LESSON XIII

Use of disjunctive pronouns. — May, can, could. — Use of chez. — Irregular verbs pouvoir, savoir

48. Use of disjunctive pronouns.1 — The disjunctive form of the pronoun is required whenever the personal pronoun is employed in an independent, emphatic, or loosely connected relation with the verb. The following are the most common uses of the disjunctive pronoun : 2

a. After prepositions.

sans moi, without me pour eux, for them

avec elle, with her contre lui, against him

b. As logical subject after ce + être.

C'est moi qui étais avec lui. It was I who was with him.

C'était elle qui appelait. It was she who was calling.

Ce sont eux qui l'ont fait. // is they who did it.

c. When the pronoun is used alone, i.e., neither as subject nor as object of a verb.

Qui a frappé ? Moi ! Who knocked ? I !

Qui a fait cela? Lui ! Who did that? He !

d. When the pronoun is used as part of a composite subject or object. (If a pronoun of the first person is used, the verb must be first person plural in form ; if no pronoun of the first person is used, but one of the second person, the verb must be second person plural ; if only pronouns of the third person are used, the verb must be in the third person plural.)

Vous et lui (vous) l'avez vu. You and he have seen it.

Il l'a donné à mon père et à moi. He gave it to my father and to me.

1 For complete list of disjunctive pronouns, see Section 30.

2 For the disjunctives moi, toi, after the imperative positive, see Section 32, b.

e. When the pronoun is to be emphasized.

Moi, je l'ai vu de mes propres yeux. / saw it with my own eyes.

Lui, il ne vient jamais avec son père. He never comes with his father.

49. May, can, could. — When translating may, can, could, be sure to change these into terms of to be able, and then, this form into the equivalent tenses of pouvoir: 7" could come, i.e., I should be able (conditional of to be able) to come, je pourrais venir; she could have come, i.e., she would have been able (conditional perfect of to be able) to come, elle aurait pu venir.

Sometimes can means know how. In this case the French use savoir :

Jean est jeune et ne sait pas écrire. John is young and cannot write.

But,

Je me suis cassé le doigt et ainsi I broke my finger and thus cannot

je ne peux pas écrire. {am not able to) write.

50. Use of chez. — This preposition usually has the meaning of at {to) the house (home) of, and is generally followed by a personal noun or disjunctive pronoun.1 Notice that the English with, used in the sense of at the house (home) of, is also translated by chez.

Elle visite chez sa tante. She is visiting at her aunt's.

Je vais chez le boulanger. / am going to the baker's.

Son frère demeure chez moi. His brother is living with me.

51. Irregular verbs. — Study the irregular verbs pouvoir, to be able, can, may; savoir, to know.2

1 The relative qui is also used after chez :

L'oncle chez qui je demeure. The uncle with whom I live.

2 Don't confuse savoir, to know, with connaître, to know, be acquainted with. Savoir is used with reference to ideas; connaître, generally with reference to persons.

Je sais que Jean est ici. / know that John is here.

Il connaissait mon père. He used to know my father.

EXERCISE

(a) i. He went to the tailor's with his cousin this morning. 2. The little boy had eaten so many that he became sick of them. 3. Don't you know that man ? We used to go to school together. 4. Here is the house that he bought for her. 5. John cannot swim yet ; he is too young. 6. She will know it when she arrives in the city. 7. In fact, he and his father are two of my best friends. 8. We should have known it, too, if we had been there. 9. My sister will send you the newspapers when she comes back. 10. Write to me when you arrive at your home.

(b) 11. Why don't you do it for him? 12. She will not come without him and his sister. 13. Can you tell me where the doctor is? 14. I used to see her every day when she lived with her brother. 15. He ought to come in when he is called. 16. Could you do it without my help? 17. I lived at his home when I was young. 18. Don't speak .to her about it when she is singing. 19. He knew that I had struck him. 20. She knows how to row, but she does not do it very often.

(c) 21. She was living at her uncle's when she bought that hat. 22. She could have written him a letter if she had not been sick. 23. I used to know her when she went to school. 24. He ! Why it was I who said it ! 25. I speak French now but I could not when I was visiting at my friend's home. 26. We can go as soon as his father arrives. 27. It was the American soldiers who won the victory. 28. I should have gone if he had been there. 29. He would have gone away without l visiting her. 30. That tobacco does not smell good. Where did you buy it ?

1 With two exceptions, prepositions govern the present infinitive in French : pour le voir, to (in order to) see him ; sans lui parler, without speaking to him {her). However, en, like English on, governs the present participle : en l'entendant, on (upon, while, by, in, etc.) hearing it; en la voyant, on seeing her ; après governs the perfect infinitive : après l'avoir mangé, after eating it; après être venu, after coming.

(d) 31. I could have done it if my father had helped me a little. 32. He and his father traveled together in Germany. 33. It was we who knocked at the window. 34. She knows that

I didn't smoke very much when I went to school. 35. She and I made it when we were at home. 36. I told him yesterday that he could come. 37. He smelled an agreeable odor when he entered the kitchen. 38. They are the men who came while you were sleeping. 39. May he eat his dinner now to go to school early? 40. She could run like a boy when she was younger.