nouns and pronouns, cause them to be in the objective case. But this has been most amply ex- plained in the letters relating to nouns and pronouns. As to the placing of the prepositions in the sentence, there is no difference worthy of notice in the two languages. We say in the house, for the horse, to the town, against the door, upon the floor; and the French say, dans la maison, pour le cheval, & la ville, contre la porte, sur le plancher. There are" certain French pre- positions, which, in different cases, must be rendered in English in a different manner. It is nearly the EXERCISE. 409 same with regard to our prepositions when rendered in French. I have before noticed, that while we say, think of a thing, the French say, think to a thing. But, to notice all the instances of difference between the two languages would require a book ten times as large as the French and English Dictionary in quarto. It wjDuld, besides, be to load the memory in vain j seeing that all the difficulties arising from this cause are speedily removed by practice. EXERCISE XIX. 1. Have you thought of the affair that I spoke to you of? 2. Yes; but I do not know what to do about it. 3. Whose book is that ? It is John's or his sister's. 4. The house must be built by next Christmas. 5. They fought with bayonets and swords. 6. You enjoy your riches. 7. They live near to your country-house. 8. You ought to obey your master. I give these few instances merely to warn you against literal translation. You will see that the French say, near of your house; and obey to your master; and enjoy o/*your riches. But a short time will give you a complete knowledge of all these matters. [NOTE. See what has before been said of preposi- tions, in paragraphs 156, 158, 159, 376, and in para- graph 431 and those immediately following. Pre- positions serve to denote the different relations or bearings which the things expressed by other parts of speech have as to one another, particularly in nouns and pronouns, in reference to verbs, and, as regards 410 SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. verbs, when the action of one verb lias relation to that expressed by another. The meanings, therefore, which the preposition may convey, are of too great a variety to be all reduced to rule, or to be explained in. a brief compass. The following remarks, neverthe- less, will be found useful, by preparing the learner for some things of importance which will be met with in French. FIRST. The prepositions most requiring explanation are, DE and A. These two are constantly occurring. Each of them, in its peculiar way, represents our to, while DE also represents our of and from, and A our ut, and occasionally OUT for. SECOND. There are many cases where, two verbs coming immediately together, the second is in the infinitive. 'Generally, here, the French requires de or a between these, in the sense of our to. But with certain verbs ihere is no preposition before the French infinitive. This is the case after aimer mieux, to like better, or to prefer, valoir mieux, to be better or pre- ferable, and after aller, savoir, pouvoir, devoir, fattoir, oser, esperer, and a few others; as: J'aime mieux raster, II vaut mieux attendre, Vous allez voir, Ils saventyatre, Elle peut venir, Elles doivent^arfer, I prefer to remain. It is better to wait. You are going to see. They know how to make. She can, or is able to come. They ought to speak. THIRD. Generally speaking, however, the French infinitive does require the preposition. And there are a good many cases in which the second verb, according to the sense of the first, may be preceded by either de or ct; as: PREPOSITIONS AND VERBS. 411 Tacher de, or a, Determiner de, or a, Commencer de, or a, Continuer de, or a, Obliger de, or a, Forcer de, or a, Manquer de, or a, To endeavour, or try to. To determine to. To begin to. To continue to, To oblige to To force to. To fail to. The difference in idea between these two forms of speech ,is sometimes very nice. And yet there is a difference. In either case, with de or with ct, the first verb always denotes an action having reference to the action of the second verb, there being but one actor, that is, the same nominative, for the two verbs. But, with de, the first verb is rather confined to expressing some motion towards, about, or in respect of the second act ; while, with ct, the first verb represents the actor as more positively engaged in or at that second act ; as : Je tacherai de vous plaire, I I will endeavour to please yon. II t^che a vous tromper, | He endeavours to deceive yoeu Here the first endeavour is stated as that of one having the purpose to please; the second, as that of one doing the act of deceiving. " II s'ennuie de lire," means that he is tired of reading, that is, of the practice or pursuit. "II s'ennuie ct lire" may be translated by the same English words ; but this, with a, more properly means that he is tired in the act of reading, or while at it. FOURTH. Some verbs, followed by no preposition in English, must in French have de or ct before the noun or pronoun which is their immediate object : as, jouir de, to enjoy, abuser de, to abuse, se defier de, to mis- trust, se rappeler de, to remember. Most of these require the preposition ct,: as, plaire d, to please, ressembler &, to resemble; and so with demande)', 412 SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. ordonner, persuader, resister, renoncer, survivre, inspirer, reprocher, obeir. Obeir, satisfaire, and a few others, may be used either with or without the a. FIFTH. With some verbs the French a answers to our of, about, to, for, in, or on: as in penser a, to think of or about; croire a, to believe in, or give credence to; pourvoir a, to provide for; se fier ct,, to confide in or rely on. SIXTH. As to de, again, though we shall find a number of verbs with which our of is regularly repre- sented by this French word, as in avertir de, to advise or warn of, accuser de, to accuse of, priver de, to deprive of, se plaindre de, to complain of, se repentir de, to repent of: yet there are others with which the two languages do not answer to one another in this simple and exact way. With a vast number of this latter class the French de is used in place of all our various words of, at, for, by, with, in, and on; as : Se venger de, Hire, OR sourir de, S'etonner de, Manquer de, Consoler de, Suffoquer de, Mourir de, Blamer de, Se facher de, S'amuser d*>, Se rejouir de, Orner de, Fournir de, Profiler de, Couvrir de, Munir de, Vetir de, Kemplir de, Armer de, Nourir de, To be revenged of, or for. To laugh, or to smile at. To be astonished at, or with. To be wanting in, or of. To console for. To choke with. To die of, with, or from. To blame^br. [or at. To be sorry for, or angry with, To be amused at, Ig, or with. To rejoice at, or in. To ornament with. To furnish with. To profit by, or in. To cover with. To provide with. To dress with, or in. To fill with. To arm with. To feed with, or on. PREPOSITIONS AND VERBS. 413 With the adjectives also, whether they be formed of the passive participles or otherwise, the de of the French performs the same office ; as, plein de, full of; rempli de, filled with; orne de, decked with; content de, con- tent with; choque de, shocked with, or at. SEVENTH. Lastly, as respects ct used in the sense of our to, and de in the sense of our from, there is one important difficulty to be noticed; namely, when, with certain French verbs, these two prepositions seem to have but one meaning, though in reality they have two very distinct meanings. This happens with the verbs signifying the various acts of abstracting or removing one object from another object. Those verbs are dter, to take away, emporter, to take or snatch away, or off, enlever, to take or carry off, arracher, to tear away, wrest, or extort, derober, to rob, or deprive, voler, to rob or steal, and ravir, to take away by force, depouiller, to plunder or strip. The rule is, that when the French want merely to express the act of removing, de suffices for that purpose. But they constantly use d instead, because, by that word, they can express an idea which our from does not at all convey. When using ct, they not only intimate the taking of the one object, but the idea of deprivation to, or of the taking being done with respect to, the other object ; that is, of that other object's being an endurer or object of the act. For example : Otez le diner du feu, Otez ce couteau a cet enfant, La porte fut arrachee de ses gonds, La couronne fut arrachee au roi, Take the dinner from the fire. Take that knife from that child. The door was torn from its hinges. The crown was wrested from the king. Some have tried to explain this apparent inconsistency by contending that the meanings of the de and the a 414 SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. are here the same. That, however, is shown to be im- possible, because, as we have seen, the pronouns (me, te, se, nous, vous, lui, leur) include in themselves the sense of d, but not that of de. For instance, when FLORIAN is speaking of the Goths in Spain, he says, La prosperite fit lea richesses leur donnerent des vices, et leur die- rent la valeur guerriere," Prosperity and riches gave (6. Les lords restent ici, avec les dames. 37. Allez, Monsieur 1'Impudent. 38. De 1'eau de riviere pour faire de la biere. 39. Madame, j'ai vu la dame. -10. Mesdames, je m'en vais. 41. Allez chez Monsieur White. 42. Les propriete's de Guillaume, de Jean, et de Richard. 43. A qui est cette plume? 44. La position de ce pays. 45. La situation du gouverneur. 46. La laine des moutons est bonne a faire du drap. 47. Ils parlent de la maison de la dame. 48. Madame White est morte. 49. Joseph, Pierre, et quelques amis. 50. Une cuillere d'argent pleine de vin. 51. Un pot plein de biere. 52. Ce sentier a cent pieds de long. 53. La mort de sa mere. Le manage de son fils. 54. La bonne fortune de son frere. 55. II a fait le commerce ducuivre. 56. Les voitures et les chevaux content de 1'argent. 57. Le chene est un bel arbre. 58. Les planches de chene durent long-temps. 59. Des ormes dans les haies. 60. Le mont de sable est haut. EXERCISE V. 1. Vousetmoinousallonssouper. ! 15. 2. Vous, votre soeur, et moi, nous aurons de 1'argent demain. 16. ... Xous sommes fort heureux dans ce pays, elle et moi. 17. 4. Ils me frappent aussi bien que lui. 18. 5. Ils m'aiment aussi bien qu'elle. 6. Fuissiez-vous devenir riche. 19. 7. Si vous m'abaudouniez pour 20* toujours. 8. Oui, repartit il. Non, dit-il. 21. 9. Je le vois tous les jours, lui et son pere, 22. 10. II leur donne toujours quelque chose a manger. 23. 11. Ils dinent tres souvent chez nous. 24. 12. Faites cela, je vous prie, a ma consideration. 25. 13. Le cheval est a moi, et la i vache est a elle. 14. Donnez-moi un peu de votre bois. II leur rapporte tout ce que jo lui dis. Elle n'avait aucune affection pour eux. Les champs leur appartien- nent. C'est a lui qu'ils parlent tou- jours. Ils les attendent ici aujourd'hui. Donnez-lui quelque chose a manger et a boire. Je vous enverrai des fleurs, elles sont tres belles. Ils (ou elles) nous ont envoye du fruit aujourd'hui. Ils nous volent et nous insul- tent. II ecrit au secretaire, et lui envoie des messagers. Ils sont plus riches que moi et que lui aussi. Envovez-leur un messager. Arretez-le, liez-le, et envoyez- le en prison. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 421 28. Nous mangeons de la viande et nous buvons de 1'eau. 29. Us s'adressent souvent a nous pour du vin. 30. Je lui ai donne' de Tor pour vous. 31. Vous les vites aller a elle. EXERCISE VI. 1. Ma main, mes plumes, mon papier, mon encre et mes livres. 2. Vos plumes ne sont pas aussi bonnes que les miennes. 3. Emportez les chaises de ma chambre, et mettez-les dans la sienne. 4. Prenez-les de leur chambre et les mettez dans la mienne. 5. Prenez-les de la mienne et les portez dans la sienne. 6. Leurs bceufs sont plus beaux que les votres. 7. Mettez mes boaufs dans leur champ. 8. Ses souliers sont meilleurs que les siens. 9. Nos habits sont bleus, mais les leurs sont rouges. 10. Notre champ, leur prairie, leurs moutons. 1 1. Vos arbres sont bien plantes. 12. La table est mauvaise: ses pieds sont faibles. 13. Voila votre carrosse : voici le mien. 14. Mon frere, je vous prie de venir chez moi. 15. Adieu, M. le Capitaine. Je suis bien aise de vous voir, mon voisin. 16. Ces oiseaux sont les miens et ceux-la sont les votres. 17. Ton pere, ta mere, et tes freres sont morts. 18. Ses freres et ses soeurs sont tous partis. 19. Leurs domestiques viennent ici. 20. Mon pere, avez-vous vu son manteau? 21. Approchez-vous, ma socur, j'ai besoin de vous parler. 22. Non, mon ami, je ne puis vous secourir. 23. Prenez vos moutons et met- tez-les avec les miens. 24. Separez vos poulea des mien- nes. 25. Sa maison, sa maison, notre maison, leur maison, votre maison. 26. Sa main, son bras, nosdoigts, leurs jambes, mes pieds. 27. Sa robe, son bonnet, sa tcte, son cou, ses dents. 28. Mettez votre foin avec le mien; se'parez le votre du mien. 29. line parle pas de votre beaute', mais de la mienne. 30. Us ne parlent pas des siens, mais des notres. EXERCISE VII. 1. Les personnes qui demeurent i 4. Les moutons qui sont sur les dans cette rue. 2. Le menuisier qui fit ma table. 3. La vacbe qui pait dans ma prairie. collines. 5. L'homme dont je prise 1'amitie'. 6. Le cheval qui conduit leur voiture. 422 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 7. Le ble' que vous avez vendu au marche. 8. Le ble qui croit dans voa champs. 9. Aimez ceux dont vous recevez des bienfaits. 10. Le marchand auquel il doit tant d'argent. 11. La compagnie qu'il a re9ue ce soir. 1 2. L'oiseau qui a vu 1'oiseleur. 1 3. L'oiseau que 1'oiseleur a vu. 14. Le siecle dans lequel nous vivoos. 1 5. Le monsieur auquel il appar- tient. 16. Le pays que j'aime le mieux. 17. Le temps qui me plait le plus. 18. L'encre dont je me servis. 19. Les personnes dont vous me parlates hier. 20. L'hommequimedeplaitleplus. 21. Que nous voulez-vous? '22. Que disent-ils -a vous et -a votre famille? 23. C'est 1'affaire dont ils par- laient. 24. C'est de vous et de votre fila qu'ils parlent. 25. Ce sont les dames dont il parlait. 26. Le monsieur de qui j'ai reu tant de bontes. 27. De qui parlez-vous? 28. Quel homme est-ce? Quel garpon est-ce? 29. Laquelle de ces deux chaises aimez-vous mieux? 30. Lequel de ces trois miroirs pr6ferez-vous? 31. L'embarras dont il est sorti. 32. Mon ami qui est mort hier et que j'aimais tant. 33. De quoi parlez-vous? Qu'est ce? 34. Qui est ce monsieur? 35. Avec quelle flotte est -il venn ? 36. Qui vous a dit cela? 37. Un de ceux qui vinrent la nuit derniere. 38. Un des premiers qui le firent. 39. Le faucon que mon frere a tue. 40. Qui peut dire ce qui peut ar- river? EXERCISE VIII. 1. II y a beaucoup de fruit dans ce pays-la. 2. Ce jardin est bien garni de fleurs. 3. Laquelle de ces fleurs aimez- vous mieux? 4. Aimez-vous mieux celle-ci ou celle-la? 5. C'est moi qui vous ordonne de le faire. 6. C'est le maitre de la maison qui vient. 7. C'est un fort beau pays. H. C'est grand dommage. y. Cette plume-ci est meilleure que celle-la. 10. Ces plumes-ci sont aussi bon- nes que celles-la. 11. Ce ble est a bon marche'; mais il n'est pas bon. 12. Votre terre est aussi bonne que celle de votre voisin. 13. Ceux qui pensent qu'ils ga- gnent a friponner se trom- pent. 14. Celui qui se couche tard doit se lever tard. 15. Celle qui s'occupe trop de sa beaute. 16. Celui qui mene unevie reglee est plus heureux que celui qui vit d'une maniere dereglee. TRANSLATION OP THE EXERCISES. 423 17. Cclui quio'a point vu ce pays- ci, ne salt pas combien il est beau. 18. J'aime beaucoup ce que vous avez envoye. 19. II nous dit ce qu'il sait sur leur compte. 20. Elle rapporte a sa mere tout ce qu'elle entend. 21. Ce qui me fait le plus de peine, c'est qu'il ne veut pas me voir. 22. II n'y a que ceux qui ne le connaissent pas qui parlent mal de lui. 23. Ceux qui ont toujours vecu dans 1'abondance ne savent pas ce que c'est que le faim. 24. Ces bceufs sont ceux que je prefere. 25. Ceux que vous avez sont de pauvres animaux. 26. Ce chien-la parait etre de la meme race que celui-ci. 27. Oui, mais celui-ci estmeilleur que celui-la. 28. Get oiseau chante mieux qua celui que vous avez. 29. Ces perdrix sont plus grosses que les perdrix Anglaises. 30. Ces becasses volent plus rapidement que celles-la. 3 1 . Lesquelles sont les m eilleures a manger? 32. Celles qui volent vite, ou celles qui volent lentement? EXERCISE IX. Tout le monde doit recevoir le salaire de son travail. Tous les hoinmes doivent etre nourris et vetus. Chacun va ou bon lui semble. Les juges etaient assis, cbacun a sa place. Cbacun d'eux donna son opinion sur cette affaire. Donnez a manger a chacun des deux; mais ne donnez rien au troisieme. Tout le monde sait eel a, et plusieurs le disent. Quelques-uns disent qu'il va quitter sa maison. Plusieurs m'ont assure' qu'il vient. Quelques-uns aiment cette ma- niere de voyager. Quelques-uns sont meilleurs que les autres. Nous ne devons pas prendre le bien d'autrui. D'autres ne font pas cela. II de'pense 1'argent d'autrui 15. Us s'estimaient Tun Pautre. 16. Tout est vendu dans la maison et enleve'. 17. Les moutons sont tous morts. Quoi! tous? 18. Quiconque prendra ce cbemin y tombera. 19. Quiconque neglige ses affaires se ruine. 20. Je soutiendrai cela contre qui que ce soit. 21. Donnez-nous tout, quoi que ce puisse etre. 22. 11 re'ussit dans tout ce qu'il en- treprend. 23. Quoi qu'il en disc, il ne 1'echappera pas. 24. Quel qu'en soit le prix, vous devez le donner. 25. Quel est 1'homme qui a vole' votre argent ? 26. Je 1'ignore, mais qui que ce puisse etre, il doit fitre puni. 27. L'hommeestpris. On ne sait qui c'est ; mais qui que ca soit, il sera puui TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 28. Quelqucs-tms di*nt qu'elle sera tres riche; d'auties qu'elle ne le sera pas. 29. Quelque riche qu'elle puisse etre; quelques riche^ses qu'elle puisse avoir. 30. Quelques belles maisons et quelques beaux jarclins qu'ils aient. 31. Us ne s'aiment pas, je vous le jure. 32. L'unou 1'autre viendra demain; mais ni 1'un ni 1'autre ne viendra aujourd'hui. 33. II n'a rien fait poor moi, et il ne fera rien pour vous. 34. Eien de ce qu'ils entreprennent ne reussit 35. Personne ne croit cela. Je ne 1'ai dit a personne. 36. A-t-on jamais vu rien de pareil auparavant ? 37. Pas un de ses gens ne.vint hier soir. 38. Pas un des soldats n'echappa a 1'enaemi. 39. Avez-vous des poires?. Pas une, sur ma. parole. 40. Personne n'est venu ayec le fruit et le vin. 41. Nous n'aimons point que les autres se melent, de nos affaires de famijle. 42. On dit que vous. allez vous marier. 43. On dit qu'il y % une grande recolte de bl& 44. On lui a conseillfc de quitter le pays. 4 5 . Nous menons une vie agr eable ; nous nous levons de bonne heure; nous nous prome- nons; ensuite nous dejeu- nons; puis nous faisons une seconde promenade ; on bien nousmontons acheval. 4.G. Vous pouvez traduire des phrases, telles que celle-ci et laderniere,d'unemaniere ou de 1'autre ; c'est-a-dire, avec on, avec nous, ou avec vous. 47. Savez-vousqu'il y adessoldafs dans la vUle? Oui, car j'ea ai vu plusieurs. 48. Quel estce bruit? Quelle en est la cause? 49. Ou sont les dames? Je n'en sais rien. 50. Qu'ont-ils fait de mon epee ? Je n'en sais rien. 51 . Y a-t-il beuucoup de vaissean x dans le port ? Oui, il y en a plus de cent. 52. Si elle vient de la campagne aujourd'hni, elle y retour- nera demain. 53. On les loue beaucoup; mais pas plus qu'ils ne le men- tent. 54. Ik sont bien pauvres, mais pln- sieurs de leurs voisins ne le sont pas. 55. Est-ce du pain que vous man- gez ? Oui, e'en est. 56* Voila mon verre ; versez-y du vin. 57. II a achetS ce domaine: il y visait depuis long-temps. 58. Elle est venue chez elle ; elle en repartira demain. 59. Ils ne se soucient de personne que d'eux-memes. 60. L'orgueil ne sied a personne. N'enviez point le bieu d'autruL 61. Rien n'est assez bon pour lai. 62. Us iront 1'y joindre. 63. Nous en parlames alors. 64. Donnez-leur-en. 65. Envoyez-leur-en. 66. Ils s'en sont venus prompte- ment. G7. II le dit et il s'y ticnt. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 425 EXERCISE X. 1. Us n'y ont pas ete depuis i 22. quatre ou cinq ans. 2. Je ne vous donnerai pas maintenant d'aussi courtes 23. phrases a traduire que celles que je vous ai donnees jus- 24. qu'a present. 3. II y a long-temps que vous 25. n'avez ete dans ce pays-la. 4. Je n'ai pas vu 1'homme qui 26. vint ici hier-soir. 5. Certainement, je ne vous don- 27. nerai pas plus de dix livres sterling. 28. 6. Vous n'aurez ete" que six ans 29. dans votre bureau. 30. 7. Vous n'avez ni terres ni trou- peaux. 81. 8. Cen'estpasunhonnetehomme. Ce n'est pas vrai, Monsieur. 32. 9. II n'y a ni paillo ni foin dans le grenier. 10. Je n'ai aucun des arbres que vous m'avez vendus. 33. 1 1. Je n'avais aucun des bestiaux dont il me parla. 34. 12. Je n'en ai vu aucun depuis quelque temps. 35. 13. Fretez-moi de 1'argent. Jene saurais, car je n'en ai point. 36. 14. Ont-ils ete ici aujourd'hui? Non. 15. Non que je n'aime point les 37. gens de ce pays-Ik. 1 6. Non que je ne puisse y aller, 38. si cela me plait. 17. Voulez-vous venir avec moi? Non : je ne le veux point. 39. 1 8. Elle ne sait ni lire ni e'crire. 1 9. 11 ne sait ni lire ni e'crire. 40. 20. Nous ne mettrons pas a la voile demain, ni peut-etre 41. apres demain. 21. Ni le maitre ni le valet ne se- 42. ront ici. Ni lui, ni sa femme, ni ses en- fants ne jouissent d'une bonne saute. Us n'ont que vingt acres de terre. Nous ne leur parlons que ire's rarement. 11 n'y a qu'un homme de bien dans la compagnie. Pourquoi n'allez vous pas voir votre terre ? Fourquoi habitez-vous conti- nuellement la ville? II ne fait que causer et chanter. Us ne savent que faire. Ne vous ai-je pas dit que vous n'entreriez pas ? M'avez-vous apporte' un sac d'or ? Non en verite'. Ce n'est point que le diner me deplaise, niais je n'aime pas la maniere dont on 1'apprete. II ne cesse de parler et de faire du bruit. Ils n'osent faire ce dont ils ine- nacent. Ils ne peuvent venir deraain, j'en suis tres sur. Vous ne voulez ni boire ni manger avec nous; et pour- quoi pas, mes amis ? Pourquoi ne pas vous asseoir et diner avec nous ? Non: je vous suis tres oblige'; je ne peux rn'arreter a present Eh bien, done, venez demain. Je ne saurais, vraiment. Ils n'ont que du pain a- man- ger et de 1'eau a boire. L'homme ne doit pas vivre de pain seulement. Je ne doute pas qu'il ne vous paie ce qu'il vous doit. 426 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 43. Je ne peux ecrire si je n'ai j 55. pas de lumiere. 4 1. Je ne lui ecrirai pas qu'elle ne 56. m'ecrive la premiere. 45. Prenez garde qu'on ne vous 57. trompe. 4 G. II y a plus de vin qu'il n'en faut. 58. 47. II en dit plus qu'il ne fall ait. 48. Je les empecherai de faire du 59. mal dans la campagne. 49. Je ne nie pas que j'aie dit 60. qu'il etait mechant. 61. 50. Elle est plus vieille qu'on ne pense. 62. 51. Elle est moms ricbe qu'on ne la croyait. 63. 52. II est tout autre que je ne le croyais. 64. 53. Ils sont plus a leur aise que YOUS ne pensiez. [tot. 65. 54. Je crams qu'il ne vienne trop | Je crains qu'il ne vienne pa? assez tot. Elle apprehende qu'il n'y ait une querelle. Ils craignent que leur mere ne soit malade. Ils ont peur que 1'armee n'ar- rive. Ils craignent que 1'arme'e na vienne pas. Ne pas trop parler d'aflaire. II convient de ne point aller trop vite. Croyez-vous que ceci soit trop k>ng? Point du tout. C'est fort mal a vous de ne pas tenir votre parole. Cet e'te-ci n'est-il pas bien froid? Pas plus froid que le dernier, quoiqu' assez froid. EXERCISE XI. 1. Farlez-vous de la maison a ces messieurs? 2. L'armee est-elle partie ce matin ? 3. Le cbarpentier viendra-t-il demain ? 4. Pourquoi ne vient-il pas tout de suite ? 5. Le feu prit-il a la maison lorsque vous etiez en ville? 6. Richard ne vient-il pas cesoir? 7. Vous frappa-t-il ? 8. Emmenerent-ils votre voiture et vos chevaux. 9. Pensates-vous a cela ? 10. Est-ce la votre livre? Oui, c'est mon livre. 11. Est-ce la votre frere? Oui, c'est lui. 12. Parlez - vous tres souvent d'elle? 13. Fait-il des rechercbes pour les marcbandises qu'il a perdues ? 14. Nous paieront-ils ce qu'ils nous doivent ? 15. Nous auront-ils tout paye, quand ils nous auront pave dix livres sterling de plus? 16. Y auraient-ils pense? 17. Lui en reste-t-il ? 18. Me le donnez-vous ? 19. Leluidit-elle? 20. Ne le lui dit-il point ? 21. Vous en parleront-ils ? 22. Je me le" ve le matin. 23. Je ne me leve point. 24. Melev6-je? 25. Ne me Iev6-je pas ? 26. Ne se leve-t-il pas de bonne heure ? 27. Ne me 1'avez-vous pas dit? 28. Lui a-t-elle dit cela ? 29. Nous 1'auront-ils pay 6? 30. Vous en auraient-ils parle ? 31. Cberchates-vous votre argent dans sa boite ? TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 427 32. Y en trouvates-vous ? 33. Ne vous frapperont-ils pas? et ne vous blesseront - ils pas ? 34. Ne leur en parle-t-il pas ? 35. Ne vous aurait-il pas fait grand tort ? 36. Ne me le donnez-vous pas? 37. Ne vou3 appliquez-vous pas a la langue Fran9aise ? 38. Neleluidit-ellepas? 39. Ne nous le donneront-ils pas? 40. Ne vous en parlera-t-il pas ? 41. Ne me 1'avez-vous pas dit? 42. Ne le lui avait-elle pas dit? 43. Le ble vient-il bien dans cette terre ? 44. Les arbres ne sont-ils pas tres beaux dans les bois de 1'Amerique ? 45. Non: ils ne sont pas trfcs- beaux dans toutes les parties du pays. 46. Les platanes y sont tres grands ; n'est ce pas ? 47. Ne vous en aurait-il pas parl6 ? 48. Thomas ne viendrait-il pas ai vous 1'envoyiez querir ? 49. Tous les faisans et tous les lievres sont-ils detruits? 50. Non: mais on en a pris un grand nombre. 51. Je ne vous dis pas de ne point y aller. 52. Je ne vous dis pas de ne point en parler. 53. Ne pas trop parler de soi. 54. Je lui ai dit de ne pas payer plus de vingt livres ster- ling. 55. N'est-il pas colonel, ou capi- taine ? 56. La flotte ira-t-elle a la Jamal- que? 57. Ne croyez-vous pas qu'il fasse beau? 58. Vous avez de grandes pro- prietes sans parler de voire argent comptant. 59. Jean n'y sera-t-il pas plus tot qu'il ne faut. 60. Je ne le crois pas. 61. N'y voyez- vous rien du tout? 62. Ne vous a-t-il pas dit un mot a ce sujet ? 63. Ne craignez - vous pas que 1 'argent ne vienne trop tard? 64. N'ont-ils vn peraonne aller da cecoteMa? 65. Est-ce que les laboureurs n'ont que peu a boire et a man- ger ? 66. Celui-la n'est-il pas le plus pauvre, qui a moins "u manger et moins de vGte- mens pour se couvrir ? 67. Ils ne lui pardonneront jamais, a moins qu'il ne leur de- man de pardon. 68. Ma chambre n'est-elle pas tres jolie? 69. Get exercice-ci n'est-il pas bien long ? 70. II est bien long; maia pn* plus long, j'espere, qu'il n'est utile. EXERCISE XII. 1. II fait beau dans ce pays-la, toute 1'annee, pour ainsi dire. 2. II fit bien mauvais temps, en Amerique, 1'automne der- nier. 3. II pleut presque toujours daw ce paya-la. 423 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 4. On dit qu*il ne pleut jamais a ' 24. Lima. 5. 11 y a sept acres de terre et | six fort belles maisons. 25. 6. II y a beaucoup de vase au fond du vivier. 7. 11 y a beaacoup d'especes de 26. peches. 8. 11 y en a plusieurs dans ce jardin. 27. 9. 11 y a des boutons a bois et *des boutons a fruit. 10. II y cut dans la ville un cri 28. terrible. 11. Si ce sont des arbres de fruit 29. a noyau que vous avez a tailler. 30. 12. 11 y en a la une grande quantite. 31. 13. II faut 1'examiner, et vous assurer s'il y a un bon bourgeon & bois. 32. 14. Veillez a ce qu'il n'y ait pas de terrain perdu et sans recolte. 33. 15. II ne faut en laisser entrer aucun. 31. 16. On a besoin de beau temps pour la moisson. 35. 1 7. J'ai besoin d'amis qui m'ai- dent dans une si grande 36. entreprise. 18. II faut un bon terrain pour re- j 37. colter de bon ble et clever de bon betail. 38. 19. Pour produire de bon houblon, il faut beaucoup de fumier et une bonne culture. 20. II y en avait vingt; il fallait 40 tous les vingt; mais on ne | nous en a laisse que sept. 41 21. C'est une action que nous ne devons jamais oublier. 42, 22. Ce fut son domestique qui le leur dit. 23. II y eut soixante maisons de j 43 renversees par le canon. , II vaut mieux rester comme vous etes pendant quelques mois. II vaut beancoup mieux eire pauvre et bien port ant, qu'etre riche et nialade. C'est une mauvaise chose que de voyager quand on ne se porte pas bien. II est bien penible de vous quitter dans 1'etat cu vous vous trouvez. C'est un honnete homme. C'est un fripon. II est bonnete. II est fripon. Elle est bonne et sage. Ce fut votre pere qui vous donna ce diamant ? Est ce que ce fut eux qui causerent tant de mal dans le village? Ce furent eux qui coupe rent les arbres et mirent le feu aux maisons. Non : ce fut elle qui ordonna de le faire. Je ne sache pas que ce fut elle qui donna 1'ordre. II y a quarante ans que mon oncle est mort. II y a plus de vingt ans que je demeure icu De cette place a celle-lk, il y a dix-sept milles. Combien y a-t-il d'ici au som- met de la montagne? Combien serez-vous de temps a revenir? Combien y a-t-il de bocufs dans le pare? Et corabien y en a-t-il dans 1'etable. II faut avoir des enfants pour pouvoir sentir pourun pere et une mere. N'y a-t-il pas eu un tres long debat cesoir? TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 42D 44. Y en a-t-il jamais eu de plus long? 45. II n'y a que cela qui ne soil pas utile. 46. Y a-t-il des vignes dans ce pays? 47. Non: il n'y en a point que je sache. Comment! 11 n'y en a aucune? 48. C'est le plus beau pays qu'on ait jamais vu; maislecli- mat est mauvais. 49. II y a environ quatre milles, et je pense que nous pourrons y arrive a neuf heures. 50. Fera-t-il nuit avant que nous y arrivions? Non, car il fait jour maintenant jusqu' apres neuf heures. 51. II fait bien crotte depuis la derniere pluie, et il parait qu'il pleuvra de nouveaa avant demain soir. 52. II a fait un tres beau temps aujourd'hui. 53. Croyez-vous cela? Y a-t-il quelqu'un qui le croie? Y a-t-il quelqu'un d'eux qui ne meprise celui qui le dit? EXERCISE XIII. 1. La tour a quatre- cent -qua- rante pieds de hauteur. 2. Votre chambre a vingt pieds de long et dix de large. 3. Un champ carre et une grande barrtere. 4. Un homme impertinent, fou et paresseux. 5. Un boauf jeune et beau, et un joli petit chien. G. II est beaucoup plus vieux qu'elle. 7. Vous n'etes pas aussi grand que lui de beaucoup. 8. Us ont plus de six mille acres de terre. 9. C'est un tres mauvais chaneau ; le plus mauvais que j'ai eu de ma vie. 10. II fait plus beau aujourd'hui qu'hier; encore fait-il un temps froid et assez triste. 11. C'est la plus mauvaise route que j'aie jamais vue. 1 2. C'est le plus grand coquin qui existe. 13. Avez-vous beaucoup de bou- teilles de via dans votre cave? 14. Donnez-lui un pen de vin et quelques grappes de raisin. 15. Je n'ai pas beaucoup d'huile, mais j'ai beaucoup d'olive*. 16. N'a-t-il pas beaucoup de che- vaux, et une grande quan- tite de foin? 17. Donnez-moi quelques noix, et apportez moi un peu de ce sucre. 18. II est aussi zelc pour une bonne, quo pour une mau- vaise cause. 19. Soixante mille livres sterling pour une terre et les meu- bles. 20. Mil huit-cent-vingt-quatre. 21. Londres, le 4 Juin, mil huit- cent-vingt-quatre. 22. George quatre et Charles dix regnent actuellement. 23. J'aime mieux un ennemi de- clare' qu'un ennemi cache. 24. Vous tes indignede tout hon- neur et de toute distinction. 25. II fut transport6 de joie en la voyant arrive r. 26. Us ne mcritent point de re- proche a cut c'gUrd. 430 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 27. n est propre a toute espece d'affaires. 28. II n'y a pas de mal qu'ils ne fassent. 29. Votre negligence nous expose a des poursuites judiciaires. SO. C'est un homme tres estime dans ce pays-la, 31. C'est une Franchise, c'est un Anglais; c'est une Ame'ri- caine. S2. Un cbapeau Francais, un habit Anglais, un soulier Ame- ricain. 33. Un chapeau noir, un habit bleu, des souliers blancs. 34. Blanc comme la neige, noir comme la cheminee, lourd comme du plomb. 35. Vous tes plus grand que lui de deux pouces. 36. Je ne crois pas qu'il soit aussi grand qu'elle. 37 Ce sont les plus mechants de toute 1'espece humaine. 38. C'est de toutes les actions la plus injuste et la plus abo- minable. EXERCISE XIV. 1. Nous voyons tous les jours des 13. choses pareilles a celle-la. 2. Ni les menaces, ni 1'argent, ne le feront cesser de s'en 14. plaindre. 3. Les charpentiers ou les ma9ons 15. finiront leur ouvrage de- main. 16. 4. Lui ou elle paiera le diner et le vin. 17. 5. Ce furent eux qui dirent qu'elle devait s'en aller. 18. 6. Non seulement 1'avoine et le foin, mais la paille meine a j 19. etc gate. 7. Jean, Paul, Etienne, Marie et j 20. leur mere 6criront demain. J 8. Jean, Paul, Etienne, Marie et j 2 1. vous, vous ecrirez demain. 9. Votre frere et elle ont beau- coup lu aujourd'hui. 23. 10. Mon grand-pere et moi nous ! avons voyage d'une extre- 24. mite du pays a Tautre. 11. Les concombres et les meloni 25. viennent bien dans cette terre. 26. 12. Le jardinier, ainsi que ses gens, airne les fleurs. II s'en fallait de beaucoup qu'il fut bon, d'apres ce que m'a dit le jardinier. La piece de terre ou etaient plantes les arbustes. La haie ou croissaient les epines. Les plantationsquemon grand- pere fit. La maison qu'habitent le frere et la soeur. Le panier ou Ton a mis les fleurs. II y a un mois que le comite tient seance. Us n'auront pas fini de deux mois. Le peuple a ete fort tranquille. Us ont ete' extr^mement bien traites. Fersonne ne peut les trom- per. Le meilleur moyen est toujours de leur dire la ve'rite'. II bait le peuple, et il en dit toujours du mal. Je vous donnerai une livre ster- ling, dit-il, si vous me ditca la ve'rite. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 431 27. Ah! dirent-ils,nousvousavons done attrape. 28. Non, repondis-je, vous ne m'avez point attrape. 29. Eh bien! leurdit-il, n'en par- lez plus. SO. Partez aussitot que vous le pourrez, je vous en prie. 31. Nous sommes, elle et moi, les proprietaires de ces bois. 32. Us d&irent leur ecrire. 33. Le treffle et le sainfoin vien- nent bien dans ce terrain. 34. Us sont excellents pour toute espece de bestiaux. 35. Les betteraves ou les navets sont bons pour les vaches en hiver. 36. On ne vend dans la ville ni paille ni foin. 37. La plus grande partie du monde fait de mime. 38. Une grande partie de ses amis le quitterent. 39. Les plantes curieuses que m'a donne'es mon ami. 40. Le peintre que ma sceur a envoye'. [soeur. 41. Le peintre qui a envoye 7 ma 42. L'imprimeurquelepeupleaime tant. [peuple. 43. L'imprimeur qui aime tant le 44. Je plante de la laitue et du cdleri. . 45. Donnez-moi un peu de 1'un et de 1'autre, s'il vous plait. EXERCISE XV. 1. Le guide qui conduisait 1'ob- servateur duquel je dens la description, lui rapporta que, quelque temps avant la guerre qui se termina par la paix de Ryswick, ayant mend les Allemands a cet endroit, ils le trou- verent couvert de neige. 2. Le palais etait un temple de*- die' aux dieux tutelaires. 11 6tait de forme oblongue, et avait huit colonnes de chaque cote", en longueur, et quatre le long de cbaque extremite'; ce qui faisait en tout vingt-quatre colonnes, dont huit subsisterent jus- qu'au moment ou on les abattit pour agrandir le chateau. 3. La fontaine qu'on nomme d' Audege, jette une si grande quantite d'eau, qu'elle forme un ruisseau tics utile aux tannenrs qui demenrent dans les faubourgs. 4. Etudiez-vous bien, et ne ne*gli- gez-vous aucune partie dc votre devoir? 5. Lorsqu'il aura fini de batir sa maison, il ira U la cain- pagne. 6. Quand elle ira fc la ville, elle y trouvera un grand nom- bre d'amis qui seront bien aises de la voir. 7. Tout ce qu'on peut faire pour lui, on le doit faire. 8. II actefort maltraite'parceux qui lui devaient beaucoup. 9. EUe ^tait tres-maladeetsouf- frait excessivement 11* t\- rent tout ce qu'ils pureut pour la soulnger. 10. II a et^ ii IVglise. 11. Elle tomba da haul de la maison. 12. Ils s'en allerent 1'annde der- nieie. 432 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 13. Nous n'avons pas ete au spec- tacle. 1 i. II alia se coucher hier-soir a dix heures. 15. II s'e'tait couche* de meilleure heure. 1G. Us se levent de bon matin. 17. Nous nous levions, tous les jours, a quatre heures. 18. Vous devriez vous lever da meilleure heure que voua ne le faites. EXERCISE XVI. 1. Elle n'est point assez riche 1C. pour vivre Rans travailler. 2. II fit cela pour provoquer ses freres et ses sceurs. 17. 3. II seront trop sages pour em- pecher qu'on ne cultive la 18. terre. 4. Que m6rite-t-il pour avoir livre son pars & son plus 19. mortel ennemi? 5. Des milliers d'aventuriers ont 20. fait leur fortune en venant ici. 21. G. Ce n'est pas etre sage que de batir une maison sur un terrain si sterile. 22. 7. Etudiez sans cesse, si vous Stes en bonne sante. 23. 8. Donncz aux pauvres plutot que de les ddpouiller. 24. 9. Quelque peu de moyens qu'elle ait, elle n'en fait pas moins i 25. jolie figure. 10. C'est a vous & leur parler d'une i affaire qui vous concerne. 26. 11. II convient que vous preniez des mesures efficaces pour 27. le punir. 1 2. II est excessivement adonn6 28. au vice honteux du jeu. 13. Je suis las de vivre ici et de 29. ne rien faire. 14. Allez dire a mon homme d'af- GO. faire? de venir le plus tot qu'il pourra. | 31. 15. Allez vous informer de noire voisin qui etait si malade 32. 1'autre jour. lls se rejouissent beaucoup ds ce que vous avez triomphe" de vos ennemis. En allant a Londres, vous ga- gnerez beaucoup. En veillant k vos affaires, vous vous rendrez heureux, ainsi que vos parents. Je desire de tout mon cceur que vous le fassiez. Je ne connais rien de plus heureux que cela. II vaut mieux qu'un pays soit detruit,que d'etre gouverne par des mecbants. II valait mieux qu'il allat U cheval qu'en voiture. II importe beaucoup qu'ils se declarent formellement. Je ne crois pas qu'il fasse beau demain. Si le beau temps commence et continue pendant quelques jours. C'est le plus grand coquin qui soit au monde. II s'est sauve la vie en venant en Angleterre. II est tres agreable d'aller en France pendant 1'ete. Faucher ou moissonner est un ouvrage pe ruble. 11 ne vous sied point d'etre si delicat sur cet article. Quoi qu'ils en disent, c'est une mauvaise affaire. Je ne connais rien qui irrite plus que cela. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 433 33. Feu de choses sont plus desho- norantes que le mensonge. 31. Boire & 1'exces rend un homme meprisable. 35. Manger, boire, et dormir sont des choses necessaires. 36. Je suis fort fache que votre frere ne soit pas venu. 37. Pourquoi ne viendrait-il pas la semaine prochaine ? 38. II parait qu'ils sont partis de tres bonne heure. 39. Est-il bien certain que la ville soit prise ? 40. II est bien certain que la ville est prise. 41. II est clair comrae le jour que ce malheur arrivera. 42. II n'est pas bien certain que ce malheur arrive. 43. II etait evident qu'il ne pou- vait se defendre lui-meme. 44. II n'etait pas certain qu'il ne put se defendre lui-meme. 45. II me semble que vous avez tort. 46. II semble qu'il a tort. 47. II n'est ni juste ni convenable qu'il le fasse. 48. Croyez-vous venir Samedi prochain ? 49. Plut-a-Dieu qu'il se portat bien! 50. Si vous perdiez votre fortune, il faudrait vous en aller. 51. Dieu veuille qu'elle recouvre la sante ! 52. Vousdites qu'elle seretablira; Dieu la veuille ! 53. J'espere qu'elle ne mourra pas. Dieu Ten preserve! 54. A Dieu ne plaise que je fasse pareille chose ! 55. Quoi ! nous leur pardon- nerions cette faute? 56. Que voulez - vous que je fasse? 2 57. Je veux que vous vous leviez de bonne heure, et que vous soyez laborieux. 58. J'ai besoin d'une bonne scie; pensez-vous que j>en trouve une? 59. Je crois que vous n'en trou- verez pas dans le village. 60. Je ne doute pas que vous n'en trouviez dans la ville. 61. II faudra qu'ils se donnent bien des soins pour le sup- primer. 2. Je n'en doute nullement, ja 1'avoue. 63. Je doute qu'il le fasse. 64. Je doute qu'il ne le fasse pas. 65. Je ne crois pas qu'elle vienne la semaine prochaine. 66. Le mal vient de ce qu'il leur a parle". 67. Leur babillage a mis leur maitre en colere. 68. Le ramage des olseaux est ravissant. 69. Ce que j'aime le plus dans lea oiseaux, c'est leur ramage. 70. Quoiqu'il vende sa terre, il ne eera pas ruine\ 71. II fut tu6 dans la derniere guerre. 72. Les tentes ont etc prises par 1'ennemi. 73. Les tentes que rennemi a prises. 74. Quelles tentes a-t-il prises? 75. 11 a pris toutes les tentes que nous avions. 76. Je suis surpris que vous 1'ayez fait. 77. Us ecrivent dans ma cham- bre. 78. Vous avez perdu votre argent pour ne 1'avoir pas de- mande. '9. II est tres indecent de se con- duire de la sorte. 434 TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 80. Mon pere cherche une grande 88. et belle fenne. 81. Ils sont fort en colere de ce 89. que vous avez pu le faire. | 82. Ils insistent absolument a ce | 90. qu'elle ne reste pas plus longtemps. 91. 83. Nous fumes tous ties sur- pris. 84. H y a quatre horn roes qui 92. pi an tent des arbres. 85. Je vois les I6vriers qui cou- 93. rent apres le lievre. 86. Apportez-nous du cafe" quisoit 94. bon et chaud. 87. Ayons un gigot de mouton 95. gros et gras. Je suis loin de dire on de pen- ser qu'elle mourra. Le voici qui vient pour s'infor- mer de votre sant6. Voici mon fouet: voici le vutre : voila le leur. Croyez-vous que je vous donne pour rien ma maison et mes meubles ? Le bid s'est vendu dans le marcbA Les pomraes lai furent ven- dues. Les boeufs furent vendus la se- maine passe. Les vaches ont e'te' yendues cette semaine. EXERCISE XVII. 1. Maintenant, je vais vous don- ner le dix-septieme exer- cice. 2. Sera-t-il long ou court ? 3. Si je trouvais votre fils, je I'enverrais a la maison. 4. II ferait promptement fortune s'il pouvait exploiter les mines. 5. Feriez-vous bientot fortune, si vous parveniez a les ex- ploiter ? 6. Je ne peux monter ce mauvais cheval sans m'exposer a me casser le cou. 7. Vous et lui vous pourriez prendre cette liberte ; mais elle ne saurait le faire. 8. Elle ne doit pas le faire sous qnelque rapport que ce soit. 9. Vous devriez lui donner cette ferme. 10. S'il pouvait la leur donner il le ferait 11. II s'en ira d'ici, et son frere aussl 12. Nous vendrons notre ble et notre vin, et ils vendront les leurs. 13* Ils auront tout ce que je ne dois point garder. 14. Je veux bien que vous restiez icL 15. Mais je ne peux vous donner a manger et a- boire. 16. Cela peut-il etre? Que me peut-il vouloir? 1 7. Que nous veulent-ils ? 18. Se peut-il qu'ils aient besoin de notre argent. 19. Se peut-il qu'il y ait d'aussi mechantes gens dans le monde ? 20. Desiraient-ils voir la ville en feu? 21. Voulez-vous des haricots ou despois? 22. Je n'ai besoin ni des uns ni des autres. 23. Que voulez-vous done ? 24. Aura-t-elle des fleurs? 25. Veut-elle de celles que j'ai semees. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 435 26. Plut-a-Dieu qu'ils se levas- 38. sent de bonne heure ! 39. 27. A Dieu ne plaise que j'aie UR tas de dormeurs dans ma 40. maison ! 28. Dut-il m'en colter la vie. 41. 29. N'aurait-il pas pu lui de- 42. mander ce qu'elle voulait dire? 43. 30. II aurait pu le faire; mais 44. elle aurait pu lui refuser de repondre. 45. 31. Ne devriez-voua pas le forcer de repondre. 46. 32. Fourrait-on trouver une route comparable a celle-la? 47. 33. N'y a-t-il point ici un grand nombre de questions? 48. 34. Pouvez-vous en trouver davan- tage dans un meme espace, 49. dans un livre quelconque? 35. Peuvent-ih gtre en colere con- 50. tre moi ? 36. Y aura-t-il des oeufs pour sou- 51. per? 37. Mes yeux s'obscurciront 52. Ferai-je un noeud a la ficelle? II serait vivement afflige s'il perdait sa cause. Ce livre devrait contenir 400 feuilles. Vous devriez cueillir des fleurs. Ils seront en deuil la semaine prochaine. Son ceil sera bientot gueri. Je voudrais qu'ils vinssent de suite. Il pourrait s'en aller s'il vou- lait. Qu'ils vlerinent qUand il leur plaira. 11 devait partir pour Paris Id semaine derniere. Vous devriez leur dire ce que vous en pensez. II peut se faire qu'ils e'en aillent II peut se faire qu'ils ne sa- cbent pas e'er ire. Pent-elle venir? Cela pent etre, or, cela est possible* Vous ne devriez pas le prendre. EXERCISE XVIH. 1. Us I'ignorent pour 1'instant. 2. Ils ne montent plus a cbeval maintenant. 3. C'est la mode maintenant d'al- ler a pied. 4. Je vais le faire tout de suite. 5. Elle vint bier et avant-hier. 6. II y avait jadis des arbres dans ce champ. 7. Ils me le dirent auparavant. 8. II faut que vous veniez ici de- main. 9. Je vous prie -de m'&rire bientot. 10. Je mange souvent des cerises et des pommes. 11. Ils finiront bientot tenr on- Yrage. 12. Kous ecr irons demain ou aprua demain. 13. II ira bientut voir son pi-re. 14. L'affaire se terminera la se- maine procbaine. 15. Ou ont-ils etc pendtot tout ce temps? 16. Donnez-leur a manger do temps en temps. 17. D'oii vient tout ce monde? 18. Pourquoi viennent-ils tous ici ? 1 9. Qui les engage a passer par ici ? 20. II leur est plus facile d'aller par la, 21. Us partent d*ici, chaque jour, a une heure. 22. Quand vous monterez, vou/ reaterez eu baut. 43G TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. 23. On ne pent le trouver nulle part. 24. II y a trop d'eau dans votre vin. 25. Peut-etre le verrez-vous tan- tot. 26. Us 1'ont dit en plaisantant; mais ce n'est que trop vrai. 27. Us ecrivent et lisent sans 28. On la prit de force. 29. Cela est bien mediant de leur part. 30. Vous parlez a tort et a travers. 31. Combien de fois v avez-vous ete? 32. Quelle distance y a-t-il d'ici au champ de froment ? 33. Je sais bien ce que vous voulez dire. EXERCISE XIX. 3. Avez-rous pense a I'affaire dont je vous ai parle? 2. Oui ; mais je ne sais que faire a ce snjet. 3. A qui appartient ce livre? II appartient a Jean, ou a sa sceur. 4. II faut que la maison soit bade d'ici a la Noel. 5. Us se battirent a la ba'ion- nette et a l'epe. 6. Vous jouissez de vos riches- ses. 7. Ils demeurent pres de votre maison de campagoe. 8. Vous devriez obeir a votre maitre. EXERCISE XX. 1. Qne vous le fassiez ou non, je viendrai. 2. Un grand bailment ou de brique ou de pierre. 3. II les loua par amour ou par crainte. 4. Que deviendrions-nous s'ils venaient a mourir? 5. Que diriez-vous s'ils y consen- Uieot 6. Quand vous ecrirez, faitcs-le moi savoir. 7. Quand ils viendront, ils reste- ront long-temps. 8. Si vous desirez vous en aller, et etre de retour a temps. 9. S'ils le veulent, et qulls le paient. 10. S'il donnait mme toute sa fortune. CARDINAL AND ORDINAL NUMBERS. 437 CARDINAL AND ORDINAL NUMBERS. I. THOSE OF CARDINAL NUMBER. One of these only, namely, the word un, une, under- goes any change, and that is to express the feminine of un. They are as follows : 1. One, C7n, une. 2. Two, Deux. 3. Three, Trois. 4. Four, Quatre. 5. Five, Cinq. 6. Six, Six. 7. Seven, Sept. 8. Eight, Huit. 9. Nine, Neuf. 10. Ten, nix. 11. Eleven, Onze. 12. Twelve, Douze. 13. Thirteen, Treize. 14. Fourteen, Quatorzc. 15. Fifteen, Quinze. 16. Sixteen, Seize. 17. Seventeen, Dix-sept. 18. Eighteen, Dix-huit. 19. Nineteen, Dix-neuf. 20. Twenty, Vingt. 21. Twenty- one. Vingt et un. 22. Twenty-two, 23. Twenty-three, Vingt-deux. Vingt-trois. 24. Twenty-four, Vingt-quatre. 25. Twenty-five, Vingt-cinq. 26. Twenty-six, Vingt-six. 27. Twenty-seven, Vingt-sept. 28. Twenty-eight, 29. Twenty-nine, 30. Thirty, Vingt-huit. Vingt-nenf. Trente. 81. Thirty-one, 32. Thirty-two, Trente el un. Trente-dcux. 40. Forty, Quarante. 41. Forty-one. Quarante et un. 433 CARDINAL AND ORDINAL NUMBERS. 50. 60. 70. 80. 90. 100. 101. 120. 121. 200. 1,000. 2,000. 1,000,000. Fifty, Sixty, Seventy, Eighty, Ninety, A hundred, Ahundred and one, A hundred and) twenty, ) A hundred andJ twenty-one, ) Two hundred, A thousand, Two thousand, A million, Cinfjuante. Soixante. Soixante et dix. Quatre-vingt. Quatre-vinyl-dix. Cent. Cent-et-un. Cent-vingt. Cent-vingt et un. Deux cents. Mille. Deux millc. Un million. II. THOSE OF NUMERICAL ORDER. Of these the two first on the list are subject to change. Le premier, to express gender and number, changes to la premiere, les premiers, les premieres. Le second, to express the feminine, changes to la seconde. 1st. The first, 2d., The second, 3d. The third, 4th. The fourth, 5th. The fifth, 6^. The sixth, 7th. The seventh, 8^. The eighth, 9th. The ninth, 10th. The tenth, llth. The eleventh, 12th. The twelfth, 13th. The thirteenth, 14:th. The fourteenth, 15^. The fifteenth, 16th. The sixteenth, 17th. The seventeenth, 18th. The eighteenth, 19*A. The nineteenth, Le premier. Le second, or le deuxieme. Le troisieme. Le quatrieme* Le cinquieme. Le sixieme. Le septieme. Le huitieme. Le neuvieme. Le dixieme. Le onzieme. Le douzieme. Le treizieme. Le quatorzieme. Le quinzieme. Le seizieme. Le dix-septieme. Le dix-huitieme. Le dix-neuvieme. CARDINAL AND ORDINAL NUMBERS. 439 22d. 30th. 4Qth. 5CM. 60th. 70th. 80th. 90th. 100th. l5Qth. 200$. l.OOOtt. The twentieth, The twenty-first, The twenty-second, The thirtieth, The fortieth, The fiftieth, The sixtieth, The seventieth, The eightieth, The ninetieth, The hundredth, The hundred and) fiftieth, C The two hundredth, Tiie thousandt Le vingttime. Le vingt et unilme. Le vingt-deuxieme. Le trentieme. Le quarantieme. Le cinquantieme. Le soir.antieme. Le soixante et dixieme. Le quatre-vingtieme. Le quatre-vingt-dixieme. Le centieme. Le cent-dnquantiemt, Le deux-centieme. Le millieme. 'ANDARD EDUCATIONAL WORKS. MENTAL SCIENCE: ^^ A ^ KV _, ULKRIDG] Essay on Method; with Archbishop WHATELY'S .. Logic and Rhetoric. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5*. Tenth Edition. WHATELY'S (Archbishop) TREATISE ON LOGIC. The Original Edition, with Synopsis and Index. Crown v E cloth, y. . * WHATELY'S (Archbishop) TREATISE on RHETORIC' The Original Edition, with Synopsis and Index. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3*. 6d. COLERIDGE'S (Samuel Taylor) , Dissertation on tht SCIENCE OF METHOD. (Encyclopedia Metropolitan*}. With a Synopsis. Crown 8vo, cloth, zs. Ninth Edition. SENIOR'S (Nassau, late Prof, of Political Economy at uic University of Oxford) TREATISE on POLITICAL ECONOMY the Science which Treats of the Nature, Production, and Distribn-' lion of Wealth. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4^. Sixth Edition. PALEY'S (Archdeacon) NATURAL THEOLOGY; or, The Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity. With Notes by Lord BROUGHAM and Sir CHARLES BELL. Illustrated, Small 8vo, cloth, 4^. With Brougham's Dialogues on Instinct. Three Veils., 7*. 6d. . , "-- "-F-" ^ ^u-itsof -d, and the Atmospheric i ANSTKD, M.A *.R.S. With numerou doth i. THE STUDENT'S NATUF: f the N atural Sciei .... Two idred ai I'ifty ! . . edges, ioj. jsefiil OIK, a? somprehcns'veness, to foster the axten mbuter Rwiew. A MECHANICAL TEXT-BOO the iv . - : . ' LL.D., F.R.S., late Prof. versity of Glasgow, and E. F. BA IQustracions. Crown 8vo, cloth, 14 Th work, as a whols, is very c :