LESSON I
Definite and indefinite articles. — Plural of nouns and adjectives. — Possessive adjectives. — Interrogation. — Negation. — Regular verbs. — Auxiliaries avoir, être
1. Definite and indefinite articles. — Review the forms of the articles, and observe closely the following :
a. Le, la become 1' before a word beginning with a vowel or mute h :
L'homme était dans le jardin. The man was in the garden.
b. De + le becomes du ; de + les becomes des ; à + le becomes au ; à + les becomes aux :
Je donne le livre aux garçons. / give the book to the boys.
g. The noun possessive case is indicated by means of de + noun :
Je joue avec le fils du marchand. / play with the merchant's son. J'ai la plume de Robert. i" have Robert's pen.
d. The English a of weight, number, measure, when indicating price, is generally expressed in French by means of the definite article :
Ils sont deux francs la bouteille. They are two francs a bottle.
Il vend les bananes vingt sous la He sells the bananas at twenty cents
douzaine. a dozen.
2. Plural of nouns and adjectives. — In general, the plural of most nouns and adjectives is formed, as in English, by adding -s to the singular. The following are the most important exceptions to this general rule :
a: Nouns and adjectives ending in -s, -x, or -z remain unchanged in the plural.
le fils, the son les fils, the sons
le nez, the nose les nez, the noses
la voix, the voice les voix, the voices
heureux, happy heureux, happy
b. Nouns and adjectives ending in -au, -eu, 1 and a few nouns in -ou, add -x to form the plural.
le chapeau, the hat les chapeaux, the hats
le feu, the fire les feux, the fires
le chou, the cabbage les choux, the cabbages
beau, beautiful, fine beaux, beautiful, fine
c. Most nouns and adjectives ending in -al change -al to
-aux.
le cheval, the horse les chevaux, the horses
le journal, the newspaper les journaux, the newspapers
principal, principal principaux, principal
3. Possessive adjectives.2 — The masculine forms mon, ton, son replace the feminine forms ma, ta, sa when the following word begins with a vowel or mute h :
Mon autre plume est sur la chaise. My other pen is on the chair.
4. Interrogation. — There are several ways of expressing questions in French :
a. If the subject is a personal pronoun, interrogation is indicated by inverting the verb and pronoun : A-t-il vos livres 3 ? Has he your books ?
Note. Est-ce que may be used. In this case no inversion of verb and pronoun takes place :
Est-ce qu'il a vos livres? Has he your books?
1 Notice that the plural of the adjective bleu is bleus and that the plural of œil is yeux.
2 See Section 5 of the Appendix for a list of the possessive adjectives.
3 When the verb form ends in a vowel, -t- is placed between it and il, elle, on.
b. If the subject is a noun, the usual order is noun, verb, pronoun :
L'homme est-il à la porte? Is the man at the door?
Note. Est-ce que may be used as in a : Est-ce que l'homme est à la porte? Is the man at the door?
c. If the sentence contains the interrogative où, quand, etc.,
we may have the following forms :
Où est votre livre ? ]
Votre livre où est-il ? } Where is your book ?
Où est-ce que votre livre est? J
d. Est-ce que may be used with all forms of the verb and is
generally obligatory with the first singular :
Est-ce que je chante? (Not chante-je xl) Do I sing? Est-ce que je perds? (Not perds-je?) Do I lose?
5. Negation. — With verbs not or no are ne . . . pas. Notice carefully that the verb (in compound tenses, the auxiliary) is placed between these particles.
N'avez-vous pas son livre? Haven't you his book?
Est-ce que votre père n'est pas ici ? Isn't your father here ?
6. Regular verbs. — (A table and list of regular and irregular verbs is contained in the Appendix.)
a. Review the present indicative, imperfect, future, conditional, and corresponding compound tenses, of the auxiliary verbs avoir and être.
b. Study the above-mentioned tense forms of the following regular verbs, making use of the table of tense endings.
chanter, to sing bâtir, to build attendre, to wait (for)
donner, to give choisir, to choose entendre, to hear
jouer, to play finir, to finish perdre, to lose
laver, to wash mûrir, to ripen répondre, to reply
parler, to speak rougir, to blush vendre, to sell
1 The form chanté (chanté-je) is found in poetry.
IOO GRAMMAR, REVIEW
EXERCISE
(a) i . We are not waiting for your newspapers. 2 .. The young girls blushed when they spoke to the boy. 3. The men had heard the news of the fire. 4. Did I give the money to my other sister? 5. The merchant was selling the apples at twenty-five x cents a dozen. 6. My mother used to sing well.2 7. Wasn't the young boy playing in the yard ? 8. Mary would have washed the floor. 9. They will soon finish their lessons. 10. His cherries ripen in summer.3
(b) n. My mother would have sold the hats. 12. We sang at church Sunday. 13. The man sold the milk at ten cents a bottle. 14. Will the apples not ripen in autumn? 15. When they finish their dinner they always play. 16. She chose my other song. 17. He would have replied to Mary but she was speaking. 18. Has John's father heard the news ? 19. I shall wait for your brother. 20. She spoke to his father about4 the horses.
(c) 21. She had often played in our yard. 22. They would have finished their book. 23. Why didn't she play with the teacher's children ? 24. We were losing our friends. 25. Was I speaking to Mary about her brother ? 26. The generals will be here in a week. 27. I did not reply to your letter. 28. We had finished our plans. 29. When were you waiting for John? 30. We should have spoken to the other girls.
(d) 31. I had built my house in the country. 32. He was not playing in the sand with his dog. 33. Where was John's mother yesterday? 34. Had she lost her handkerchief? 35. He was blushing behind his book. 36. Where did our
1 See Section 1 of the Appendix for list of numerals.
2 If a continued, habitual, or customary past action is indicated, the imperfect indicative should be used in French.
3 In summer, en été ; in winter, en hiver ; in autumn, en automne ; but, in spring, au printemps. 4 de.
GRAMMAR REVIEW IOI
parents hear the noise? 37. I often speak to the merchant. 38. I did not hear the bell at school. 39. Did John finish the book ? 40. Would they have blushed at church ?
