signalement, ' description

1. 26. je 7te sais quoi, lit. 'I don"t know vvhat.' So 'something or other.'

Page ii,

1. 2. si je vous voyais. ' If I were to see you.' Notice the imperf. ind., not the-conditional, because she realises the scène so completely. Cf. p. 24, 1. 16 and p. 70, 1. 30.

1. 4. tout à la fois. 'Ail at once,' i.e. 'at one and the same moment.'

1. 11. je me défendrai, tiot ' I will défend myself.' Cf. above p. 9, 1.36.

1. 13. A la bonne heure, ' Come, that's right ! ' Cf. note on p. 18, 1. 10.

1. 24. serment. From Latin sacramentum through Old French sairement. (For the change of cr to ir we may compare faire from facerc, fac''re.)

1. 27. le lendemain. The word was formerly Vendetnain, le {jour) en demain, so that the article is really not needed. For a similar agglutination of the article and substantive compare lierre, which was originally and is properly Vierre,

1. 28. campagne de Russie et d'Allemagne. That is, the campaigns of 1812 — 1813. (Burning of Moscow and Battle of Nations at Leipsic.)

1. 31. fai horreur. Notice omission of indefinite article because avoir horreur is équivalent to a verb.

1. 37. peloton. Derived fromthe ïtalmn pilloia — Latin ///«:, 'a bail,' and meaning first 'a knot of men,' so 'a squad.' Peloton is kept in the English ' platoon.'

1. 38. arrive une voiture de place. The inversion is in order to give more vividness to the description.

Page 12.

1. 6. qtielqKe cri)ne...qu''ait. Note carefully the uses of (i) quelque (2) quel que, and (3) quelque .. .qui or que.

(i) Quelque, 'some,' is an adj. and is therefore always one word and follows the usual rules, as :

Il y a quelqttes années.

A few years ago.

(2) Quel que, quelle que, 'whatever,' is written in two words before the verb être; quel adj. agrées with the noun follow^ing être and que remains unchanged, as :

Quels que soient vos défauts.

Whatever your faults may be.

Quelles que soient les nouvelles.

Whatever the nevi^s may be.

(3) Quelque, 'whatever,' is an indefinite adj. vvhen followed by a relative sentence, as:

Quelque chose qui puisse arriver.

Whatever thing may happen.

Quelques difficultés que vous ayez.

Whatever difficulties you may hâve.

N.B. (i) Çï^é-/^//^ followed immediately by an adj., adverb or past participle is an adverb (and therefore of course cannot change). It means ^ however.''

Quelque grandes que soient vos difficultés. However great your difficulties may be.

Quelque bien écrits que soient vos thèmes. However well written your exercises may be.

(ii) Quelque followed by a numéral means 'about,'' and is also an adverb, as :

Quelque vingt ans après.

S orne twenty years aftervvards.

1. 8. arracher à, 'tear from.' Several verbs in French take the dative of the person where in English we use a genitive. Such are acheter, demander, and ôter.

1. 16. ne ni'avait donné. Note the omission of pas, after a sentence introduced by si. So je vous ai vu, si je ne me trompe, meaning ' If I arn mistaken I did net sec you.' Cf. p. 66, 1. 40.