In general negation
Nous n'avons pas de pommes. We haven't any apples. We have
no apples.
Il n'a jamais vu de neige. He never saw any snow.
Quoi! Pas de viande aujourd'hui? What! No meat to-day ? Il est venu sans avoir d'argent. He came without having any money.
2. When an adjective precedes the noun. This is likewise true when the noun is understood.1
Avez-vous de bon beurre? Have you any good butter?
Avait-il de bonnes chaussures? Did he have good shoes?
Il y a de bons livres et de mauvais. There are good books and bad ones.
Note. When the class described by the adjective is omitted, en is substituted.
Voilà des pommes. En avez-vous There are some apples. Have
des rouges ? you any red ones ?
J'en avais une, mais je l'ai mangée. / had one (of them), but I ate it.
3. After verbs requiring de before their complement, and in adjectival phrases formed with de, both forms are omitted.
Je pleure de joie. I am weeping with joy.
Elle tremble de froid. She is trembling from cold.
H couvre la boîte de paille. He covers the box with straw.
Je remplis la bouteille d'eau. / fill the bottle with water.
II mange de bon appétit. He eats with a good appetite.
Un chapeau de paille. A straw hat.
41. Irregular verbs. — Study the irregular verbs ouvrir, to open; couvrir, to cover; offrir, to offer; souffrir, to suffer; découvrir, to discover. These verbs all follow the same model for their conjugation.
1 The article is not omitted when the adjective and noun form a real compound.
Des grands-pères ; des petits pois. Grandfathers ; green peas.
EXERCISE
(a) 1. I should not have sold her any if she had not come. 2. She went away when she had eaten mine. 3. My mother suffered very much when she fell. 4. I was covering the plants with old newspapers. 5. Why don't you open that door for your sister? 6. There are some red apples and some green ones on the table. 7. That old farmer always brought us good butter. 8. Let us eat all the apples that we have. 9. Write me several long letters when you are in the country. 10. How much did the man offer for your house ?
{b) n. As soon as she entered she went upstairs to see her mother. She was weeping with joy. 12. He had discovered a little bird at his window. 13. She placed some meat and potatoes on my plate. 14. Is there any ice on the lake now? 15. There wasn't any this morning when I visited it with the other boys. 16. My mother bought some vegetables at the market early this morning. 1 7. Mary had discovered- ink on the napkins that the laundress had brought. 18. John's sister had suffered during the night because she had cut her finger. 19. I was opening the book when a few pencils fell on the carpet. 20. She used to have good friends but they are dead now.
(c) 21. There was none when she arrived there. 22. I bought a few apples for your brother this morning. 23. Some one knocked at the door while I was in the kitchen. 24. Here is the straw hat that I offered to that poor man yesterday. 25. Would she have done it if he had not called her ? 26. There was snow in the woods during the whole summer. 27. He discovered a man behind the barn. 28. I always buy my shoes here because they are cheap. 29. John did not eat with a good appetite this morning. 30. Why do you come without having any money ?
(d) 31. She discovered that she had lost her handkerchief. 32. The clouds will soon cover the moon. 33. Buy some
oranges for Mary; she hasn't any. 34. Tell it to him when you find his things. 35. He offered me some but I already had three of them. 36. Send her some when you arrive in the country. 37. She suffered all the time when she was sick. 38. They had covered the hole with their hands. 39. Let us sell her some eggs ; she hasn't any. 40. They opened the window as soon as they heard you outside.
