LEY /ERSirv OF CAUHORNIA '.-e. E:'-fY OF riFORNIA ^ ■ " ^ FRENCH GRAMMAR, OR, PLAIN INSTRUCTIONS LEARNING OF FRENCH. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS. A NE1V EDITION. BY WIIiIiIAM COBBETT. PRIXTED BY B. BENSLEY, ANDOVER, AND 1»UBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 183, FLEET STREET, LONDON ; AND SOLD BT ALL BOOKSELLERS. Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2007 witin funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/frenchgrammarorpOOcobbrich CONTENTS. The references in this Table of Contents are made to paragraphs and not to pages; and, it will be observed, tliat each Letter is referred to under the number of the paragraph, witli which sicch letter begins. Letter Paragra^'h I. Of the utility of learning French . 1 II. Of the way of going to work and of proceeding in the learning of French \) III. Of language and of grammar generally, and of the dif- ferent branches, or divisions, of grammar ... 20 IV. Etymology generally. The different parts of speech, the different sorts' of words 29 V. Etymology of Articles ' 44 VI. Etymology of Nouns '- 51 Nouns considered as Proper and Com - ' mon 53 The Genders of Nouns 54 The Numbei's of Nouns 6*6 The Articles as affecting Nouns . . 77 to 86 VII. Etymology of Pronouns 87 Personal Pronouns . <^y Possessive Pronouns i>4 Relative Pronouns y(> Demonstrative Pronouns I>H Indeterminate Pronouns 99 VIII. Etymology of Adjectives ' ... 101 Their Genders .103 Their Numbers 107 Their Degrees of Comparison . . . . 109 IX. Etymology of Verbs 112 The Persons 114 The Times 115 The Modes 116' The Participle 117 Conjugation of the verb TuER . . . 119 Verb Avoir conjugated and explained . 125 Verb Etre conjugated and explained . ib. Reflected verbs explained 128 Com.pound times with Etre and not Avoir l.?2 Impersonal Verbs 136 heiter Paragraph X. Etymology of Adverbs 142 XI. Etymology of Prepositio ns 152 XII. Etymology of Conjunctions 162 XIII. On Parsing 168 Collection of sentences to parse, marked from A to Z. 173 XIV. The Tasks .'. . . 174 Mode of learning the Genders of the Nouns . . • . 180 Conjugation of the Regular Verbs .* 185 Card (or Table) exhibiting a conjugation of the Re- gular Verbs 245 Card (or Table) exhibiting a conjugation of the Irre- gular Verbs ib. XV. Syntax generally considered 246 XVI. Of the Points and Marks used in writing ..... 250 XVII. Syntax of Articles^ . . . • 255 XVIII. Syntax of Nouns ^ .282 XIX. Syntax of Pronouns .288 Personal Pronouns 290 Possessive Pronouns 306 Relative Pronouns 310 Demonstralive Pronouns 317 Indeterminate Pronouns ....... 322 XX. Syntax of Negatives, and of Interrogatives .... 336 XXI. Syntax of Impersonal Verbs 350 of II Y A 352 t)f II est, or c'est 356 of II faut 362 of IL FAIT 369 of Valoir mieux * 370 XXII. Syntax of Adjectives 371 XXIII. Syntax of Verbs 379 The Number and Person 382 The Times 387 The Modes .409 The Participles 436 XXIV. Syntax of Vouloir, Pouvoir, and Devoir .... 444 ofVouLoiR 446 ofPouvoiR 447 of Devoir 448 XXV. Syntax of Adverbs 449 XXVI. Syntax of Prepositions 453 XXVII. Syntax of Conjunctions 455 XXVIf I. Translation of the twenty Exercises 456 A FRENCH GRAMMAR- TO Mr. RICHARD COBBETT. LETTER L OF THE UTILITY OF LEARNING FRENCH. My dear little Son, 1. Before we set about learning any thi|ig, be it what it may, it is right that we ascertain the thing to be such as is likely to be useful to us 3 and it is but reasonable that the usefulness should, in point of magnitude, bear a just proportion to the expense, whether of money or of time, demanded by the task which we are going to encounter. If I did not think the French language a thing of this cha- racter, I certainly should not wish you to learn it. But a very little reflection will convince you, that it is a branch of learning, which, in the present age, stands, in the scale; of importance, next after that of our native language. 2. It would be tedious, my dear Richard, to enumerate all the reasons for learning French ; but, when I tell you, that the laws of England were, for several centuries, written and administered in French -, that some of the present statutes stand in that language ; that a great part of the law terms in use at this day, are alsoFrench 3 were B OF THE UTILITY [LeTTER I to tell you only this, you would, I hope, see a motive more than sufficient to induce you to undertake the learn- ing of this language ; especially when you find that I have done all in my power to render the undertaking easy and pleasant, 3. There are, however, many other motives of equal, and some, perhaps, of greater weight. The French lan- guage is the language of all the courts of Europe. The cause of this is of no consequence : the fact is all that we have to do with here y and that is undeniable. Then ob- serve, that, though each of the great nations of Europe generally insists that the treaties, to which it is a party, shall be in its own language, or in Latin ; yet, the French is, in spite of all the efforts that have been made to pre- vent it, the universal language of negociations. Few, in- deed, comparatively speaking, are the persons employed in this way; but, the instances, in which, for purposes connected with war or with foreign commerce, it is neces- sary to be master of the French language, are by no means few, or of little importance. 4. In the carrying on of trade, and in the affairs of merchants, it is frequently absolutely necessary to be able to speak and to write French. A young man, whether in trade of wholesale or of retail, and especially in the count- ing-house of a merchant, is worth a great deal more when he possesses the French language than when he does not. To travel on the continent of Europe without being able to speak French is to be, during such travelling, a sort of Deaf and Dumb person. Humiliation and mortification greater than this it is hardly possible to imagine ; and these will be by no means diminished by the reflection^ l^at we owe them to our own want of attention and in- dustry. L] OF LEARNING FliENCH. 5. Though many of the French hooks are translated into English, the far greater part are not j and, in every branch of knowledge, great indeed is the number of those books which it may be useful to read. But, were there only the pain arising from the want of a knowledge of French, when^we fall into a company, where we hear one of our own nation conversing with a Frenchman, this alone ought to be more than sufficient to urge a young person on to the study. I remember a young lady, in Long Island, who had been out on a visit to a house where one of the company happened to be a French lady who could not speak English, and where a young American lady had been interpretress between this foreigner and the rest of the company 5 and I shall never forget the manner in which the first mentioned young lady expressed the sense of her humiliation : " I never, before," said she, '* in all '* my life, felt enmj : but, there was Miss , first turning '* to the right and then to the left, and, at each turn, " changing her language; and there sat I like a post, '' feeling myself more her inferior than I can describe." 6. It is really thus. This talent gives, in such cases, not only an air of superiority, but also a reasonable and just claim to real superiority 3 because it must be manifest to every one, that it is the effect of attention and of in- dustry as well as of good natural capacity of mind. It is not a thing like dancing or singing, perfection in the former of which is most likely to arise from an accidental pliancy of the limbs, and in the latter, from an organiza- tion of the throat and lungs, not less accidental : it is not a thing of this sort, but a thing, the possession of which necessiirily implies considerable powers of min^l, and a; meritorious application of those powers. Besides these, considerations, there is this : that by learning French well: you will really become uiore thoroughly acquainted with OF THE UTILITY [LeTTER your own language. If Dr. Johnson had known the French language, he could not have scarcely committed any of those numerous blunders (relating to words from the French) which are contained in his Dictionary, and of which I will here give you a specimen. He has this pas- sage : *^ Rabbet : a joint made by paring two pieces of '^ wood, so that they wrap over one another." Then, the verb, he has thus : '* To rabbet : to pare down two pieces '' of wood so as to fit one another." The Doctor meant " to make them fit one another." But to our point : The Doctor says, that to rabbet comes from the French verb rabbatre, which means to hate, or abate, to bring down. So, says the Doctor, to rabbet comes from rabbatre -^ for, the wood is brought down by the carpenter's tool ! What ! Doctor ? to hate, abate, the wood ! This is far-fetched indeed. Now, if the Doctor had known French only tole- rably well, he would have known that rabot is a car- penter's plane ; that raboter is to plane wood with a carpen- ter's plane -, and that boards fitted together by means of the plane, and not by means of the saw, the chisel, or other tools, are boards rabotds, or, in English raboted. How plain is all this ! And how clear it is that we have here got a piece of nonsense in our language, because Dr. Johnson did not know French ! 7. Having now spoken of the motives to the learning of French, I shall, in the next Letter, speak of the way to go to work, and how to proceed in order to accom|)lish the ©bject. Before, however, I proceed further, let me ex- plain to you the meaning of the numerical figures which I have used here, from 1 to 7- Each of the portions of writing, distinguished by these figures respectively, is called a paragraph ; and, as you, in the course of the let- ters that I am addressing to you, will find yourself fre- quently directed to look at parts of them, other than the I.] OF LEARNING FRENCH. part which you are then reading, you will more quickly find the thing which you want, by being referred to the paragraph, than you would, if you were referred to the page, S, The hope which I entertain of seeing you write^ and of hearing you speak French correctly is, I am sure, equalled by the desire which you have not to disappoint that hope. My dear little son, I beg you to remember, that to succeed in an undertaking like this requires great iassiduity and perseverance ; but, remember also, that nothing is justly gained without labour of some sort or other; and, bear constantly in mind, that, in proportion to your increase in knowledge and talent, will be the in- crease of the satisfaction of your affectionate father, WILLIAM COBBETT. Kensington, \7th June 1824. LETTER II. ON THE WAY OF GOING TO WORK AND OP PROCEEDING IN THE LEARNING OP FRENCH My dear Richard, 9. It is not sufficient that the thing we seek to gain is useful in its nature -, nor is it sufficient, that, in addition to this, we are assiduous and persevering in the pursuit of it : we must go the right way to work, set out and go on in the right path ; or our labour, if nofe wholly lost, will be, in great part, at least, spent in vain* 10. Parents innumerable well know, that young people of good capacity frequently spend year after year in what is called learning French ; and that, at the end of the time, they really know very little of the matter. Out of a thou- sand of those who are usually, at the schools, denominated '^ French Scholars,'' there are, perhaps, not twenty who ever become able to write a letter or to hold a conversa- tion in French. How did it happen, then, that I, who had every disadvantage to make head against ^ who began to study French in the woods of North America, in 1791 j who crossed the Atlantic ocean twice between that year and 1793 3 how did it happen, that I, who had never had a master to'assist me but one single month in 1792, should in 1793, write and publish, in the French language, a Grammar for the teaching of French people English y which Grammar, first published at Philadelphia, found its way to France, and has long been, for the purpose for which it was intended, in general use throughout all the countries of Europe i ON THE WAY OF PROCEEDING, . &C. 11. True, I was very assiduous, very persevering (as I trust, you will be), and I had also good natural capacity ; but, my firm belief is, that, in these respects, I did not exceed any one of thousands upon thousands, who, after years of expense to their parents and of torment to them- selves, give up the pursuit in disgust, from perceiving that they have really learnt nothing that is worthy of being called French. Nor is this result at all surprising, when we come to look into the books called *' French Gram- marsy^ where we find such a mass of confusion, that the wonder is, not that so few persons learn Frenchj but that it is ever learned by any one at all. 1^. I found it necessary to make a sort of Grammar foi: myself 3 to write down the principles and rules as I went on ; to pick my way along by means of the Dictionary ; to g^t over the difficulties by mere dint of labour. When I afterwards came to teach the English language to French people in Philadelphia, I found that none of the Grammars, then to be had, were of much use to me. I found them so defective, that I wrote down instructions and gave them to my scholars in manuscript. At the end of a few months, this became too troublesome 3 and these manuscript-in- structions assumed the shape of a Grammar in print, the €opy-right of which I sold to Thomas Bradford, a book- seller of Philadelphia, for a hundred dollars, or, twenty two pounds, eleven shillings and sixpence j which Gram- mar, under the title of MaUre dt Anglois is, as I have just observed, now in general use all over Europe. 13. The great fault of all the French Grammars, that I have met with, is that which, as Mr. TuU tells us. Lord Bacon found in the books on farming and gardening 5 namely that they contain no principles : or, in other words, that they give us no reasons for our doing that which they ON THE WAY OF PROCEEDING [LeTTER tell US we must do. Indeed, these Grammars are^, as far as my observation has gone, little more than masses of rules of vocabularies, and of tables ; things heaped toge- ther, apparently, for the express purpose of loading the memory and of creating disgust. These Grammars take the scholar into the subject without any preparation j they give liim no clear description, or account, of the thing which he is going to learn -, their manner of going from one topic to another, is so abrupt, that all is unconnected in the mind of the scholar ; they seldom, or ever, give him any reason for any thing that he is instructed to do -, they never explain to him that which be does not under- stand by that which he does understand ; and, in short, they are of very little use to either master or scholar. 14. In the Grammar, which I am now writing for you, I shall endeavour to make the undertaking as little weari- some as possible. But, even here, I should observe to you, that a foreign langu-age is a thing not to be learned with- out labour, and a great deal of labour, too. It is a valu- able acquisition -, and there must be value given for it. It is a thing to be purchased only with labour, and the greater part of that labour must be performed by the scholar. 15. I have to perform the double task of teaching you Grammar, and of teaching you French. If you knew your own language grammatically, the undertaking would be much easier for me and much easier for you 5 but, let it be remembered, that, in proportion to the greatness of the difficulty is the merit which justice awards to success. I have adopted the epistolary form,'' that is, I write in the form of Letters t for the sake oi plainness, and, at the same time, for the sake of obtaining and securing your attention. We are naturally more attentive to that which is addressed /a us, than we are to that which reaches our ear or our II.] IS THE LEARNING OP FREKCH. -eye as mere unpointed observation. You do not yet know what it is that grammarians call impersonal verbs ; but, in giving instructions, the impersonal mode of speaking must be less forcible as well as less clear than the personal* •f^ Vou must take care," is a very different thing from f^ <:are must be taken f' or, it has, at any rate, a very dif- ferent effect upon the reader. 16. The manner in which I propose to proceed in the teaching of you, is this : First, I shall, in Letter III., ex- plain to you what Grammar is, what is the meaning of the word. I shall, then, in Letter IV., teach you what are the different parts of speech, or sorts of words. I shall treat of the nature and use of each of these so.rts of words, or parts of speech ; and^ at every stage, 1 shall show you, in the plainest manner that I am able, the difference between your own language and the French language : for, this it is that you want to learn 3 to be able to say in the latter that which you are able to say in the former. That part of Grammar, which distinguishes one part of speech from another, which treats of the relationship of words, and which shows how, and under what circumstances, and for what purposes they change their form j this part of Gram- mar, is called Etymology. When, therefore, I shall, iii Letters from V. to XIL, inclusive, have gone through the Etymology of all the parts of speech, taking care to keep constantly before you the difference between the French and English languages, I shall in Letter XIII., give you some Exercises in order to fix firmly in your memory the nature and properties of each of the parts of speech. I shall next go to the Syntax, or the putting of words into sentences. But, before I do this, I shall stop you a little to learn the Genders of Nouns, and the Conjugations of Verbs. To introduce this great mass of matter at an earlier period would cause such great interruptions, that your B 5 0N TEtE WAY or PKOCEfiDING, [Let^JEB gtudy of Etymology would be broken into parcels, sepa- rated by chasms much too wide. Yet this mass of matter must not be passed over : it must be encountered and mas- tered before you proceed to the Syntax, This matter will be the subject of Letter XIV. ; and, then, from Letter XV. to Letter XXVIII., both inclusive, I shall give you the Syntax ; or, as I described it before, that part of Gram- mar, which teaches us how to put words into sentences. Here also I shall take the parts of speech one by one, from the Article to the Conjunction ; and, at the end of my observations and rules relative to each, I shall give you an Exercise j that is to say, a list or sentences, each of which will contain some word, or words, bringing into practice the rules and instructions just given you. These Exercises will consist of English sentences to be put into French 5 for, as to putting French into English you will do that pretty well by the time that you get to Letter XIII. To put the English into French will be no easy matter 5 but, then, I shall lead you along so gradually, the sentences will be so short and so simple at first, and from the first exercise to the twentieth (for there will be twenty), I shall make the previous one so effectually smooth the way to its successor, that, I hope, you will find no difficul- ties that steady application will not quickly overcome. In the framing of these Exercises I have not (as most other grammarians have done) put part of the French under the English. In my Grammar (called the MaItre d'Anglois) I did this in compliance with fashion. But, experience has taught me, that the best way is, to give the English only, to let the scholar put the whole of the Frencii as well as he can, and then, that he may be able to see whether he have made good French or not, to give him a complete translation of each Exercise at the end of the Grammar. This is the method that I shall pursue. I shall avoid Notes and every other thing calculated to draw off, or to II.] IN THE LEARNING OF FRENCH. enfeeble, your attention. I shall not teaze you with Exceptions beyond what utility demands. I shall not call you oflF from a rule to read a note of half a page on exceptions relating to words which yoa might, perhaps, never see in use four times in your life. I shall leave these things to those persons who are fond of curiosities *, and shall be content to assist you in the acquiring of that which is useful. I shall, in the giving of my instructions, make use of the plainest language ; I shall endeavour to express myself in the clearest manner ; and shall avoid every thing which shall appear to me likely to bewilder you, or to make you weary. In short, I shall talk to you in the most familiar manner ; I shall give you reasons for doing that which I tell you ought to be done 3 I shall write you Letters that I hope you would not think very dull, though they were formed into a book merely to read through. 17. But, there is the speaking of French, It is some- thing, and a great deal, too, to be able to read French ; it is more to be able to translate it into English ; it is still more to be able to translate English into French : but, there is still the speaking of French, which is, as to this mat- ter, the great, general, practical, and desired talent. Mind, however, that, in the acquiring of this talent, this great accomplishment, you are got full nine-tenths of the way, when you have learned to translate (upon paper) English into French. I mean, of course, to translate well and with facility. When you have carried your acquisition thus far, there remains nothing but the sound, and it is quite surprizing how quickly the ear and the tongue do their part of the business. When, however, we reflect, the reasons are plain enough. It is sound ihtit is to be ac- quired ; and where we, take the day through, can possibly write one word, we hear and utter thousands. Still, to OP THE WAY OP PROCEEDING [LkTTER learn the sound you must hear itl To acquire a proper pronunciation of French (or of any foreign language) is absolutely impossible without practice j without hearing others speak, and without speaking to those who are able to correct you when you pronounce badly. Sounds admit not of being described upon paper. I shall, under the head of Prosody, in Letter III., prove to you that it is im- possible for any human being to give written rules that can be of any use in teaching you how to pronounce French words. But, though, in order to learn to speak French, you must have the assistance of a teacher, or must live among, or be a good deal among, those who speak that language, still, as I said before, the tagk is nine-tenths performed, when you have acquired all'that the Grammar will teach you. But, it is not necessary for you to go through the Grammar before you begin to learn to pronounce ; that is to say, if you have a teacher, or any one to instruct you in reading. You may, after you have got well into the grammar, be learning to pronounce words at the same time that you are learning the prin- ciples of the language. How you are to proceed in doing this, what you are to read, and other particulars relative to this matter, you will find mentioned in Letter IIL 18. ITie general error of those who attempt to leari^ French, is, that the moment they have begun to study, they want to get to reading FrQuoh. books, to translating and to speaking. And this is very natural, because it seems like having actually got possession of part of the tli-ing so anxiously sought after. But, this is going too fast : it is haste but not speed. The best way is to go patiently thro igh tho: grammar as far as the end of Letter XIIL before you attempt to read or to pronounce, even if you have a teacher. Your manner of proceeding ought to be II."] JN THE LEARNING OF FRENCIf* this : read Letter III ten times over, and then write it twice over. Go on thus to the end of Letter XIII. By the time that you have advanced thus far, which will be in about a month from the time that you begin, you will find that you have learned a great deal. You will begin to see your way through that, which, at the cutset, ap- peared to be utterly impenetrable. You will, therefore, have courage to proceed with the remaining Letters in the same way, reading ten times and writing down twice. But, here, you will have Exercises, 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 Syntax of Articles, you will translate the Exercise 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 XVII., 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 icrite French tolerably well. Very 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 without 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 -, or THE WAY OF PROCEEDING, &C, to ask people how they do, to talk of the weather, fo call for victuals and drink 3 but, this is not being a French scholar ; and, I hope that nothing short of merit- ing this appellation will satisfy you. I shall slur nothing over, I know what were the difficulties the most trou- blesome to me, 1 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 eflPort shall be wanting 3 and, let me hope, that none will be wanting on yours. LETTER III, OP 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 belong- ing 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 different Parts of Speech, or Sorts of Words. 23. But, before 1 enter on this matter, I must speak of the different Branches, or Divisions, of Grammar 3 for, v/e must approach our subject by degrees and ,in a re* gular manner, and clearly understand what we are talk- ing about, or we go on in vain. Grammar is usually di- OF GRAMMAR GENKRALLY. [LeTTER vided into four Branches, which are thus named : Ortho- graphy, Prosodij, Etymology, and Syntax. 24. ORTHOGRA'PflY means spelling, or word-mak- ing ; and the rules rehxting 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 difference be- tween 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 other 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 lettersj when they have to write the proper names of persons or places, which contain these letters ^ as Kings- ton, or Winchester ; 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. Li. R. r. B. b. J.j. S. s. C. c. L. 1. T. t. D. d. M. m. U. u. E. e. N. n. V. v. F.f. O. o. X. X. G. g. P.p. Y.y. H.b. Q.q. Z. z. Of these the a, e, i, o and w are Vowels, and also the y, -which the French call the y Grec, that is to say, Greek, III.] AND OF ITS BRANCHES OR DIVISIONS. 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 ce« dille to it, thus, 9; and then it is sounded like an English 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 reiison 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 a language as much as letters do. Some of those which I am going to give an account of here are used in both the 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 lavirgule; the colon (:), deux points ; the full point ( ), le point, Marks. The mark of interrogation (?) 5 that of ad- miration (!) ; that of parenthesis () 5 that of qito^ tation (") . All the other marks, such as, * t J § HIT, 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. OF GRAMMAR GENERALLY, [LeTTER The foregoing are common to both languages. Those which follow are not used in English, except the hyphen and the e/wiQW; and these are not used by us for purposes at all resembling those for which they are, in numerous cases, used by the French. Accents and Marks peculiar to the French. The hyphen (-), as in vient-il? (Is he coming r) The elision (*), as in ZVin c€st lui, and in thousands of instances. The cedilla, or cedilla, I have mentioned before. It is the tail to the c, thus, (f). The dialysis (•• ) called Tr^ma^ in French ^ it serves to part two vowels, which, joined together would form a Diphthong, Then there are the acute accent ('), the grave (e) and the circumflex accents (e). These last are things of great importance 5 for des and d£S are different words 3 so are a and Uj la and la, ou and ow, du and dd. 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 begin* ning of every sentence, set off by a 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. III.] AND OF ITS BRANCHES OR DIVISIONS. 25. PROSODY means neither more nor less than what is expressed hj 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 ; be- cause no one letter, no combination of letters, has any fxecl 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 dififerent. Indeed^ it is impossible to write rules that can be of any real use, relative to the sounds of letters. No man can describe, by writing, the different sounds of our th ; and when you are told that the word Francois ife to be pronounced Frawnsey, or nearly so, of what use is it to write you down the sounds of the o, the i, and the s ? When you are told, that the word parleroient is to be pronounced, parlerey, or as nearly as possible to that, what use can there be in giving you the sounds of the o, the i, the e, the n, and the t ? Again, perdreaux is pronounced ptardro. It is, therefore, worse than a waste of time to attempt to give written rules re- lative to the pronunciation of individual letters j 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 mean different things 3 and some of them have one sound in one sense, and another sound in another sense. In short, to speak French OF GRAMMAR GENERALLY, [LeTTER in a manner at all resembling that of French people, or, indeed, in a manner to be understood by them, you must karn from the mouth of some one or more, Avho can speak the language. In default of other assistance, there must be a teacher for this purpose. To understand what you read in French, and, of course, to translate from French into English 5 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 with- out a teacher, though not nearly so speedily as with one. But to speaky free from ludicrous impropriety, without the assistance of the speaking of others is absolutely impossible. You ought never, until you have been taught to pronounce, or except there be a teacher at your elbow, to attempt to pronounce a French word 5 for, having pro- nounced it viciously four or five times, it is hard 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 5 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 very 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 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 5 but, that as to speaking with any degree of propriety, it never can be acquired without the aid of the speaking of others. III.] AND OF ITS BRANCUES OR DIVISIONS. When, however, we come to speak 5 then we find all the advantages of what we have learned froni the grannimar j for then we know what words to use and how to place them 5 which, without 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 hav- ing the same opportunities of hearing French spoken . But, if the scholar have begun by pronouncing erroneously 5 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, pro- nounce better than the scholar; because he will never have been misled. The age at which we begin to pronounce, is not of so much importance as is beginning properly, when^ ever we do begin^ Some imagine that we can never speak French well, unless we begin when very young. This is not the fact 5 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 3 but, I really did speak the language tolerably well at the end of less than six months ; and I ascribe this to my not having at- tempted to pronounce until I had competent assistance. In paragraph 17, I told you that I should, in this place, give you some instructions how to proceed in learning to read French. There will be no necessity for my giving you any matter merely to read, and to learn to pronounce from 3 for, what can be so good for this purpose 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 Let- ter 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 OF GRAMMAR GENERALLY, &C. duly studying the principles and rules of which, the French hear so many English speaking broken French and we hear so nnany French speaking broken English. 28. I have now spoken to you of Language and of Grammar in general, and described to you the different Branches, or Divisions, of the latter. You will bear in mind, that we have nothing further to do with ORTHO-y GRAPHY, 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 circumstances, already fully men- tioned. We have now to enter on the study of Etymology,, which is, indeed, the most important part of our under- taking. Let me beg of you to proceed steadily on -, not to be in haste 5 not to be impatient : and, if you follow this advice, you will soon have reason to be proud, of what vou have learned. LETTER IV. ETYMOLOGY. THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH, OR SORTS OF WORDS. My dear Richard, 29. ETY^MOLOGY has been described to you in the foregoing Letter. It treats, as you have seen, of the re- lationship of words, of which you have seen an exannple 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 began to place them in rows or clumps. You will, by-and-by, see the use of this ; but, in the present Letter, I have to de- scribe to you these several different sorts of words, which grammarians call Parts of Speech, and which they name thus : ENGLISH. FRENCH. Articles, Articles, Nouns, Noms, Pronouns, Pronoms, Adjectives, Adjectifs, Verbs, Verbes, Adverbs, Adverbes, Prepositions, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Conjonctions, Interjections. Interjections. 30. These names are so much alike in both languages, that you will be apt to suppose, that the languages them- selves differ, throughout, very little from each other 5 but^ THE PARTS OF SPEECH, [LeTTER these are words taken from the more ancient into both these modern languages, whence comes the close resem- blance 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 5 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, ai^bre. The word tree is a noun, and the word arbre also. 31 > I shall, by-and-by, have to tell you things of this sort 5 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 : JoJin yov^ 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 how 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. ARTICLES. In English there are but two, namely, the, and a. Before a vowel, or an h mute, a be- comes an ; but, it is only another shape for the same word. There being, then, only the and a, no further ex- planation is necessary in order to distinguish our Articles from the other Parts of Speech. With the French, how- ever, the matter is not so easy ; for, though they have only two Articles, le and un, these and particularly the IV.] OR, SORTS OF WORDS. former, frequently change their form 3 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 dis- tinguish them from those other Parts of Speech. Articles are little words put before other words : as the stick, a horse -, in French, le b^ton, un cheval. 33. NOUNS;. The word noun means 7iame and nothing more. Every word that stands for, or that speaks to us of, any thing (alive or dead), that has a substance, such as we can see, is a noun : as man, tree, fire. Whence some grammariajis 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 any thing that has an existence, or being, is a noun 3 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 Pro- nouns stand for nouns. Thus he 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 3 but, 1 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 be- longing to it, which it is necessary for us to know. For instance : send me a blue coat. If I had no adjective c2 THE PARTS OF SPEECH, [LeTTER sentences : as Richard and William write ; but they 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 Latin words, which mean, something Jhrown between. The Interjections are, Oh ! Ah I 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 Fart 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 atten- tion, and has been mentioned by me only for the purpose of expressing my disapprobation of the conduct of those who have considered it a Part 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 know- ledge in perfection is a work of time, steady pursuit, and patience. Your understanding of what you have now read will, at first be confused ; and you will, at times, be reafdy to think, that you shall never succeed in your object. But, you must take heart, and remember what I said before, that nothing valuable can be 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 ac- cording to the labour that the meed is apportioned. IV.] OR, SORTS OF WORDS. 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 grey mare which ran swiftly in the field. The word the is an Article ; horse, mare, and field are Nouns } which is a Pronoun 3 ran is a Verb ; swiftly is an Adverb 5 in is a Preposition 5 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 part 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 3 s against Nouns, because they are also called Substantives ; adj. against Adjectives ; pro. against Pronouns 3 v. a. against Verbs Active 5 v. n. against Verbs Neuter 3 adv, against Adverbs 3 prep, against Prepositions 5 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 feminine; 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 3 namely, that what one would call the same word often belongs to two Parts of Speech. For instance, I record a deed. Here record is a Verb 3 but in, I put the deedupon 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 3 nor in- deed, 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. LETTER V. ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES. My dear Richard, 44. Before you enter on this Letter, look again at pa- ragraph 32. You there see, that, in our language, we have only two articles, a, and the. The first, sometimes, as you saw, becomes an ; but, it is still the same word, the difference in the spelling being merely for the pur- pose of harmony of sound. This is called the indefinite article, because a noun, when it has this article prefixed to it, only serves to point out the kind of person or thing .spoken of, without defining what person or what thing j 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 the iS; therefore^ called the definite article. 45. The use of our own articles is so well known to our- selves 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 as- sume 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 3 and they are used, of course, according to the principle stated in paragraph 44. 4^. The indefinite article un is, then, put before nouns ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES. which merely point out the hind of the person or thing spoken of; as, un livre, a book. But, here we begin to see the difference in the two languages 5 for^ every noun in French is either of the masculine or i\iQ feminine gender, and the article varies in its form, that is to say, in its spel- ling, to correspond with the gender of the noun to which it is prefixed. Un is the masculine, and une the feminine, of this indefinite article ; so that we must say un livre, a book 3 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, tyoo, three ; and this is the rea- son 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 assem- blage of letters, in their language ; but it is not the same in ours. Besides this, tlie un is sometimes a pronoun in like manner as our one is ; as, neither the one nor the other. In French, ni V\j^ ni t autre. But, here is a further vari- ation to agree with the number as well as with the gender of the nouns. If, in the example just given, we are speaking of Iwres, books, which are masculine, we say, ni Y un ni V autre; if of plumes, pens, which are feminine, we say, ni V UNE ni V autre ; if of parcels of books, we say, ni les UNS ni les autres 3 and, if of parcels of pens ni les unes ni les autres : while, you will observe, we have, in the use .of our 0716, no variations of this sort, unless, indeed, that we do sometimes say, good one^, bad ones, and the like. I am, here, got out of my subject 3 for, I am not now to talk 'c 5 ETYMOLOGY OF ARriCLBS. of adjectives and pronouns 3 but the French un, which answers to our article a. being sometimes an adjective and sometimes a pronoun, 1 was obliged to mention that cir- cumstance here. 48. Though the paragraph, which you have just read, anticipates a little ; though it does not, strictly speaking, belong to the etymology of articles, it may serve to prevent you from confounding this indefinite article with the adjec- tive or the pronoun, composed of the same letters. The 46th paragraph concludes the subject of the indefinite article 3 and, now we come to the definite article, which, 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 de- finite article takes, according to circumstances, all the following different forms : le, la, V , les, da, des, au, aux. In the four last forms the word is a compound ■; it is an ar- ticle 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 c} le, to the, in the singular, and dux means d 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 pre- sent 3 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 5 and this you will learn from the next Letter. LETTER VI. ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. My dear Richard, 51. In paragraph 33, I have described what 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 parapraph 26 (which you will now read again), that Etymology teaches us the prin- ciples and rules, according to which we are to var?/ the form, or spelling, of word^. 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 Pros- per 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 individuals of a kind J as, Man, City, Country, There are, indeed, many men named Richard, and there is a London and an Eng^ land in America ; but, these names are not applicable to all men, all cities, and all countries. 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 ETYMOIOGY [LeTTER simple as it appears, is a matter for you to attend to ; be- cause you will find, by-and-by, that the manner of using the other words, which are employed with Nouns, will de- pend 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 most of our CITIES, hut 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 3 but we always employ them at the beginning oi 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 mas- culine ; those of females are feminine ; and those of inani- mate 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 5 for, though we call a cock a he and a hen a she, we call ^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 dL female. We do, indeed, in a sort of figurative way, sometimes call -irrational animals hes : for mstance, when we are speaking of birds or beasts, as a race, and when we use the singular number instead of the plural 5 as, the lark sings well -, the horse is an useful ani- mal ; t' u is to say, larks sing well, horses are useful animals. Now, if we have, in this case, to use the pro- noun, W': -ery frequently say ; he (the lark) sings well ; he (the hcrse) is an useful animal. Some few birds and beasts a- : 'nsects, we, when we speak thus figuratively. VI.] OF NOUNS. call shes. But, neither being stirictly 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 mat- ter ! 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 SLve, in- deed 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 3 and table (table) feminine. This w^ould 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, tfie table 3 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, il 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 speak- ing oiwine, I must call it he (il) -, but if I am speaking of beer, I must call it she (elle). Now, then, how are we, when we are about to use a noun, to know whether it be masculine or feminine ? How are we to come at this knowledge ? In the Dictionary, as I observed in para- graph 42, you will find, against every Noun, either 5. m, ot s,f. The former means Substantive (or Noun) ■masculine, and the latter Substantive (or l^onn) feminine. And this, after all that Grammarians can do ; after all the rules that ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER 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 j la plume, ^' une plume." This is very good for those who already know the cases which deinand those different Articles re- spectively 5 but Monsieur Restaut does not tell others how they are to know it, which was the very thing that was wanted. Monsieur Restaut's rule for knowing the gender of Nouns is excellent for those who know the gender of Nouns, and quite useless to every body else. But, Monsieur Restaut was writing a Grammar of the French Language for the use oi 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 hundreds. The way which these rules point out for you to know the gen- der of a noun, is, by looking at the termination, or ending of it. Thus, for instance, one rule says, that nouns end- ing in ion are of the feminine gender j 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 VI.] CF NOUNS. there might be threescore 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 emute, 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 distinc- *' tive 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 mamj masculines as feminines with a final e mute. How, then, can the final e mute be the distinctwe 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? 5S. After this Monsieur de Levizac proceeds to lay down what he calls '' concise rules' for ascertaining the gender. These '' concise rules" occupy eig/i^ pages of print, and pre- sent 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'* Mons. de Levizac is compelled to leave all the nouns in final e mute to take their chance ! Mon- sieur Chambaud has twenty-four rules, each with excep- tions, and some with numerous exceptions j and, after all. ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER 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 Vae following f and then comes a list of about Jive hundred nouns, and even to these are to be added many which he says he has 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 3 but what must be accompanied with *' many exceptions, and the whole, of course^ would, per- ** haps, prove more perplexing, to beginners, than instruc- '' tive." Passing over the had English of Monsieur Porxy, I agree with him that the attempt to reduce the gender of the French Nouns to rules would be move perplexing than instructive ; and I so well remember, that the perplexity which I experienced from reading rules on this subject 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 wiemorz/, and requires no reflection, no reasoning, as in the case of distinguishing the Parts of Speech from each other. The subject is not, therefore, intricate 3 andthough it requires labour, this is rendered wearisome and disgusting only by the vain attempts to subject it to rules. VL] OF NOUNS. . 6*a. You are not to encounter the whole of this labour jjet ; 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 indispensable 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 a\\ females of the last. But if, as is observed in paragraph 54, the Noun relate to a living creature and do not express the aex, then the Noun, in French, is masculine or feminine, as it may happen. Thus, corbeau (raven) is masculine, and perdrix (par- tridge) is feminine j 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 order of nature ; but, it has no neuter gender. It makes every thing either a male or a female, as was ex^ plained 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 sentlnelle, a sentinel, Patrouille, the patrol. Garde, a guard of sol- diers, Majeste, majesty. Saint Michel, the feast of St. Michael. But, in fact, it is not the men, but their office or occupation, and ihe^ 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 ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER say, they are sometimes oi'one and sometimes of tbe other. They, like some words in English, sometimes mean one thing and sometim.es another. We, for instance, have jack, the name of aj^sh, and jack to roast with. The French have Uvre, a book, and livre, a pound - and, with them, the first of these is masculine, and the other femi- nine ; and, accordingly, we must say, le livre, in the first ease, 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 di- vided 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 1 had filled the first column, I began the next, and proceeded thus, till 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 Jr tide, either indefinite or definite, corresponding with that gender. It took me about teii days to do this 5 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 wdth 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. VI.] OF NOUNS. 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 3 and then I shall have again to give you some instructions on the subject. I have here beeii ex- plaining to you the nature of iho: 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 persons and things that are collected together 3 that is to say, 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 than one. The Noun has two Numbers accordingly ,- the one called the singular and the other the plural. This latter word means belonging to more. The singular 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 sin- gular. This is generally done, in English, by adding an s to the singular ; as day, days. And the very same is the ge- neral rule in French ; as chien, chiensJ\B\it, in both languages, there are some exceptions to this general rule. The ex- ceptions are not very numerous ; and may, with proper in- dustry, be soon pretty well fixed in the mind. InEnglish> when the singular Noun ends in ch,sh, s, or the master of other animals. The French say T/iowme. They adhere to the use of the article in every such case. We, generally, in speaking of kinds, which consist oi individuals , animate or inanimate, makeuse 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, les paniers sont utiles, les hibous attrappent 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 ap- ples are dear, the owls are numerous, this year. But, here we do not mean to speak of the whole of the kinds; but VI.] OF NOUNS. of the apples and of the owls that come somewhat within our observation or knowledge. The French make no distinc- tions of this sort : they always put the article. 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 ol the apples, just mentioned, sometimes use the article before these nouns expressing masses 3 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, /' amitie^ la honte, la colere. 84. Next, as to proper names. You have seen in pa- ragraph 53, what proper names or nouns are. Just read that paragraph over once more, before you go on further with this. Now, then, observe 3 we do not use articles before proper names of human beings, nor before proper names given to animals of any sort. We sometimes make use of a sort of poetic licence, 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 3 but, this is a mere licence, and has nothing to do with Grammar. But, the French use the article with the proper names of countries, and in many other instances, when we do not -, as you \^ill find more fully explained, when you come to the Sy^itaoo of Articles. 85. We now come to the noun, when used to express a part, a parcel, ov 2i quantity of persons, or things 5 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 3 give me some beer ; give me some ETYMOLOGV LLeTTER apples. But the French know nothing at all of the word some, used in this sense. Their word quelque answers to our some ; hvd, 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 bi^re. Give me some apples, Donnez-moi des pommes. That is to say, give me a part or quantity of the wine, and so on. But, observe, when there is an adjective that comes before the noun, the article is left out, and the pre- position de (of) only is used -, as. Give me some good wine, Donnez-moi de ban vin. Give me some good beer, Donnez-moi de bonne biere. Give me some good apples, Donnez-moi de boimes pommes. The reason is, you see, the adjective changes to agree with the noun in gender and number; and, therefore, the ar- ticle 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 3 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 hihvQ forte. Give me some ripe apples, Donnez-moi des pommes mures. That is to say, word for word : give me of the wine red ; give me of the beer strong ; give me of the apples ripe. And, strange as this seems to our ears, a Frenchman would not understand you if you were to say, Donnez-moi quelque rouge vin. Nay, if you were to say rouge vin, forte bih*e, and mures pommes, he would wonder what you meant. Yet, this is what you naturally would say, unless you were taught the principles and rules of Grammar. VI.] OF NOUNS. 86*. I have now gone through the Etymology of the JVou7i, I have considered it in its Branches, its Genders, its Numbers and its Cases 5 and I have, towards the close of this Letter, given an explanation of the use of the J^r^ tide, 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 at- tentively, all the foregoing Letters. LETTER VII. 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 b^ used j and this 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 Personal ; the Possessive ; the Relatiixi ; 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 5 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 Am." You see, then, that the pronoun which represents the per- son that speaks is in the first person j that which stands in the place of the name of the person who is spoken PLURAL. we, fiOUS. you, they, they, they. vous. Us. elks. ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS. 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 the French in this respect. SINGULAR. 1st Person, I, je. 2d Person, thou, ^m. 3d Person, Masculine, he il. *— Feminine, she, e//e. — Neuter . . it. Thus, you see, as was explaiped 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 thiey, 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 they are, but the French, in speaking of males^, say ils sont, and, of females, elles sont. 91. Besides the Number and Gender, there is the Case to be considered in these personal pronouns. In para- graphs, from 72 to 77 inclusive, I explained the nature of the cases ; and I there apprized you, that, when you D 5 ETYMOLOGY. [Letter came to the pronoun, yon would find, that it had dif^ fercnt endings, or, rather, that it assumed different forms, to accord with the different cases : as, /, me, he, him ; and so on. The following table will exhibit the difference between the English and the French, in this respect y but, there will still remain much to be explained. SINGULAR NUMBER. Nominative. Possessive. Objective. I, Je. of me, de moi. me. me, moi. thOMftU. of thee. de toi. thee. te, toi. he, iL of him, d€ lui. him. le, lui. she, elle. of her, d'elle. her. la, elle, lui it. of it. it. 1st Person • 2d Person 3d Person, Masculine, — Feminine, — I\ enter, . . Before we go to the Plural Number, we must pay a little attention to this table. You have been told about the num- bers and genders before j 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 and lui for our her. Now, sometimes the one of these is used and sometimes the lOther. When the one ought to be used, and when the other, 'the Syntax of Pronouns will teach you 5 but, let me just give you an example here. Donnez-wo^ 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 hhn 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^oxts of speech; or, rather, that, though containing the sa7ifie letters, they were, in different situations, different words. Example : Envoyez ici le messager que je/e recompense. That i^ send hither the messenger that I may reward him. Again ; Frenez la jument et mettez la dans la basse-cour. VII.] OF PRONOUXS. 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, ....... 2d Person, 3d Person, Masculine, — Feminine, — Neuter, we, nous. you, vous. they,ils, eux. they, elles. they. of Its, de nous. of you, /fe vous. of them,dVMT. of \hexa,d' elles. of them. us, nous. you, vous. them, les, leur, eux. them, lesy leur, elks- them. Here seems to be a pretty confusion ; for here is our they sometimes answered by ils,^then by eua?,sind both in the masculine. Then our them is sometimes les and some- times leur, in both genders 5 and then, it is eu^' 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 instance, 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 xnettez-les dans labasse-cour et donnez leur du foin. Put them 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 ETYMOLOGY [Letter out of your mind, as soon as possible, and learn to think, that it is right, that one language should differ thus from another. Remember also what I have said about the same letters not always making the same word. For in- stance, 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 3 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, tUy toi, te, an- swering to our thou and thee, 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 thoUy they say vous instead of tu. The same may be ob- served as to thy and thine, of which you will see more presently. 94. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. These do not in- deed take the place of nouns 5 but, as they come imme- diately 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 : 1st Person, 2d Person, 3d Person, Masculine, — Feminine, — Neuter. . . SINGULAR PERSON. my, motiyma, mes, thy, ton, fa, tes. his, so7t, sa, ses. her son, sa, ses. its. PLURAL PERSON. our, notre, nos. your, voire, vos. their, leur, leurs. their, leur, leurs. their. Here you see a great many changes of the French pro- -VII.] OP PROXOTJNS. 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 5 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 stated 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 wiM 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 mascu- line. 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, nm poule, my hen ; but, I must say, notre chien and notre poule. The same remark applies to voire and leur, your and their. 95. But, there are some of these possessive pronouns, which stand without the noun. They refer immediately to it indeed ; but they do not go directly before it, like the others. Such as ini7ie 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 ETYMOLOGY. [Letter before it. These, in French, take the article 5 and, in the above case, in answer to the question about the pen, I must answer, la mienne 5 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 tiens, 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 to 83 inclusive. Thus we say, du mien, de la mienne, des miens, des miennes, au mien, a la mienne, aua^ miens and aux miennes j and so on, throughout the whole of these pro- nouns, precisely as in the case of nouns, so amply ex- plained in the paragraphs just referred to. Once more, before I quit these possessive pronouns, let me again remind you, that whenever they express gender , it is the gender of the thing possessed ; and not the gender of the possessor. 96. RELATIVE PRONOUNS. The following pro- nouns 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, andj therefore, this appellation is given to these VII.] OF PRONOUNJS. pronouns which follow. The RelativeSy in English, are whOy which ^ that, and what, in some cases. fFho 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, qui. which, qui, que, lequel that, qui, que. what, quoi, que, quel. whose, de qui, dont. of whom, de qui, dont. whom, que, qui. This is not the place for me to go into a detail of the cases, when one of these is to be used, and when the other. That will be done when I come to the Syntax of Pronouns, after I shall have gone through the Etymology of Verbs ; for we must speak of these, when we are giving instructions for the proper use of the pronouns. It seems, atjfirst sight, that there must be great difficulty here. But you will find that all these difficulties gradually disappear 3 and, at last, you will wonder that they ever appeared to be difficulties. 97. None of the above pronouns, except quel and lequel, change their form to express number and gender. These two do it thus : MASCULINE. quel, quels, lequel, lesquels, FEMININE. quelle, quelles. 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, de quels. a quel, a quels, duquel, desquels. auquel, auxquels. de quelle, de quelles. a quelle, a quelles. de laquelle, desquelles. a laquelle, auxquelles. ETYMOLOGY. [Letter 98. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS are those which point out persons or things in contradistinction to others. Ours are this, these, that, those, and, sometimes what : as, this is the man whom I wanted to see j those are the books which I wish you to read. The French have one pronoun of this sort, from which all the rest ap- pear to come j and that is, ce, which, according to cir- cumstances, means, this or that. It becomes cet before a singular noun masculine, beginning with ^ vowel or an h mute ) cette before all feminine nouns in the singular ; and ces before all plural nouns of both genders. But, besides this, several other pronouns grow out of this one, and assume a great variety of forms to nt themselves for various situations and circumstances. The following table presents all these variations. Masculine. OII>HjL L.AK. Feminine, ce or cet, celui, celui-ci, celui-la, this, or that, he, or that this, that. PLUI cette, celle, ^ celle-ci, celle-lti, lAL. this, or that, she, or that, this, that. Masculine, Feminine. ces, ceux, ceux-ci, ceux-la, these, or those, those, these, those. ces, celles, celles-ci, celles-la, these, or those those, these, those. Besides these, there are ceci and cela ; ce is sometimes put before qui and que, making this that ; as, ce que vous dites; tlii8 thxit you say ; or, as we should express it, that which you say. All these pronouns take the preposition de and H before them occasionally 5 but, not the article. Observe, I beg you, the little words, ci and U (the latter with an accent to distinguish it from the article.) VII.] OF PRONOUNS. These you see, are added to some of these pronouns. Ci means here, and la 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 former admit of variation to answer the purposes of number and gender, and the two latter do not. 99. INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS make the last class of words of this Part of Speech, and, with my re- marks on them, I shall conclude my Letter on the Ety- mologer of Pronouns. Amongst the most important of the Indetermifiate 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 5 but this is not the French on^ nor is it congenial to our language. And^ then, when we say one's-selfy it is seldom in tlie way that the French use their se ; besides the se becomes soi, in many cases, and is a most prevalent and efficient word in the French language- Therefore I must not attempt to give you the English of these words here 5 but, request you to bear them in mind as things to be explained in the Syntax of Pronouns. I shall now give you a list of all the Indeterminate Pronouns ; and, you will see, that, though there are no variations in the form of the English pronouns of this class, it is far otherwise with those of the French. Some, indeed, you will find without variations of form ; but the greater part vary their form to express gender as well as number. LETTER VIII. ETYMOLOGY OF ADJECTIVES. My dear Richard, 101. Turn to paragraph 35 ^ for, there you will find my description of this part of speech. Having read that pa- ragraph, you will now learn the difference between our Adjectives and those of the French, and this difference you will find to be great indeed.. Our adjective is, in all its different situations, the sanae mform; that is, com- posed of the same letters, except where its form is changed to express degrees in the qualities, the properties, or the dimensions, of the nouns to which it is applied : as, ^ great man, a greater man, the greatest man. This is all that our adjectives change their form to accomplish. Some- times we mark these degrees of comparison by the help of the words more and most ; and we can always do it if we like : as di great man, a more great man, the most great man. This is not done generally, when our adjectives are words of one or two syllables 3 but, it is when they are longer words : as a deplorable event, a more deplor- able event, or a most deplorable event. In this respect, the French language is still more simple than ours ; for, it, almost always, marks the degrees of comparison in this way : as, un grand homme (a great man), un plus grand homme, le plus grand homme. There are a few words of very common use with regard to'which this rule is not followed 5 but, what I have to say further about the de- grees of comparison, I must put off, 'till I have spoken of the genders and numbers of Adjectives. ETYMOLOGY OF ADJECTIVES. 102. In paragraph 55, I opened this subject 5 and you Avill do well to read that paragraph again, together with the two following ones. Indeed, it is necessary to read them, as they belong to what I am now writmg. Thus, you see that, while our adjectives have no changes of form, except to express the degrees of comparison, no French adjective can be used with propriety (except by mere accident) un- less we know how to change its form to make it agree in gender and number with the noun to which it relates. Here is another, and a very great matter, wholly unknown to our language. Our word white, for instance, is always white, whether applied to paper, to skin, or to one paper or two papers, or one skin or two skins. Not so the French word ', that is, papier Mane, peau blanche, papiers blancs, peaux blanches. Now, then, let us see, what assistance we can get from rules, to enable us to perform this very important part of the business of speaking and writing French. For, mind, errors in this are essential. It will seem strange to you, but, it is a fact,'that, if you w^ere to say, papier blanche, or peau blanc, a Frenchman would scarcely understand you. Odd as it appears to us, that the Article, the Pronoun, and the Adjective must all agree in gender Avith the noun -, useless as this appears to us, it must take place in French, or the words that you would utter would be more broken and ridiculous gibberish than ever a French man uttered when only just beginning to make an attempt to speak English. 103. It being, then, absolutely necessary that we know how to vfiry the adjectives, so as to make them agree in gender and number with their nouns, let me now speak to you of the rules for this purpose, beginning with those which relate to the genders. 104. This is by no means so difficult a matter as the ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER gender of nouns. In the case of the adjectives, we get at something worthy of being called rule ; whereas, in that of the nouns, we only teaze and torment ourselves, and add greatly to our toil, by endeavours to find out rules to ease us of our labour. The Adjective, in its primitive state, as, grand (great) is always applicable to the noun of the mas- culine gender and singular number. What we want to know, therefore, is, how to change its form so as to make , it of i\\Q feminine gender. By looking into the Dictionary for the French word to answer to our word pretty, we find joli. This tells us that, as homme is unany we may s>?iyjoli homme. But, it must not he joli before femme, woman j and we want to know what it must be. The large Dic- tionary will, indeed, tell us 5 but, we cannot always have this in our hands : therefore, we seek for rules 3 and, in this case, we shall tind them convenient and easy. 105. The feminine form is given to the Adjective by making some addition, or change, in the ending of it 5 as, petit (Wtile), petite ; or, as, bas (low), basse. Our rules, therefore, must be founded on the ending of the primitive adjective; and, they are as follows. First Rule. All Adjectives that end with an e mute are of both genders. They do not change their form on ac- count of gender 3 as un homme sage, une femme sage : a wise man, a wise woman. Skcond Rule. Now, generally speaking, the others only add an e mute to form their feminines ; as irnperti- nent, impertinente. And, observe, this is invariably the case with all adjectives ending with vowels ; except beni, blessed, ^mXfavori, favourite. These make in their femi- nine, benite and favourite. VIIL] OF ADJECTIVES. Third Rule. Adjectives ending in /, change the/ into ve ; as, positif, positive. Fourth Rule. Adjectives ending in c, change the c into die ; as, blanc, blanche. There are four ex- ceptions to this rule, public, Grec, Turc, caduc, which change the G into que ; as, public, publique. Fifth Rule. Adjectives ending in n, with an o or ie before the », add ne ; as, boUy bonne ; but, if there be not an o or ie before the», the adjectives ending in n follow the second rule; that is to say, they add an e mute ; as, fin, fine. Sixth Rule. Adjectives ending in I, with e, o, m, or ei; before it, add Ie ; as cruel, cruelle. But, if the final I be not preceded by one of these vowels, or by ei, the adjectives ending in / follow the general rule, and simply take an e mute in addition ; as, fuiily futile. One exception there is, however, in gentil, which makes g entitle . Sevjsnth Rule. Adjectives ending in t, with e or a before it, generally add te ; as net, nette. But, this is not without exception, for, secret becomes secrete, which is the case with some others. Eighth Rule. Adjectives ending in eur or eux, change them into euse ; as, moqueur (sneering), moqueuse ; religieux (religious), religieuse. But, of the adjectives ending in eur, the following are exceptions to this rule, and follow the second rule ; that is to say, add an e* ETYM0L3GY [L Masc. Fern. anterior, anterieur, anterieure. posterior, posterieur, posterieure, citerior. citerieur, citerieure. ulterior, ulterieur, ulterieure. interior, interieur, interieure. exterior, exterieur, exterienre. major. majeur. majeure. minor. mineur, mineure. superior. superieur? sup^rieure. inferior, inferieur, inferieure- better, meilleur, meilleure. [Letter The following can be brought under no rule. They are few in number -, they are words of very common use, and their manner of forming their feminines, may be quickly learned. Masc. soft, mou, foolish, foa, fine. beau, new, nouveau false, faux, Jong, long. sweet, doux. reddish. roux, fresh, 1 frais. benignant, benin, malignant, malin, jealous, jaloux, green, verd. Ftm. molle. foUe. belle, nouvelle. fausse. longue. douce, rousse. fraiche. benigne. raaligne. jalouse. verte. It is to be observed, that heau was formerly written hel; iind vve now say, hel homme, hel esprit ; and hel et hon (handsome and good), is a common phrase. Nouveau was formerly written nouvel ; and, there may be a case or two in which it is still used in this form. But th ese are trifling, and, indeed, almost insignificant exceptions. And to make exceptions, unless they be of importance, is to cause a great waste of time. 106. If these rules be properly attended to, there can be VIII.] OF ADJECTIVES. few mistakes as to the gender of adjectives, which, you will bear in mind, depends, in all cases, upon the gender of the nouns to which they belong. 107. As to the Number, adjectives form their plurals from their singulars in the same manner that nouns d^, and that manner is described fully in paragraph 68, to which you must now go back. Read that whole paragraph again very carefully, and apply to the adjectives what you there find in the five rules relating to the numbers of nouns. The adjective is to agree with its noun in number ; as, un grand homme, a great man 3 deux grands hommes, two great men. Having, then, the number of the noun, you use the singular, or the plural, of the adjective according- ly ; and, again I observe, you are to form the plural from the singular according to the five rules in paragraph 68, which apply to adjectives as well as to nouns, and which, therefore, it is wholly unnecessary to repeat here. 108. There are about twenty adjectives ending in al, which, like some nouns, have no plural number, except in a particular instance or two ; but, a detail of these is un- necessary here 5 because the manner of using them will be amply taught, by-and-by, in the course of the Exercises. This is one of those matters on which a great deal of time might be employed with great ingenuity, but with very little profit. 109. There now remains to be noticed the manner of forming the degrees of comparison, mentioned before in paragraph 101. It was there observed, that the French, instead of changing, so frequently, as we do, the endings of the adjectives to denote degrees in the qualities and properties of dimensions of the nouns, make use almost always, as we do sometimes, of plus and /e plus, answering ' ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER to our more and the most Suppose we be speaking of a pre^ ^2/ garden, the degrees would be formed thus : pretty, i prettier, I prettiest, joli, I plusjoli, I leplusjoli. This is almost the invariable rule in French. But, observe that the le becomes la if the noun be a feminine ; so that, if, with tjiis same adjective, we were speaking of a flower , which is feminine, the words must stand thus : pretty, I prettier, j prettiest, jolie, I plus jolie, I la plus jolie, 1 10. There needs nothing further to be said on a mat- ter so plain. But, there are a few French adjectives, which are irregular in this respect. We have, in our language, a few such -, as good, which does not make gooder and goodest, but better and best. We have besides, bad, little, much, which are also irregular. The French have only four adjectives of this description 5 and these answer, in point of meaning, to the first three of ours. They are, bon, good ; mauvais, bad ; mechant, wicked 3 and petit, little. Their degrees are formed thus : bon, meilleur, le meilleur, good, better. the best. mauvais. pire, le pire. bad, worse, the worst. mechant, pire. le pire. wicked. wickeder, wickedest. petit, moindre. le moindre, little. less, the least. Observe, however, that all these, except the first, fre- quently form their degrees by the aid of plus and le plus. Plus mauvais, plus mechant, and plus petit, are proper enough } and even plus bon is not absolutely bad French. Still, the above is the usual mode of forming the degrees of VIII.] OF ADJECTIVES. these adjectives^ which form the only exceptions to the general rule. . 111. There are^ as you will see by-and-by,some of the Adverbs, which have degrees of comparison ; but, that is a trifling matter ; and, at any rate, it does not belong to that part of speech, the Etymology of which has been the subject of this Letter. There is much to attend to in plac- ing the adjective* ; for, it must sometimes come before, and sometimes after the noun. But, this is matter for the Syntax of Adjectives. The great thing belonging to adjectives, is, the gender. The number must be attended to also 3 but we are most apt to commit mistakes in regard to the genders. We, English, are very apt to look upon these genders of adjectives as being useless. This is,[as you will find, a great error. They not only give to the language a pleasing variety of sound 5 but, in many cases, they tend to prevent sentences from bein^ equivocal. E 2 LETTER IX. ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS. My dear Richard, 112. In paragraph 36, 1 explained to you what sort of words Verbs are. You must now read that paragraph again with great attention. Having done that, you will enter on an inquiry 'into the variations of form, to which words of this sort are liable ; and you will find, that, in French, these variations are upwards of thirty in number, while in English, they are only four. The verb to kill, for instance^ becomes, kill^$t, kills, killed, or killing. This verb can take no other than one of these forms , but, the French verb, ^Mer,^which answers to our verb kill, does, as you will see by-and-by, assume more than thirty different forms ; that is to say, is composed, under so many differ- ent circumstances, of different letters. 113. Now, the Etymology of verbs teaches us when one of these forms is to be used, and when another ; and this, thore being so many different forme, must evidently be a matter of great importance. In order to know what form the verb is to be in ; that is to say, what letters it is to be composed of, we must first learn something about the dif- ferent circumstances in which verbs may be placed ; be- cause, as I have just observed, the verb changes its form to accommodate itself to those different circumstances. These circumstances are. Person, Time, and Mode, Verbs are distinguished as active or neuter ; but, that is another mat- ter, and is to be treated of further on. At present we ETYMOLOGY OP VERBS. have to do with the three circumstances just mentioned 5 because on them depend all the changes in the form of the verb. 114. As to PERSON, you have, in the last Letter but one, had the distinction about the persons fully explained to you ; but you will do well now to read paragraphs 89 and 90 again. I am to speak of the Modes by-and-by 5 but, I must here anticipate a little. There are foui^ modes : the Infinitive y the Indicative, the Subjunctive, and the Im- perative. The distinctions will appear more clearly here- after ; but, it is necessary to say here, that the Infinitive Mode exhibits the verb in its primitive and unrestricted sense ; as, to kill. In this Mode it is a sort of Noun in point of grammar 5 as, to kill a man unlawfully is mur- der ; to kill geese gives us feathers. This is called the Infinitive Mode, because when used in this Mode, ormarv- ner, the verb is in its large and general sense, and not con- fined to person or time. But, that which induces me to in- troduce this matter here, is, to show you, before we ent€r into a comparison of the two languages with respect to verbs, the difference between an English anda Frentjh verb in this their primitive, or original, form. Our verb, in this state, has the word to always with it and belonging to it. The French verb has no such thing. It is complete in it- self; and, accordingly, /wer means to kill. Bearing this in mind we will now proceed to consider the circumstance of Person. The verb must agree in person with the noun or pronoun. For instance, I say, I kill) but, I must say, thou killest, and he kills. Then if I am speaking of the act of a number of persons, I must not say, thei/ kills, but they kill. However, in our language, the changes in the form of the verb are, as was before observed, few, while, in the French, they are numerous ; and I will now give you a ETYMOLOGY [Letter specimen of the great difference of the two languages this respect. in je tue, tu tues, il tue. I kill. nous tuonS; we kill, thou killest, vous tuez, you kill, he kills, ils tuent, they kill Here you see, there are only three different forms of the English verb, while there are /^ve of the French 5 and these differing, too, very widely from each other. 115. TIME is the next circumstance -, for an action, or a state of being, may be spoken of as in the present, the past, or the future, time ; as : I kill, I killed, I shall kill. The verb changes its form, therefore, to suit itself to this cir- cumstance of time ; but, its changes in French are very different from the changes in English. In English we generally add ed to the present time of the verb^ in order to make the past time ; as : I kill, which makes, I killed, I must stop here to remark, that we, as well as the French, have some irregular verbs, 'and that these do not form their past times in the same way ; as : write, which makes wrote. But this is a matter to be treated of further on. At present we must confine ourselves to an explanation of the difference in the manner in which the two languages make the changes in their verbs, in order to denote the circumstance of time; that is to say, in order to tell us, whether the action spoken of be done in the present, was done at a past, or is to be done at a future, time. We have seen, that in English, we simply add ed to the present, in order to form the past time 3 as : kill becomes killed. Let us now see the difference. je tuois. I killed, nous tuions. we killed. tu tuois. thou killedst, vous tuiez, you killed. 11 tuoit, he kUled, ils tuoient. they killed IX.] OP VERBS. Thus, you see, the difference is great indeed 3 and you ^ill, of course, see, that this circumstance of time is of great importance. But, far is this from being all with re- gard to the past time 5 for the French have two past times. That which I have exhibited is called the past imperfect ; the other, which you will see a specimen of presently, is called^ the past perfect. When one of these is to be used, and when the other, will be explained when we come to the Syntax of Verbs, which we shall in Letter XXIII 5 but they must be both noticed here ; for one of them is as often used as the other, and they must by no means be confounded with each other. In some cases I must trans- late, I killed by je tuois ; but, in other cases, 1 must trans- late it by, ye tuai; and I must go through all the persons in the following manner. je tuai. I killed, nous tuames,1 we killed. tu tuas. thou killedst, vous tuates. you killed. il tua. he killed. ils tu^rentj they killed. Then, as to the future time, we, in English, have the little words, will and shall, which we put before the verb to express the future meaning 3 but, the French have no such little words : mind that, I beg you. They express the future meaning by a change in the ending of the verb itself 5 and this constitutes one of the great differences in the two languages. Our words will and shall, not only express future time, but convey also a meaning as to in^ tention and obligation. The French have no different endings of their verbs to express these, which, in their language, are to be gathered from the tenor of the whole sentence. They have complete verbs which express will, power and duty, and that supply the place of our will, can, shall, should, might and the rest. Letter XXIV. will contain an account of these. In exhibiting the dififer- ence between the languages in this respect, I shall take ETYMOLOGY ' [LETTjSlt the word will, though you will understand, that I might, for this purpose, take shall with equal propriety. je tuerai^ tu tueras, il tuera, I will kill, thou wilt kill, he will kill, nous tuerons vous tuerez, ils tueront. we will kill, you will kill, they will kill. Great as these changes in the form of the verb are, there are others and still greater changes ; but you have now seen a sufficient specimen of those which arise out of the circumstances of person and of time, 1 16. MODE generally means manner ; and, in gram- mar, it has the same meaning. At the beginning of para- graph 114, I have spoken of the Infinitive Mode, I have now to speak of the three other Modes : the Indicative , the Subjunctive, and the Imperative, the two former of which must be carefully distinguished from each other ; because the verb, in its several times, changes its form to suit itself to this circumstance of Mode. The Imperative Mode you will find to be a matter of little difficulty 3 but, when you ought to use the Indicative, 9,nd when the Sub- junctive, form, you will find to be a matter of great im- portance. You will, therefore, give your best attention to what I am now about to say. We sometimes speak of an action in ^declaratory la^xineY ; that is to say, we indicate, or declare, or, in other words, merely say, that the action is taking place, or that it has taken, or will take, place. But, at other times we speak of it in a conditional manner. In these latter cases there is always something subjoined, in the way of condition or consequence. There is some sub- joined, or SUBJUNCTIVE, circumstancc. When, therefore, a verb is used in the first of these manners, it is in the Indicative Mode ; and, when in the second, it is in the Sub" junctive Mode. These names and distinctions would be useless, if it were not that the form of the verb changes in IX.] OF VERBS. order to agree with the Modes, For instance, I say, he kills. This simply indicates that he does the act. But, I must say, he kill, if I have a condition or consequence to subjoin : as, though he kill a sheep he cannot sell it. Thus, you see in the one case it is kills, and in the other cas»e killy though the person and the number of the pronoun be the same in both cases. In our language, however, there is but little variation in the verb itself to express this change in the Modes. We express the greater part of the changes by the means of the littlewordsymay, mightj could, would, or should. The French have no such words ; and, in all these. cases of a subjunctive nature, they express themselves in a manner wholly different from ours, as you will see by-and-by, when you come to the Syntax of Verbs. The Verb in the Indicative Mode is as it has been ex- hibited in the two preceding paragraphs, showing the present, past, and future of the verb to kill. In the Sub- junctive there is no future, properly so called ; but, a present time and two past times. The present of the Subjunctive is, in the three persons singular, and in the third person plural, the same precisely as the present of the Indicative, in the verb tuer. But this is not the case with some other verbs, as you will see by-and-by. The present of the Subjunctive is, therefore, as follows : je trie, ta tues, il tue. I may kill, thou mayest kill, he may kill. nous tuions, vous tuiez, ils tuent. we may kill, you may kill, they may kill. Before every phrase of this sort, in this mode of the verb, there is, in French, que, answering to our that ; and, in most cases, there is the that in English, either expressed or understood 5 but, I omit the que here ; because I am here merely showing you how the verb changes its form. The next change, or, rather, set of changes, that it takes, is to express the past time of the Subjunctive, I shall take ETYMOLOGY [LetTER the word should to put before the English verb 5 but would or could, might do as well for this mere purpose of ex-» hibiting the changes in the form of the French verb. je tuerois, tu tuerois, il tueroit. I should kill 1 1 nous txierions I we should kill, thou shouldest kill, vous tueriez, you should kill, he should kill, | [ ils tueroient, | they fchould kill. Now, this is not, strictly speaking, a past time either in French or in English j 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 imperfect of the Sub- junctive 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 tuasse, tu tuasses, il tuat. I might kill^ thou mightest kill, he might kill. nous tuassions, vous tuassiez, ils tuassent, we might kill, you might kill, they might kill. 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 am doing here is merely teaching you the changes in the form of the verbs. Of the Modes, then there remains 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 Eng- lish, nothing more than the present of the Indicative, ac- companied with some words expressing a command, a wish, or a prayer, or the like. In the verb tuer it causes no change at all in the form of the verb, except in the second person singular 3 but, this is not the case with regard to some other verbs. The first person singular has IX.] OF VERBS, no place here ; because no person commands^ or calls to, himself. tue, qu'il tue, kill. let nim kill, tuons, tuez, qu'ils tuent, let us kill, kill, let them kill. 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 or com- mand ; and, therefore, if we want them to kill, we simply say, kill. 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 3 as tuons, which means kill we, or let us kill. And in the third person, whether singular or plural, they make use of que ; that is to say, that. Literally, that he kill, that they kill. The quil and quits are written with the elision, according to the rule which you found in para- graph 24. It must not be que il^ because il begins with a vowel. This is, then, that he kill. And, if you examine closely, you will find our own» phrase to be precisely the same. For, what do we mean, by let him kill? We may, in some cases mean, indeed, to give him leave to do it 5 but, in general, this is not what we mean. Our meaning, when we make use of such phrases, generally is, let things be so THAT he kill, or perform the act of killing. The French simply say, that he kill. 117. I have now gone through the circumstances of Person, Time, and Mode. But, the verb assumes two other forms, called the Participles. We have the same in English : as, killing, killed. They are called participles, because they partake of the nature of adjectives and of verb^. Of verbs they are a part ^ and yet they are fre- ETYMOLOGY . [LeTTER quently adjectives: as I am killivg 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, generally 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 3 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. 118. Let me now lay before you a complete Conjuga- tion of these two verbs, to kill, and tuer. To conjugate means, in its usual acceptation, io 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 Participle. These two verbs, then, I will now place before you, in all their persons, times and modes. But, before 1 give you the conjugation of a verb, let me observe that there are two ways of writing the past imperfect times, ^ of the French verbs. You see, in the conjugation oppo- site, tuois, tuoit, tuoient ; and, again, tuerois, tueroit, tiie- roient. Voltaire wrote tuais, instead of tuois j and so on in the other parts of the verb, where o comes before i. He has had, and has, many followers ; but, as the Dic- tionary of the French Academy adheres to the oi, and, as I find the greater part of standard French Books adhering to the same orthography, I adhere to it. — Observe, that t lere ought to be que before the pronouns in the present and past perfect times, especially, of the subjunctive mode ; as: 9weje tue, ^we je tuasse, and so on J but I leave out the que for want of room in the width of the page. ixg OF VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Tuer, II To Kill. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time* je tue, tu tues, il tue> je tuois, tu tuois il tuoit, je tuai, tu tuas, il tua. I kill, thou killest, he kills. nous tuons, VOUS tU(iZ, ils tuent. Past Imperfect Time. I killed, thou killest, he killed, nous tuions, vous tuiez, ils tuoient, Past Perfect Time. I killed, thou killedst, he killed. nous tuames, vous tuates, ils tu^rent, we kill, you kill, they kill. we killed, you killedj they killed. we killed, you killed, they killed. je tuerai, tu tueras, il tuera. Future Time, I shall kill, thou shalt kill, he shall kill, nous tuerons, vous tuerez, ils tueront. we shall kill, you shall kill, they shall kill. je tue, tu tues, il tue. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, I may kill, thou mayest kill, he may kill, nous tuions, vous tuiez, ils tuent. we may kill, you may kill, they may kill- je tuerois, tu tuerois, il tueroit. Past Imperfect Time, I should kill, thou shouldest kill, he should kill. nous tuerions, vous tueriea, ils tueroient, we should kill, you should kill, they should kill. je tuasse, tu tuasses, il tuat. tue, qu'il tue Past Perfect 7Hme, I might kill, thou mightest kill, he might kill. nous tuassions, vous tuassiez, ils tuassent. IMPERATIVE MODE. kill, let him kill. tuons, tuez, qu'ils tuent, we might kill, you might kill, they might kill. let us kill, kill, let him kill. Participles. tuant, tu^. killing, killed. '^ ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER 119. Thus have you this French verb completely be- fore 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 consider- ed 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 disappear. 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 tlie same in other verbs. For instance, gronder (to scold) becomes je gronde, je grondois, je grondai, je gronderai, je gronde, je gronderois, je grondasse. So that, when you become perfectly well acquainted with the dianges in the verb tuer, you will of yourself be able to make all the changes in other verbs j and you will be sur- prised how readily you will do this in a very short time. Parler (to speak) will no sooner meet your eye, than you v/ill know that you must say, je parte j je parlois^je parlai, je parlerai, je parte, je parkrois, and so on. IX.] OF VERBS. 121. This, however, would be too easy. Every person 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 3 that is to say, they do not vary their forms in the way that the verb tuer varies its form. But, observe, the whole num- ber of French verbs do not exceed three thousand, or thereabouts -, and, of these, about two thousand seven hundred end in er ; so that the rest are not very numer- ous. 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 included 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 con- sidered in Boyer^s Dictionary, 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 classification of the verbs, for the sake of more easily learning how to make the changes in their form. 122. Then, after we have made the ten classes, or Con- jugations, there remain about forty verbs, which do not come into either of those classes, and these are called ir- regular verbs. In English we call those of our verbs regular, which end their past time and their passive par-' ticiple in ed ; as in the case of to kill^ which becomes •J* EtYMOLOGV [LETTifk killed. Those which do not end their past time and their passive participh thus, we call irregular. For instance, to write is irregular j because I cannot say writed ; but must say, wrote, and written. We have, in English, about a hundred and forty of these irregular verbs 3 but, then, we have but one Conjugation of regular verbs, while, in French, we make ten. Yet, this will be found to be a matter by no means full of difficulty. When we have gone through the principles and rules of Etymo- logy, you will find, in Letter XIV., 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 learning 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 ; and, 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 particulars relating to which I must go here 3 because, there is no other verb that can be used in all its capacities without one of these two being used with it. These two are avoir (to have) and etre (to be). These, in French, as well as in English, are called Auxiliary Verbs. The word auxi- liary means helping, 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 help other verbs to express that which they otherwise would not express. Suppose the subject we are talking about to be my killing a sheep, or any thing else j and that I want to IX.] OF VfiRBS. 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 have. To say I kill, or killed, or will kill, a sheep : neither of these will answer my purpose. No : I must call in the help of the verb to have, and say, I have killed a sheep. So, in the past time, it would be, I had killed a sheep. It is precisely the same in French. yai tue un moutcn, I I have killed a sheep, yavois tue un mouton* | I had killed a sheep. Now, observe, the verb to have, besides being a helper, is, sometimes, a verb of itself, a principal in the sen- tence, and signifies possession ; as, I have a sheep ; that is to say, I possess a sheep. It is, as a principal, a verb of gre.jjt 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 her to have. Odd as this sounds to us, we ourselves 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 have 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 homme est un grand crime. One of our weights is called Avoirdupois. This is all French, avoir (to have) du (of the) poids (weight) j that is to say (because we leave out the dii), to have weight ; or, in other words, to have enough of it ; and this is, accord- ingly, our heaviest weight. 1 was considering avoir ^s 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 . etYmologV [LeIJ'teic Possession always adheres to the verb avoir : for, when I say, I have killed a sheep, I, in fact, say that the act is mine : I am the owner of the act 5 I have it. 1^4. The verb ^tre (to be) expresses existence, and always carries that idea along with it. To be ill, to he rich, mean to exist in illness, or in riches. This verb must have the help of to have in its compound times, of which 1 shall speak presently 5 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 3 but, of this I shall have to speak fully in a few minutes. 125. Let me now lay before you these two verbs, com- pletely conjugated, in the same manner that you have seen Tuer in paragraph 118. But, let me first observe, tbat 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 3 as : jaie, 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 verbs are formed with its help ; and, that even the compound of eire cannot be formed without the help of avoir. It is, therefore, a word of very great importance, 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. IX.] OF VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. X Avoir, II To Have. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, / j'ai, tu as, il a, , I have, thou hast, he has. nous avons, vous avez, ils ont, we have, you have, they have. Past Imperfect Time, j'avois, tu avois, il avoit. I had, thou hadst, he had, nous avions, vous aviez, ils avoient. we had, you had, they had. Past Perfect Time, j'eus, tu eus, ! U eut, .- I had, thou hadst, he had. nous efimes, vous e Cites, ils eurent. we had, you had, they had. Future Time. j'aurai, tu auras, il aura, . I shall have, thou Shalt have, he shall have. nous aurons, vous aurez, ils auront. we shall have, you shall have, they shall have SUBJUNCTIVE MODB j'aie, tu aieSj il ait. Present Time, I may have, thou mayest have, he may have. nous ayons, vous ayez, ils aient. we may have, you may have, they may have. j'aurois, tu aurois, il auroit. Past Imperfect Time, I should have, thou shouldest have, he should have. nous aunons, vous auriez ils auroient. "Past Perfect Time, we shouM have, you should have, they should have. j'eusse, tu eusses, il 6ut, I might have, thou raightest have, he might have. nous eussions, vous eussiez, ils eussent, we might have, you might have, they might have. aie, qu'il ait, IMPERATIVE MODE. have, let him have. ayons, ayez, qu'ils aient* let us have, have, let them have. Participles, ayant. having, had. etV»Iology [Leto'eIi 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 on any further. Having well considered all about the verb avoir ; having marked well all its changes of form, you next come to the verb etre. But, just observe, that there are two ways of spelling, ale and aies. Some write aye, ayes, instead of the former. It is of little con- sequence which spelling we make use of. The same you will see taking place in etre. Some write, in a part of that verb, soient, and others, soyent. 1 mention it, lest it should be a stumbling-block to you j but, it is, otherwise, a matter of no consequence. The verb avoir ought to be, in all its parts, at your fingers' ends, before you pro- ceed further. You ought to write it many times over 5 and, if you have a teacher, or any one to read to, it will be good to read it with its pronouns, 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 some verbs take etre to help in the forming of their compound times. The French say, je suis tomhd, I am fallen ; and not ]ai tomM, 1 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. OF VERBS, INFINITIVE MODE. Etre, II To Be. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. I an), thou art, he is, nous sorames, vcus ^tes, lis sont. we are, you are, they are. ■ Past Imperfect Time, I was, thou wast, he was. nous etions, vous etiez, ils etoient, , we were, you were, they were. Past Pafect Time, I was, nous f (lines, thou wast, vous futes, he was, lis furent. we were, you were, they were. Future Time, I shall be, thou shalt be, he shall be. nous serons, vous serez, ' ils seront. we shall be, you shall be, they shall be SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, I may be, thou mayest be, he may be, nous soyons, vous soyez, ils soient, Past Imperfect Time. 1 should be, thou shouldest be, he should be. nous senons, vous seriez, ils seroint. Past Perfect Time, I might be, thou mightest be, he might be. nous fussions, vous fussiez, ils fussent. we may be, you may be, they may be. we should be, you should be, they should be. we might be, ♦ you might be, they might be. ^ be, let him be. IMPERATIVE MODE. soyous, soyez, qu'ils soient. Participles. ^tant, II being, ^e, II been.^ let us be, be, let them be. ETYMOLOGY [LeTTEB 126. Here, then, you have these two important verbs in all their various forms. Great indeed is the change from itre to fussions ; but, it is still the same word. Our to be becomes was 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 v/hen 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 bave now to call your attention to the Compound Times of Verbs, and to verbs when they are called Re- fleeted ; 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 expressed by two verbs instead of one 3 as I have killed ; I had killed ,• 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 have, going before the passive participle of some other verb 5 thus : 3*ai tu6 un mouton, j'avois tue un mouton, j*eus tue un mouton, j'aurai tu6 un mouton, j'aie tue un mouton, j'aurois tue un mouton, j'eusse tue un mouton, I have killed a sheep, I had killed a sheep, I had killed a sheep, I shall have killed a sheep, I may have killed a sheep, ' I should have killed a sheep, 1 might have killed a sheep. You see, it is always tue ; that is to say, the passive par-- ticiple of the verb tuer. The change is only in the auxi- liary 5 and this is all that need be said about the compound times, except that we have now to notice how the Re- flected verbs are used, and how the auxiliaries are em- ployejd in relation to them. IX.] OF VERBS. 128. A Reflected Verb is one which expresses an ac- tion 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 another person or thing ; as : the hawk kills the sparrow, A ve'rb 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 lan- guage as well as in the other 3 and the translation into French would stand thus : le faucon iue le moineau, le faucon mue, le faucon volet e^ the hawk kills the sparrow tlie 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 any thing else. This distinction, therefore, between active and neuter verbs is very clear ; and it is of some importance, 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 difference in the two languages 5 but, many of the verbs, which are merely neuter in English, are reflected in French -, and, if reflected, they must be used witli a double pronoun, or ETYMOLOGY. [Le ^vith a noun and a pronoun 5 whereas, if not reflected, they are used in the usual way. Thus, the hawk'perp/ies 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 gutters. But, this to perch, being a re- Jkcted verb, it must have, in the French, the pronoun as well as the noun ; thus : le faucon se perche sur Tarbre ; or, if the pronoun be used instead of hawk, it must be il se perche sur I'arbre 3 that is to say, word for word, he himself perches upon the tree. We may, in English, say, he perches himself upon the tree 5 but this we do not fre- quently 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 5 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 5 as the hawk kills himself: le faucon se tue. When we use the myself, thyself, himself and so on, the French verb is sure to be reflected j 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 pronoun 5 and let us, for this purpose, take the verb to perch. je me perche tu te perches, il se perche, INFINITIVE MODE. Se Percher, || To Perch. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time* I perch, thou perchest, he perches. nous noxis perchons, vous voris perches, ils se perchent, we perch, you perch, they perch. IX.] OF VERBS. We need not carry the conjugation any farther 3 because the verb goes on changing its form, just like tuer in para- graph 118 j and the only difference is, that here there are two pronouns, while in the case of the active verb tuer, here w^as only one. But, if tuer, or any other active verb, express an action done to, or confined to, the actor 5 then it must be treated as a reflected verb. So that, if I am talking of persons killing themselves, I must say. je me tue, tu te tues, il se tue. nous nous tuons, vous vous tuez, ils se tuent ; and so on throughout the vehole 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 or selves ; and it is applicable to the third person of both numbers and both genders 5 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 3 elle se perche, she perches ; ilsse perchent, they perch 3 ellesse perchent, they perch. The above phrases, word for word, would stand in English thus : je me tue, tu te tues, il se tue, nous nous tuons, vous vous tuez, ils se tuent, I me kill, thou thee kill, he himself kills, we us kill, you you kill, they themselves kill. This sounds strange to us English, but not stranger than our mode of expression does to the French. I kill mijselj, 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 sometimes us, And, if you think, that it will be difficult to know when it means F ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER 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 connexion 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 5 as, le faucon se perche, I the hawk perches, les faucons se perchent. | the hawks perch. 13^. Very well, then : all this is, I think, plain enough. But, there is another material thing belonging to the re- flected verb 5 namely, the compound times, I spoke of these times in paragraph 127^ and showed you, that they were nothing more than the several parts of the verb Avoir (to have) used with the passive participle of another verb. Read that paragraph again. But, now mind, when it is a reflected verb that you are using, or any verb in the re- flected form 5 when either of these is the case it is not the verb avoir, but the verb eire (to be) that you are to use as the auxiliary, strange as this rule may at first sound to your ears. In paragraph 127 1 have given you a table, in the way of specimen, of the conjugation of the verb tuer with Jvoir, Tuer is, in that paragraph, an active verb. I will now take it as a reflected verb also, and show you how it is conjugated with etre as weU as with avoir. y ai tue un raouton, je me suis tue, y avois tu6 un mouton, je m* 6tois tue, ]' eus tue un mouton, je me fus tue, y aural tue un motiton, je me serai tue, j' aie tue un raouton, je me sois tu6, I have killed a sheep, I have killed myself. I had killed a sheep, I had killed myself. I had killed a sheep, I had killed myself. I shall have killed a sheep, I shall have killed myself. I may have killed a sheep, I may have killed myself. XI.] OF VERBS. j* aurois tu6 un mouton, je me serois tu6, y eusse tue un mouton, je me fusse tu6, I should have killed a sheep, I should have killed myself. I might have killed a sheep, I might have killed myself. Thus, you see, all through, it is the verb etre, instead of the verb avoir, with which the verb tuei- is used in the re- flected sense. I have taken here only the first person sin- gular, which is all that is necessary, because the other persons go on in the same way 5 as, nous avons ta6 un mouton : nous nous sommes tu^s j and so on. But in the Imperative Mode there is a further change 5 thus : tue un mouton, tue-toi, qu'il tfle un mouton, qu' il se tue, tuons un mouton, tuons-nous, tuez un mouton, tuez-vous, qu' ils tuent un mouton, qu'ils se tuent, kill a sheep, kill thyself. let him kill a sheep, let him kill himself. let us kill a sheep, ' let us kill ourselves. kill a sheep, kill yourself, or selves. let them kill a sheep, let them kill themselves. The INFINITIVE is S 'itre tu^ : the active participle, S 'etant tu6. 1 will give you some of the above phrases word for word as nearly as possible 3 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 natural -, but, when we come to the verb Hre, we think all out of place. Je me suis tu6, je m' ^tois tue, je me serois tu6, tue-toi, qu' il se tue, tuons-nous, tuez-vous, I me am killed, I me was killed, ' I me should be killed, kill thou thee, that he himself kill, kill we us, I kill you you. F ^ ETYMOLOGY [LETTER This appears monstrous j 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 5 and that the fair and full meaning, in English, is, I, of myself, or by my own act, am killed, t^as killed, shall be killed, and so on. Then, as iue, in the imperative, means, kill thou, tue-^oi is kill thou thee, w^hich is no more than kill thyself. And, if we find It a fault in the French language, that it requires kill we us, instead of, let us kill ourselves, the French will tell us that the fault is in our mode of expression, and not in theirs. Je me suis tue is, in good English, I have killed myself. Word for word, this would be, in French, f ai tue moi- meme ; but this would be bad French: or rather, it would be no French at all, any more than I me am killed „ 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, ex- pressing an action done to the actor, or confined to the actor, may, as in the case of tuer, become a reflected verb. But, besides these, there are several neuter verbs, which must be conjugated witii etre, and not with Avoir; though this is not the case with neuter verbs in general. Let us take our hawk again in the way of illustration. Tuer is an active verb as we will here use it. Se Percher (to perch) is a reflected verb^ But Jucher (to roost) is a neuter verb. Now, then, speaking of a hawk, we say. it a tue un moineaH, il s'est perche sur 1' arbre, il a juche sur 1' arbre, he has killed a sparrow, he has perched on the tree, he has roosted on the tree, Tlie distinction here, though very nice, is very clear, and must, if you attend to it, explain the whole matter of . IX.] OP VERBS. 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 Jieutral 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 wew/er verbs, which are conjugated with etre and not with amir ; but, you will find a list of these when you come to the Syntax on the Times of verbs. Sortir (to go out) is, for instance, one of these neuter verbs j as : je suis sorti, I have gone out ; and not/ai sorti, 1 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 interruption ' to this series of principles and rules, which ought to have a constant connection in your mind as you proceed. 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, amongst ourselves ; but the French say, entre vous, whether there be two or more than two. This entre is a preposition which generally means between or amongst : entre deuiv, between two -, entre trois, amongst three. Now, this pre- position 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 speaking of two men, we say, Us i entre-tuent, they kill one another. When entre is thus used, it makes no difl^erence at all in the manner of conjugating the verb. ETYMOLOGY [LeTTEH The entre is prefixed to the verb, and that is all j as : nous nous entre tuons, nous nous entre-tuions, ils s' entre- tuent, ils s' entre-tuoient. we kill one another, we killed one another, ihey kill one another, they 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-tu^s, nous nous ^tions entre-tues, ils se sont entre-tues, iiS s* etoient entre-tues. we have killed one another, we had killed one another, they have killed one another, they had killed one another. And in this way goes on the conjugation of any and every verb with entre. Sometimes, the same thing is expressed in another way : as, ils se tuent Vun V autre. This also means, they kill one another ; and, it would seem to be tautology ; for, it says, ils se tuent, which is they hill themselves ; and then comes Vun V autre, which means, one another ; so that they kill themselves and one another 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 Etyviology 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 5 because they are here used only in the third person singular. Avoir, Etbe, and some other verbs, are used in this way, and, for want of one more appropriate, we may as well use the appel- IX.] OP verbs/ lation, impersonal ; 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 Tarbre. 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 I'arbre, I assure you that the French would think you downright mad if you were to say, y est un faucon sur I'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 con- jugated, precisely as in paragraph 125, only it is confined to the third person singular 5 as : il y a un faucon, il y avoit un faucon, il y eut un faucon, il y aura un faucon, il y ait un faucon, il y auroit un faucon, il y eut un faucon, y ayant un faucon. there is a hawk, there was a hawk, there was a hawk, there shall be a hawk, there may be a hawk, there should be a hawk, there might be a hawk, there being a hawk. It goes through the compound times also : as ily a eu un faucon 5 there has been a hawk 5 and so on. 138. Etre is called impersonal, when it is used thus t 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 ETYMOLOGY [LeITER manner 5 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, cest rare ; but, we need say no more of that at present 5 because, when we come to the Syntax of Impersonals, which we shall in Letter XXL, we shall have a great deal to say about il est, cest, 139. But, there is the impersonal Falloir (to be neces- sary), 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 con- stitute one of the great characteristics of the French idiom, viewed in comparison with our idiom. The infinitive Falloir (to be necessary) is out of use. It is never used. The active participle is also out of use 5 but it has its pas- sive participle in use. With these exceptions it is a verb that goes through all the Modes Und Times in the third person singular, as : il faut, il falloit, il fallut, il faudra, il faille, il faudroit, il faimt, il a fallu. it is necessary, it was necessary, it was necessary, it will be necessary, it may be necessary, it should be necessary, it might be necessary, it has been necessary* This is the word for word translation. We might use requisite, needful, or any other word or words expressive of what ought to take place. Our should frequently answers the purpose. But must is our great word in these cases 3 and here the turn of the two languages is wholly different. This difiference 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 IX»] OF VERBS. forms, and to explain to you the reasons for tho«e changes. Let me, however, just give you an example or two with must, and let us adhere to our verb Tuer. il faut que je tue aujourd'hui, il falloit que je tuasser hier, il faudra'que je tue demain. I must kill to-day, I must kill yesterday, 1 must kill to-morrow. We, in some cases, sixy very properly, I must kill yes- terday, or not at alL So that here we have must all through. We do, indeed, say, I was obliged to kill yes- terday ; or, I was compelled, or forced] but we can say must in this case as well as in the present and the future. These three French phrases, literally translated, are as follows : il faut que je tue aujourd 'hui, it is necessary that I may kill to-day. il falloit que je tuasse hier, it was necessary that I might kill yesterday. il faudra que je tue demain, it is necessary that I may kill 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 observe, that this verb, il fauty forms its compound times like another verb -, as, il a fallw, it has been necessary. 140. There are several other verbs which, for the reason before mentioned, are usually called impersonal -, such as plemmr (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, \t freezes, it thunders. As to rain, indeed, they generally say, il tombe de la pMe, it falls of the rain, or, in good English, rain is fall- f5 ETYliOLOGY [LeTTER ing. 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, however, 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 languages, that I must give you an example here. Speaking of the weather, the French say. il fait beau, il fesoit beau, il fit beau, il fera 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; W€ 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 Etymology of Verbs. It is full of matter requiring great attention. You will have observed, that its principal 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-aud-by, when I have gone through the Etymology of the Adverbs, Pre- positions 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 con- tents of this letter. Write the verb Tuer down, in all its Modes, Times, Numbers, and Persons, till it becomes as familiar to you as your fingers are. Do the same with IX.] OP VERBS. 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 fa- miliarity with Tuer will make you master of the changes belonging to about eight-ninths of the whole of the French verbs 3 and a similar familiarity with avoir and etre will go far towards removing every difficulty with re- gard to the verbs. Let me, therefore, beg of you to secure this important point before you proceed any further. LETTER X. ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS. My dear Richard, 142. In paragraph 37, I explained to you why the words belonging to this part of speech are called Adverbs' You will, of course, now read that paragraph again. Having 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, irom happy and short. It is nearly the same in the French, except that, instead of ly, they add me7it; as heureusement (happily), courtement (shortly) 5 from heureuse (happy), and courte (short). 144. The Syntax will teach us how to place and em- ploy Adverbs in sentences : here we have only to ascer- tain how the Adverbs themselves are formed, and what connexion 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 adjec- tive to make it an adverb 5 as, brave, bravement ; but, if the adjective end in € (with an accent, mind). ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS. or in i or u, it is to the masculine of the adjective that the ment is added. Adjectives ending in e mute are, as you have before seen, for both gen- ders ', 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 following five vi^ords will suffice in the way of example. I shall give the English of the Adverb only. ADJECTIVES. ADVERBS. Masc, Fenu Ais6, alsee, aisement, joU, jolie, joliment, goulu, goulu e. goulument, vite, vite, vitement, dur, dure, durem^t, 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, hut, franchenient, doucement, heureusement. To the above rule there are, however, a few exceptions. The following adjectives, though ending with a consonant or with u^ take an e or an m before the ment. ADJECTIVES. ADVERBS. Expres, expressement. expressly, confus. confus^ment, confusedly, precis, precisement, precisely. commun, com muniment, commonly. importun. importun6ment. importunately. obscur, obscure ment. obscurely. profond, pro fonde ment, deeply, gentil, gentiment. genteely, eperdu. eperdument, ; desperately, ingenu. ingenQment ingenuously. du, dument, duly, assidu assidument, assiduously. ETYMOLOGY LLeTTER A further exception is, that the following adjectives, though ending in e naute, do not, like vite, which be- comes vitement, keep the e mute in forming the adverb 5 but change the e mute into an ^ acute. ADJECTIVES. ADVERBS. aveiiglement, Aveugle, commode, conforme, 6normej commodement, conformement, enormement, blindly, commodiously, conformably, enormously. The words derived from any of these, follow the same ruk, incommodement, which is derived from incommode, and that from commode, — For unpunished, or, with impu- nity, the French have impundment, though the adjective is, impuni. Second. When the adjectives end in ant and ent, they form the adverbs by changing the a«^ into amment and the ent into emment ; as, independent, (indepen- dent), ind^pendamment (independently), prudent (prudent), prudemment (prudently). To this rule there are two exceptions. Lent (slow) makes lente- ment, and present (present) makes presentement. 145. As to the other adverbs, I mean such as are not derived from, or made out of adjectives, they are words of themselves, and, like other words, are to be sough.t for in the Dictionary. There are, perhaps, a hundred of them. For inserting a list of them here there can be no reason which would not be a reason for inserting the whole of the nouns and adjectives and of all the other parts of speech. We ought to do nothing without a reason,and to swell the bulk of a book, less, perhaps, than almost any other thing. An adverb is a word that never changes its form on ac- count of person, number, gender, time, or any other cir- X.] ot adveubs. cumstance. It is always composed of the same letters ; and, therefore, there need not be much time employed upon explanations relative to this Part of Speech. The French adverbs differ widely from ours ; they are used in a manner very different from that in which ours are used 5 but, they cannot all be put into the head at once : they and their several uses must be learned by translat- ing, by writing, by speaking, by reading them in books, as they occur, and not by attempting to know them all at once by arranging them and reading them in lists, 146. There are Adverbs of time, place, order, quality, and of manner ; but, any classification of them would be useless, because, they undergo no changes. There are Nouns of time, place, order, and the rest j but we do not class them as such, because they undergo no changes to suit these various circumstances. The negatitws are of this part of speech -, and the use of tiiem is a great matter j but, they never change their form -, they cannot be used with- out other words 5 and, in fact, all relating to them is to be learned when we come to employ them in sentences. The manner of using negatives is a great matter, and it will be treated of in a separate Letter. A whole Letter (XX.) will be devoted to negative and interrogative sentences. 147. The French, like the English, have two or three Adverbs that may be said to have degrees of compaiison. We have, in English, well, which becomes better, and best. The French have hien (well), mieux (better), le mieux (the best). They have also mat (badly), pis (worse), le pis (the worst). They have pen (little or few), moins (less), le moins (the least). We have often, which be- comes oftener, and oftenest. But they say, souvent, plus souvent, le plus souvent. These irregularities are, however, very few in number 5 and, as they are confined to words . ETYMOLOGY FLBTTeR which frequently occur in almost every page of every book, and in every conversation of any considerable length, they very soon cease to present any thing like a difficulty to the learner. 148. It may be necessary to observe here, that an ad- verb sometimes consists of more than one word. It is then called a compound adverb. We have the same thing in English 5 but it may be useful to explain the matter. Lately, for instance, is a simple adverb ; but littk-by- little, is a compound. In French it is much about the same. For lately, they have dernier evient, and for littk' by 'little they have petit-d-petit ; that is to say, w^ord for word, little-to-little ; which, odd as it sounds, has a sense in it more evident than is the sense in our adverb. Sor^ie- times, however, the French adverb is a compound when ours is not : as, (out-d-coup, which means suddenly, and, word for word, all- at-a- stroke, or at a hit. And, indeed, we sometimes say, all- of -a- sudden, instead of suddenly. Sometimes ours is a compound, when the French is not : as, now-a-days, which they express by aujourd'hui. Thus, you see, there are, in many cases, several words that go to the making up of one adverb. In our now-a-days, for instance, there is the Adverb, now ; then there is the a (meaning in this case at) ; then there is the Noun, days. You will bear this in mind. Though there are several tvords, and of different parts of speech too, they make but one adverb. 149. Sometimes, both in French and in English,the words that are used to make a compound adverb are connected by a hyphen or hyphens : as, now-a-days and tout-d-Vheure. But, this is not always the case. For instance, avec le temps, and in time, which latter expresses the meaning of the former, are compound adverbs, and yet we do not X.] ' OF ADVERBS. connect by hyphens the words that compose them, hi the meanwhile is really no more than a compound adverb, and yet v^Q. do not use the hyphens in writing it. This adverb is translated into French by the single word cependant. And it is, if we look into the matter, curious to observe, how fully this one word contains the meaning of our/owr words. It is ce and pendant ; that is to say, this and during ; that is to say, during this ; that is to say, in the mean or middle, while, or time, 150. There are some Adjectives which are used as Ad- verbs ; and this is the case in both languages : As, parler has, to speak low. That is to say, in a low voice. This, is not frequently the case 3 and, perhaps, we use this way of speaking, when we ought not We often use the word bad, when we ought to use badly. The French say voir double (to see double), and so do we 3 but, strictly speaking, this double is not an adverb so much as it is an adjective and a noun ,• for it means double things. How- ever, there are not many words used in this way 3 and you will soon become acquainted with them all. - 151. The proper placing of the Adverb is an important matter 3 but, this will be fully treated of, when we come to the Syntax of this part of speech, I cannot, however, conclude this Letter,without observing to you, that words, which, in some cases, are adverbs, are, in other cases, not adverbs. For instance, the inside, when thus written is a noun, though inside is, in some cases, an adverb. It is the same with the French, who say, le dedans (the inside), le dehors (the outside), and so on, just as we do. This cir- cumstance was noticed in paragraphs 42 and 43, which you ought to look at again. LETTER XI. ETY^IOLOGY OF PREPOSITIONS. My dear Richard, 1 52. In paragraph 38, I explained to you why words of this sort were called prepositions. The chief use of the words of this part of speech is, to express the different relations and connexions, which Nouns have with each other, or, in which Nouns stand with regard to each other : the hawk sits upon the tree, the hawk flies to the tree, the hawk flies down from the tree, the hawk flies over the tree. 153. Prepositions never change their form ; so that there are none of those difficulties attending them which we find in the Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, and Verbs, which change their forms so many times. For in- stance, sur (upon) is always sur, whether it be before a noun masculine, or a noun feminine, or before a singular or a plural. Let me here, however, make a remark or two with regard to d and de. The first of these answers to our to, and the last to our of Each has different meanings under different circumstances ; but, generally speaking, our to and of are translated by these words : as : I send ten of my sheep to the farm. J*envoie dix de mes moutons ^ la ferme. But, I have here to call your recollection to what was said in paragraphs 79 to 86, and to beg of you to read, before you go any further, the whole of those eight paragraphs carefully through. You will^ ETYMOLOGY OF PREPOSITIONS. doubtless, have done this already 3 but, you must now do it again. 154. Here you see, then, that (i and de are, in French, sometimes united with the definite article. This, how- ever, is the case with regard to no other of .the preposi- tions. To be sure, the article, thus united with these pre- positions is a thing of most extensive use in the language. Scarcely a sentence can you write without using it in some one or other of its forms 5 but, this is, in fact, an advan- tage in the learning of its use. The de becomes d' when it is immediately followed by a word beginning with a vowel or with an h mute 5 but this is, in fact, no change in the form of the word. It is merely an abbreviation, made for the purpose of obtaining fulness of sound. 155. In this part of speech as well as in the Adverbs there are sometimes more than one word ; that is to say, one preposition contains more than one word : as, vis-ci- vis, which, in English, is over-against. But, sometimes, the Preposition, like the Adverb, is simple in one of the languages and compound in the other. For instance : par dessous (under) j selon (according to). The same word is, as was before observed, sometimes of one part of speech and sometimes of another -, and this is very frequently the case with these parts of speech, which have no variation in the forms of the words. But, this is a matter of little consequence ; you will soon learn to distinguish one part of speech from the other. I hope, indeed, that you have nearly done this already. 156. One of the chief things belonging to Prepositions is that which is called their governing. They are said to govern nouns and pronouns 3 that is to say, to cause ETYMOLOGY ♦ [LeTTER them to be in the objective case. You must now look back to paragraphs 72 to 76*. Then go to paragraph 91. Head these all carefully over again now j and, when you have done that vou will find, that the Prepositions govern, in certain cases, the nouns and pronouns. 157. The main thing of all, however, to be observed on, under this head, is the different application of the pre- positions in the two languages. To, as we have seen, is generally expressed in French by a. But, when this a is used with the verb to think (penser), for instance, it is not expressed in English by to. For example, the French, say, je pense ^ ma santd ; that is to say, word for word, I think to my health. But we say, I think of my health. Now, if you reflect a little here, you will find, that this French phrase is by no means unreasonable ; for, it is, in its fulness, this : I apply my thinking to my health. And our English phrase means, J think, or use my thinking faculties about things, concerning my health, or of, or be- longing to my health. The meaning, when you come to examine the thing well, is the same ; the mode of expres- sion only is diflPerent -, but this difference must be very carefully attended to 3 for, though, I think of my health is good English, je pense de ma sante is not French at all, any more than, I think to my health is English. 158. It is the same with regard to the use of many other Prepositions. For example, w-e say, I play on the flute j but the French say, je joue de la fltite ; that is to say, I play of the flute. We say, to enjoy a thing : the French say, JoMir dune chose; that is, to enjoy of a thing. We say, near a thing, or near to : they say, pr^s d' una chose 5 that is, near of a thing. Pr^s de la ville : near to the town, Pres de dix mois 5 nearly, or near to, ten months. Near of ten months seems to be nonsense j but, it is noVj XL] OF PREPOSITIONS. it means near to the number of ten months j or, near to the quantity of time that makes up ten months. The meaning, when you come closely to examine into the matter, is the same in both languages : the manner of expressing that meaning is very diflferent -, and this dif^ ference must be strictly attended to. 159. In this respect the Preposition is, in the learning of French, an important part of speech j because, though it never changes its form it is used in a manner so very different, in many cases, from that in which it is used in English. The Syntax will show more fully this difference, which, as I have just said, is a very important matter. 160. Prepositions are not, like Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Adverbs, a very numerous class of words. I shall, therefore, give a list of the greater part of them here, divided into two parts. There are some of the Pre- positions which are directly followed by the Noun or Pro- noun ; and others which must have the preposition de before the next Noun or Pronoun. I shall divide them according to this difference in the manner of using them. I shall also give the English of each phrase. Observe, that the French de answers to our from as well as of. Ob- serve also, that, when I say, that the following preposi- tions are immediately followed by the noun or pronoun that they govern, I do not mean to shut out the Article, for it, in fact, makes a part of the noun. Nor do I mean to exclude the possessive pronoun. II est d la foire ; il est DANS sa chambre. You must never forget, that the same assemblage of letters may, in some cases, be a preposition, and, at other times, may not be a preposition. Indeed, this has been pointed out to you so many times, that the doing of it here may seem to be useless -, but, it is a thing that you cannot be too well acquainted with. ETYMOLOGY [Letter List of Prepositions, which are immediately followed Noun or Pronoun to which they apply. by the a travers, attendu, avant, avec, chez, comme, concernant, coatre, dans, de, de dessus,' de dessous, de puis, derriere, des, devant, durant, en, entre, envers, environ, excepte, hormis, hors, malgre, moyennant, nouobstant, outre, par, par dessus, par dessous, par de9a, par dela, parmi, pendant^ pour, sans, sauf, seloa, sous, suivant, sur, touchant, vers, vu. at or to. after. thvough. considering, on account of. before. with. at or to like. about. against. in. of or from, from above. from under. since. behind. from. before. during. in. between. to or towards. about. except. excepting. but, or except. in spite of. for, by means of. notwithstanding. besides. by. above. under or below. on this side. on that side. among. during. for. without. save. according to. under. according to. upon. touching. towards, about. seeing. XL] OF PREPOSITIONS. List of Prepositions which must have the Preposition de im- mediately after them, or that Preposition, united with the Ar^ tide, when it becomes du or des. ^ cause, a couvert, au-de9a, au-dela, au-dessus, au-dessous, au-devant, au-derriere, a c6t6, a fleur, k retour, aux depens, S, force, aux environs, au grand regret, a regard, a rins9u, 21 rexception, a moins, ^ la reserve, a I'abri, a Tentour, a I'exclusion, a Toppogite, au lieu, a la faveur, a la mode, au moyen, , au milieu, au niveau, auprfes, au prix, au p6ril, au risque, a raison, rez de terre, au travers, en depit, pour Tamour, vis-a-vis, because of. sheltered from. on the side of. on the other side. above. below. before. behind. by, beside. near the edge of. against, in return. at the expense. by strength of. near about. to the great regret of as to. unknown to. excepted. for less, or under. reserving only, excepting. secure from. round about. excluding. opposite to. instead of. by favour of. after the manner of. by means. in the middle of. even with. by, near. at the expense of. at the peril of. at the risk, at the rate. level with the ground. through. in spite. for the sake. over against. 1 Besides the above, there are three or four that require a before the succeeding Noun or Pronoun. These are ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER jusque (as far as) which is written yMS9iA' because the <^ follows : as jusqu li la riviere, as far as the river. Par rapport d, sa maison : with respect to his house* Quant d, son argent : as for his money. 161. Before you go further, it will be well for you to read over several times these lists of Prepositions. Copy them, that is to say, write them down, many times over ; so that you may not only know them again as soon as they meet your eye 5 but that you may be able to write them correctly, with all their hyphens, elisions and accents ; for these are of as much importance as are the letters of which the words are composed. Let it be your constant habit to write in a plain hand. The best hand-writing is that which is the easiest to read ; that which can be the most easily read by the greatest number of persons. Take care to put all the marks and accents ; for, though Frenchmen, when they write, seldom do it, they ought to do it ; and, in your case, the omission would, and must, retard your learning 3 for, the omission really makes, in many cases, nonsense of the whole thing that you are writing. D^s is from the time, and Des is of the, or some. Then again, A is has, and X is to. The la is the, and the l1 is there. This is sufficient to show how necessary it is not to omit accents. Besides, all writing ought to be correct in all its parts ; and, as there is, in this case, nothing but mere attention required of you, not to do the thing properly would argue that sort of disposition, which, I am sure, will never be discovered in my dear Richard. If you have a teacher, these lists ore excellent things as reading lessons. They contain words that are seen in every sen- tence, and that you cannot open your mouth without using. But, whether you have a teacher or not, write these lists down several times over. LETTER Xll. ETYMOLOGY OF CONJUNCTIONS. My dear Richard, 162. The reason why words of this part of speech are called Conjunctions has been given you in paragraph 39. They connect, or conjoin, or join together, words and sen- tences. They, like adverbs and prepositions, never change their form ', and, are, therefore, not attended with any particular difficulty. 163. Some of them are called copulative and others disjunctive; the former co wp/e nouns and pronouns to- gether in sense as well as in place ; as : the field and the house are sold. The others disjoin them in the sense -, as : the field is sold, but the house is not. There is, perhaps, no great practical utility in this distinction ; but, it being a distinction usually made, I have just noticed it. Some teachers of grammar divide Conjunctions into six or seven classes } but, this is of 7io use ; and, therefore, I avoid it. 164. A thing much more useful than this is, to observe, that the same word is sometimes a Conjunction, sometimes an Adverb, and sometimes a Preposition. It is the sense in which the word is used that determines the part of speech to which it belongs. Some of the Conjunctions are simple J as: comwie (as), and some compound 5. as : au lieu de (instead of). A phrase of considerable length is frequently no more than one Conjunction ; as : posez le G ETYMOLOGY [LeTTER cas que, which may be translated into English by the single word suppose. Poser is to lay down. So that the whole of the phrase means this : laij down the case that. We, for instance, say, in English, suppose that the enemy declare war. The JFrench say, posez le cas que V ennemi declare la guerre. But they can say, as well as we, supposez que. And we can say, as well as they, suppose the case that. 165. When a Conjunction, an Adverb, or a Preposition consists of several words, you must take care how you give to each of the words the meaning which it would have in its distinct state. They sometimes have this meaning, but they more frequently have not. For in- stance, we have, in English, this Conjunction, as well as ; and we use it thus : 1 was drunk as well as you. But, what is there well here ? Here is something very bad, but nothing at d\\ well. We know, that these three words, taken together, mean, in like manner with, or, in like de-- gree with. But, when we find, in French, aussi hien que,, we are apt to give to each word its separate meanings and then they are, also well that, which is not their mean- ing. They mean the same as our as well as, 166. I shall now insert the principal part of the Con-r" junctions in alphabetical order, with the English against each. a cause que, a cause de, a condition que, a dire vrai, afin que, alin tie, ainsi, ainsi que, a peine, apres G\iQy / apres ceia, because. because of. on condition that. to speak the truth, to the eud that. in order to. thus, therefore, accordingly. like, likewise. hardly, scarcely. after. after that. XII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. apres tout, a propos, a quel propos, a moins que, or de, a la v6rite, attendu que, au cas que, aussi, aussl bien que, au lieu de, autant que, au reste, aussitot que, avant que, avant de, avant que de, bien entendu que, bien loin de, bien que, car, c*est-a-dire, c'est pour quoi, c*est a dire que, c'est pour, cela que, cela etant, cela etant ainsi, ce n'est pas que, cependant, comrae, comrae si, comrae par exemple, d'accord, d'ailleurs, d'autant que, d'autant plus que, de I'autre cote, de maniere que, de meme que, de meme, de plus, depuis, rlepuis que, d^s que, de sorte que, d'oCi vient-il que, done, en attendant, en attendant que, en cas que, encore que, en tffet, after all, upon the wnole. by the by. wherefore, or to what end. unless. indeed, in truth. whereas, seeing that. in case that. also. as well as. instead of. as much as. as for the rest. before. it being understood that, far from, so far from, though, for. that is to say. therefore, that is to say that, it is for. that that. that being the case, it being thus, not but. however, in the meanwhile, as, whereas, as if, as though, as for example, done, agreed, besides, otherwise, for as much as, whereas, because, so much the more as. on the other hand, in such manner that, as, just as, in like manner, moreover, besides, since, since that, from the time that, so that, whence comes it that, then, therefore, in the mean time, till, until that, in case that, although, besides that. I in effect, indeed. ETYMOLOGY [Letter enfin, en tant que, en tout cas, ensuite, en un mot, et, et puis, il est vrai que, j'en conviens, joint que, i«ais, mais aUssi, mais encore^ mais meme, meme, mal a propos, neanmoins, n\ plus ni moins, nonobstant que, non plus, non plus que, non que, non pas que> non seulement, ou, or ou bien, outre cela, outre que, parce que, par consequent, par quelle raison, pendant que, p^sez le cas que, pour cet effet, pour conclusion, pour lors, pour quoi, pourvu que, puis, quand, quand meme, quand bien meme, quoique, quoiqu'il en soit, sans, sans que, sans doute, sans mentir, savoir, sj, si bien que, si ce n'est que, sinon, «i-t6t que, finally, at last. as, in as much as. however, let it be as it wilL then, afterwards. in a word. and. and besides. it is true that. I grant it. add to that that. but. but also. J)ut besides. but even. even. out of place. nevertheless, nor, neither. neither more nor less. notwithstanding that. neither. no more than. not but. not only. or else. besides that. besides that. because. consequently. for what reason. whilst. put the case that. for this purpose. to conclude. then. why, wherefore. provided that. then. though, although, although. however it may be. be the consequence what it ii'ill. v/ithout. without doubt. truly, with truth. to wit. if, whether. insomuch that, except that. if not, or else. as soon as. xir.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. supposez que, sur tout, sur quoij sar ces entrefaites, tant que, tant s'en faut que, telle ment que, toutefois, toutes les fois que, vu que, suppose that. above all, especially; whereupon. Cin the meanwhile^ < while these things wer6 Q adoing. 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 «ay, some conjunctions hiive one mode after them, and some another mode ; but, the full explanation of this matter must be left till I come to Letter XXVIL, in which I shall treat of the Syntax of Conjunctions, The above list contains the far greater part of the Conjunc- tions. You W\\\ observe, that many of these words are, as I observed before, sometimes Prepositions and some- times 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 mi!ny times over without much labour. You will observe, that these are words inces- santly 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 Avriting the words, to put all the hyphens, elisions^ and accents. LETTER XIII. ON PARSING. My dear Richard, 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 5 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 you 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 n^uwder. And this word, to parse, is used by gramma- rians to denominate the act of taking the words of a sen- tence, one by one, and writing against each, the part of speech that it belongs to. Thus : I write a letter to you. I is a personal pronoun ; write is a verb ; a is an article; LETTER is a noun 3 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 pro- nouns J ECRis is a verb; une is an article j lettre is a J ON PARSING. noun; -and, you see, there is 710 preposition', for, in this case, voMs means to you. We can say the same thing without the preposition : as, I write you a letter. But we cannot say, I 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 fur- ther, 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 paragraph 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 5 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 1 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 exer- cises, A, B, C, and so on 5 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 carelessly. ON PARSING. [Letter A. Le Serin est, apres le Rossignol r oiseau qui cbante le mieux, et qui a la voix la plus forte. II apprend aisement, quand il est jeune, a parler, et a siffler des airs de flageolet ; ce qu'il fait plus facilement que le Ping on, et il le fait mieux. The Canary is^ after the Nightingale, the bird which sings the best, and which has the strongest voice. It learns Easily, when it is young, to talk, arid to whistle tunes of the flageolet ; which it does more readily than the Chaffinchj and it does it better. Le, Article. il Serin, noun. est, verb. apres, le, preposition, article. Rossignol, noun, article. oiseau noun. qui, chante. relative pronoun, verb. le. article. mieux, adverb. et, qui. conjunction, relative pronoun, verb. la, article. voix. noun. •\ la plus. adverb. > forte. adjective.) 11, apprend, aisement. pronoun. verb. adverb. quand, adverb. est. pronoun, verb. jeune. adjective. a, parler. preposition, verb. et. conjunction. a, siffler, prepositiou. verb. des. article united > with preposition. J airs. noun. de, flageolet. preposition, noun. ce qu'. pronoun. j The, Article. Canary, noun. is. verb. after. preposition. the. article. Nightingale, noun. the, article. bird, noun. which. relative pronoun sings, verb. the. article. best, adverb. and, conjunction. which. relative pronoun has. verb. the, article. strongest, adjective. voice. noun. It, pronoun. learns. verb. easily, adverb. when, adverb. it, pronoun. is. verb. young. adjective. to, preposition. talk. verb. and, conjunction. to, preposition. whistle. verb. tunes. noun. of. preposition. the, article. flageolet, noun. which. relative pronoun. XIII.] ON PARSING. il; fait, plus, facilement, que, le, Pinion, et, iJ, le, fait, mieux. pronoun. verb. adverb. adverb. conjunction. article. noun. conjunction. pronoun. pronoun. verb. adverb. it, pronoun. 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 the two languages. Look at the closing parts for instance. The French say, il lefait mieux; that is, he does it better; but we say, it does it better. The Canary- JBird is a he in French, and an it in English ; and, you see, the French put the words in aa 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 translation 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 G 5 ON PARSING [Letter word j but, yet, you see, it is not word for word, even in this simple instance. 173. The way to proceed with the following sentences is precisely that which has been just pointed out in pa- ragraph 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. Read, therefore, those two paragraphs again very attentively, and, while you are at your work of parsing, act according to what is stated in those paragraphs j for^ unless you attend to that, your parsing cannot be cor- rect, and you will not profit, in the degree that you ought to profit, from your labour. B. C'est (lu nom Latin, Lu- ciniolttj qu'on a form6 le nom de Rossignol. Cette etymologic est beaucoup raeilleure que toutes celles (lonnees sur le nom de cet oiseau. C. Le moineau est un oiseau tres commun : il pese un peu plus d'une once ; il a six pouces de longueur depuis la pointe du bee jusqu'au bout de la queue. D. 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 t^te est noir. It is from the Latin name, Liiciniola, that we have formed the word Rossignol. This ety- mology is much better than all those given on the name of this bird. The sparrow is a very com- mon bird ; it weighs a little more than an ounce, it is six inches long from the point of the beak to the tip of the tail. 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 head is black, its gills are white. XIII.] ON PARSING. ses machoires sont blanches de meme que le derriere de sa t^te. E. Le chant de I'alouette est tr^s divertissant ; il est varie ; les bemols et les bequarres s'y distinguent tr^s-bien. F. Le pin^'on est un oiseau «n peu plus petit qu' un nioineau ; sa queue est assez longue ; le male a la poitrine roussatre ; le bee plombe, la tete blanchatre ; la partie posterieure du dos d' un cendre-vert, et I'antericure grise ; le tour des yeux, la gorge, la poitrjne et les cotes tannes ; le cou ceint de la meme couleur, rougeatre ; les ailes noires, avec une triple tache blanche. G. Les champs ouverts ont, comme les jardins, leurs fruits particuliers a chaque saison de I'anaee. H. Les abeilles, ou mouches a mi^l, sont d'un grand profit a la maison, par le miei, la cire et les essaims qu'elles donnent : elles ne couteat rien a nourrir, et ne demandent que quelques soins. I. Le ver a sole, Tune des plus ricbe et des plus surprenantes productions de la nature, n'offre pas moint que les abeilles, de I'utile, de Tagreable, et mtme du merveilleux. the same as the back of its head The singing of the lark is very diverting ; it is varied ; the Bs flat and the Bs sharp are dis- tinguished in it very easily. The chaffinch is a bird . a little smaller than a sparrow ; its tail is pretty long ; the male has a reddish breast ; the beak lead- coloured, the head whitish ; the hinder part of the back of a green-ash colour, and 'he fore- part grey ; round the eyes, the throat, the breast and sides tan- coloured ; the neck with a circle of the same colour, reddish ; the wings black, with three white spots. 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,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 productions of nature, offers, not less than bees, that which is use- ful, agreeable, and even won- derful. ON PARSING. [LfiTTER J. Le Paon, oiseau fort connu a cause de la b.'iaute de sa queue, magnifiquement paree de difFe- rentes couleurs et qui semble representer de grands yeux. K. Les pigeons communs sont, ou fuyards ou domestiques ; les derniers ne quittent presque pas la maison, mais les autres vont cbercher leur vie au loin ; les uns ni les autres ne perchent point sur les arbres, et ils diffe- rent par -la du pigeon ramier, qui babite les bois. L. Pour reussir a elever des ponies, il faut savoir les choisir. M. La race, venue des Indes, est d' un grand profit, parce qu'elle multiplie beaucoup, aise- nient et souvent. N. Les plumes des oies, leur cbair, leur graisse et leurs oeufs, dont elles font par an trois pontes tres abondantes, font beaucoup de profit, d'autant qu'elles vivent tres' long-temps ; elles sont assez vigilantes pour servir de sure garde la nuit, au moindre bruit elles s'fcveillent, et jettent de grands oris qui avertissent. O. Des canards domestiques, canes et canetons. Ces trois mots designent le pere, la ra^re et ie petit ; le male est plus gros The peacock, a bird well known on account of the beauty of his tail, magnificently adorned with different colours, which seem to represent great eyes. Common pigeons are either wild or tame, the last scarcely quit the house, but the others seek their living at a distance ; neither the one nor the other perch on trees, and they differ in that from the wood-pigeon which lives in the woods. To succeed in raising fowls,^ we must know hov7 to choose the breeders. The race that come from India (turkeys) are very profitable, because they multiply nmch, easily and often. The feathers of geese, their flesh, their grease, and their eggs, of which they have yearly three very abundant layings, yield a great deal of profit, and the more, as they live a long time ; they are suffieifrntly vigi- lant, to serve as a sure guard in the night ; at the smallest, noise they wake and give loud cries which warn. Tame drakes, ducks, and duck- lings. These three words de- signate the father, the mother and the young one; the male is XIIL] , ON PARSING. que la femelle, et se disdingfue encore a son cou qui est "q* un vert do 1*6 et changeant ; il a quelques plumes de la queue retroussees vers son extremile superieure. P. Le cochon est un animal, sale, gourmand, et qui fait du d^gat partout ou il passe ; ce- pendant, c'est un de ceux qui font le plus de profit, parce qu' une truie porte deux fois I'an- nee et donne, chaque fois,depuis dix jusqu' a quinze cochons. Le cocbon reussit dans tous le pays, et il est d'un tres-grand usage. Q. Les farines de toutes les graines, extraites par une suffi- sante quantite d' eau, et aban- ' donnees a elles-memes au degre de cbaleur propre a la fermenta- tion spiritueuse, subissent natu- rellement la fermentation, et sont metamorphosees en veritable li- queur. R. Comme aliment ordinare, comme assaisonnement, comme remede, le lait est d'un excellent produit. S. Le jardinage r^nnit toutes les operations de I'agriculture, mais sous ou rapport plus cir- conscrit et plus agreable ; car il exige des connaissances par- ticulieres et tr^s-etendues. T. L' exercise de la cbasse ne pent etre, comme tout autre, que bigger tbanthe female, and is distinguisbed besides by his neck which is of a gilded and change- able green : he has some feathers in the tail curled back towards his head. The hog is a filthy animal, a glutton, and one that makes de- struction wherever he goes ; but he is one of those which yields the most profit, because a sow farrows twice a year, and has, each time, from ten to fifteen pigs. The hog succeeds in all countries, and is very much in use. The meal of all grains, ex- tracted by a sufiicient quantity of water, and left to itself at the proper degree of heat for spiri- tuous fermentation, naturally undergoes the fermentation and is metamorphosed into real spi- rituous liquors. As ordinary food, as an ingre- dient, as a remedy, milk is an article of great value. Gardening unites all the ope- rations of agriculture, but in a way more compact and much more pleasing ; for it requires knowledge at once minute and very extensive- The exercise of hunting cannot but be, like every other, favour- ON PAKSTNG. [Letter favorable a la sante ; c*est I'ex- ercice le plus sain pour le corps, et le repos le plus agreable pour Tesprit. U. La pecbe est un agreable passe-temps qu'on peut prendre a la campagne ; elle est diver- tissante, utile et d'une pratique facile pour peu qu'on ait de patience. V. Les petites chasses, qui se font a peu de frais et sans peine dans les differentes saisons de Tannic, et sur tout pendant Tautomne et Thiver, sont tres- amusantes. '' W. Le chcval est celui de tous les animaux qui, avec une grande taille, a le plus d'elegance et de proportion dans les parties du corps. C'est le plus necessaire, le plus noble de tous les animaux domestiques. ' X. L' ane est d'un tempe- rament melancoliquCj patient et laborieux, mais fort-obstine ; il porte des fardeux consider- ables pour sa grosseu^ ; il tire a la cbarrette, et ii la charrue dans les terres legeres : il vit de peu, et ne coute presque rien a nourrir. Y. Les betes a laine sont les bestiaux qui font le plus de profit par leur fecondite, leur toison, leur cbair, leur lait, leur graisse, leurs peaux, leur fumier merae. able to bcaltb ; it is tbe exercise tbe most bealthy for tbe body, and the relaxation the most agreeable for the mind. Fishing is an agreeable pas- time that you may have in the country ; it is diverting, useful and easy to do^ if you have but a little patience. The smaller sports, which are followed at little expense and without trouble in the different seasons of the year, and particu- larly in the autumn and in th6 winter, are very amusing. 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 bis size ; he draws the cart, and the plough in light lands : he lives upon little, and costs scarcely any thing to keep. Sheep are the animals, which yield the greatest profit, from their fecundity, their fleece, their flesh, their milk, their fat, their skins, even their dung. A flock XIII.] ON PARSING. Ua troupeau est rame d'une ferme. Z. Le boEuf est le plus estiine fVentre les betes a comes ; il coute peu d'entreticn, et rend beaucoup de profit ; il est bon au trait et ;1 la charrue, peu sujet aux maladies, et aise a en guerir ; il vit assez long-temps ; il ne lui faut presque point de liarnois, quoiqu'il n*y ait pas d'animal qui soit plus propre a labourer. is the soul of a farm. The ox is the most valuable amongst horned animals ; he costs little, and yields a great deal of profit ; he is good for draught and for the plough, little subject to maladies and easily cured of them ; he lives to a pretty good age ; there wants scarcely any harness for him, though there is no animal more fit for the plough. LETTER XIV. RELATING TO THE GENDERS OF NOUNS, AND TO THE CONJU- : CATIONS AND THE IRREGULARITIES OF VERBS. My dear Richard, 174. I now come to those cumbrous masses of words, i^hich, 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, 1 fut o^what Ihad 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, any thing 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 tiiese so many tasks, because this word implies a rather laborious afiPair. 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 tq the Etymology of Nouns ; the Conjugations and Irregularities of Verbs belonged to the Etymology of Verbs ; and, the principles relating to them were suffi- ciently dwelt on in the proper places : but, the details, the » lists, the mere memorz/-part, could not be gone into there, without making, in your study of principles, chasms too wide. Having gone through the Etymology of all the GENI3ER OF >JdUNS. sorts of words, or parts of speech, we come to a propel* placfe 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. 170. Our first Task is, then, the ascertaining of the Genders of Nouns. Now read paragraphs^ from 54 to 65, 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 5 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, ac- cording 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 3 for, if the noun begin with a vowel, or with an h mute, the definite article for both genders is /'. Therefore, in these cases ; that is t6 say, as to the nouns beginning with a, e, i, 0, w, and h mute, you must use the indefinite article, un or une. THE TASKS. [Letteh 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. yi\ 179. There are, besides, some few nouns that are plii:ral 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 bons vivres; but, when you have to write down water and snuffers, you will write, de bon 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 5 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 j and, when I have done that, I have another remark, or two to make on the subject. un aune ; an alder tree.de bon babeurre. la capote. une aune : an ell. la l)arbine. la caque. de bon argent. le bac. le couteau. D. E. F. le claim. \ de bonne eau. de bon froment, le damas. une 6bauche. la framboise. la danse. un eblouissement. le framfcoisier. GENDER OF NOUNS. G. de bonnes hardes. la hache. le haricot. I. une image, une intrigue, un interprete. L. le livre : the book. la livre ; the pound. M. le mot. le magazln. d'etroites limltes. de bons materiaux. O. un ceil. la pomrae. un oeuf. la poire. une oye. le puits. R. S. le renard. la source. la recorapens6. le songe. la recolte. le sourcii. U. V. une urne. le vacarme. un usage. de longues vacances. une usance. la vanne. Z. le zain. le zele. la zibeline. 181. In paragraphs 17S and 179, J 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 barbeurre, good buttermilk ; but, it would be nonsense to say, de bonnes vacances, good holidays. Therefore I have put longues THE TASi5:S. [h^TttK before vacances, which denotes the gender as clearly as the adjective bonnes would do it. 18^. 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 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 placed in the Dictionary. Observe, however, that where the same noun has several distinct significations, and is, there- fore, repeated several times in the Dictionary ; as in the case of the noun mot, you need write the word down but once 5 unless, indeed, as is sometimes the case, the same noun, that is to say, a noun consisting 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 foregoing specimens j 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 done in 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 deal 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 5 whatever my situation, I could always refer to my little book in a mo- ment. This method is, therefore, the one that I beg you to XIV.] REGULAR VBRBS. pursue. Once more let me remind you of the necessity of writing down the words correctly. You must not omit any of the accents ; for they, as you have seen 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 possibly 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 j 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. Having read carefully through the whole of the grammar up to this place, having taken this review 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, 1 have ex- plained the meaning of the word Conjugation^ and have given yon the conjugation of an English Verb and of a French Verb. In paragraphs 120 and 121, 1 have spoken of the ten Conjugations of French Verbs, and, in paragraph 122, I have spoken of the Irregular Verbs. Read all these paragraphs carefully through now. Pay great attention to all that they contain 5 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 consequence, so that THE TASKS. [LeTTER we attend to what we are about. The French verbs are, as was observed in paragraph 121, considered as divided into ten conjugations. These are denoted in the Diction- ary 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 different according to the diffe- rent conjugations. You have seen that Tuer (to kill) becomes tue, tuons, tuez, tuent. But, Agir (to act) be- comes, 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 Tuer and the figure 2 after Agir; because the former verb is of the first and the latter of the second conjugation. 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 conjuga- tion, and that that verb belongs to such other conjuga- tion ? 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 c?re of the tenth. 188. But, you may say, what is the use of all this classi- fying ? Oh ! a great deal of use, as I will now show you. Suppose you have to translate this phrase : you kill a sheep. Yuu write : vous tuez un niouton. Then this phrase : you act well. You, if you paid no attention to conjuga- tion, would write, vous agiz bien. But, knowing by its ending, that agir is of the second conjugation, and, having XIV.] REGULAR VERBS. 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 conjugate it all through ; that is to say, exhibit it in all its forms, from that of the Infinite Mode to that of the Participle, in the same manner that I have exhibited the verb Tuer, in paragraph 1 18. The verbs which I shall take for this purpose are the following : 1. Tuer, 2. Agir, 3. Mentir, 4. Venir, 5. Devoir, 6*. Faire, 7. JOINDRE, 8. Croitre, 9. CCJIRE, 10. Vendre, to kill. 'U<\ 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 3 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. Bear in mind, then, that the verbs of the first conjugation 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 olndre, the eighth oitre, the ninth wire, and the tenth endre and ondre. iauoma . 190. There will be some remarks to make upon each conjugation, and, in order that all may be as plain as possible, I shall make one page contain the remarks oa each conjugation, and shall exhibit a verb regularly con- jugated on the opposite page -, so that, Vvhen you turn over the leaf, you will come to a fresh conjugation. THE TASKS. [LeTTER 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 irregulars, there are some little irregularities in several of the verbs of this first conjugation. 1. When there is a g immediately before the er, the e is not dropped in those parts of the verb w^hich require an o or an a to come after the g. In Nager (to swim), for instance, we should, if we followed the ge- neral rule, say, je nagols; but, this would introduce the hard sound of gois : we, therefore, say, je nageois. And, in the active participle, we say, nogeant; and not nagant. 2. When a question is asked, and the verb is immediately followed by the pronoun je, the e is changed into an e : as tui'je? Kill I? — 3. Verbs which end in uyer, ojjer, ay er, 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, therefore, instead ofje paye (I pay), such writers use, je paie. The verb envoyer (to send) makes enverrai, in the future, and enverrois, in the past of the subjunctive : — 4. The verbs appeler (to call) and jeter (to throw) double the / and the t in those parts of the verb! which take an e mute immediately after the I and^: as, fappelle, and not fappele ; je jette, and not ]ejete. This is the case in a very few other instances. — 5. When the verb ends in cer^ thee must have a cedille placed under it, "when it is immediately followed by an a or an o .• as : tracer (to trace), je tra^ois, il tra^d. — These irregularities amount to very little -, and all the verbs in er are to be considered as regular, except Aller and Puer. — 6. 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 ^ put between the verb and the il or elle, with a double hyphen -, thus : tue-i-il ? does he kill } tua-t-il ? did he kill? This is merely for the sake of the sound, which, without the t, would be very disagreeable REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE Tuer, II To Rill, je tue tu tues il tue je tuois tji tuois U tuoit je tuai tu tuas il tua je tuerai tu tueras il tuera INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, I kill thou killest he kills nous tuons vous tuez ils tuent we kill you kill they kill I killed thou killedst he kiUed nous tuions vous tuiez ils tuoient we killed you killed they killed Past Perfect Time, I killed thou killedst he kiUed nous tuamea vous tuates ils tu^rent we killed you killed they killed Future Time, I shall kill thou Shalt kill he shall kill nous tuerons . vous tuerez ils tueront we shall kill you shall kill they shall kill SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. Se tue tu tues il tue I may kill thou mayest kill he may kill nous tuions vous tuiez ils tuent we may kill you may kill they may kill Past Imperfect Time, je tuerois tu tuerois il tueroit I should kill nous tuerions thou shouldest kill vous tueriez he should kill ils tueroient Past Peifect Time. we should kill you should kill they should kill je tuasse tu tuasses il tuat I might kill thou mightest kill he might kill nous tuassions vous tuassiez ils tuassent we might kill you might kill they might kill IMPERATIVE MODE. tuons tuez qu' ils tuent let us kill kill let them kiU tue qu'il tue km let him kill Participles, tuant 1 1 tue II killing killed, THE TASKS^ [LeTTER 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 1S9. But, these two end in tir and enir. Of the second conjugation, the verb on the opposite page is one. There are about 200 verbs of this second conjugation. 1 have before observed, that,in conjugating the verbs, I purposely leave out the compound times, because they present no ad- ditional change in the form of the verb : they merely pre- sent you with a conjugation of the verbs avoir and etre with the passive participle after them. In the Subjunctive Mode, a que is understood, always 3 as, que fagisse, that I may act 3 but the que is left out, in the conjugations, in order to avoid encumbering the page. The two lan- guages differ so very widely in the cases where these mat/s and mights and shoulds or woulds come in, that it is im- possible to translate literally. This matter will be fully explained in Letter XXIV., 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 participles'. The active participle, as tuant, agissant, never changes its form j but, the passive participle does change its form, in some cases. Tue, for instance, is the passive parti- ciple of the verb Tuer ; but, this participle is sometimes tue, at others, tucs, at others, tuee, and at others, tuces. 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 5 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 tbe construction of sentences. REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. (jm\^T eo! J' agis tu agis il agit Agir II To Act. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, 1 act thou actest he acts nous agissons vous agissez ils agissent we act you act they act Past Imperfect Time, I acted j nous agissions thou actedst | vous agissiez he dctea ' ils agissoient we acted you acted they acted Past Perfect Time, I acted thou actedst he acted nous agimes vous agltes ils agirent we acted you acted they acted Future Time, I shall act thou Shalt act he shall act nous agirons vous agirez ils agiront we shall act you shall act they shall act SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. y agisse tu agisses il agit Present Time. I may act thou mayest act he may act nous agissions vous agissiez ils agissent Past Imperfect Time. I should act thou shouldest act he should act nous agirions vous agiriez ils agiroient Past Perfect Time, I might act thou mightest act he might act nous agissions vous agissiez ils agissent we may act you may act they may act we should act you should act they should act we might act you might act they might act IMPERATIVE MODE. agis qu* il agisse act let him act agissons agissez qu' ils agissent let us act act let them act Participles. agissant agi acting acted. H ^ THE TASKS. [Letter 193. THIRD CONJUGATION. 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 conjugation. — There are thirteen of them ; and they are as follows : Consentir, to consent. Hesentir, to resent. Dementir, to give the lie. Ressortir, to go out again Desservir, to clear the table. Sentir, to feel. Mentir, to lie. Servir, to serve.. Partir, to set out. Se Repentir, to repent. Pressentir, to foresee. Sortir, to go out. Repartir, to set out again. You will see, that several of these verbs are derived from others of them ; as repartir comes from pariir. 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 means to reply, as well as 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 you 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. Para- graph 19^ should be read with attention. The observations which it contains, relative to the manner of using the will, hall, and so forth, apply to all the conjugations 3 and I will here add another observation equally applicable to all of them J namely, that I made little Use of points in the tables of conjugation ; because we have not, in fact, sen- tences, here, but merely lists of words. Small letters have, at the beginning of words, been used as much as possible;^ instead of capitals, in order to save room. XIV.] REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Metttir || To Lie. je mentois tu mentois il meutoit INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, 1 lie thou liest he lies nous mentons •voas mentez ils mentent Past Imperfect Time. lUed thou liedst he lied nous mentions vous montiez ils mentoient Past Perfect Time, Hied thou lied 8 1 he lied I shall lie thou Shalt lie he shall lie nous mentimes vous mentites ils mentirent Future Time, nous mentirons vOus mentirez ils mentiront we lie you lie they lie we lied you lied they lied we lied you lied they lied we shall lie you shall lie they shall lie SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, I may lie thou may est lie he may lie noas mentions vous mentiez ilo mentent Pfisl Imperfect Time, I should lie thou Siio aides i; l-e he should lie nou« mentirions vous mentii'iez ils mentiroient Past Perfect Time, I might lie thou miglitest lie he might lie nons montissions voiv» Tnentis"^iez ils mentissent we may lie you may lie they may lie we should lie you should lie they should lie we might lie you might lie they might lie IMPERATIVE MODE. lie let him lie mentons mentez qu' ils mentent Paraciples. mentant menti lying Ued. let us lie lie let them lie THE TASKS. [LeTTER 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 5 but, it has been done in the Dictionary which is the most in use, and therefore I do it here. These six verbs are : S' Apercevoir, to perceive. Percevoir, 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 no longer in use. — Devoir, the verb conjugated on the opposite 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 ecrire ; *' 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 tip's place, remind you again of the great advantage of writing in a plain hand. You will write these conjugations down, as before directed 3 but if you write in a slovenly hand, 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 end, also the least troublesome and the quickest. XIVJ HEGULAR ViiRBS. INFINITIVE MOi>E. Devoir || To Owe. INDICATIVE MODE. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Presejit Time, je dois tu dois Udoit I owe thou owest he owes nous devons vous devez ils doivent we owe you owe they owe Past Imperfect Time, je devois tu devois il devoit I owed nous devions thou owedst vous deviez he owed ils devoient Past Perfect Time. we owed you owed they owed j e dus tu dus il dut I owed thou owedst he owed nous dumes vous dutes ils durent we owed you owed they owed Future Time. je devrai tu devras il devra I shall owe thou Shalt owe he shall owe nous devrons vous devrez ' ils devront we shall owe you shall owe they shall owjb Present Time. je doive tu doives il doive I may owe thou may est owe he may owe nous devions vous deviez ils doivent we may owe you may owe they may owe Past Imperfect Time, je devrois tu devrois il devroit I should owe thou shouldest owe he should owe nous devrions vous devriez ils devroient we should owe you should owe they should owe - Past Perfect Time, j e dusse tu dusses il dut I might owe thou mightest owe he might owe nous dussions vous dussiez ils dussent we might owe you might owe they might owe IMPERATIVE MODE. devons devez qu' ils doivent let us owe owe let them ow« dois vqu* il doive owe let him owe Participles. devant da 1 1 owing IJ owed. H 5 THE TASKS. [Letter 196. SIXTH CONJUGATION. These are the verbs ending in aire ; and^ there are seven of them as follows : Contrefaire, to counterfeit. Redefaire, to undo again Defaire, to undo. Satisfaire, to satisfy. , Faire, to do, or to make. Surfaire, to overdo. Refaire, to do again. You will see at once, that this is, in reality, all one ori- ginal verb ; for, every one of these verbs expresses some- thing about doing. To counterfeit is against to do -, and satisfy is enough to do, or enough doing. Doctor John- son, in his Dictionary, says, that our satisfy comes from the Latin word saVisfacio ; but why, Doctor ? Is not our word much more like satisfaire? Is not the/y manifestly faity or faite ? 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 well. Many of our words, ending in^, come, in part, from this French word /aire ; and many others which end in ait or eit. Our word surfeit is, indeed, French, if the e were ex- changed for an a. Sur is over, and feit (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 /aire, as you will see by-and-by. Therefore, take particular pains in learning to conjugate it. XIV.] REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Faire II To Do. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, jefais tu fais il fait I do nous faisons thou doest vous faites he does lis font Past Imperfect Time. we do you do they do je fesois tu fesois il fesoit I did Ihou didst he did nous fesions vous fesiez ils fesoient we did you did , they did Past Perfect Time, jefis tufis ilfit I did thou didst he did nous f imes vous fltes ils firent we did you did they did Future Time. je ferai tu feras il fera I shall do thou shalt do he shall do nous ferons vous ferez ' ils feront we shall do you shall do they shall do SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time^ je fasse tu fasses il fasse I may do thou niayest do he may do nous fassions Tous fassiez ils fassent we may do you ma y do they may do Past Imperfect Time. je ferois tu ferois il feroit I should do thou shouldest do he should do nous fetions vous feriez ils feroient we should do you should do they should do Past Perfect Time. je fisse tu fisses ilfit I might do thou mightest do he might do nous fissions vous fissiez ils fissent we might do you might do they might do IMPERATIVE MODE. fais qu' il fasse do let him do fesons faites qu' ils fassent fesant fait Participles. 11 doing done. let us do do let them do THE TASKS. [Letter 197. SEVENTH CONJUGATION. These are verbs that end in aindre, eindre, or oindre. The difference 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, to bind. Feindre, to feign. Atteindre, to reach. Joindre, to join. Ceindre, , to gird. Peindre, to paint. Contraindre, to constrain. Plaindre, to pity. Cralndre, to fear. So Plaindre, to complain. Enceindi-e, to surround. Restreindre, to restrain. Enjoindre, to enjoin. Teindre, to tint, or dye Eteindre, to extinguish. - There are three or four other verbs of these terminations ; but they are out .of use, and therefore I will take no fur- ther notice of them. — Here are three different endings, if you go back to the sixth letter from the end 3 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 crains, je craignois, je cragms, je craindrai, and so forth. And, if you toke feindre, you say, jefeins, je feignois, je feignis, }e feindrai. All this becomes familiar in a very short time ; and especially if you w^rite the conjugations down over and over again, and in a neat and plain hand. XIV.] REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Joindre IJ To Join. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je joins tu joins il joint je joignois tujoignois il joignoit je joignis tu joignis iljoignit je joindrai tu joindras il j oindra I join thou joinest he joins noi^s joignons vows joignez ils joignent Past Imperfect Time. I joined thou joinedst he joined nous joignions vous joigniez ils joignoient .. Past Perfect Time, I joined thou joinedst he joined nousjoignimes vous joignites ils joignirent Future Time. I shall join thou shalt join he shall join nous joindrons vous joindrez ils joindron^ we join you join they join we joined you joined they joined we joined you joined they joined we shall join you shall join they shall join je joigne tu joignes il joigne SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, I may join thou mayest join he may join nous joignions vous joigniez ils joignent we may join you may join they may join je joindrois tu joindrois il joindroit 16 joignisse tu joignisses il joignit Past Imperfect time. I should join thou shouldest join he should join nous joindrions voLis joindriez ils joindroient I might join thou mightest join he might join Past Perfect Time. nous joignissions vous joignissiez ils joignissent we should join you should join they should join we might join you might join they might join IMPERATIVE MODE. joins >qu' il joigne join let him join joignona joignez qu'ils joignent let us join join let them jom Participles. joignant 1 1 joining joint II joined. THE TASKS. [Letter AcroUre, to accrue. Meconno'itre, Connoitre, to know. ParoHre, Croitre, to grow. Recroitre, DecroHre, to get less. Reconnoitre, Disparoitre, to disappear. 198. EIGHTH CONJUGATION. The verbs of this conjugation end in oitre. They are nine in number, as follows : 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 (''^) over the i, but merely a single dot, as in other cases. It is, perhaps, of very little consequence j but I mention it, that you may be prepared for such a case. Many French words former- ly had an s where they now have none. For instance, peo- ple used to write, maistre, estre, instead of maz/re and etre ; and the ''^ is put to signify the omission of the s. It is the eame with croitre, which used to be written croistre. REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Croitre II To Grow. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, I grow thou growest he grows nous croissons vous croissez ils croissent Past Imperfect Time* I growed thou didst grow he growed nous croissions vous croissiez ils croissoient Past Perfect Time. I growed thou growedst he growed nous crimes vou crutes ils crtirent Future Time, I shall grow thou shalt grow he shall grow nous croHrons vous croitrez /ils crottront we grow you grow they grow we growed you growed they growed we growed you growed they growed we shall grow you shall grow they shall grow. SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, I may grow thou mayest grow he may grow nous croissions vous croissiez ils croissent Past Imperfect Time. I shall grow thou shouldest grow he should grow nous croltrions vous crottriez ils croitroient Past Perfect Time, I might grow thou mightest grow he might grow nous crussions vous crussiez ils crussent we may grow you may grow thPY may grow we should grow you should grow they should grow we might grow you might groV they might grow IMPERATIVE MODE. grow let him grow croissons croissez qu* ils croissen r let us grow grow let them grow croissant cru Participles. growi grown. ^ 11 growing II I THE TASKS [Letter 199. NINTH CONJUGATION. This conjugation consists of the verbs that end in uire, which are eighteen in number, some of them having a little of irreguhrity, which will be noticed when T have given you the list. Conduire, to conduct. Luire, 1 shin e, to give light. Construire, to construct. Nuire, to hurt. Cuire, to cook. Produire, to jiroduce. enquire. to deduct Reconduire, to reconduct. Detruire^ to destroy. Recuire, to cook again. Enduire, to plaster over- ' Redxiire, to reduce. Induire, to induce. Rcluire, to glitter, to shine. Introduire, to introduce. Seduire, to seduce. Instruire, to instruct. ' Trad aire, to translate. Luire, Reluire and Nuire, are irregular in their pas- sive participle, where they drop the t ; and, instead of luit, reluit, and tmit, they make lid, rekii, and nui. The pas- sive participle is called by some, the past participle j and the active participle is, by those persons, railed the pre- 5ewi participle. But, '^Iwd^ walking' is certainly not present. One of these participles always expresses ac- tion, and the other does not 5 therefore, I use the words ^ciiue and joas5ii;e, as applied to these participles respec- tively. XIV.] REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Cuire 1 1 To Cook. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. I cook thou cookest he cooks nous cmsons vous cuisez ils cuisent Past Imperfect Time, I cooked thou cookedst he cooked nous cuisions vous cuisiez ils caisoient Past Perfect Time. I cooked thou cookedst he cooked nous cmsimes vous cuisites ils cuisirent Future Time. I shall cook thou Shalt cook he shall cook nous cuirons vous cuirez ils cuiront we cook you cook they cook we cooked you cooked they cooked we cooked you cooked they cooked we shall cook you shall cook they shall cook SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may cook thou mayc^t cook he may cook nous cuisions vous cuisiez ils cuisent Pant Imperject. I should cook thou shouldest coo'^ he should cook nous cmrions votis cuiriez ils cuiroient Past Perfect Time. I might cook thou mightest coo\ he might cook nors cuisissions vous cuisissiez ils cuisisseut we may cook you may cook they may cook we should cook you should cook they should cook we might cook you might cook they might cook IMPERATIVE MODE. CUIS qu* 11 cuise cook let him cook cvisons cuisez qu' Lis cuisent Participles. cuisant cuit cooking cooked. let us cook cook let them cook THE TASKS. [Letter 200. TENTH CONJUGATION. These are verbs, which end in endre ami ondre. There are twenty-three of them, as follows : Attendre, Condescendre, Confondre, Correspondre, Descendre, Entendre, Etendre, Fendre, Fondre, Mordre, Morfondre, Pendre, to wait for. to condescend- to confound, to correspond- to descend- to hear, to extend, to split, to melt, to bite, to give cold to. to hang- Perdre, to lose. Pondre, to lay eggs Pretendre, to pretend- Refondre, to recast. Rendre, to render. Repandre, to spread. Repondre, to answer Teudre, to bend. Tondre, to shear. Tordre, to twist. Vendre, to sell. The remarks made in paragraph \97, 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 vendre, I should say^^e tonds,je iondois, and so on j and, in the participles, I should say, tondant and tondUf 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 conjuga- tion. — 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 man- ner as vendre. They are, therefore, inserted in the above list. REGULAR VERBS. INFINITIVE MODE. Vendre || To Sell. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. I sell thou sellest he sells nous vendons vous vendez ils vendent we sell you sell they sell , Past Jmjierfect Time. Isold thou soldest he sold nous vendions vous vendiez ils vendoient we sold you sold they sold Past Perfect Time. Isold thou soldest he sold nous vendtmes vous vendites ils vendirent Future Time. we sold you sold they sold I shall sell thou shalt sell he shall sell nous vendrons ^ vous vendrez ils vendront we shall sell you shall sell 1 they shall sell SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may sell thou mayest sell he may sell nous vendions vous vendiez ils vendent Past Imperfect Time. I should sell thou shouldest sell he should sell nous vendrions vous vendriez ils vendroient Past Perfect Time I I might sell I thou mightest sell j he might sell nous vendissions vous vendissiez ils vendissent we may sell you may sell they may sell we should sell you should sell they should sell we might sell you might sell they might sell IMPERATIVE MODE. sell let him sell vendons vendez qu' ils vendent Participles, vendant |] selling ve»du sold. let us sell sell let them sell THE TASKS. [Letter ^1. IRREGULAR VERBS.— This is the Third Task j and it is no trifling one. — Having done with the ten con- jugations of Regular Verbs I have next to treat of the Irregulars, of which I have spoken before, especially in para.^raph 122. In paragraph 191, I observed, that there were some LregMZa/'s of ev^ery oneof theconjugations^ 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 re- gular ones. Let us take a proof in Tuer (to kill) and Aller cd we believed you believed they believed we shall believe you shall believe they shall believe SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may believe thou mayest believe he may believe nous croyions vous croyiez ils croyent Past Imperfect Time. I should believe thoushouldest believe he should believe nous croirions vous croiriez ils croiroient Past Perfect Time. I might believe | thou mightest believe he might believe | nous crussions vous crussiez ils crussent we may believe you may believe they may believe we should believe you should believe they should believe we might believe you might believe they might believe IMPERATIVE MODE. believe let him believe croyons croyez qu' il croyent Participles. croyant cru believing believed. let us believe believe let tliem believe THE TASKS. [Letter 213 Paragraph,] INFINITIVE MODE. Cueillir 1| To Gather. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je cueille tu cueilles il cueille je cueillois tu cueillois ' il cueilloit je cueillis tu cueillis il cueillit je cueillerai tu cueilleras il cueillera I gather thou gatherest he gathers nous cueillons vous cueillez i!s cueillent Past Imperfect Time. I gathered thou gatheredst he gathered j nous cueillions vous cueilliez ils cueilloient Past Perfect Time. I gathered nous cueillimes thou gatheredst vous cueillites he gathered ils cueillirent Future Time. I shall gather thou shalt gather he shall gather nous cueillerons vous cueillerez ils cueilleront we gather you gather they gather we gathered you gathered they gathered we gathered you gathered they gathered we shall gather you shall gather they shall gather SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je cueille tu cueilles il cueille I may gather thou mayest gather he may gather nous cueillions vous cueilliez ils cueillent we may gather you may gather they may gather Past Imperfect Time. je cueillerois tu cueUlerois il cueilleroit I should gather thou shouldest gather he should gather -nous cueillerions vous cueilleriez ils cueilleroient we should gather you should gather they should gather Past Perfect 7\me. je cueillisse tu cueillisses il cuellit I might gather thou mi?;htest gather he might gather nous cueillissians vous cueillissiez ils cueillissent we might gather you might gather they might gather IMPERATIVE MODE. cueilles qu' il cueille gather let him gctther cueillons cueillez qu' ils cueill«nt let us gather gather let them gather Participles. cueillant il cueilli II gathering gathered. XIV,] IRREGULAR VERBS- 214 Paragraph.] INFINmVE MODE. Dire, II To Say. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, je dia tu dis ildit I say thou sayest he says nous disons vous dites ils disent we say you say they say Past Imperfect Time, ' je disois tu disois il disoit I said thou saidst he said nous disions vous disiez ils disoient we said you said they said Past Perfect Time. je dis tu dis ildit I said nous dimes thou saidst vous dites he said ils dirent Future Time. we said you said they said. je dirai tu diras il dira I shall say thou shalt say he shall say nous dirons vous direz ils diront we shall say you shall say they shall say SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. je dise tu dises il dise 1 may say thou mayest say he may say nous disions vous disiez ils disent we may say you may say they may say Past Imperfect Time. je dirois tu dirois il diroit I should say thou shouldest say he shoiild say nous dirions vouz diriez ils diroient we should say you should say they should say Past Perfect Time. je disse tu disses ildU I might say thou mightest say he might say nous dissions vous dissiez ils dissent we might say you might say they might say • IMPERATIVE MODE. 4isons dites qu'ils disent let us say say let them say dis qu' il dise '^ say let him say Participles. disant dit 1 saying 1 said. THE TASKS. [Letter 215 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE* Dormir || To Sleep. INDICATIVE MODE. je dors tu dors il dort je dorinois tu dormois il dormoit je dormis ta dormis il dormit je dormirai tu donniras il dormira Present Time, I sleep thou sleepest he sleeps nous dormons vous dorraez ils dormeiit II slept thou sleepedst he slept Past Imperfect Time. nous' dormions vous dormiez; ils dormoient Past Perfect Time. I slept thou sleepedst he slept nous dormtmes vous dormites ils dormirent Future Time. I I shall sleep thou shalt sleep I he shall sleep nous dormirons vous dormirez ils dorrairont we sleep you sleep ihey sleep we slept you slept they slept we slept you slept they slept we shall sleep you shall sleep they shall sleep SUBJUNCTIVE mode: Present Time, je dorme tu dormes il dorme I may sleep thou mayest sleep he may sleep nous dormions vous dormiez ils dorment we may sleep you may sleep they may sleep Past Imperfect Time. je dormirois tu dormirois il dormiroit I should sleep thou shouldest sleep he should sleep nous dormirions vous dormiriez ils dormiroient we should sleep you should sleep itheyshould sleep Past Perfect Time. je dormisse tu dormisses il dormit I might sleep thou mightest sleep he might sleep nous dormissions vous dormissiez ils dormissent we might sleep you might sleep they might sleep IMPERATIVE MODE. .* dormons dorme z qu' ils dorment 1 let us sleep 1 sleep 1 let them sleep dors ourrai tu poujias il pourra I shall be able thou Shalt be able he shall be able nous pourrons vous pourrez ils pourront we shall be able you shall be able they shall be able je puisse tu puisses il .puL>ge je porirrois tu pourrois il pomroit je pusse tu pusses ilpat SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time. I may be able thou mayest be able he may be able nous puisslons [vous puissiez [ils puissent Past Imperfect Time, I should be able thoushouldstbe able he should be able nous poui'rions vous pourriez jils poun'oient Past Perfect Time, I might be able jjnous pussions thou mightestbe able vous pussiez he might be able j jils pussent we may fee able you may be able they may be able [we should Ife able you should be able [they should be able I we might be able you might be able I they might be able IMPERATIVE MODE. [Not used in tliis Mode.J Participles. pouvant pu being able been able. IRREGULAR VERBS. 228 Pftragrapli.] INFINITIVE. MODE. Prendre. To Take. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time* I take thou takeet betakes nous prenoas vous prenez ils prenneiit Past Imperfect Time, I took thou tookest he took nous prenions vous preniez ils prenoient Past Perfect Time* I took thou tookest he took nous primee j vous prites jjils prirent Future Time, 11 shaUtake I thou shalt take I be shall take II no- voi lib nous prendrons vous prendrez prendront we take you take they take we took you took they took we took ' you took they took we shall take you shall take they shall take SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Ti^ne, jnous preniona jvous preniez jils prennejit I may take thou mayest take he may take Past Imperfect Tims* 1 1 should take thou shouldest take [he should take nous prendrionB vous px-endriez ils prendroient Pa^t Perfect Time* I might take thou mightest take he might take nous prissions vous prissiea ils prissent we may take you may take they may take we should take you should take they slu)uld take we might take you might take they might take IMPERATIVE MODK take let him take prenons prenez qu'ils preanent Participles. prenaut pris taking taken. let us take take let tliem take ^HE TASKS. f Letter 229 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Resoudre |1 To Resolve. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. je resous tu resous il resoud .ie resolvois tu resolvois il lesolvoit je resolus tu resolus il resolut je resoud rai tu resoudras il resoudra I resolve thou resolvest he resolves nous resolvons vous resolvez ils resolvent Past Imperfect Time. I resolved thou resolvedst he resolved {nous r^solvions vous resolviez jils resolvoient Past Perfect Time. I resolved thou resolvedst he resolved 'nous resol&mes vous resolutes jils resolurent Future Time. I shall resolve 1 1 nous resoudrons thou shalt resolve vous resoudrez he shaU resolve I ils resoudront we resolve you resolve they resolve we resolved you resolved they resolved we resolved you resolved they resolved iwe shall resolve you shall resolve. they shall resolve je resolve tu resolve il resolve je resoudrois tu resoudrois il resoudroit j e resolusse tu resolusses il resolut SUBJUNCTIVE mode: Present Time. I may resolve thou mayest resolve he may resolve nous resolvions vous resolviez ils resolvent Past Imperfect Time. I should resolve thou shouldstresolve he should resolve nous resoudrions vous resoudriez ils resoudroient Past Perfect Time. 11 might resolve thoumightestresolve [he might resolve nous resolussions Ivous resolussiez ils resolussent we may resolve you may resolve they may resolve we should resolve you should resolve theyshould resolve we might resolve you might resolve they might resolve IMPERATIVE MODE. resolve let him resolve resolvons resolvez qu'ils resolvent let us resolve TtSOUS qu'il resolve resolve let them resolve Participles. resolvant l resolu 1 resolving resolved. XlV.J IRREGULAR VERBS. 230 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Revetir [) To Invest. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time, I invest thou investest he invests nous revStons vous revetez ils re ve tent Past Imperfect Time, I invested thou investedst he invested Inous revfctions" vous revetie^i ils revetoient I invested thou investedst He invested Past Perfect Time. Inous revStfmes voTis rev^tlte^ ils revStirent Future 7Hme, II shall invest thou shalt invest he shall invest nous revetirons /VOUS reretirez ils revetiront we invest you invest they invest we invested you invested they invested we invested, you invested they invested we shall invest you shall invest they shall invest SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, il may invest I thou niayest invest i he may invest Inous re vStiona vous re ve tie as ils revetent Past hnverfect Time, nous revfetirions vous revStiriez ils rev^tiroient I should invest thou shouldst invest he should invest Past Perfect Time. I might invest 1 1 nous rev^tissions thou mightest iav est i vous revfetissiea he might invest j j ils rev^tissent we may invest you may invest they may invest we shotild invest you should invest they should invest we might invest you might invest they might invest IMPERATIVE MODE. invest let him invest rev^tona ;■ revetez qu'ils revetent Participles. revetant i revetft I investing invested. k5 let us invest invest let them invest THE TASKS. [Letter 231 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Rire I) To Laugh. INDICATIVE MODE. je na tu ris ilrit je riois til riois il rioit je ris tu ris il rit je nrai tu riras ii rira Present Time, I laugh nous rions thou laughest vous riez he laughs ils rient Past Imperfect Time, I laughed [nous rions thou laughedst ivous riez he laughed jils rioient Past Perfect Time, I laughed nous rimes thou laughedst vous rites he laughed lis rirent Future Time. I shall laugh thou shalt laugh he shall laugh I nous rirons vous rirez I ils riront we laugh you laugh they laugh ^e laughed you laughed they laughed we laughed you laughed th^y laughed [we shall laugh I you shall laugh I they shall laugh SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je ne tu ries il rie Je rirois tu rirois il riroit je nsse tu risses ilrlt Present Time. I may laugh 1 1 nous rions thou mayest laugh vous riez he may laugh Ijils rient Past Imperfect Time. T should laugh thou shouldst laugh he should laugh Past Perfect Time. il might laugh llnous rissions thou mightest laugh vous rissiez he might laugh | [ils risaent nous nnons [VOUS ririez ils riroient we mary laugh you may laugh they may laugh we ^hoold laugh you should laugh they should laugh we might taiigh you might laugh they might laugh IMPERATIVE MODE. ris qu'il rie laugh let him laugh rions riez qu'ils rient Participles. riant laughing laughed. let us kmgh laugh let them laugh XIV] IRRfiGULAR VERBS. 232 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Rompre (I To Break, INDICATIVE MODE. je romps tu rotnps il roiui4>t je roinpoi* tu roBipois il rozopoit je rompls tu roTupis il rompit j€ romprraa tu rompras il rozopra I break thou breakest he breaks Present Time, nous rompons vous romp 62 ilS rompenft Past Imperfect Time, I broke thou brokest he broke nous rompion^ vous rbmpiez lis rompoient Past Perfect Time. I broke thou brokest he Jjroke nous romp'hnes vous rompltes lis rompirent. Future l^ime. I shall break thou shalt break he shall break. nous rora prone v/ous romprez lis rompront we break you break they break Jwe broke iyou brobe tiiey broke I we brotoe 50U broke they hrokie we shall break you shall break they shall break SUBJUNCTIVE MODR I may break thou may est break he may break Present Time. nous rompions vous rompiea j lis rompent Past Imperfect Time, il should break thou shouldest break he should break nous romprions vous rompriez ils romproient Past Perfect T'ime^ I might Tbi-^ak thou mightest break he n^ght break nous rompissions vous rompissiez ils rompisseut \yj& nrafy break Iyou may break [th£y may break we should break" you should break thay should breaJi we might break you might br«ak they might break tUjM qu' il rompe IMPERATIVE MODE* break let him ttrealL rompong rompez qu' ils rompent rmnpant rompu Participles, 11 breaking broken. let OS briB'ak break let them break THE TASKS. [Letter 233 Paragraph.] INFlNITIv^E MODE. Savoir |i To Know. INDICATIVE MODE. je sais tu pais il salt je savois tu savois il savoit je sus tusus il sut je saurai tu s auras il saura I know thou knowest he knows Present Time, nous sarons V0U3 savez lis savent Past Imperfect Time, I knew thou knewest he knew nous savions vous saviez lis savoient I knew thou knewest he knew Past Perfect Time. nous sQtnes vous sutes ils surent Future Time, I shall know thou shalt know he shall know nous saurons vous saurez ils sauront We know you know they know we knew you knew they knew we knew you knew they knew we shall know you shall know they shall know SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, je sache tu saches il sache je saurois tu saurois il sauroit je susse tu susses il Slit I may know thou mayest know he may know nous sachions vous sachiez ils sachent Past Imperfect Time. 1 should know 11 nous saurions thou shouldest know vous sauriez he should know ils sauroient Past Perfect Time, I might know I thou mightest know he might know | nous sussions vous sussiez ils sussent IW€? naay know you may know they may know we should know you should know I they should know we Might know you might know they might know IMPERATIVE MODE. sais J know qu' il sache j let him know sachons sachez qu' ils sachent let us know know let thetn know Participles. sachant 1 1 knowing su 1 1 known. XIV.] IRHEGULAR VERBS. 234 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Suivre II To Follow. INDICATIVE MODE. je 8T11S tu suis il suit je suivcns tu suivois il suivoit je suivis tu suivis il suivit je siuvrau tu suivras il suiyra I follow thou followest he follows Present Time, nous suivons Vous suivez lis suivent Pmt Imperfect Time* I follow thou followedst he followed nous suivions vous suiviez ils suivoient Past Perfect Tivie. I followed thou followedst he followed nous suivtxaes vous suivltes II ils suivirent Future Time, I shall follow thou shalt follow he shall follow nous suivrons vous suivrez ils' suivront we follow you follow they follow we followed you followed they followed we followed you followed they followed we shall follow you shall follow they shall follow SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. je smve tu suives il suive je sulvrois tu suivrois il suivroit je suivisse tu sui^'iiises il suivtt Present Time, I may follow 1 1 nous suivions thou mayest folio ^ vous suiviez he may follow j j ils suivent Past Imperfect Time, I should follow I thou shouldest follow I he should follow nous smvrions vous suivriez ils suivroicnt Past Perfect Time, I might follow j I nous suivissions thou mightest follow vous suivissiez he might follow 1 1 ils suivissent we may follow you may follow they may follow we should follow you should follow they should follow we might follow you might follow they might follow IMPERATIVE MODE. suis qu' il suive follow let him follow suivons suivez q^u' ils suivent Participles. suivant suivi following followed. let us follow follow ^ let them follow THE TASKS. [Letter 235 Par^rapli.] INFINITIVE MODE. je trais tu trais il trait je tray(?!s tu trayois il trayoit Traire I) To Milk. INDICATIVE MODE. Present 7Hme. I milk thou tnilkest he milks" nous trayons vous trayez ils traient Past Imperfect Time. I milked tliou milkedst he milked ; nous tray ions vous trayiez ils trayoicnt Past Perfect Time, [Not U3ed in this Time.] we milk you milk they milk we milked you milked they milked jc trairai tu trairas il traira Future Time. I sfhali milk thou shalt milk he shall milk nous trairons vous ti'airez iis trairont we sliall milk you shall milk they shall milk SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Tim& je traie tu traies il ti-aie I may milk thou mayest milk. he may milk nous trayions vous trayiez ils traient we may milk ymi may milk they may milk Past Imperfect Time* je trairais ttt trttJrois il trairoit I should milk thou shouldest milk he should milk nous trairions vous trairiez ils trairoient we sfeould milk you should n.iik they should milk PaM Perfect Time, [Not used in this Time.] IMPERATIVE MODE. trayons trayez qu* ils traient let us mi!k milk let them nrilk trtds qa'il traie milk let hiuj milk -, FarticipleSi trayant 1 tyait 1 1 milking XIV.j IRREGULAE VERBS. 23^ Paragraph,] INFINITIVE MODE. Tressaillir |1 To Burst out. INDICATU^ MODK Present Time. je tressadlle tu tressailles il tressaille J€ treBsaSllois tu tressaillois il tressalloit je treasons tu tressaillis il tressaillit je tresaillirai tu tressaillira il tressaillira I burst out thou burstest out he bursts out nous tressaillons vous tressaillez ils tressaileut Pnsi Imperfect Tinhe. 1 1 bursted out thou burstedst out he bursted out nous tressaillions reus tressailliez ils tressailioieut Past Perfect Time. II bursted out thou burstedst out he bursted out nous tressailltmos vous tressaillitea ils tressaillirent Future Time* I shall burst out thou shalt burst out he shall boirst out nous tressaillirons vous tressaillirez ils tressailliront I we burst out you burst out they burst out we bursted out you bursted out they bursted out we bursted out you burtit^d oxit they bursted out we shall burst out you shall burst out they sliall burat ou SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Tim^, je tressaille tu tressAilles il treesailie Je treasaillirois tu treasaillirois Q tressailliroit treassfillisse hi tressailliswes tJeesaiUit I may burst out thou mayest burst out he may burst out nous tressaillions vous tressailliez ils tressaillent Past Imperfect Titne, I should burst out thou shouldest burst out he should bur»t out nous tressaillirious vous tressailliriez ils tressaiUiroient I^ast Perfect Time. I might burst out thou migiitest burst out he might burst out nous tressaillisslons vous tressaillissiez ils tressailliaseat I we may burst out you may burst out ^ey may burst out |we sHtMdd burst ou you should burst oi Ithey should burst c we might bar^ out you might bxarst ou< they might burst ox [Not m^ in the Imperative Mode. ParticipleSc. tresaallTaut tressailli bursting otlt bursted out. THE TASKS. [Letter 239 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Voir To See. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time. ' je vois til vols il voit I see thou secat he sees nous voyons vous voyez ils voient we see you see they see Past Imperfect Time. je voypis tu viiyois il voyoit I saw 1 thou sawest he saw nous voyions vous voyiez ils voyoieni we saw you saw they saw Past Perfect Time. je vis tu vis il vit I saw thou sawest he saw nous vimes vous vUes ils virent i we saw *i you saw they saw Future Time* je vetT.Td tu verras il verra I shall see thou Shalt see he shall see nous verrona vous verrez ils verront 1 we shall see you shall see 1 they shall see SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. Present Time, je voie tu voles il voie I xnay see thou mayest see he may see nous voyions vous voyiez ils voient Past Impafect Time. je verrors j I should see tu verrois | thou shouldest see il verroit | he should see nous verrions vous A erriez ils verroient je visse tu vi&jes ilvit vois qu' il voie Past Perfect Time. I might see I nous vissions thou raightest »ee vous vissicz he laiglit see | ils vissent^ IMPERATIVE. MODE. voyons voyez qu' ils voient see let him see we may see you may see they may see we sliould see you should see they should see we might see you might see they might see I let us see see I let them »ee. Participles* royant vu seemg seen. XIV.] IEREG17LAB VERBS 240 Paragraph.] INFINITIVE MODE. Vouloir n To be Willing. INDICATIVE MODE. Present Time^ je veax tu veux 11 veut je voulois tu voulois il vouloit je vatdua tn voulus il voulut je voadrai tu roudras ii voudra I am willing thou art willing he is willing 'nous voulons vous voulez , jiis Tculent Past Imperfect Thrve. I was willing jnous voulions thou wast willing jvous vouliess lie was willing |ils vouloient Past Perfect Time. I was willing thou wast willing he was willing nous voulCimes vous voulCites ils voulurent Future Time, I shall be willing thou Shalt be willing he shall be willing [nous voudrons vous voudrez ils voudront we are willing you are willing they are wUling we were willing you were willing they were willing we were willing you were willing they were willing w© shall be willing you shall be williixg they shall be willing .fe veuille tu veuille il veuille je votMrois tu voudrois il voudroit SUBJUNCTIVE MODE, Present Time.. I may be willing thou may est be willing he may be willing nous voulions vous vouliez ils veuillent Past Imperfect Time^ \ should be wUling ihou shouldest be williug he should be willing I nous voudrions vous voudriez ils voudroient Past Perfect Tinve^ je vmrlusse |I might be willing ta voulusses thou mightest be willing il voulut |he might be willing nous voulussions vous voulussiez ils voulussent I we may be 'syilling you may be willing they may be willing we should be willing you should be willing they should be willing we might be willing you might be willing they migut be willing IMPERATRTE MODE, [Not used in this Time.] Participles.^ Toulant 11 being willing Toulu II been willing. THE TASKS. [LbTTER 241. Before I quit these conjugations of regular verbs and of irregular verbs, I must give you some further advice relative to the learning of them and of every thing relating to the verbs. You must have seen, before now, that the verbs constitute the most important part of a language. To have a thorough knowledge of this part of speech is abso- lutely necessary to the acquirement of any thing approach- ing perfection in the language. I, therefore, beseech you to bestow great pains on this part of your study. Write down the conjugations of all the regular verbs several times over. Make it a duty to conjugate a regular verb of each conjugation every day for some time. And, as to the thirty-nine Irregulars, you should conjugate them all, that is to say, write the conjugations over so often, that^ at -last, you are able to write the whole of the conjuga- tions down, from the first to :the last, without making a single blunder ; for, until you can do this, you do not un- derstand these important words sufficiently. 249,. In order to assist the memory in the case of the Genders of Nouns^ I have, in paragraph 183, described a little book that I made for the purpose. To effect a similar purpose with regard to the Verbs, I made a card, which I carried constantly in my pocket-book. One side of this card exhibited an abridgment of the ten conjuga- tions of regular verbs. So that, if I were absent from my books; if I were walking or riding,and thinking about any particular verb, I could take out my card, and refresh my memory. The other side of the card exhibited a complete list of the irregulars, with an abridged conjugation of each. I shall, presently, give you a copy of this card -, and, from it, you may make one for yourself. On the Regular Side the Card leaves out the second persons of all the verbs 3 but, having all the rest under your eye, you can make no mistake as to these parts of the verb. On the XIV.] IRREGULAR VERBS. Irregular Side of the Card you have, after the infinitve, only the first person sitigular of the verbs, and the two Participles. The Card will contain no more 5 but, these will be, in most cases, sufficient to call to your recollec- tion the manner of conjugating the verb. At any rate, this side of the Card will always be at hand to tell you, 'whether any verb, about which you may want in- formation, be a regular, or an Irregular, This Card will be very convenient when you are translating from English into French. It will, in many cases, save you the trouble of searching the Dictionary, or of turning over the leaves of your Grammar. 243. When you have done all that I have directed above, you will, before you enter on the next Letter, which will introduce you to the Syntax, try yourself a little as to your knowledge of the verbs ; and, this you will do in the following manner. Go back to paragraph 170. There are little Exercises from A to Z. Write down the verbs that you find in the first 5 that is, in A. You will find them to be : est, chant e, a, apprend, parkr, siffier and fait. Take these verbs, write them down upon a piece of paper, and, against each, write down the num- ber of the conjugation that it belongs to, the mode, the time, the person 5 and, if it be an irregular, write down that, and any other particular belonging to it. I here give you an example. est : Irregular verb ; indicative mode ; present time ; third person singular. Part of the verb etre. chante : Regular verb 5 first conjugation ; indicative mode J present time ; third person singular. Part of the verb chanter, a: Irregular verb j indicative mode ; present time ; third person singular. Part of the verb avoir. THE TASKS. qpprend: Irregular verb 5 conjugated like prendre; indicative mode ; present time ^ third per- son singidar. Part of the verb apprendre. parler : Regular verb 3 first conjugation 3 infinitive mode. siffler: Regular verb 3 first conjugation 5 infinitive mode. fait : Regular verb 3 sixth conjugation 3 indica- tive mode ; present time 3 third person singular. Fart of the verb faire. 244. When you have written against the verbs, look for the verbs in the Dictionary y or in your List of Irre- gulars, or look at your Card 3 and you will then find whether your descriptions be correct. When you have thus gone through one of the little Exercises, go to another ; and you will ^et through the whole in the course of a day. These Exercises consist of sentences of very simple construction, and having a great part of their verbs in the present time 3 so that, when you have gone through these Exercises, in the manner above pointed oul, you may take the verbs which you find in any two or three pages of your Exercises in the Syntax, where you will find verbs in all the Modes and all the Times. 245. Before I quit the conjugations, let me once more observe^ that, in writing c^TtoHn parts of some of the verbs, great authorities diflFer. I observed before, that some write je ^inse, and others je viiisse : some write je cous^ and others je couds. There are several other verbs with i^gard 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, provided you aij[fk€Te to one practice. H* I y. -. O PLao ^--^ B32 •^i^w sptq gqp3 J^-J^ c 2coogsiCd3523 2. 2.2. 2. g^g^orDooi;'(t!:r-!r-r53Prf3a , ™ ® a 2 g S'O o p o ;|r^i|-i§gi||ll l»i- S-3 S-g c c . 2. » « ?? « fl C C' c 3' a* tf ft" 5 5 S 3 en? (K Cfq CR g 3 P j; fKcow WmfeJi^3B33<5rtif6n>>— i— -oH^-Cjg' > 5. 3 g Q g- « g s* <5 a ST. s a rt x- ® « S' ^S'^S 3§ 3g gcgc^cggo pO 1*? 2«* M CO ►< fi S o J?.^^^2g 3 3 3 35 ':jirt-a.CL.o«oo«oa'cCppp r"« _ --oooeojSPMj^o ^•g. \ <% i i>5-g 3 ^ i Is g r.^ ^>i I I ^S IS- 2.1 32.2.g |g S ^ - K - c. p, P. ■ "• - - ►-• e. p g g. f "^5= § s.< s-g i g a§ ^^^ 5.3 g 1^ g g p d I |gS 3 S p < t! " • •* ' ~— ■■ — g ^ ^|2 B.|^ I ^^ IS-^ S-^ -£>§ 1 1=^ £:£-a§ -g 3 g g § § g ^ Si.st^ LETTER XV. SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED. My dear Richard, 246. In paragraph 27, which you will now read again, I tiescribed to you what Syntax meaned. It is the art of constructing sentences : it is the business of making sen- tences according to the rules- of grauiuiar. Ail 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 ex- press the diflferent numbers and genders and cases, and how to vary the spelling of verbs to make them ex- press 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 circumstances. This is what you have learned 5 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 grammar. They some- times govern each other 3 that is to say, one word causes, L SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED. or requires, another word to be in such or such a form. If I say le chapeau blanche, my words disagree, there is not concord, because I have the feminine adjective with the masculine noun. I ought to say le chapeau blanc ; and then I have concord in my sentence. 248. As to government, if I, for instajice, say, il faut quejecris une lettre, my words do not govern each other according to the laws of grammar j for, il faut 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, Th« Subjunctive is ecrive ; and, there- fore, I ought to say, it faut que j' ecrive une lettre. But, say you, how am 1 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 hmnme 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. LETTER XVI. THE POINTS AND MARKS USED IN WRITINa. My DEAR Richard, 950. 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 3 because they are necessary in the 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 thas ( J ) 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 mat- ter 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 5 but, whether we l2 THE POINTS AND MARKS USED IN WRITING. write in French or in English, these points are necessary j and we ought to be attentive in using them. * 253. The Mark of Interrogation (?) is put at the close of words which put a question. The mark of Admira- tion (!) is used to denote surprise. The Apostrophe, 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, * t t, 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 mean- ing to, sentences ; and, for that reason it is, that they have been now, for the second time, pointed out to your attention. LETTER XVII. SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. My dear Richard, 255. You will now turn back to tetter V., and read it, once more, carefully through. Then read paragraphs from 77 to 85 inclusive. These two parts of the Gram- mar will have taught you a great deal ^s to the Article. In the next Letter also, v^hich will treat of the Syntax of Nouns, there will, in treating of Nouns, be something about the use of the Article ; but, stiil, 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 difers from that of using them in English ; and this we are now going to see. 256. There are, you know, the ixdefixite Article, the DEFINITE Article, and what I call the Compound Article > that is, the Article united wiih the preposition de or d, ^57. Our INDEFINITE ARTICLE IS, a (which becomes an when followed by a vowel) : tlie French is, vn^ or une. In both languages this Article can be applied to nouns in the singular only. We apply it to hundred, thousand, 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, how- ever, use this article before cent (hundred) and milk SYNTAX [Letter (thousand) 5 but say, cent pommes, and not, un cent pommes ; though we must say a hundred 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 : Have you ever heard talk of such a thing ? Avez-vou8 jamais entendu parler d.*une telle chose ^ That is to say, " q/* a such thing.*' We say, Mr. such an 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 *o, in certain phrases 5 thus : so good a man. The French say, in such a case, un si bon 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) 5 but, the French, in such cases, use the definite Article ; as : I sell my corn at six shillings a bushel. Je vends mon ble si six sch«lins le boisseau. ' We, in English, may, in general, use the definite article in these cases. We may say, six shillings the bushel ; five pence the score 3 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 shillings the piece. But, this is the mode that the French must make use of. They must say, deux schelins la pi^ce. 260. We, in speaking of portions of time, make use of the indefinite article, where the French make use of par XVII.J OF ARTICLES. (by) ; as : ten shillings a day ; which, in French, is, drx schelins par jour. That is to say, literally, ten shillings by day, which is more evidently reasonable than 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 5 and not a day ? The meaning of our phrase is, so much /or 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 5 I am an Englishman. The French do not do this : they say, il est jardinier ^ je suis Anglois, This observation applies, however, only to cases where the business of the phrase is solely that of expressing the dis- tinctive mark. If it have other objects the rule does not hold ', as : He has a gardener. I II a un jardinier. I see a7i Englishman. | Je vois un Aaglois. You see, the article is, in the former cases, left out, iu the French, with very good reason -, for, the words gardener and Englishmen, being used solely for the purpose of de- signating 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 gardener, and that I see an Englishman. 262. We put a (or an) after what, in an exclamation 5 as : what a house ! The French never do this : they say, quelle maison ! When there is another a in English and two nouns 5 as : what a fool of a lawyer, the French simply put the preposition before the last noun ; as : quel sot SYNTAX [Letter d' avocat. When we use an adjective in sentences of tliis sort, we still use the article j but the French never. When our exclamation begins by what, followed by a, and goes on to use a verb before it has done, the difference in the two languages is great indeed ; as : What a good boy Richard is I Le bon gRv^on que Richard ! What a fine country Italy is ! Le beau pays que I'ltalie ! 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 non- sense 'y 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 full 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 import mt 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, line ange, I mean a fish of that name. If I say, iin aune, I mean an alder tree ; but, if I say, me aiine, I XVII.] OP ARTICLES. mean an ell. Nothing can more forcibly show the neces- sity 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 pronouns (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 mie. It is of great importance, that you bear in mind, that un and une anSwer to our ojie as well as to our a ; as : ^i man" had one horse, one cow, and two oxen. Un homme avoit un cheval, une vacbe, et deux boeufs. 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 inde- finite article, I shall give you what is called an Exercise telating to that article : that is to say, I shall give you some phrases in English for you to translate into French. 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, yast at present, to be the object of your care. The first sentence is, ^' a hundred pounds, Jive 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 dnq. Your rule has just told you, that the English therefore, be this : ^^ cent livres, dnq schelin^^^^ x« 5 SYNTAX. [Letter If the phrase had contained a little more : thus : *' He, had a hundred pounds, five shillings,"* You know that He is II, that had is avoit. Your translation^ must^ of course, be ; '^ II avoit cent livres, cinq schelins.'" You will now pro- ceed to the performance of the first Exercise. 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 of such a thing } 5. If such an one come hither. 6. A thousand soldiers have marched. 7. A hundred have returned. 8. I have not seen so good a boy. 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. What a garden ! 16. What a noise ! 17. What a fine flower ! 18. What a pretty girl Emma is ! 19. What a rich man her father is ! 20. What charms money has ! 21. What a horrible cry ! - 22. A fool of a boy. 23. A man who has more than ane fault. 24. A table which has one broken leg. 25. A Jew's beard. One Barbary horse. 26. Give me a sentence, as an example. 27. A. hen with one chick. : XVII.] OP ARTICLES. 28. A coach drawn by one horse. 29. A veil and one sail. SO, A box of books. 31. A book and a flower. 32. One gardener and a footman. 33. A hundred of them. 34. An hour and a half. 35. Half an hour. This will be sufficient for the present. Phrases like these will frequently occur, as you proceed in the future exef- cises. But, in order that you may, when you have finished your Exercise, know whetjier your translation be correct -, or, in other words, whether you have well learned thus f ar : in order that you may know this, I shall, in Le^ ter XXVIII., put the French of all these Exercises 5 and as the French will have numbers to correspond with those of the English, you can, as soon as you have finished an EtVercise, turn to my translation, when you will see wha* ther 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 trans- lation ! By a contrary mode of proceeding, you may, po»*- sibly, deceive your master for a while \ but^ bear in mind ; it is you who must be the loser by it. As I am here giv- ing you, for the first time, instructions relative to your Es?ercises, let me caution you against doing your work In a hasty 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 j aad, 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, ^^t those, among th^m, who are illiterate, do, as well as SYNTAX [Letter the English, disregard these matters in their Letters and other manuscripts; but,letthatbenoeraw/>Zeforyou: 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 thingt 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 paragraph 77 to 85, you have seen how often the 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 ne- cessary 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 couritries, provinces, islands, and some other parts, or divisions, of the earth, take the article in French. Also the names of metals, virtues, vices, arts, sderhces, 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 vil- lages follow, with a few exceptions, 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 T Europe* La Norraandie est dans la France. Rouen est dans la Normandie. Les biens sont dans la Jamaique. La patience est bien utile, /-'intemperance detruit la saiite. Le froment est cher. Le fer est lourd. XVII.] OP ARTICLES. There are some exceptions, as to the names of those countries which take their names from those of their capi" tal 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 particularly 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. - 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 cV Angleterre ;*' and not, de /* 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 cir- cumstances. 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 mountains and rivers, we generally put the article before their names in both languages, and much in the same manner. But, observe, if you use the word river, you must put the article before the proper name, if the name of the river be m is- c7iUf%e, and only the preposition de, if it he feminine, 269. \Vhen we nse proper names in the plural ntmiber, we use the article with them ; as : the Tudors, the Bom-" bom. The French do the same, whether speaking lite- rally or figuratively. SYNTAX. [Letter 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 5 and ex- cept that heaven and hell, which do not take the article jn 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 naay say, a God of truth. The two languages do not at all differ in this respect. These exceptions do, how- ever, when we come to the practice, amount to very little. After a few weeks of steady application, these little diffi- culties 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 commissaire de police. Mark this ; for, to say Mr, the Prince, in Eng- lish, would be shocking, and to say Mr. Prince, in French, would be ridiculous. 272. In speaking of a thing in general ; that is, to ^y, in merely naming the sort of thing, we do not use the anicle in English -, as *' bread is necessary to man." Again, ^^ dogs guard sheep** But, in these, and all simi- lar cases, the article is used in French ; and, you must say, *' le pain est n^cessaire h Phomme j'* and /' ks ^ cjuens gardent les moutons/* XVII.] • OF ARTICLES. 273. When we use the singular number to expresB a whole kind ; as : '' the dog is a faithful animal ; *' then the article is applied by us as well as by the French 5 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 3 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 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 P homme. 274. In the French language, as in our own, the de- finite 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 ville ; 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. X» America, Asia, Africa, and Europe** , d. Prussia is a part of Germany. a. Venice, Valentia, Grenada. 4. He comes from Rochelle. 5. He lives at Havre de Grace. 6. He has set out for Cayenne. 7. I live in England. Sf. You come from Portugal, 9. They live in Martinico. [Letter iO. She is going to Italy. 11. The Thames. 12. The Rhine. 13. The Severn, the Seine. 14. Drunkenness is detestable. 15. Murder deserves death. 16. Laziness brings poverty. 17. Loam at top, clay next, and then chalk. 18. Barley is cheap this year. 19. Horses eat grass and hay. 20. The horse is an useful animal. 21. Birds fly, hawks fly. 2^. Hawks kill other birds. 23. He comes from China. 24. The wine of Burgundy. 25. The cloth of England. 26\ The horses of Flanders. 27. The cows of Normandy. 28. Trees grow well in fine Summers. 29. Summer is past. 30. I see, that the trees grow well. 31. Captain White has set ofl*. ii2. Birds sing in Spring. 33. How do you do, Captain ? 34. Pears are ripe in Autumn. 35. Dr. Johnson dreaded death* 36\ Queen Elizabeth and Pope Sixtus. 37. Rooks eat corn. 38. Boys kill rooks. 39. The Boys kill the rooks. 40. Philosophers disagree. 41. He is in the country. 42. She was in town. 43. God, heaven, and hell. 44* Gardens look gay in Spring. XVIL] OP ARTICLfiS/ 45. Flowers fade in Summer, 46. They die in Autumn. 47. Love was the subject of the letter* 48. Apples are very good fruit. 49. The Apples are dear this season. 50. Foxes kill fowls. 51. Bread, meat, flour, butter. 52. Earth, air, fire, water, all combine. 53. The air is cold to-day. 54. Winter is near. 55. Rain fell abundantly yesterday. 56. Oats are very dear. 57. Cheese is very scarce. 58. I like black better than blue. 59. He likes hunting. 60. Exercise is good for man. 61. Drinking to excess kills him. 62. Prudent men avoid quarrels. 63: Birds sing while sluggards snore. 64. Here, man ! That way, woman ! 65. Wood and water and fire. 66. Light and darkness, heat and cold.* 67. Articles are a part of speech. 6B. He has arms. 69. He has black hair. 70. The Dutch carry on commerce. 71. The Americans divide the Lakes with the English. 72. They are going to Canada. 73. Nova Scotia is a cold country. 74. Indian corn grows well in France. 75. Tobacco is a product of Virginia. 76. Cotton comes from Georgia : 77. From Florida and from the Brazils. 78. The Peruvians have gold in abundance. 79. The Mexican^ have a great deal of silver. SYNTAX [Letter 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 further, read, once more, paragraph 79, and also paragraph 85. You see, then, that, the words du, d'e la, (les, are, in fact, not simply articles 3 but, a sort of com- pound words, answering, in many cases, to our some. In hardly any respect do the two languages differ so ms^te- rially 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 and preposition : when they are the latter we must render them by some word of qualification as to quan- tity. In this phrase, '' parlez du cheval," the little word is article and preposition ; and, therefore, we render it by our article and preposition, thus 5 *' speak of the horse.** But, in this phrase, *' j' ai du foin,*' the same little word is an adjective 5 and, therefore, we render it by an ad- jective. Some is, in general, the word 3 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, wwmier. 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 perceive when you reflect on the office of the adjective. In my Maitre D'Anglois, I had this illustration of the matter : J' ai plasieurs amis ici, J' ai quelques amis ici, J' ai des amis ici, I have many friends here, I have some friends here. I have some friends here. Now, ptoiers and quelques, thus used, are unquestionably XVII.] OF AllTICLES. adjectivesy 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 ar- ticle at all, the French use the definite article 5 and, we shall now see, that, when we use some, any, or any phrase limiting the notin 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 «077i€, or a72^, is made use of to designate an unfixed part of an undejined whole ; as : '' give me some sugar.** Here the largeness, or the smallness, of the part is not fixed on, and ihe 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 definitive article • as : give me some of the sugar which you have bought 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 individuals, 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 Eng- lish ; 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 this its use, it answers to stNTAit [Letter oUr some, or any ; though, in many cases, it is used, when we omit even the same, or the any ; as, in this phrase : *' he sells bcfoks ;" in which case the French say, il vend ries livres. 279. However, if there be an adjective coming directly before the noun, the French do not use the article, biit merely the preposition, as was said in paragraph 85. But. if the adjective come after the noun, the article is used, as : ils oiit du pain ; ils ont de ban pain ; ils ont du pain blanc- We say, in these cases ; they have bread ; they have good breads; they have white bread : or, we may, if the case demand it, say, some bread j but, we use no article and no preposition. 280. After certain words of quantity and number, as, heaucoup (much), asset (enough), peu (few), and many others, the article is not used, but merely the preposition • which is also the case, when we have an adjective or par- ticiple passive following some word of number ; as, quel- que chose de bon ; cinq ponies de grasses; dix arpens de terre de labour ds. However, bien, when used instead of beau- coup, must have the article before the next noun, though beauccup has it not. 281. Many otherniceties, relative to the article, might be pointed out ; but, it would be worse than useless ; he- cause, /7rac^ice,which there must be after all, will give you a knowledge of these niceties \Yitboatfurther 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 aad definite articles, as well as examples re- lating to what I have called the compound article. But yen will find, as we advance, that the Exercises will em- brace more and more of the parts of speech. XVII.] OF ARTICLES. ^ EXERCISE III. 1. He has hay to sell. 2. He has some hay in his cart. 3. Hay is abundant. 4. Hay is dear this year. 5. She wears silk. 6. She wears fine silk. 7. Silk is very Jight. 8. Has he any horses ? 9. Yes, he has some horses. 10. He keeps dogs. 1 1 . Have they any, birds ? 1^. Dogs bark. 13. I hear a noise. 14. I hear a great noise. 15. There is danger. 16. There are six white and two black. 17. Five killed and one wounded. 18. They have good meat. 19. She has fine eyes. 20. Sheep eat grass. 21. I have some sheep. 22. The sheep that I have sold. 23. You had some cheese. 24. She will have a good deal of bread. 25. A quantity of earth. 26. Give us more money. 27. Nothing very rare. 28. So many books. 29. Very little wisdom. 30. Ho*v many windows } 31. How much land ? 32. Much sorrow. 33. Much pleasure. SYNTAX OF ARTICLES. [LETTER 34. Much patience. 35. Much pain. 36. What wine do you wish ? 37. Give me some red. 38. They are very honest people. 39. Cabbages are plentiful at this time. 40. Some onions and some parsley in the garden. 41. The apple-tree is a garland when in bloom. 42. Cherry-trees are very handsome also. 43. The pears are very thick on that tree. 44. Pears are cheap this year. 45. Raspberry-bushes are insignificant things. 5 46. But their fruit is excellent. 47. What fine strawberries ! 48. The spinage and the kidney beans. 49. The mtirket is full of vegetables. 50. Wet weather is good for that ground. 51. The hay is all spoiled. 52. Hay will be dear next year. 53. Kidney beans are very abundant. 54. Lettuces are good in salads. 55. Oil, vinegar^ pepper, salt, and mustard, are very useful things. 56. Olive-oil is much better than poppy-oiU 57. The first is made in France and Italy* 58. The last is made in Germany. 59. The sand-hill is very high. 60. Stones do the land no harm. 61. Horse-feed is cheap. 62. A great quantity of land. 63. Larks remain in the fields. 64. Fish, flesh, fowl, grain, flour. 65. We have some fish. . 66, Bees do not like wasps. 67. Honey is very useful in a family. LETTER XVIIL SYNTAX^ OP NOUNS. My dear Richard, 282. In paragraphs from 51 to 85 you had the Ety- mology of Nouns. That taught you, that you had to at- tend to the gender, the number, and the case. The Task, which you had set you in Letter XIV., and in paragraphs from 174 to J 80, 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 English. The peculiarities are only two or three in number. These I will point out 5 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 ill 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 hook, the two brothers hook. In French this mode of ex- pression is wholly unknown. They say le Uvre de Jean, le livre des deux freres. We can say, the top of the. house, or the houses top; but, in French, it is always the top of SYNTAX [Letter the house, le haut de la maisoru 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 : gold^watch. The French have none of these words : they say, montre d or, watch of gold. The same may be said of our compound words which ex- press the Jdnd or occupation of the noun 5 as water-rat , school-master, the kitchen-door. All these are rendered into French in the way just mentioned : rat d' eau, maitre d* ecol^, la parte de la cuisine. 2S6. These compound words of ours are sometimes translated into French by the help of ^, and not of de ; as, drinking'glass, verre d boire, Tiiis seems reasonable 5 be- cause it means, glass to drink with ; but, they also say, cruche d V eau , water-jug, and, poudre d canon, gunpowder. It is not easy to give a rule without numerous exceptions^ for the «sing of d and de in answer to our compounds J 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 d and not of de ; as : writing-paper, papier d icrire : dining-room, salle d manger. In other cases they make use of de, 287. In translating the following Exercise pay particu- lar attention to the genders, and to the forming of the plu- ral 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 with the nou7is to which they apply. Bear in mind, that there are many nouns wMcb are feminine in one sense, and masculine in another. XVIIL] OF NOUNS. 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. EXERCISE IV. 1. The house is large. 2. A hand and a foot. >3. Two houses and three fields. 4. Four sons, five daughters. 6. Six children, seven friends. 6. A horse, a cow, a pig. 7- Eight horses, nine cows, ten pigs. 8. Eleven walnuts. One walnut. 9. One child, twelve children. 10. An engagement. 11. Thirteen engagements. 1^. Fourteen cabbages. 13. A very fine cabbage. 14. A black hat. 15. A great deal of wealth. 16. Fifteen hats. 17. Sixteen owls. 18. Seventeen nails. 19. A very great evil. ^0. Evils in great number. 21. The eye of the horse. 22. My eyes are weak. 23. The water is clear. 24. The waters of Bath. 25. Eighteen baskets. 2(5. Nineteen night-caps. 27. Twenty garden-doors. 28. Twenty-one river-fish 29. Ihe wolf's head. M SYNTAX [Letter 30. The cat's claws. 31. The king's palace. 32. Thirty gold candlesticks. 33. Forty pewter-plates. 34. Fifty silver-spoons. 35. Sixty leather-shoes. 36. Seventy wooden-huts. 37. Eighty lire-shovels. 38. Ninety lambs. 39. One lamb and a sheep. 40. A hundred oxen. 4K A thousand birds. 42. One bird and a fox. 43. God is all-powerful. 44. The Gods of the Greeks, 45. A solitary place. 46. Solitary places. 47. He has a post. 48. In the post-office. 49. A pound of bread. 50. A book for you. 61. The king's page. 52. A page of a book. 53. At his house. 54. From the street. 55. To the field. 56. To the parks. ^ 57. After the coach. 58. Chapter the first. 59. Book the second. 60. A treatise on grammar. 61. Walk in, Sir. 62. Ask the gentleman to come in. 63. I see some gentlemen. 64. Sir, I have seen the gentlemen. XVIII.] OP NOUNS. 65. Walk in^ gentlemen. 66. Gentlemen, I liave spoken to those gentlemen* 67. As many fine gardens* 68. Before the throne. 69. Except the servant. 70. Amongst the bushes 71. In the birds' nests. 72. Since Tuesday last. 73. Towards London. 74. The Ladies go away. 75. The Lords stay here. 76. Get away, Mr. Impudence. 77« River- water to make beer with. 78. Madam, I have seen the lady. 79. Ladies, I am going away. SO. Go to Mr. White's. 81. William, John, and Richard's property. S2. Whose pen is that ? 83. The situation of this country. 84. The governor's situation. 85. Sheep's wool is good to make cloth. 86. They talk of the lady's house. 87. Mrs. \Vhite is dead. 88. Joseph, Peter and some friends. 89. A silver-spoon full of wine. 90. A mug full of beer. 91. This path is a hundred feet long. 92. His mother's death. 93. His son's marriage. 94. His brother s good luck. 95. He has dealt in copper. 96. Coaches and horses cost money. 97. The oak is a fine tree. 98. Oak-boards are durable. 99. Elm-trees in the hedges. M 2 LETTER XIX. SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. My dear Eichard, ^ 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 pointecKout. 289. Having read those paragraphs, you will have again seen, that there are FIVE CLASSES of Pronouns 3 that is to say, the Personal; the Possessive; the B.elative ; the Demonstrative ; and the Indeterminate. In the paragraphs just 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 j and, as this is a very important part of speech, you ought here to be uncom- monly attentive. 290. First Class, or, PERSONAL PRONOUNS.— After all the repetitions in the Conjugations of the verbs, it vvould be waste of time to dwell upon definitions of the personal pronouns. You must know what they are as well as I do. But, that which you cannot yet know so well is, how they are used in sentences. Look, now, at para- graph 91. Read it very carefully. I there tell you that SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. the Syntaxvvill teach you something; 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 to French pronouns. The French personal pronouns are, in many instances, placed in the sentence very differently from ours J and, in some instances^ one word in French makes two words in English. Hence the matter demands a great (deal of attention j 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 vou, that, in this phrase, / see you, though the second pro- noun comes after the verb in English, it must come be- fore the verb in French 5 as : je vous vols. 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 nomi- native cases is plain enough : je, iu^ il, elle, nous, vous, its, elles, answer to our /, thou, he, she, it, we, you, they. But, 710US is both we and us ; and, then, there is the man- ner of placing nous, vouSy 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 lan- guages. Let us now take them, then, one by one, and SYNTAX [Letter compare the manner of using them in French with the manner of using them in English. *295. The Jirst person singular is I — JE. Our I is al- ways a capital letter 3 but the French je is written like another word. Our I is sometimes separated from the verb, and placed after a conjunction, leaving another verb to be understood 5 as : you are richer than I. But the French je is never thus used : You must never say, vous ^tes phis riche queje. The place of the French pro- noun, ^e, is before the verb only ; and it is never, as our I is, separated from the verb, nor placed after a conjunction, as in the above case. In interrogations the^e may come after the verb ; but you will see enough of that by-and-by. In the possessive case our I becomes of me, and in the ob- jective, me. In the French, theje becomes, in someeases, 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 a me ; though, observe, their me, in other cases, answer to our me. This same moi is sometimes answered by our /. If there were only the je and the me in French to answer our 1 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 oije is before the verb -, as : je frappe souvent, I I strike often. je bois du vin, J I drink wine. When our I is placed after the verb, or after a conjunc- tion, leaving a verb to be understood, it is not answered by je, but by moi ; as : It is I who act, [ C'est moi qui agis. He knows it better than I, II le salt mieux que moi. He writes as well as I, 11 ecrit aussi bien que moi. She is wiser than 1, J EUe est plus sage que moi. XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. In these instances we see moi answering to our J. Let us now see it answering to our me ; which it always does, when there is a preposition coming before the French pro- noun, or when the verb in French comes before the pro- noun. I beg you to pay attention to this 3 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 d moi. Donnez- moi du papier. lis 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. Tbey speak to me. It is agreeable to me, James has stricken me. II me frappe. Vous me donnez du papier. lis me parlent. II m' est agreable. Jacques m* a frapp^. You see that we have no word in English that answers to this moi. We have, for the first person singular, only the I 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 throiigh the three persons, plural, as well as singular. 297. The second person singular is, THOU — TU. The pronouns of this person singular are, as you have seen in paragraph 93, very rarely used. We use, in both lan- guages, the plural pronoun instead of the singular : we SYNTAX [Letter say you, and not thou ; and vous, and not iu. However, we must notice them in the same way as we should if they were in common use. Thou is answered by in ; and thee, which is our other case of this pronoun, is sometimes an- swered by ie and sometimes by toi. Look at the table in paragraph 91. Observe^ that what is said of moi, or, rather, of the occasions when it is used to answer to our / 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 thou, leaving a verb to be under- stood. I will take, as nearly as possible, the same ex- amples that I took to explain the use of the pronouns of the first person singular. tu frappes souvent, iu bois du vin. thou strikest often, 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, who actest, He knows it better than thou, He writes as well as thou. She is wi^er than thou, He comes to thee. They speak of thee. It is for thee. He strikes thee, 1 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 toi. Elle est plus sage que toi. II vient a toi. lis parient de toi. C est pour toi- II te frappe. Je te donne du papier. lis te parient. II /' est agr^able. Jacques t' a frappe. Thus, you see, as 1 and me are in certain occasions an- swered by moi ; so tliou and thee are answered by toi. XIX.] OF.PRONOUXS. 293. The third person singular ^ is HE — IL. Genckr comes in here ) but we will lay the two other genders aside for the present, and speak only of the masculine. The il answers to our lies as : // frappe sotivcnt, // boit du vixi, He strikes often. He drinks wiae. But, here comes the French lui, to answer, in this case, the purpose which moi and toi answer in the instances above given. Look at the table io paragraph 91. You find, that he is il ,- that of him is de lui ; and that him is sometimes /mi and sometimes le. The rule that fgave before applies here. WTien the French pronoun has a verb ar a preposition before it, or when the English pro- noun has a conjunction before it with a verb under- stood to follow; in these cases the lui is used in French instead of il and le. I shall now take the very san^e examples that I have just taken to explain my mean- ing with reg^ard to the first and the second person singular; and when you have well attended to them, and compared the manner of using lui with that of using moi and toi, you will^ I think, clearly understand the whole of this matter. It is he who acts, She knows it bettor than he, "i'ou write as well as ae, She is wiser thaa he, We come to A/wt, 1*hey speak of him, It 13 for /iiuiy 'Shcy strike him, .Taxnea has stricken him. C'est lui qui agit Elle le sait mienx que lui. Vous ^crivez aiiss bieii que lui. Elle est plus sage pue lui. Nous venons i lui. lis parlent de lui. C'eat pour lui. lis le frappent. Jacques f a frapp6. Now, mind ; the three last examples all but one, in para- gragh 2,95, and also in 297>are here omitted j because, in .the third person you cannot use the le instead of the lui, if there be a prepositioa before the English pronoun, ex- M 5 SYNTAX [Letter pressed or understood. Therefore you must translate those three examples as follows : I give him some paper, They speak to him. It is agreeable to him, Je lui donne du papier, lis lui parlent. II lui est agreable. Compare these with the three last examples but one in paragraph 297, and you will see the difference in a mo- ment. But, now, before we quit the Singular Number, we must speak of the Genders. The feminine gender is, SHE — ELLE. Then, our she becomes, in the other cases, her, while the French elle becomes, in the objective, la, and sometimes lui, and sometimes elle besides. This appears to be very confused 5 but, the confusion is worn away by attention. She is answered by elle, and her is answered by la, just in the same manner that he and him, in the masculine, are answered by il and le. She strikes often, She drinks wine. They strike her, Elle frappe souvent. Elle boit du vin. lis la frappent. But, observe (look at the table in paragraph 91), there is in the objective case elle as well as lui. This is the use of that elle ; it is to be used when there is a preposition before the pronoun j and when there is not, lui is to be used ; for example, speaking of a woman, we say : C est a elle que je parle, I It is to her that I speak, Et je lui parlerai encore, | And I will speak to her still. The only difference is this, that, if it had been a masculine, T must have had a lui in the first line. Now, as to the neuter gender, there is none in the French. They know nothing at all of it. Our it, therefore as a personal pro- Tioun,has nothing to answer it in French, except masculine XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. and feminine pronouns. So that what we have to do is tliis : consider what is the gender of the French noun which answers to the English noun which our it represents ; as : put my knife in your pocket ; but, take care, for it is pointed and, as to your pocket, it is not very good. Here are two nouns and two its» The first noun is mas- culine, the second feminine. The French pronouns must, therefore, correspond with them ; as : mettez mon couteau dans votre poche j mais, prenez garde ; car iZ est pointu ; quant k votre poche, eZZe n* est pas trbs bonne. The lui, the a elle, and, in short, all the parts of the il or elle, when they answer to our it, are used precisely in the same way as when they answer to ou;* he or she. 299. Plural Number, I now come to the plurals of the same pronouns that 1 have just been treating of in the sin- gular. Look at the table in the latter part of paragraph 91. Pixamine that table well 3 compare it with the table of sin- gulars in the same paragraph 3 and then come on with me. 300. The first person plural is, WE— NOUS. Our we becomes, in the other cases (see the table), us ; but the French pronoun of this person and number never changes its form ; and nous answers to our us as well as to our me, A few of the examples, that we took for the singular number, will suffice. We drink wine, It is we who act, He knows it better than we. She is wiser than we, He comes to us, Give ?<« some paper, James strikes im. Notts buvons du \^n."' C est ngiis qui agissons. li le sait mieux que nous. Elle est plus sage que nous, II vient a nous. Donnez nous du papier. Jacques nous frappe* This is very plain. Our we and our us always ex^^ SYNTAX [Letter pressed in French by nous, which takes the pronoun before it^ or the verb, just in the same manner that nwi does. 301. The second person plural, is, YOU— VOUS. We have just seen that fwus is both nominative and objective -, that, in short, it answers for all cases. The same is to be said of vous ; and, here, our pronoun is unchangeable too ; for you is the same in the objective that it is in the nominative ; for I say, ijoa strike me, and I strike you. A few examples will be sufficient. Nearly the same that we took last. You drink wine, It is t/ou who act, He knows it better than you, She is wiser than youy He comes to you, James strikes you, They talk to you. You cut bread. Vous burez do rin. C* est vous qui agisscz, 11 le sait mieux que vous. Elle est plus sage que vo^s. II vient a vous. Jacques vous frappe. 11 vous parlent. Vous coupez du pain. As in the case of nous, this pronoun vous takes the pre- position before it and also the verb, like moi or toi ; but, it does not, like the pronoun of the second person singular, change its form. It always remains 'cous. ?jOZ. The third person plural is, THEY-^ILS. Here the gender comes in again j but, in English, there is no change in the third person plural of the pronouns to denote gender. We always say, they, whether we speak of men, women or trees. But the French change the form of the pronoun, in this person, to express gender. Let las first take the masculine ils which answers to our they ; as : ils boivent ; they drink. Our they becomes, in the other cases, f/iem, and this them is rendered in French hy les, eux, or leur. Besides this, our they is sometimes rendered by euw. The thing to know, then, is, when our they is to be ils and when eux, and when our Ihein is to be les, when XIX.] OF PRONOUNS kur and when eux. As to the first, our they is to be Us when, hi French, there is no preposition and no verb before the pronoun, and when our theij has no conjunc- tion before it in the English with a verb understood to follow. It is the same as in the case of U and lui, and will be explained by the same examples. The^ strike often, 2^/iey drink wine, It is f/i€>/ who act, She is wiser than t/iet/, lis frappent sourent. lis boivent du vin. C'est eux qui agissent. Eile est plus sage qu'ew.r. Now, as to our them. It is to be les when it is the object oS an action ; it is to be eux when a preposition is used before it ; it is to be leuT when the verb, used with it, leaves a (to) be understood ; as : James strikes them, She talks of thcnij 1 give them some pciper. Jacques ies frappe. Elle parle ct* eiix. Jc leur doone 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 case, ils or ewr, to answer to our they, in the masculine. Now this eux, used thus, appears very strange. But, it mayjbe used thus, and so mny lui. The feminine differs only from the masculine in this ', that, in the nominative, our they is answered by eiles instead of ils, and, in all the cases where eiAn is njade use of in the masculine, elles is made use of in the feminine -, and here are the examples to show it. Thei/ Strike often. They drink wine, It is thet/ who act, He is wiser than ihey. Elles frappent souvcnt. Elles boivent du vin. C* est elles qui agissent. 11 eat plus sage qu' elles. [Letter James strikes Mem, She talks of them, J give them some paper, Jacques les frappe, Elle parle d' elks, Je leur donne du papier. After what has just been sakl, at the close of paragraph 298, it won hi be useless to make any further remarks on our neuter gender. They and them, when 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 personal pronouns, the instructions as to the manner of placing them 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, it, elle, ils, elles, take the lead in the sentence, when they are the actors, in the same way that our I, we, thou, you, he, she, and they do -, as : je bois du vin, nous frappons k la porte j I drink wine, we knock at the door. But we, in English, very frequently put other words between the pronoun and verb 5 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 ires souvent bois du vin j but must place the words thus : I very often drink wine, I Je bois du vin ti'ts -souvent. We every day knock at the door, j Nous frappons^ 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-Ze. But, the cause of this is obvious. The general turn of the French language brings the pronoun, when it is the object, WJne- XIX.] . OP PRONOUNS. diately before the verb ; as : je le pense, il le (lit, 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 in the personal pronouns. 1 shall now give you an Exercise on the subject. There are other things to notice by-and-by, connected with these pronouns, and especially the manner of placing them in negative and interrogative sentences : but, for the present, we have enough of them: and will proceed to our Exerme, 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 promis- cuously; that is to say, not in the order of the rules which they are intended to illustrate. EXERCISE V. 1. You and I are going to supjrer. 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 in the week. 10. He always gives them something to eat. 11. They very frequently dine at our house. 12. 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. SYNTAX [LkTTER IS- It is he that they always speak to. i .Ij^. They look for them here to-day. *10, Give her something to eat and drink. ^J. I will send you some iiowers: they are very fine. ,S^. They have sent us some fruit to-day. 23. They rob and insult us. ,24. He \^rites and sends messengers to the Secretary. 25. 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. %S. We eat meat, and drink water. 2fi. 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 PRONOUNS.— 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 }^>u 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 paragra[)h, 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. Tliis agreement must be perfect. Read with great care the two paragraphs just mentioned. S08. There is one remark to make, and this yim must pitrticularly attend to. We, iu speaking of harm done to, or pain suffered in, our members, or bodies, make Tise of the possessive pronoun ; as : Mj/ head aches, vjy finger smarlB, The French, in these cases, use the article, thus : j'ai mal d la t^te ; j'ai mal aw doigt. He hurts my arm -, XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. il me fait mal au brafi. The pronoun may sometimes be used ; bat this that I have been describing here is the French idiom. 30G^. 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 which gender it may 5 as : mon ami, mon amie, thougti one be masculine and the other feminine. The same is to be observed with regard to ton and son. EXERCISE VI. 1. My hand, my pen^ my paper, my ink, and my books. S. Your pens are not so good as mine. 3. Take the chairs from my room and put them in his. 4. Take them from theirs and put them in mine. 5. Take them from mine and carry them to hers. fj. Their oxen are finer than yours. ' 7. Put my oxen into their field. 8. His shoes are better than hers. 9. Our coats are blue, but theirs are red. 10. Our field, their meadow, their sheep. 1 \ . Your trees are well planted. j*2. llie table is bad: its legs are weak. 13. Its colour is ugly : its wood is rotten. 14. That coaoh is yours : this is mine. 35. Brother, I beg you to come to my house. 16. Adieu, Captain. I am glad to see you, neighbour. 17. These are your birds, and those are mine. 18. Thy father and mother and brothers are dead. \9. His brothers and sisters are all gone away. 20. Their servants are coming here. ^1. Father, have you seen her cloak ? 22. Come to me, sister, I want to speak to you. SYNTAX [Letter 23. No, friend, I cannot aid you. 24. Take your sheep and put them to mine. '25. Take your hens from mine. 26. His house, her house, our house, their house, your house. 2r. Plis hand, her arm, our fingers, their legs, my feet. 28. Her gown, her cap, her head, her neck, her teeth. 29. Put your hay to mine : take yours from mine. 30. He does not talk of your beauty, but of mine. 31. They do n6t talk of hers, but of ours. 32. That ship is theirs. 310. Third Class; RELATIVE PRONOUNS. Look at the table in paragraph 96. You see that there are but few of these 3 but they require attention. Our wJw 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 5 as : quels sont ces hommes-la ? Who are those men ? But, in all other cases, our who is answered hy qui} as: Thomme qui vient de sortir : the man who is just gone out. 311. But, as our that maybe, in some cases, used instead of ivho ; as it may, indeed, in the instance just given ', so it is, in these cases, translated by qui. But that can be rendered by qui only when in the nominative : or, rather, when it represents an antecedent which is the nominative. If it be in the objective, it must be ren- dered by que. Take examples : rhomme qui vient de partir, le clieval qui mange I'herbe, le cheval que vous montez, tlie man who is just gone away, the horse thai eats the grass, the horse that you ride. You must observe also, that, though we cannot with pro- priety use who as the relative to the names of things inani- XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. mate or irrational, the French use qui with such names, if its antecedent be in the nominative. Que is abbreviated before a vowel -, but qui never is. Remark this : le cheval qui a vu mon domestique : that is, the horse which has seen my servant -, but, le cheval qu a vu mon domestique, means, the horse which my servant has seen. 312. Our whose is answered by de qui, ov, 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. 0\iv whom is answered by 92/^; as: I'homme ^we vous voyez -, the man whom you see. But, if there be a preposition, our whom is rendered by ^wi or lequel ; as : the man to whom I have sent : I'homme cl qui or auquel, ] ai envoye. 314. Our which, when its antecedent is in the nomina- tive, is answered by qui, as our that is, as we have seen in paragraph 311 ; but, w^hen the antecedent of our which is not in the nominative, and when which has no preposi- tion it is rendered by que ; as : le boeuf qui laboure la terre, I the ox which ploughs the land, le boeuf ^we je vous ai vendu, | 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 paragraph 97. Indeed here is the le in this word, which means the which, being used as relative to a singular masculine. If it were a feminine, it must have been laquelle: If a plu- ral masculine, lesquels ; and so on. Observe, that the French word oh, which means where, is frequently used, and very frequently too, to supply the place of dam lequel . St NT AX [Letter (in which), (/aws laquelle, and so on j as: 1' ^tat oil je suis : the state in which (\vhere) 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 preposition 3 as : de qucn, a quoi ; which means of what, to what. But our what is also frequently answered by que 5 as : que voulez-vous ? What would you have ? Que dites-vous ? fVhat do you say ? Our what is answered by quel, when questions are asked with a noun j as : what house is that ? Quelle maison est celle-lk ? 316. You must take care, in using relative pronouns, t» keep their antecedents constantly in your eye. In my English Grammar (paragraph 245), I have contended, that the relative pronouns never can be the nominatives of Verbs. I will quote the passage : for it serves most ad- mirably 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 rela- '" tives 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 : the man who is here; the cocks tuat 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 ? No : the verb, in pursuit of " its nominative, runs though the relatives to come at their " antecedents, men, man, cocks, cock. Bishop Lowth ** says, however, that, ' the relative is the nominative when ** no other nominative comes between it and the verb ;' and " Mr. Murray has very faithfully copied this erroneous XIX] OF PRONOUNS. '*^ observation. Who is in the house? fVho are in the "house? Who strikes the iron ? Who was in the *' street ? Who were in the street ? Now, here is, in all *' these instances, no other nominative between the relative '* and the verb, and yet the verb is contuiually 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 per- " son strikes the 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 the relative ; for he adds, ' the relative is " of the SAME NUMBER and person as the antecedent : and " the verb agrees with it accordinghj.' 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 nomi- " native, without your looking after the antecedent, which '' is the real nominative, and that, thus, not having the num- " ber 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 sometimes 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 : SYNTAX [Letter Cic^ron fut un de ceux qui f went sacri/ies a la vengeance des Triumvirs. Hegesisochus fut un de ceux qui travailia le plus efficacement i le mine de sa patrie. What ! Here is the phrase, /m^ un de ceux qui (was one of those who) in both cases 5 and yet, in one case, the verb (furent) is in the plural ; and, in the other case, the verb (travailia) is in the singular. How, then, can the qui be the nominative of these verbs ? It is clearly the nomina- tive in neither instance. Well 5 but, what are the antece- dents ? is the pronoun ceux the antecedent in the first case } it must be so 3 and, thus we should ^have it in English : Cicero was one of those who were sacrificed to the vengeance of the Triumvirs. Butj then, where is the antecedent in the second instance? 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 in- stance. Monsieur Restaut gives his scholar this sen- tence : '' Ctesias est UN des premiers QUI AIT execute *' cette entreprise." Now, mark his reasons, which I shall give in English. " The verb is here put in the sin- *' gular, 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 beforf " him^ but^ moreover, that he executed it before all others, XIX.] OP JPRONOUNS. *' and that he set them the example. But when, on the " contrary, we say, ** CTESIAS est un des premiers qui AIENT execute cette entre- prise, *^ we mean, that several persons executed the 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 prove as clearly as day-light, that UN is the nominative in the first example, and that DES PREMIERS is the nomina- tive 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 rea- son 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 that ^ make the number and person of our verb. Les soldats qui mar- chent, and, le soldat qui marche ; but, if we were to look upon qui as the nominative, why should it be marchent in one case, and marche in the other ? The principle ap- plies to both languages 3 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. EXERCISE VII. 1. The people who lived in that street. 2. The carpenter who made my table. 8. The cow which feeds in my meadow. 4. The sheep that are on the hills. 5. The man whose friendship I value. 6; The horse that goes in their coach. sYxVTAX [Letter 7. The wheat that you sohl at the market. 8. The wheat that grows in your field. 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. 16. The country which I like best. 17. The weather which pleases me the most. 18. The ink that I make use of. 19. The people whom you spoke of yesterday, 20. The man whom I most dislike. 21. What do you w^ant 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 ai-e talking of. 25. There are the ladies whom he was speaking of. 26. The gentleman from whom 1 received so much kind- ness. 27. Who are you speaking of ? 28. What man is that? What boy is that? 29. Which of the two chairs do you like best ? SO. Which of the three looking-glasses do you like best? 31. The trouble from which he has escaped. [well. 32. My friend who died yesterday, and whom I loved so 33. What do you talk of? What is that ? 34. What gentleman is that ? 35. With what fleet did he come ? 36. Who has told you that ? 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. XIX.] OF PRONOri^S. 317. Forth 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, these and those. You see he and she in the tahle. That is because the French make use of these pronouns sometimes to supply the place of these two personal pronouns. la fact the celui is the lui (he or him) with the ce (this) pre- fixed to it ; and the celle is the elle (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, cblui, would he, this he; CELLE would be, this she ; ceux would be, this they masculine ; and celles would be, this they feminine. The CECi 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 get 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 he, etre, instead of the personal pronoun il ; as : c^est une bonne chose, que de se lever de bonne heure : it is good to rise early. It is a softer expression than il estj and it is a grea,t favourite with the French. 319. These pronouns are, or, rather this pronoun is, called Demonstrative because it is used to jpoint 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 SYNTAX [[Letter 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 ee, 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^ this boy, this girl, this hat, this pen ; but, they say, ce garcon, 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 gar90ns, ces filles : andy then, there must generally be, ci, or Id, after the noun ^ as : ces garyons-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 : They who are wise, 1 ^ • * rpi. _u „ • VCew^ qai sont sages. I hose who are wise, J In the singular number, we cannot, in English, use the de- monstrative in this way. We cannot say, speaking of a man : This who is tall, That who is very rich. We must use the personal pronoun, thus : He who is very tall, He who is very rich. XIX.3 OF PRONOUNS. Then in speaking of a woman, we must say : She who is very tall, She 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 demonstra- tives, the great difference in the two languages, and great ohject for you to attend to, is, the use of ce with the verb etre ; in which use it generally answers to our it; but sometimes to our he or she. The use of ce, in this way, is of endless occurence. We ^ay, 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 bon 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 cer- tain 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, in English, have a phrase of this sort, we must, in French, employ ce, and not il. We cannot say, il est moi qui vols I'ennemi. We must say, c'est moi. In 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'etoit moi, c'est vous, and so on, al- ways with ce, and not with il. How the verb is to be ma- naged in these cases you will see, when you come to the impersonal verbs. At present we have to do with the pro- nouns ; and particularly with the use of ce for our it. Hav- ing now, I think, pretty well, explained the nature and N 2 SYNTAX [Letter offices of these pronouns, I shall give you an Exercise on them. EXERCISE VJII. 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 ?v 5. It is I who order you to do it. 6. 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. 12. Your land is as good as that of your neighbour 13. Those who think that they gain by roguery deceive themselves. 14. He who goes to bed late must get up late. 15. Slie who thinks too much of her beauty. 16. He who lives a sober life is more happy than he who does not. 1 7. He does not know how fine this country is who has not seen it. 18. That which you have sent I like well. 19. 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. 26. That dog appears to be of the same kind as this. 27. Yes ; but this is better than that. XIX.] OF PROffifOUNS. 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 para- graph 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 espe- cially the Jive last, which, though called indeterminate words, are really amongst the most important in the lan- guage. When the scholar sees of it, of him, of her, 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 phrases, the difficulty seems insurmountable. At the end, however, of a few days' attentive study, the dif- ficulty 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 " a/Z 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 neyer to be (Called a pronoun, seeing that J know of no case, where a noun is not understood when all is used. SYNTAX [Letter 324. Both — l*un et l'autre. The Frencli have no single word 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, how- ever, be no difficulty here ; and the same may be said of either, neither, 2lu^ one another. The first is Z'w?^ ou V autre (the one or the other) ; the next, ni Vun ni Vautre (neither the one nor the other), and the last is, Vun 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 ano- ther. It is now, I hope, unnecessary for me to dwell on the changes to be mnde here on account of number and ge7ider These must, by this tune, become as familiar to you as the use of your eyes or teeth. 325. Somebody, or SOME ONE — queleu'un. everybody, EACH, EVERY ONE, — CHACUN. Thcsc 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 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. 320. Nobody None — aucun nul, 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. Any body — quiconque is of both genders, and never used but in the singular number. Whoever is also translated by quiconque, and whatever by quelconque, 328. Nobody — personne. This is a word much in XIX.] OP PRONOUNS. 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 Rien (nothing), the first being always plural and the last always singular, merit no particular remark. They experience no changes in their form, and have, in all cases, the same meaning. 329. Very different is it with the remaining five pro- nouns, which, as before observed, are amongst the most important words in the French language. 1 shall devote one paragraph to each of them, and, in order to obviate confusion and to make reference easy, no more than one paragraph. 330. Le. This is, you know, the definite article, the ; it is also the personal pronoun, him ; it is the personal pro- * noun it ; as : Le pommier porte beaucoup de fruit, Je le taille to us les ans, C'est mon domestique: jc/eraaintiens. The apple tree bears much fruit. I prune it every year. He is my servant ; 1 support hinu Thus then, we have this same le acting in three capaci- ties. 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 sen- tence. Let us take an instance of each. Vous etes labor ieux, et il ne /'est pas. Je crois qu'il va venir ; du moins je le desire. Etes vous le propri^taire de cctte maison ? Oui, je /e suis. In the first of these instances, we should put so ; in the second it ; in the third nothing, or we should nearly re- peat all the words of the question, and say ; yes, I am the SYNTAX [Letter proprietor of it. So that this little word performs a great deal. It makes the sense precise and clear without repe- tition and a great mass of words. Perhaps, however, if we look well into the matter, we might, without any very great violence done to our language, translate this le hy 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 am it. We have now done with this Le, till we come to the inter- 'Togatives and negatives, where we shall find it a great actor. SSL 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 ex- tensive use. It is always in the objective case, and it never changes its form. Its use is to save repetitiori. 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 Wi. However, that is wholly a different word, though contain- ing 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 oil il y a des choux ? Oui ; il y en a dans mon jardin>» 2. Avez-vous parle de la fille ? Oui; j' en ai parle. 3. Voulez-vous des noix ? Oui ; j' en veux. 4. Tenez-vous des chiens } J' en tiens plusieurs. XIX.] OP PRONOUNS. 5. Combien de moutons avez-vous ? J' cw ai trois fents. 6. II a vendii du Sucre ; mais il en a encore. 7. lis avoient des fleurs, et ils en ont encore de tres-belles. 8. Voici de belles p6ches ; en voulez vous ? Now let us make, as nearly as possible, a word-for-word traoslation 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. 3. Wish you to have some walnuts } Yes ; I of them wish to have. 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 o/ 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 interrogatives and negatives, yoa sec but a part of its importance. Besides its applicability to all persons and things, it applies to place, and stands for, from this, from that, or, from this place, or, that place ; as : II en vient, J He comes, or is come,/rom that place. Je m' en vais, j lam going away, Allez-vous-e w. | Go hence: or, go away. In all these cases the en is a pronoun, though translated by a noun or an adverb. If the translation were strictly literal, it would stand thus : Hefro7n it. comas ; Ifrom if go ; Go yon from it : or, at ]enst from that, and from this (place). Alwayslookv^oWmto these literal meanings; for, by doing that, you get at the reason for the thing beingthus, or thus ; and, mind, it is not really learning to do a thing, unless you get tit the reason for doing it. ■ N 5 SYNTAX [Letter 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 ity to him, to her, to them, in the same sort of way that EN answers to the same pronouns with of or from be- fore 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 eri, 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. 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 ovl)y, be- fore them, instead of of ov from. Let us, as before, take a few instances. 1. II apprendra le Frarifois, parce qu' il s' y applique. 2. Avez-vous mis le miroir dans la salle ? II y est. 3. Ont-ils songe a mon affaire ? Oui; ilsy ont songe. 4. Pensez-vous a ce pauvre homme } Qui ; j*y pense. 5. II m']ont fait des promesses ; mais je ne m'y fie pas. 6*. He ont fait le travail ; mais ilsn'y gagneront rien. 7. AUez a la campagne. J' y 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-gbiss in the parlour } It in it is. 8. Have they thought of my business ? Yes ; they to it have thought, 4. Do you think to this poor man } Yes ; 1 to him think. 5. They to me have made promises ; but I in them confide not. 6. They have done the work ; but they by it will gain nothing. 7. Go to the country. I am thither going. Observe : the French say think to, and not think of, sl thing, Now,lookat the power of this letter Y. Here we XIX.] OP I»ttONOt!N9» have to it, in it, to him, in them, hy it, and thither ^bW ex- pressed in French by this word y. And, observe, as en is be- sides its capacities as pronoun, a 'preposition, answering to our in : so y is, besides its capacities as pronoun, an ad- verb, answering to our there, or rather, thither. 333. On. I have in the table, represented this word as answering to our one, they, we, ^nd people. We shall find, however, that this is not ail. But, first, pray mind, that this has nothing to do with our number one. We some- times say, in English, ''orie thinks, one eats, one sleeps,'* and the like. But, this is not, in fact, English. It is a mere imitation of the French on, which has no more to do with number one, than it has to do with nine. The French ON is best answered by our they, or people ; as : ^ ^ , f 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 cannot 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 unconfined sense, meaning all mankind, 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, even 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 participk with the verb to be ; as : Oh croit qu' il viendra, | // is believed that he will come. On lui a dit de venir, j He has been told to come. We ^9 not say, one believes that he will come ; one has SYNTAX [Letter told him to come. This is not in the character of our lan- guage. 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 indeter- minate pronoun ; but mind, it can be merely jTor once and aivay ; for, if we 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 wo?wma^it;e case. It is never the object in the sentence. Wlien on is preceded by a word which ends with a vowel, it is written Z'o/zfor the sake of better sound ; as : apr^s cela V on dine : after that they dine. But, if o?2 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 Indeter^mi- nate Pronouns ; of which there remains one to be at- tended to. 334. Se, which sometimes becomes soi. The seis self or selves ; and soi is the same word, in fact, but has gene- rally a preposition before it. It has no other changes, and ap- plies 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; be- cause, without making the use of it clearly understood, 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 oyer 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 in- XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. stances 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 our' selves, or oneself; as : people, or they,Y\^Q themselves : in French : on's aime soi-meme. Again, people like them- selves, only: on n' aime que sot. Tiie French word, soz- disant, is almost become English. It is, literally, self-say- ing, and, properly translated, it is, self-calling, or self- styling. I am now going to insert the Exercise relating 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.' 8. 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 sent fruit and flowers to one another. 16. Ail is sold, and carried- away from the house. 17. The sheep are all dead. WhatTf all ? 18. Whoever goes in that road will tumble. 19. Every thing whatever that is found there. 20. He will talk with any body that will talk with him. 21. Whoever neglects his business will be ruined. SYNTAX [Letter 22. I will maintain that against any body. 23. Give us the whole ; every thing whatever. 24. He succeeds in whatever he undertakes. 25. Whatever he may say, he will not escape it. 26. Whatever may be the price, you must give it. 27. Who is the man that has stolen your money ? 28. I do not know, but, whoever he may be, he ought to be punished. 29. The man is caught. We do not know what he is ; but, whatever he may be, he shall be punished. 30. Some plums in a little straw-basket. 31. There were two apples, a few cherries, and some apricots. 32. Some say that she will be very rich ; others say that she will not. 33. However rich she may be ; whatever riches she may. have. 34. Whatever fine houses and gardens they may have. 35. They do not like one another, I assure you. 36. One or the other will come to-morrow ; but neither will come to-day» 37. He has done nothing for me, and he will do nothing [for you. 38. Nothing succeeds that they undertake. 39. Nobody believes that. I have told it to nobody. 40. Did anybody ever see the like before ? 41. Not one of his people came last night. 42. Not one of the soldiers escaped from the enemy. 43. Have you any pears 1 Not one, upon my word. 44. Nobody is come with the fruit and the wiue. 45. We do not like that others should meddle in our fa- mily-affairs. 46. We eat when we are hungry and drink when we are thirsty. XIX.] OF PRONOUNS. 47. We plant trees for our grandchildren ; and we act wisely and juvstly in doing this. 48. They are going to sow wheat in that field ; hut they have not prepared the land well. 49. People say that you are going to he married. 50. I wish people would talk of their own affairs, and not of mine. 51. It is said that there is a great crop of wheat. 52. He has heen advised to leave the country. 53. We lead a pleasant life ; we rise early, we walk out, then we hreakfast, and then we walk again ; or, perhaps, we ride. 54. You may translate such phrases as this, and the last, in either of the two ways ; that is to say, with the ON, or with the nous or the vous, 55. Do you know that there are soldiers in the town ? Yes : for I have seen many of them. 56. What noise is that ? What is the cause of it ? 57. Where are the ladies ? I do not know any thing of them. 58. What have they done with my sword f I kiww no- thing ahout it. 59. Are there many vessels in the port ? Yes ; there are more than a hundred. 60. If she come from the country to-day, she will return to it to-morrow. 61. They are praised very much ; but not more than they ought to he. 62. They are very poor, but many of their neighbours are not. 63. Is that your house ? Yes, it is. 64. There is my glass : put some wine in it. 65. He has bought the estate ; he has been aiming at it a long time. SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 66. She is come home. She will leave it again to- raoiTow. 67. I am going oif to see my plantation. 68. They care for nohody but themselves. 69. Pride becomes nobody. Covet not the goods of others. * 70. Nothing is good enough for him. 71. They will go thither to her. 72. We talked of it there. 73. Give them some of it. 74. Send some of it to them. 75. He is going back to his country. 76. They have come away quickly. 77.. He says and stands to it. 78. He has a great spite against you. 335. Thus I close the Letter on the Syntax of Pro- nouns ; and now, before I go to the Syntax of the remain- ing parts of Speech, I shall give you a letter on the Ne- gatives and Inter ROGA FIVES, and another on the Imper- soNALs. But, let me pray you to take great pains about the pronouns before you quit them. They are very im- portant words ; they occur in almost every sent<3nce. They are little words of great meaning; and if great at- tention 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 yoa will be able to write a letter, in French, to a French lady, most humbly beseeching her to honour you with her hand at a ball. LETTER XX. SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES AND INTERROGATIVES. My dear Richard, 336. Words of all the parts of speech come into nega- five and interrogative phrases. The words, which are called negatives, helong prfncipally 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 7wt walk. The French generally use two of these words where we use but one. We say, I possess 7io land : they say, je ne possbde 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 an- swer to it. Let us take our verb tuer 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 ot each mode and time. We will put the infinitive also ; for, in that case, both the French negatives come before the verb. Not to kill, I do not kill, 1 did not kill, I shall not kill, Ne pas tuer. Je ne tue pas. Je ne tuois pas. Je ne tuerai pas. SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES [Le ! iriTiynot kill, - I should not kill, I might not kill. Not killing, Not killed. Je ne tue pas. Je ne tuerois pas. Je ne tuasse pas. Ne tuantpas. Ne pas tue. In the compound times of the verb, the negative comes before and after the auxiliary ; as : Not to have killed, I have not killed, I had not killed, I shall not have killed, I may not have killed, I should not have killed, I might not have killed, Not having killed, Not been killed. Ne pas avoir tue. Je n' ai pas tue. Je n' avois pas tu6. Je n* aurai pas tue. Je n' aie pas tue. Jen' aurois pastu^. Je n' eusse pas tue. N' ayant pas tuci. N' 6tant pas tue. 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 wo wine. The French, however^ adhere to their ne and pas ; as : je n' ai pas de vin. Some- times, however, point is used instead of pas. There is only this diiference in them, that point always requires de before the noun that follows ; and pas does not always re- quire it. Point means, more decidedly, no, not, or, none at all. But we may say indifferently ; Je n' ai pas d' ar- gent ; je ne possede pas de terre ; or, je n'ai point d' ar- gent ; je ne possedejooiw^ de terre. There are a few words that require j9as exclusively; but these are of such com- mon use as to prevent all chance of error. ^^ 339. The French use Non to answer our no, when we put no other words; as: will you go with me? no. Voulez-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 XX.] AND INTERR0GATIVE8. indeed! The French would, perhaps, say, 7ionpas. But, the 71971 being sufficient, it may he best to use it only. When we say, not that, the French do very often make use ofnonpas ; as : I eat brown bread, not that I like it better than white: je mange du pain bis, non pas que je V aime mieux que le blanc, 340. When there is a negative word, such as pas un per Sonne, aucun, nul, rien, nullement, gueres, jamais, and some few others, the pas or point, ^s not used at all ; but we is ; as : EUe n' a personne pour la consoler, [ She has nobody to console hey. Je n' ai jamais ete dans ce pays-la, I have never been in that country. Vous ne lui dites rien, ' I You say nothing to him or to her. There are some others whiclvare negatives in themselves, and, of course, they do not require the double negation. There are two words, a good 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, Tke first means word: the last (in this negative sense) not a jot. The word mot is (in this sense) under- stood to mean not a word. They are two very common expressions, and are used thus : Je lie disois mot, 1 I said not a word. Je ne voyois goutte, j 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 take the ne and pas, or point, 341. There are some words which require ne after them before the next verb, though there appears, at first sight^ to be nothing of the negative quality in our English sen- SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES [LeTTER tence that answers to any of those in which this ne is . found ; as : II craint que sa recolte ne soit g^t^e, I He fears that his crop'may be spoiled. A moins qu' il ne soit bless6, j Unless he Should be wounded. But, though there raay he no negative in the English phrase, there is fear, or apprehension expressed, that something TTiai/, and perhaps, hope, that something wa^/ not, happen. If the same verhs do not express a feeling of this sort ; then the two negatives are used in the usual manner. 842. Ne is used without pas or point, hefore the veih that follows plus, moins, mieux, autre and autrement ; also hefore the verb that precedes 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 (Scrirai pas qu il ne m* envoie mes livres : I will not write to him, unless he send 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 nega- tive nature in the sentence. These cases are worthy of par- ticular 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 ne- gative is to be omitted. 1. When de follows the verb, and is used in the describ- ing of a space of time ; as : Je ne lui parlerai de ma Tie, | 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 XX.] AND INTERROGATIVES. ^ when our more is used in the sense of again ox in addition ; for, when more is used in a comparison ; when it is more than something ; then the two ne- gatives must he used. Pay attention to the follow- ing examples. I will see him no more ; Je ne\Q verrai plus, ^ or, ' will not see him again. \ r ^' plus, ^ I 1 < I do not want any more ; Je n' en veux i' ^ ' do not want of it in addition to what I have. Je n' en veux pas de plus belle que la vdtre, | I do not want any finer than yours. 11 Tie 8' y en trouve pas de plus belle, | There is no finer to be seen there. 3. When in English ^e use but, in a negative sense, or onlyy or nothing hut, 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 their pas and point. Vous ne possedez que deux choses, ) You possess &m^ two things, lis n' ont que peu de bien, | They have but little property. Our BUT, hesides this, is turned into French sometimes by que, and 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 imper- sonal means, sometimes, it is ; and, when it is made use of in the present time of a verb used along with the verb avoir, i}\Q negative that follows it must be ne only ; as : il y a trois jours que vous w' avez mang6 ; you have not eaten for these three days ; or, literally, it is three days that you have not eaten. SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES [LeTTER 6. Only ne is used with thie verbs oser, savoir, prendre garde, cesser, SLud pouvoir ; and, as these are very important verbs, and are constantly recurring, you ought to pay particular attention to this rule. lis n* osent vous le dite, I They dare not tell it you. II ne peut le faire, | He cannot do it. 6. 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 roir ?j | Whi/ do you not go to see her t But, mind, if you make use of pourquoi in French, and not of que, you must employ the double negative ; as : pour- quoi n' allez vous pas la voir ? , 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 while. 4. I have not seen the 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. XX.] AND INTEKROGATIVES. 7. You have no land and no flocks. 8. That is not a g^ood man. That is not true. Sir. 9. There is no straw and no hay in the loft. 10. 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. 16. Not that I cannot go if I like it. 17. Will you go with me ? No : I will not. j 18. She can neither read nor write. 19. He cannot write, neither can he read. ^0." We shall not sail to-morrow ; and, perhaps, not ne xt 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 but 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. 30. Did I not tell you that you could not come in ? 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. 33. He does not cease to talk and make a noise. 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. Whv will vou not sit down and dine with us ? SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES [LetTER 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 drmk. 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 tome 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. I will hinder 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 come. 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. 345. We now come to the INTERROGATIVES. When you consider how large a part of all speaking and writ- ing consists of QUESTIONS, you will want nothing said by me to convince you of the importanceof this part of your study. Let us take the verb tuer again, here, and con- jugate it, in the interrogative form, as we did in the XX.] AND INTERROGATIVES. 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. V h tu6-je ? tues-tu ? iue-t-il ? Present time, rf""^-"""?- „i 1 ' < tuez-vous ? ""■•*'• Ituent-ils? Past time. Singular. Past time, Plural. rtuois-je ? < tuois-tu ? (.tuoit-il ? ftu ions -nous ? < tuiez-vous ? (^tuoient-ils ? do I kill ? doest thou kill ? does he kill ? do we kill ? do you kill ? do they kill ? did I kill ? didst thou kill ? did he kill ? did we kill ? did you kill ? did they kill ? That is enough. You see (and, indeed, you saw it long ago), the French have no do and did and will and shall and the like. They ask the question by the verb itself. They say, MZ/.'' kill we 't kill 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 pro- noun, 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, in the first question of all, you see an acute accent over the e in tue. This is to soften the sound ; and the accent is used, with this verb, only in this par- ticular case. See paragraph 191, for a full explanation of this. And, see the close of that paragraph for the reason why there is a ^ and two hyphens placed after tue in the third question above. 346. AVell, 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 makine use of o SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES [LeTTER the noun and not the pronoun. They begm by naming the party ; as : Richard est-il venu ? Pierre est-il malade ? M.es soeurs sont-elles arrivees ? Vos clievaux courent-ils ? Is Richard come ? Is Peter sick ? Are my sisters arrived ? Do your l^orses 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 ever- lastingly upon a French tongue : Est-ce que vous avez din6 ? Est-ce qu* elle s' en va ? Est-ce qu' il se porte bien ? Est-ce qu* il fait froid ? Est-ce que nous avons de 1' argent ? Est-ce que Richard est venu ? Est-ce que Jean et Pierre sont malades ? Have you dined ? Is she going away ? Is he well ? Is it cold ? Have we any money ?. Is Richard come ? Are John and Peter sick ? What, then, is this Est-ce que ? Word for word it is : is this that ; or, is it that. And the first of these questions is^ in fact, this: ''is it that you have dined?" The French make use of ce, and not of il, as was observefl in paragraph 321, (which I beg you to look at directly). They make use of thiSy and not of it ; but, with this excep- tion, there is nothing at all strange in the question, " is it " that you have dined." We frequently, 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 awkward- ness that theit questions would othenvise have. Tue-je '( XX.] AND INTERROGATIVES. and hie-t-il? for iHStance, become Est-ce queje tue? and Est-ce qu' il tue ? And all is smooth and harmonious. 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 qu' elle est riche ? N* est-ce pas qu'elle est riche ? Qu* est-ce que c' est ? Is she rich? Is she not rich ? What is it. Qu' est-ce que c' est que Jean dit ? | What does John say ? Literaplly it is, Which 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. Qu* est-ce que c' est que cela ? | What is that ? 349. I will now give you an Exercise with a great va riety of questions ; and, before I close it, I will introduce negatives as well as interrogatives, and both in abundance. Go through this Exercise with great care ; and, if you make a tolerably correct translation of it, you may truly say that you know something of the French languag-e. EXERCISE XL 1. Are you talking to the gentlemen about the house ? 2. Did the army march thence this morning ? 3. Will the carpenter come to-morrow ? 4. Why will he not come directly ? 5. Was the house on fire when you were in the town ? 6 Does not Richard come to-night ? 7. Did he strike you ? o 2 SYNTAX OF NEGATIVES. [LeTTSR 8. Did they take away your coach and horses ? 9. Did you think of that ? 10. Is that your hook ? Yes, it is. 11. Is that your hrother? Yes, it is. 12. Do you talk of her very often ? 13. Does he go in search of the merchandise that he has lost ? 1 4. Will they pay us what they owe us ? 15. Will they have paid us when they have paid ten pounds more ? 16. Would they have thought of it? 17. Has he any of it left ? 18. Do you give it to rae ? 19. Did she tell it to him ? 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 ? * 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 hox ? 32. Did you find some of it there ? 33. Will they not strike you and hurt you ? 34. Does he not speak of it to them ? 35. Would he not have done you great injury ? 36. Do you not give it to me ? 37. Do you not apply yourself to the French ? 38. Did she not tell it to him ? 39. Will they not give it to us ? 40. V/ill he not speak of it to you? XX.] AND INTERROGATIVES. 41. Have you not told it to me? 42. Had she not told it to him? 43. Does corn grow well in that land ? 44. Are not the trees very fine in the woods of America ? 45. No : they are not very fine in all parts of the country. 46. But the Planes 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 oneself. 54. I have told him not to pay more than twenty pounds. 55 Is he not a captain, or a colonel ? 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 ready- money. 59. Will John not be there sooner than will be neces- sary ? 60. 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 ? 63. Do you not fear that the money will come too late ? 64. Did they see nobody going that way ? 65. Have the labourers but little to eat and drink ? 6Q, Is not that the poorest man who has the least to eat and to wear ? 67. They will never forgive him unless he ask pardon of them. 68. Is not mine a very pretty room ? 69. Is not this Exercise a very long one ? 70. It is very long, but, I hope, not more long than useful. LETTER XXI. SYNTAX OF IMPERSONALS. My DEAR Richard^ 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 attentively. Pray^ observe, that what I am now going to say you will be able to understand but very imperfectly , 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 : there is a hawk on the tree, there are birds in the nest, some men like that, some of them did not like it, there will be ten bushels of wheat. il y a un faucon sur I'arbre. il y a des oisefiux dans le nid. il y a des hommes qui aiment cela. il y en avoit qui ne V aimoient pas^ il y aura dix boisseux de ble. This impersonal changes its form to express time; but not for any other purpose. You see, in the above examples, the present il y a, the past, il y avoit, 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 SYNTAX OF IMPERSOXALS. to Windsor. The French, in such cases, make use of il y ay and say, il y a vingt six milles de Londres k AVindsor ; \yhich is, mind, literally speaking, it there has twenty six miles from London to Windsor. And this is just as rea- sonable as to say it is ; for, one might ask, what it ? What do you mean by this it ? 354. The same rule applies to our it is, when employed 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 sometime ago, the French answer our phrase by il y a and the present time of the verb ; as : that tree was planted ^y^/Vi/ years ago : il y a cinquante ans que cet arbre est plants. 355. In questions, where we begin with hoio long, or how far, and then proceed with our is it : in these cases the French begin with comhien ; that is, how much or how many. You know that how is comment, and that/ar is loin* But, you must not, when you go to France, and, are on the road from Calais to Paris, and want to know how far you have to go to get to St. Omer*s ; you must not in this case, say to the person to whom you address yourself, comment loin (how far), but combien (how much, or many). Thus it is, too, with regard to spaces 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. Hoto many cities are there in France ? How much sand t» there in the cart ? How far it it from this to St. Omers ? How long il it since you began ? Combien de villes y a-t-if en Franee ? Combien de sable y a-t-il dans la charrctte ? Combien y a-t-il d' ici Si St. Omer ? Combien y a-t-il que vous avez commence ? SYNTAX [Letter You see, then, the extensive use of this Impersonal. It is constantly on tlie tongue of those who speak French. Great care must he taken to give it its proper place in the sentence. That place is different under different circum- stances ; hut attention will very soon make you master of the matter. 356. Il est, or c' est. Look at paragraph 321. I had there, in speaking of the Demonstrative Pronoun, ce, to ex- plain to you the reason of this c'est ; hut, I then referred you to this place for instructions as to the manner of using c'est. Literally il est means it is, and c' est (that is ce est^ means this is, as I have hefore shown. In some cases, they may, as impersonal verbs, he made use of indiffe- rently ; hut in other cases, they cannot. The sense will in a great measure, instruct us when one is to be used, and when the other ; hut this may be always relied on, that, when the impersonal can be translated into English by that, this, or what, the French must be c* est, and not il est ; as : tliat is what pleases me, r c' est ce qui me plaTt. this is what I thought, ) c' est ce que je peusois. And not il est cela, and il est ce que. 357. When the noun which the impersonal refers to is not a person, ^d when there is no adjective coming next after the impersonal, or when the word thing is, under any circumstances, expressed in the sentence, c'est, and not il est, is to be used. But, if there be an adjective coming directly after the impersonal, and if the word thing be not mentioned in the sentence, and if the noun referred to be a person, il est is used ; but, even then, not always. 358. This impersonal is sometimes used instead ofilya ; XXI.] OF IMPERS0NAL9. but. Id this case, il est is used, and not c est ; as : II est des gens qui ne sont jamais contens : there are people who are never contented. We may say also, il y a des gens qui ne sont jamais 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 mdefinite character like gens. And, mind, you cannot employ c est to supply the place of ily a, 359. II est, and not d* est, is used in speaking of por- tions of time, as counted by the clock, or as relating to the different times of the day. T^he French do not say, it is twelve clock (which is a very odd phrase), but, it is twelve hours. They say, it is one hour, it is two hours, and so on. Now, in saying this they do not use c' est, but il est ; thus, il est une heure, il est deux heures. But, in answers to questions* relsitmg to time, c' est may be used. When we ask what it is o' clock, they say, quelle heure est-il ? and not quelle heure est-ce ? 860. I noticed in the rules on the articles, that we say he is a captain, she is a mantua-maker, and so on, and that the French say, he is captain, she is mantua-maker, without the article. In these cases they use the personal pronoun de and il ; but, if the French use the article, they use c est, 861. In all other cases c* est may he, 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 may be used in the plural ; as : c* est les loups qui ont tu^ les moutons, . ce sont les loups qui ont ta^ les moutoaa, o 5 SYNTAX [Letter 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 tu6 les moutons ? Est'Ce le loup qu'on a attrape ? 362. 1l 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 139. I am now about to explain to you the manner of using it. But, I must beg you to read that paragraph 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 now 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 un- like 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 he necessary ; and, taken together, they answer to our musty 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 house? Then, our must cannot be translated literally into French. / must^ we must, and the like, cannot be expressed in French at all, if they stand thus without other words. / must go. To answer to this the French say, ilfaut que f aille ; that is, it is necessary that Igo^ o^, I am obliged to go, or there is compulsion for my going. 364. And, mind, this ilfaut 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 thei^e is necessity, or obligation ; then comes the noun, or pro- noun representing the party obliged ; then comes the XXI.] OF IMPERSONALS. statement of what the necessity or obligation is to pro- duce ; as : il ifaut que je fasse, il faut que vous fassiez, il faut qu' il fasse, il faut qu' ils fassent, il faut que nous fassions. I must make, you must make, he must make, they must make, we must make. There is, m these cases, always a que, you see, coming after the ilfaut ; and you have seen the reasoyi of this be- fore. The French words, being literally translated, mean it is necessary that I make, and so on ; and que, in thig case, means, that, 365. But, it is not thus in all cases ; for, there is no que when ilfaut is followed by the infinitive of the verb ; as : il faut aller : 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 infinitive ; as : f one must do one's duty, il faut faire son devoir, -l we must do our duty. Lthey must do their duty. And, in many cases, the phrase may take this turn in En- glish, one's duty must be done, 366. Where we, in English, express a want of something^ "the French sometimes make use of the verb avoir, followed by besoin (want) and de ; as : / 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' ai besoin d* or, I I want some gold. vous aviez besoin d' une chaise, I you wanted a chair. ih auront besoin d'une brouetto, | they will want a wheelbarrow. SYNTAX [Leister Now, mind, ilfaut is, in many cases, made use of instead of avoir besoin de. But, then, the phrase must take a different form, and the pronoun must be in a different case ; as : il me faut de 1' or, il vous falloit une chaise, il le^ir faadra une 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 use- ful 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 ilfaut is the expression ; as: il faut des hommes pour faire une armee. Pour faire la ge«rre, 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 oneself, and employ, in phrases of this description, ought or should as : You do not know what j^ou ought. In these cases the French employ e7 /aw ^ ; as: you work as you ought, the}' do not write as they should, they do what they ought, I have what I ought to have, vous travaillez comme il faut ils n'ecrivent pas comme il faut. il font ee qu'il faut. j'ai ce qu'il me faut. Comme ilfaut means, also, as it is necessary to he, as it is proper to be, and hence comes the expressions des gens comme ilfaut, unefemme comme ilfaut, and so on ; which means, respectable people, a respectable woman ; or li- terally, people as they ought to be, a woman as she ought to be. 369. Ilfait is the last of these impersonal verbs. Literally XXL] OF IMPERSONALS. 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 tirne. Thus, they say : il fait fro Id. il fait chaiid, il fait jour, il fait 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 circum- stances 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 th-e same with hail and snow. However, the French frequently saY,tomber (to fall) de la pluie, de la grSle, de la neige ; and they even put il fait before these nouns as well as before the adjectives, joi^r et nuit, light and dark, not day and night, 870. Now, before I give you the Exercise on these Impbr- sowAL verbs, I ought to observe, that every phrase may be called an Impersonal, if it be the nominative, 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 y was better, is not so good, and the like ; as : it is better, j il vaut mieiix. it was better, | U valoit mieiix. it will be better, it is not so good as, it was not so good as, it will not be so good as, SYNTAX [Letter 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 verh well : you have it fully conjugated in your third TASK ; and you have it in your table of irregular verbs on your card. From this verb comes the appellation of Vau- RiEN, which means, a good-for-nothing person. This verb, used as impersonal, 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 pain. 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. 5. There are seven acres of land and six very fine houses. 6. There is a great quantity of mud at the bottom of the pond. 7. You must take care how you prune peach trees. 8. There is a great variety of peaches. 9. There are many of them in that garden. 1 0. There are wood-buds and fruit-buds. 11. There was a terrible out-cry in the town. 12. If it be stone-fruit trees that you have to prune^ 13. There are many of them there. XXL] OF IMPERSONALS. 14. As I have already observed. 15. You must examine, and be sure whether there be a good wood-bud. 16. See that there is no corner lost, and no plat that re- mams uncropped. 17. You must not let any of them come in. 18. We want fine weather for the harvest. 19. Do not waste your time in talking: do what you ought, 20. All the respectable people of the village think well of it. 21. I want friends to assist me in so great an enterprize. 22. To get good corn and njeat there must be good land. 23. Plenty of manure and good tillage are necessary to produce good hops. 24. There were twenty, the whole of the twenty were wanted, but they left us only seven. 25. This is an act that we must never forget. 26. It was his servant who told it them. 27. There were sixty houses knocked down by the cannon ball. 28. It is better to remain as you are for a few months. 29. It is a great deal better to be poor and healthy than rich and unhealthy. 30. I shall go to France ; that is to say, if I be in good health. 31. It is very bad to travel when you are not well. 32. It is very painful to be obliged to leave you in your present state. 33. He is an honest man. He is a knave. 34. He is honest. He is knavish. She is good and wise. 35. It was your father who gave you that diamond. 36. Was it they who did so much mischief in the village ? 37. It was they who cut down the trees and set fire to the houses. SYNTAX ^Letter 38. No: it was she that ordered it to be done. 39. I do not know that it was she who gave the order. 40. My uncle has been dead these forty years. 41. I have lived here for more than twenty years. 42. It is seventeen miles from this place to that. 43. How far is it from this to the top of the mountain ? 44. How long will it be before you come back ? 45. He has been fifteen years at his work. 46. How many oxen are in the park ? 47. And how many o f th emare in the stable ? 48. People must have children to be able to feel for parents. 49. Must I not have a good deal of patience ? 50. Must there not have been great misconduct some- where ? 51. Must she not have had a great deal of property ? 52. Has there not been a very long debate to-night ? 53. Has there ever been a longer one ? 54. There is only that which is not useful. 55. I beg of you not to come ; that is, if you cannot get a coach. 56. Are there any vineyards in this country ? 57. No: there are not any that I know of. What ! are there none ?. 58. It is the finest land that was ever seen ; but the cli- mate is bad. 59. How far do you think it is to his house, and do you think it will be late before we can get to it ? 60. It is about four miles, and, I suppose, that we can get to it by nine o'clock. 61. Will it be dark before we can get to it ? No : for it is light now till past nine. 62. It is very dirty since the last rain ; and it seems as if it would rain again before to-morrow night. 68, It has been a very fine day to-day. \ XXL] OF IMPERSONALS. 64. Do you believe that ? Is there any one that believes it ? Is there any one of them who does not despise the man who says it ? 65. Must not a man be a wretch, then, who affects to be- lieve that there is any truth in 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 supposing, that plural nouns and pronouns ought never to be placed after our it, used as an impersonal. I gave an instance in this phrase : "It 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 showers ; 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 loup s qni tuent les " moutons.*' I, in my Grammar, paragraph 60, contended, that though there was no visible noun, to which the it re- lated ; yet, that there would be found to be a noun under- stoody if the matter were well looked into. I took as an instance : " it will rain : '* and, I said, that the full mean- ing was this : " A state of things called rain will be." In consul ting the work of Monsieur Restaut, I find it agreeing with me as to this matter. He takes the instance of, '' il pleut" and he says, that the full meaning is : '' QUELQUE CHOSE qui cst 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. No ? What w411 he put, then ? The French, however, settle the question for us ; for, they say, c' est eux qui ecrivent : c' est les L«uPS qui tuent les raouton. LETTER XXII. SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. My dear Richard, 371. I went, in the Etymology, very fully into the suh- ject of Adjectives. You will now read what I there said. You will find it between paragraphs 101 and 111, both in- clusive ; 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 proper- ties and offices of this part of speech ; I described its changes for the purpose of expressing 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, however ; for they have no change to express person, time, case, or 7node. Therefore, this is not a part of speech so full of difficulties as the pronoim and the verb. There are two things to attend to in using the adjective : 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 {improper place. SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. As to the agreement, enough was said in the Etymology,* except with regard to one or two particular cases, which I am now ahout to notice. The adjective is put in tho plural, though it relate to a singular noun, when that nouft is a noun of multitude and followed hy a plural noun in the possessive case ; as : la plupart des dames fureut malheurevses^ and not la plupart des dames fut malheureuse. If plupart had not been followed by des dames (the uoun in the possessive case) the adjective must have been in the singular : la plupart fut mulhetireusey and not la plupart furent malheureuses. Another of the exceptions, alluded to above, is this : Ad- jectives 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 gofit et un discernement excellent ; but it is safer to say, nn gout et un discernement excellens. SYNTAX [Letter As to agreement in gender , you must observe, that, if there be more than one noun, to which the adjective relates, and, if they be of different genders^ the adjective must be put m t\iQ masculine ; as: la vache et le boeuf sont bons ; and 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 adjective is, or, at least, may be, put in the feminine ; as : le boeuf et la vache blanche ; and 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 hlajics, I should employ that phrase in- stead 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. 873. 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 gen- der and number with its noun. The next thing is the pro- per 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 with- out 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 whe- ther it be to come before or after the noun vache. Ob- XXIL] OF ADJECTIVES. serve, then, that adjectives which express colours are put after the noun ; as : vache brune. Also those that express nationality ; as : du d^ap Anglois, Also those that express shape ; as : chapeau rond. Also those that express the qualities or condition of the elements, or that relate to any natural produc- tions ; as : de V eau froide. Also those which end in ic, ique^ and if; as: un verbe passif Also those ending in ablb ; as : un 6t£it miserable. Also those ending in esque, ilsy ule ; as : une piece burlesque. Also the participles when they are used as adjec- tives ; as : un homnae respecte, 374. Adjectives put before the noun are all those of number ; as : une porte, six carosses ; le premier bourg, le second village. The Royal style indeed, makes Henry the Fourth, Louis the Eighteenth, and so on. Also pronouns when they act the part of adjectives ; as : chaque prune. Also the following ones, of very common use : beau, hon, brave, cher, chetif, grand, gros,jeune, mau^ vais, 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 canBot do wrong in putting them after it. If there SYNTAX [^Letter be more than two adjectives, they ?nust 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 ad- jectives, which, in French, require the preposition de be- fore the next noun, pronoun^ or iiifinitive verb ; as : capa- ble de tout ; capable d' aller. Then there are other ad- jectives, which require the preposition d, before the next noun, pronoun, or infinitive ; as : semblable 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 mat- ter, the Dictionary will put you right ; for, it has the a, or the de, placed after those adjectives that require these prepositions after them. 377. The next thing is^ thajt, adjectives of dimension come before the words which express the measure, and net after those words, as ours do ; as : Une riviere large de trois cents pas, I A river three hundred paces broad. Una tour haute de soixante pieds, | A tower sixty feet high. The French, however, have other modes of expressing di- mensions. They put the noun instead of the adjective ; une riviere qui a trois cents pas de largeur. Thus they make use af longeur 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 pre- vent you from ever making a mistake in the use of these words of dimension. XXII.) OF ADJECTIVES. 3/8. Lastly comes comparison ; but, that has been so fully explained before, in the paragraphs from 10 1 to 111, and again moi-e recently in the use of que and moins anti plus with the negatives ; that it would be, I hope, a waste of time, to say any thing more upon the subject of com- parison. EXERCISE 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. ». A young and fine ox, and a pretty little dog. G. 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 that I ever saw. 12. 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 have a great many olives. 1 6. Has he not many horses and a great deal of hay ? 1 7- Give me a few nuts, and bring a little of that sugar. 18. He is equally zealous in a good and in a bad caiise. 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 hundred and twenty-four. 22. George the Fourth and Charles the Tenth reign art this time. 23. I like an opo/i enemy better than a sroret one. SYNTAX [LeTTEE 24. You are unworthy of honour and distinction. 25. He was overjoyed at seeing her arrive. 26. They are perfectly free from hlame on that account. 27. He is fit for any sort of husiness. 28. They are given to all sorts of mischief. 29. We are suhject 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. ^2. A French hat, an English coat, an American shoe. 33. A hlack hat, a hlue coat, a white shoe. 34. White as snow, black as the chimney, hea^y 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. 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. Vnefemme sage means a sensible and modest woman ; but une sage femme mesins a midwife. However, there arc 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, bon, commun, mauvais, brave, certain, cruel, furieux, galan, gentil, grand, gros, honnete, pauvre, plaisant, sage,vilain. There are some words, which some persons call adjectives, 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 pZace, time, or manner, and not quality or characteristic mark. LETTER XXIIL syntax of verbs. My dear Richard, 379. This, as you have been before told, is the most im- portant 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 uncommon degree of resolu- tion to be industrious and attentive. 380. YovL must, that you may have the whole subject 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 Conju- gations ; and then come to the subject of the present Letter. 381. The parts of the Grammar, which I have here re- ferred 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 manner of using it in sen^ SYNTAX [Letter tencesy something about that concord and that government y 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 i'^this mode, and when in that. I shall, therefore, place my matter under four heads : first, The Number and Person, because they depend one on the other : second, The Times : third, The Modes : fourth, The 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 perso7i or thing. Therefore there must be a noun or a pronoun to express that person or thing. And, whatever person and number that noun or pronoun may be in, the verb must be in the same person and number. This is what is called agreement, or concord. The ploughmen inr Hampshire invariably say, they walks, and the like ; and it is very curious, that those of Norfolk and Suffolk as in- variably say,/ie walk, and the like. The illiterate country people in France say, j* aZ/oTzs ^m^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 no-^ minative 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 : Le cheval, le bouc et le chiea eioierit dans reciirie. The horse, the goat and the dog were ia the stable. XX 111.7^ OF VERBS. 384. In French, as in English, two nouns or pronouns' 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 ou V orge qui est dans le champ. The rye or the barley that is in the field. But, in French, if the conjunction be notow, the verb is ge- nerally in the plural ; as : Ni le seigle ni Torge ne se vendent cher. Neither the rye nor tlie barley sells 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 viendroient demain, si. . . . ' The master or his people would come to-morrow, if ... . This holds good in both languages ; but, if the last noun be preceded by mais (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 sen- tence. 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, respect- ing the number of the verb, that must be carefully attended to : it is this ; we, in English, when we use a noun o£ mult titude ; such as crQwd, assembly, public, or any other, may, as we please, consider the noun a singular or a plural, and, of course, we may use as relating to such noun, pronouns and verbs in the singular^ or in the plural. I i SYNTAX [Letter 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 the street, or It was in the street, The public do not like that, They have rejected it, or it has rejected it. } } ha, /oule/esoit un grand bruit. Elle ^toit dans la rue. Le public n' aime pas cela. Ill' a rejete. 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 pronouns and verbs. We, on the contrary, cannot very well use these singulars with people, though we, in speaking of a natiQn, sometimes say, a people. In other cases we make use of plurals with the word people, and the French never do ; as : Tlie people are tired of being treated in that manner. Le peuple est las d* etre traite de la sorte. l^hey will not be treated thus much longer, // ne soufFrira pas qu*on le traite long-tems ainsi. The people have their follies ; but they are not wicked, Le peuple a ses foUiea ; mais il n*est pas tne'chani. 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 these you will find particularly dwelt on in the Syntax of the relative .pronoun, paragraph 316 ; and in the Syntax of the Adjec- tive, paragraph 372. You must now read both those paragraphs very carefully over. Their contents belong to the numbers of verbs as well as to the heads under which they are placed. XXIIL] OF VERBS. 385. When there are two or more pronouns^ which are the nominative of the verb, and which are of different persons, the nominative must agree with the first person in preference to the second, and with the second in prefe- rence to the third. It is, however, the same in English'; as : you and I are poor : vouset 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. Vous 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 g'oing away. EUe, 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 he turned thus : Nous irons S. la campagne vous et moi la semaine prochaine. Vous alliez vous promener, elle, vous et votre oncle. However, the verbs are in the plural in both languages ; 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 agree-^ ment between the pronoun and the verb. You see the additional pronoun is used to make all clear. Onr 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 really is not a point beyond dispute. The French say, therefore ; SYNTAX [Letter Lui, elle et moi nous avons ^te tr^s-malades, He, she and I we have been very ill. And, to a certainty, this is a better mode of expression, because it is perfectly unequivocal. 386. You will see, tbat 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 \vhich, 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 V herbe, V oiseau vole dans Fair. 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, a 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 sometimes put the verb before the noun when we do not, especially after que (whom, which or that) and comme (as) : Le chien que wi' a vendu le garde-cliasse, The dog that to me has sold the game-keeper. This is, word for word ; but we say, the dog that the game- keeper has sold me. Take an example with comme Les clioux, les asperges et les ognons sont gat^s, ^ ce que dit Richard, XXIII.] OF VERBS. . The cabbages, the asparagus arid the onions "are spoiled, as Richard tells me. Again, the verb is frequently putafterow (where, in which, in which place). La campagne ou demeure mon. ami, The country place where my friend lives. L' endroit ou se cachent les renards et les loups, The place where the foxes and wolves hide themselves* These are very common expressions with the French, who make wonderful use of this se, and especially with the verb trouver (to find), which they in.ike use of instead of etre, in innumerable instances : as : I am very well, ] Je me trouve fort bien. How is he now ? j Comment se trouve-t-il main tenant ? We are very well here, I Nous nous trouvons bien ici. EXERCISE XIV. 1. We see such things as that every day. 2. Neither threats nor money will make him cease com- plaining 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 wlio said that she should go away. 6. Not only the oats and the hay, but the very straw was carried out of the yard. 7. John, Paul, Stephen, Mary anid their mother will write to-morrow. 8. John, Paul, Stephen, Mary and you will write to- morrow. SYNTAX [Letter 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. 12. The gardener as 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. 15. 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 have 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 3^ou a pound, said he, if you will tell me the tj'uth. 27. Ah ! said they, we have caught you, then. 28. No., answered f, you have not caught me. 29. Well said he to them, say no more about it. 30. Go oflF 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 Sainfoin grow well in that land. 34. They are excellent for all sorts of cattle. 35. Turnips or mangel wurzel is good for cows in winter. 36. Neither hay nor straw are 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. XXIIL] OP VERBS. 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 corresponding 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 kill, I do kill, I am killing, > tue. The French hav^e only this one form to answer to the whole of the three. We, 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, in the present case, we are happy in having to do with a language, which has but one present time at any rate. 1 am writing a letter, Indeed I do wrtVe letters ever day, I write to my friends very often, y ecris une lettre. [jours. En verite j' ^crwdes lettrestous le$ J' ecris fort sourent u mes amis. It is, you see, always tcris. This is very easy, then ? Yes, p 5 SYNTAX [Letter 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 ivas ; as : I was writing ; I did write : I wrote. Aye ; but the French have tivo distinct sets of words to express the past by. Look now again, for a moment, at the con- jugation of TuER,in paragraph 118. There you see, that, in what they call the past imperfect time, I killed, is, je tuois, and, in the past perfect time, I killed, is, je tuai. 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 tuions is the past im-^ perfect, and nous tuames the past perfect. Now, mind, each of these means we killed. 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 translation. It is an account of an explosion in the fortified town of Verdun in France. Le 18 Novembre, 1727, le moulin a poudre, construit dans cette ville, smita en 1' air, par la faute, dit on, d' un ouvrier, qui fesoit seclier de la poudre dans une poele. Les effels en fureiit affreux. La terre s' enfonga en cet endroit de plus de quinze pieds : On the 18 November, 1727, the powder mill, built in this town, blew upy from the fauk, 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 XXIII.] OF VERBS. r hemisphere parut tout en feu, et la terre trembla d plus de deux lieues a la ronde. Cet accident ^battit de fond en comble cin- quante maisons des environs. Tout ce qui s'y trouva^ homnies, femmes, enfans, domestiques, fat ^crase sous les mines. II y eut soixante-dix autres mai- sons fort endomniagees, dont aucune n* a pu etre habitee avant de I'avoir repar^e. II y en eut d'autres encore, en grand nombre, dont les portes furent arrach^es de leurs gonds, quoi- que fermees a clefs et a ver- rou ; et tous les vitrages de la ville-basse furent fiacasses. II y cut aussi des marques de la* violence de ce coup dans la ville- haute, et dans la citadelle, quoi- qu'<^loign^e de plus de six cents toises du lieu oii le moulin etoit construit. Outre les maisons bourgeoises il y eict trois ^glises paroissiales, et divers convents endommag^s considerablement, ainsi que 1' hopital general, et celui des soldats. Les Dames de le Congregation furent les plus maltrait^s, leurs dortoirs ayant 6te renverses, pendant qu* elles etoient k Complies. La quantite de poudie qui prit feu conshtoit en quatre milliers de poudre fine,et six milliers de pou- dre commune. fifteen feet : the HemiBphere 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, men, women, children, servants, were crushed under the ruins. There were seventy other houses \7ery much damaged, not one of which could be inhabited until re- paired. Besides these, there wei'e others in great number the doors of which were torn from their posts, although 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 cita- del, though at more than six hundred fathoms from the spot where the mill stood. Besides the houses of the town's people, there were three parish churches and divers convents consider- ably damaged, as well as the general hospital and that of the soldiers. The Nuni of the Con- gregation were the most roughly handled, their dormitories being shaken in while they were at Evening Prayers. The quantity of powder that took fire con- sisted of four thousand weight of fine, and six thousand weight of common. 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 use- ful as the ground-work of my observations, and because it will enable us to see how the above practice squares with the rules of this able grammarian. SYNTAX [LeTTEE better word) the unfinished Jorm of the French verb,miist always be used when we can turn the phrase hito 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 «'a.9j?Zawtiw^ peas yesterday, when. . i je plantois despois liier, quand . . . I wrote to him every trcelc, je lui ecrivois toutes les semaines. I was in the habit of going thither, j' avois coutume d' y aUer. They continued there for six jears, lis y restoient pendant six ans- I used to eat a good deal of sugar, j je ynangois beaucoup de sucre. 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 720 importance ; as : the Jews were a wicked race j les Juifs etoient une m^chante race ; they were seditious and avaricious, j iis etoient seditieux et avares- Here you see, is continuity. The Jews were, and went on to be, a bad race of people ; but, here is nothing finished, nothing brought to a clo% ; and that, mind, is ne- cessary 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 ia that sentence, the first in the past perfect, the last in the past ijnperfect. " Les dames de la Congx'Qg'dixou fur ent les " plus maltraitees, leurs dortoirs ayant ete renverses pen- *' dant qu' elles etoient a Complies/' Here are furent and etoient m 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 XXIII.] OF VERBS. » ivith, finished, completely over^ and, thai, too, in a past time. But, in that same past time, the ladies were at their Complies, or Evening Pra^^ers : elles etoient a Complies : their dormitories were demolished while they ivere 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) etoit autrefois une petite Souveraint6, de la- " quelle dependoient dix-sept villages. Elle appartenoit " anciennement aux archeveques de Rheims, un desquels '' r echangea avec le Roi pojir Cormicy." Now, you see, etoit autrefois and appartenoit andi dependoient all include the idea of continuation. This little district was formerly a lordship. VYe 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 was an act done, finished ; not going on ; not spoken of as being (in the past timti 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 times ; for, if you can, by a change in the ending of the verb, dijscover 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 consistoit, as mentioned in paragraph 394, and also for using prz7 in the same sentence. " Lapoudre, qui prit feu, consistoit en quartre milliers.** Why not, said I, put consista as well s.s prit ? You could now, I hope, tell me why ; namely because the taking of fire was a thing do7ie with. The fire took, the mill blew up, and there was an end. The matter was finished in the SYNTAX [Letter 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 had been going on. There had been continuation in it ; and, therefore, the writer could not say consista. Take two more instances, and then, I think, I may leave this matter. II r aew?oi7 long-temps, et a la I Pie /ove^/ her for a long time, and, fin, il r epousa, J at last, he married her. ^ier, qui 4toit dimanche, il alia I Yesterdfiy, which was Sunday, he a r eg-lise, J 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, EUe Vaccosta comrae il alloit 5. I She accosted him as he was going V eijMise, to church. Here, you see, the case is different. His going to 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 neces- sary, 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 kfiow when he had is to be il avoit, and when it is to be il eut? XXIIL] OP VERBS. 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 he frequently used instead of Ihe past perfect time ; and this is very common ; as : EUe chatita hier au soir, j ^ or 5- She sang last uight. Elle a chants hier au soir, * 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 Etymology, heen explained to you, that our will and shall, which help to form the future time of our verhs, are wholly unknown in the French language,, which, with more elegance and ease, and with less equivocation, expresses, hy a change in the ending of the verb itself, all that we express, and that we wish to express, hy the use of these nasty little harsh-sounding words. Foreigners have great difficulty in learning when they ought to use will and when shall. Those who learn French have no such difficulty. And thus it is always. If, however, shall is used so denote obligation and will to denote determination, iheymxi^i he 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, ov future ; yet some grammarians have con- trived to find, in French and English, a great many more SYNTAX [Letter 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 unneces- sary ; hut, it producers 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 Tuer. je tue, je tuois, je tuai, je tuerai. present^ past imperfect, past perfect J future. I kill. 1 1 killed. I shall kill. j* ai tue, j'avois tue, j'eus tue, j 'aurai tue, the past indefinite^ the more perfect, the past perfect anterior, the future anterior y I have killed, j I had killed. I shall have killed. It is in the grammar of Mousieur 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 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 tuer to mark the four times ; and, below the line, you have the changes in AVOIR to mark the same four times. If, indeed, tuer changed its form here eight times instead of four, it would l)e necessary to have eight names to distinguish them by. But, as it is, the four additional names only serve to puzzle, retard, and disgust tlie scholar. 403. In paragraphs from 125 to 128 I have fully ex. plained 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 killed is the compound XXIII.] OF VERBS. of the present time ; because have belongs to one verb and killed to another. Why, then, not call these times, the compound of the present^ of the pasty and of the future ? I have killed, I had killed, 1 I shall have killed, y ai tue. j' avois, or j' eus tue. j* aurai tu^. It is, you see, the verb to have, used in all its times with the passive participle of the principal verb (tuer) 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 com- pound times are formed with etre and not with avoir when the verb is reflected. And, observe also, that ete, the pas- sive participle of itre, is, as in English, sometimes, and very frequently, used along with avoir and the passive participle of the principal verb ; as : j'ai ete tuL I have been kiUcd. This may be called the compound of the passive : that is all. The verb avoir is conjugated through- out 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 kill, I killed, I shall kill, je tue. je tuois ; or tuai. je tuerai. Ihave killed, I had killed, I shall have killed. j' ai tue. j' avois, or j' eus, tue. j' aurai tue. I have heen killed, 1 had been killed, 1 shall have been killed, j' ai ete tu^. j' a'-ois, or j* eus, 6t6 tu6. j* aurai et6 tu^. 405. As to the times of the Subjunctive Mode, all that has here been said holds good with regard to them. Time SYNTAX [LeI^TEII 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 pas- sive participle of which you arc to add all the \^ay 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 ^tre^ instead of avoir, in a few neuter verbs> as well as in all the reflected verbs. These neuter verbs are, accourir, aller, aborder, arriver, choir, deceder, de^ scendre, devenir, entrer, monter, mourir, naitre, partir, retourner, revenir, sortir, tomber, venir. Thus, you must say, je suis entr6 dans la chambre ; and not, fai entr6 dans la chambre^ 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 com* pound of the present is very frequently employed instead of the past perfect ; and even instead of the future ; as : je dinai cliez lui hier, >I dined with him yesterday. avez-vous bientot^m' ? [ will you soon have done ? or j' ai dinS chez lui hier We cannot choose" thus in English. We cannot say, / 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 re- colte fut bonne Tannic derniere, or, a etc bonne ; 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. xxiir.] OF VERBS. 407. When there is no time at all specified, or cared about, we can, in both languages, make use of the com- pound of the present ; as : We have seen evil enough, | Nous avons vu assez de mal. The reason is, that in our lives, in our time, in our day, or something denoting a period not passed, is understood ; as : he has read much : W 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 id of importance. The French frequently make use of the present of the verb etre instead of the compound of avoir and etre. II y a un tnois que le rent est k V Est, Elle est depuis plus d*un mois hors de chez elle, II y a plus d'un an que je «uis malade, Je suis depiiis dix jours en route^ It is a month that the wind is in the East. She is more than a month from home. It is more than a year that I am sick. I am ten days on my joixrney. 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 frequently do ; as : II y a un mois que le vent a ete a V Est ; j' ai He malade il y a plus d' un an. EXERCISE XV. 1. The guide who conducted the observer, from whom I had the description, told him that, sometime before SYNTAX [Letter the war which closed with the peace of Byswick, 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 longwise, and four along each end, which made up the number of twenty-four ; of which eight re- mained, when they were taken down in order to en- large 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. 10. He has 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 XXIII.] OF VERBS. 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 themselves to the different modes ; or, at least, if this never were 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/au-, il faut (jue je fasse. Ours is make in both cases; but, in French, it is /ais, in one case and fasse in the other. If you were, in translating / make, to say, je fasse ; or, in translating, I must make, to say, il faut que je faisy French people would hardly understand you. They might guess at your meaning ; but that would be all. They would not laugh out-right at you, as we ge- nerally do at French people when they speak broken En- glish ; but, they would laugh to themselves. This is, then, an affair of great consequence. 41 1. You have just read (in paragraph 1 16) a description of the four modes. I need not, if you have read that para- graph 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 Infinitive, 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 IxDfcATivE, the Subjunctive, and the Im- PERATIVf. 412. But, before I speak of the manner of using these modes, let me again caution you, not to look upon the SYNTAX [Letter signs of our verbs, as you see them placed in the con- jugations ; let me caution you, not to look upon those signs, I mean, should^ could, would, onay, and might, as being to be translated upon all occasions as you see them trans- lated in the conjugations, I have, indeed, in these con- jugations, put only shall, may, should, and might, 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 he translated in that manner. This 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, tjhey 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 c?e- clares, as its name imports. It does not express an action or state of being, which is dependent on any other action or state of being. It is the unconditional state of the verb affirming or denying, without, as our saying is, " any of your ifs and ands ;'*' as : I s^o to London, I je vats k Londres. I do not go to London , j je we vais pas a Londres. These verbs are in the indicative ; but, if there be a de- pendance, a condition, a something subjcined, the verb is in the subjunctive, as : — il import e que faille d Lon- dres, il importe que je n' aiV/epas a Londres, ' it is of consequence for me to go to London, it is of consequence for me not to go to London. XXriI.] OF VERBS. Here you see, is a consequence attached to the thing ex- pressed by the verb. There is something subjoined^ or joined on, to the simple act of goiiig, or not going, to Lon- don. Accordingly, you see that the verb changes its form. Aller (to go) is, you know, an ii^egular 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 verbs 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 relating 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 perfect ; for it is not always that a French verb in the subjunctive is properly translated by an English verb in the same Mode. 414. The subjunctive must always be used after cer- tain conjunctions, which are said to govern that mode. But, first of all, it is best to seek for some principle ; for, even if we fall short of perfection in principle, the very effort does something for us. We have seen that the sub- junctive is used where there is dependance on some other act or state of being. It is also used generally when passion, desire, or strong feeling is expressed ; as : j'e few,3?qu* jls*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 pro- Q SYNTAX [Letter hibition take the subjunctive. But, to teach yoiievery verb which requires the next verb to be in the subjunctive would be to usurp the office of the dictionary-maker y seeing that the dictionary tells you when the verb requires the subjunctive after it. If you look for the Yevh per meit7^e, for instance, you will find that it is noted as governing the subjunctive. This verb causes the one that follows it to be in the subjunctive ; as : permettez que je vous le disse : permit me to tell it you. If this last verb, dire, tell, were in the indicative, it would be dis ; but being in the sub- junctive, it is dise. Now, observe : vous savez que je le dis, vous permettez que je le disse^ Moxa^jurez qu'elle Xefait, vous desirez qu'elle iQ/assSj you know that I say it. you peimit me to say it. you swear that she does it. you desire that she way do it. Here, you see, are dis and dise, fait, 2in^fasse, only be- cause savez andjwre^ 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. HoweveV, the dictionary must 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 sub- junctive mode. 416. The subjunctive mode has, in almost eveiy instance, que before it. Sometimes it has qui; but not often. However, the use of these words is not confined 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 qxie or qui before it. XXIIL] OF VERBS. 417. The French subjunctive, in the present time, is very often used to answer to the English future of the in- dicative 5 as : Craignez-vous qu'elle ne meure 1 Croyez-vous qu'elle lafasse ? JPensez-vous qu'il vienne ? Do you fear that slao 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 something creating a dependance of one verb upon the other. Still, however, alw^ays remember, that, if you have any doubt, the safe way is to look into the dictiongtry for the verb which is to govern in the sentence. After all, there must, as to the examples just given, be something left to be acquired by experience, by the habit of reading, writing and speaking ; for, while you may say, and, indeed, must say, croyez vous qu'elle lefaase ; 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 : and not Croyies-vous qu'elle \e/ttj Cro^iez'vous qu'elle lefasse. Because croyiez is not in the present, nor in the future, of the indicative. There are certain jorowoww^ and conjunc- tions, which with que after them, govern the Subjunctive mode. The pronouns are, quelque, quoique and quels-que, when these words bear the sense of whatsoever, whatever, or, however. This mode is used also after si, when it answers to our if ; and also after si when si means w, or 80 much of, or, when si has any such compapative meaning and when it is followed by que, Q 2 SYNTAX [^Letter Quelque riches qu*elles soy en f, Quoique vous soyez riche, Quels-que soyent les voyageurs, Quelques arbres qu'on puisse avoir, Quelque "vieille qu'elle/w#, Quoiqu'il en soit, Quelles-que/w**ew^ ses soeurs, Quoiqu'on en dise^ il en mourra, Si vous y allez et que vous y restiez, Elle n'est pas si prudente qu' elle ne/a**e jamais de faute, lis n' etoient pas si genereux qu'Ds donassent tout leur bien. 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 yoii 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, ihe^ govern the subjunctive mode. I do not like to insert lists of words : it is the busi- ness of the dictionary to do that. But, as the dictionary does not always place against these Adjectives the fact that they, with il est before them, govern the subjunctive, I shall insert these Adjectives here. They are as follows: agreable. dur, injuste, aise, disgracieux, juste, affligeant, ennuyeux. mal heureux, a propos, etonnant, mal-aise. bienseant, facile. mieux (with vaut before it). beau. facheux, mortifiant, chagrinant, glorieux, necessaire. cruel. gracieux, possible, expedient, heureux. plaisant. dangereux. honteux. sensible. difficile, important. surprenant. divertissant, impossible, triste. doux, indifferent, villain. douloureux, - These must have the il est before them to make them re- quire the subjunctive after them. Some of them may al- ways have c^est instead of il est ; for, you may say, 27 est impossible qu^ il aille : or, c*est impossible ; but at any rate, you can always use c'esty if you employ the word choose ; as : 11 est possible que cela soit, j^ue celi soit c' est une chose possible^ >it is possible that that may be. XXII.] OF VERBS. When I say, the Impersonal ilest, I mean eV with some part of the verb Hre. It may be il esty or il etoit, or il sera, as we have seen in the Letter on Impersonal verbs. You know this already ; but, it is not amiss to remind you of it. We, in English, do not use this manner of expression, except with some of these adjectives ; or, rather with our own ad- jectives that answer to these. We say, it is possible i\\2it that may be ; but, we do not say, it is shameful that that may he. In this case we may say should he. It is therefore necessary to attend to the above rule. Write this list of adjectives down ten or tA^enty times, and you will seldom forget 1?hem afterwards. To fix a thing well in the me- mory, there is nothing equal to the putting of it into writing. 419. But, besides these Adjectives, there are certain nouns di^^ conjunctions which also govern the subjunctive mode. They, like the adjectives, all have a meaning that makes us perceive, that there is a dependance of one act, or state of being, on another act, or state of being. The nouns are hienseance^ necessity These take the il est also ; and they take the article : d' une necessite, de la hieu' seance. Then there are moyen^ honneuvy deshonneur^ honte, gloire, with the article before them preceded by il y a ; as ; il n' y a pas moyen qu^ elle fasse cela. 420. You have seen instances enoughalready of ^7/aw^ requiring the subjunctive mode . Importer is a verb, which means to signify, or, to be of consequence, or, as we say sometimes, fo 7wa^^er. To signify is, inFrench, si gnif er ; 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 consequence. 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: 51 importoit qu'ils lejissent, and not quMls lefrent. SYNTAX [Letter il importe que yovls soy ex sobre, jit is of consequence that yoiislioiild be sober, 11 importe que nous ayons du it is of consequence tbat we shoutd have pain. 1 bread. This verb importer, whe^n used with 27 before it, is of great use in French. No expression in the whole language is more commou than n' importe ; and this answers to our no MATTER. This wovdiiwporteri^, mind, a verb, which is used in all its times, like another verb ; but, we are now speak-^ iug of it in its capacity of Impersonal, used with que after it^ and governing the subjunctive mode. il importe qu'elle vienne, il n' importoit pas qu'ils vinsent, importe- t-il qu' il aille ? il n' importe pas que nous ailions, qu' importe cela ? } ou > qu' est-ce que cela-faWi) It is of consequence that she should come. It was of no consequence whether. they came or not. Is it of any consequence whether he go or not ? Is it of no consequence whether we go or not. Of what consequence is that ? or what matters that? or, what signifies that? These two last examples do not belong, properly, to our prer sent subject, because they do not include a subjunctive ; but having this word importer in hand and knowing how much it is in usa, it was right to dwell thus upon it. The phrases of no consequence, do not signify, is no matter, what sipii* fies ? are, as you know, of very common use in English, Those phrases which answer to them must, of course, be of very common use in French ; and, therefore, it is of great importance, it is absolutely necessary, for you to learn how these phrases are expressed in French. The French have, as well as we, the nouns consequence and matter and the verb to sig7iify : and they write them thus : conse^ quence, matiere, signifier. We are, therefore, apt to (and indeed, we always do it till we learn better) use the words consequence^ mutter, and signify in French, in these cases ; and this is a very great error. A few examples will xriakp ttijs ipjatjter plain to you, and will, I hope, prevent KXIIL] OF VERBS. you from making, in such cases, literal translations of the English into French. That is of no consequence, That does not signify, That is no matter, What does that signify ? Cela n'est de point de consequence. Cela ne signifie.pas. Cela n'est point de matiere- Qu'est-ce que cela signifie ? This is a literal translation as nearly as possible ; and a Frenchman would certainly not comprehend you. He might guess at the meaning ; hut that would be all. The fourth French phrase is, indeed, good French ; but it does not mean what it is here intended to mean. The French verb, signifier^ though it sometimes answers to our verb signify, does not answer to it in this sense. In English signify has two meanings ; one is, to mean, and the other, to he of consequence ; and it is not used in this latter sense in French. Therefore, Qu'est-ce que cela signifie ? means what does that mean ? and not, what does that signify ? Now, then, let us see : That is of no consequence, That does not signify, That is no matter. What does that signify ? Does it signify 1 Does it much matter ? That did not signify much, Cela n* importe en rien. Cela n' importe pas. Cela n* importe pas. Qu' est-ce que cela inaporte ? Importe-t-il ? Importe-t-il beaucoup Cela n' importoit pas beaucoup. Observe, that the verb faire (which is a great actor in French) may, in many such cases, be used instead of im- porter ; as : cela nefait rien. There are some little differ- ences in the use of the two ; but, faire is more familiar than importer. But, mind (and this brings us back to our subject) il fait doGS not govern the subjunctive; nor is the verb faire one of those which require the subjunctive aftel* it. 421. The verb convenir, when it is used as an imper- *o»«/, requires the subjunctive after it. This verb means to fit y to suit, to become, in short, to be convenient. It is a verb of great use, as ours ar6 which answer to it. SYNTAX [Letter it is fitting for that to be done, it suits for hhn to go, it becomes them to be charitable. il convient que cela soit fait. il convient qu'il aille. il convient qu'ils soient charitables. You see, here, that we, after onv fitting^ suits, and becomes, use our infinitives, to he and to go. The same may be done in French when there is a noun or pronoun the actor in the phrase ; as : it suits him to. go thither, I it becomes them to be charitable, ] il lui convient d'y alter, il leur convient d' itre charitables. When, however, one of these forms ought to be used, and when the other, can be taught only by practice ; but you have the consolation to know, that constant practice, dili- gent use of the pen, will very soon teach it: There are no means ofny going thither,{ lV,t^^\Tj:^J''^l'j!^: 422. The Conjunctions, mentioned at the beginning of paragraph 419, as governing the subjunctive mode, are thirty-seven in number, and are these which follow : Afin que avant que a la bonne heure que au cas que a moins que a condition que a Dieu ne plaise que bien que bien entendu que bien loin que ce n* est pas que de peur que de crainte que Dieu veuille que encore que en cas que excepte que hormis que bors que loin que malgre que moyennant que non que non pas que nonobstant que pour que pose le cas que pourvu que pour peu que plaise, or pint, a Dieu que quoique sans que soit que suppose que jusqu* a ce que si ce n' est que si tant est que tant s'en faut que. There are some conjunctions which govern the indicative mode, and some that govern the infinitive ; but «if you place the above list well in your memory, you will very XXIIJ.] OP VERBS. soon cease to confound the modes, as far as they are go- verned by Conjunctions. The Conjunctions that govern the subjunctive have always que after them ; but as there are some Conjunctions which have que after them, and which govern the indicative mode, mistakes will happen if you do not take great cai'e. For instance : au cas qu'il aiWe, aussitot qu' il va, d, moms que nous soyonsy des que nous seronsj in case he go. as soon as he goes. except that we may be. as soon as we shall be. You see, here, that the two conjunctions, that I have taken from the above list, have the verbs in the subjunctive mode. Look at the conjugation of aller and of etre. The act, in the first of the two examples is to go. The actor is the third person in both instances. Yet, in one case, the verb is aiile, and in the other it is va ; and this is only because one of the verbs has au cas que before it, and the other aussitot que. It would be useless to giv« a list of the con- junctions which govern the indicative ; because all the conjunctions which govern the subjunctive have que, and all which have que before them, and which are not in the above list of thirty-seven, govern the indicative. Fix, therefore, the above thirty-seven, well in your memory ; or, rather, make th^m familiar to your eye, and you will never make mistakes respecting them. Let us take a few examples relating to those conjunctions and their govern- ment of modes. suppose that they did it, provided that they did it, unless they did it, not that they did it, When tbey did it, even as they did it, because they did it, besides that they did it, the moment they did it, suppose qu^ ils XtfissfuL pourvu qu'ils lefissent. ^ moins qu' Us lajissenl. non qu' ils lejissent. lorsqu'ils lefaisoiejit, ^ix^firtnt' de meroe qu'ils \efaisoient. a cause qu'ils \q faisoient, outre qu' ils \efaisQient. •"" moment qu' ils le/aisoieML « 5 SYNTAX [Better Thus, you see, while it is always did in English, it is, in Yxench^ fissent above the line, and y^/^ozew^ under the line. This difference is occasioned solely by the conjunctions. There is, you see, a very striking difference, between the , form of the one and that of the other ; and, the sound is very different also. It might have h^eufirent instead of/«-; soient, the one being, as you know, the perfect and the other the imperfect of the indicative ; but, neither bears much resemblance to fissent. It is, then, of great importance to have well fixed in your mind the conjunctions that re- quire, or govern, the subjunctive. There are but thirty- seven of them. Write them over and over till they become veiy 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-seven 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 : k plus joli jardin gu' il y ait dans ce pays-la. and not k plus joli jardin gu* il y « dans ce pays-la. It is the qui, observe, coming after le plus, that demands 4he 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. laplusjoliehllequ* ily ait dans cette I the prettiest girl that there is in this viUe, I town. la ^^M* jolie fille est dans cette viUe, I the prettiest girl is in this town, ia jolieiille qtii est dans cette ville, | the pretty, girl that is in this to^vn. ' It is, you perceive, the superlative and the qui together iltat require the subjunctive to follow. Not only qui, how- XXIII.] OF VERBS. ever, 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. il n' y a pas d' homine qui soit plus estime que lui, il y a un homme qui est plus estime que lui, je ne vois pas de fleurs qui soicnt plus belles que celles-la, je vois des fleurs qui sont plus belles que celles-ci. there is no man who is more esteemed than he. there is a man who is more esteemed than he. I see no flowers which are flner than those. • I see flowers which are more gay than these. These examples make the matter plain so far. They show yon, that it is the negativej which requires the sub* junctive, and which causes you to have, in the first ex- amples, soit J 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 ex- amples, 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 yOv wished for, requires the subjunctive ; as : I want a servant who is industrious, find me a house that is large and con- venient, I wish to have a meadow that you think good, and that is to be sold, il me faut un domestique qui soft laliorieux. ' trouvezmoi une maison qui soit grande et commode. je veux un pre qiie vous trouviez boa, et qui soit a vendre. However, if qui or que do not relate to a person or thing that is desired, wanted, or wished for ; then the subjunc- tive is not used ; as: je n* aime pas un domestique qui fait son devoir a contre-coeur. But let us take an ex^ ample or two more. SYNTAX [LeTTEH 1 want a garden which is well-situated, he has a garden which is full of weeds, tell me, said she, of a husband wlio is young and handsome and rich at the same time, I despise a man who is nothing but rich, I wish to have some flowers that you have in your basket, I have sei n some flowers that you have in your basket. j* ai besoin d' (or je veux) ua jardin qui soit bien situe. il a un jardin qui est plein de mau- vaises herbes. parlez-moi, dit-elle, d'unmari qui soit jeune et joli, et riche en meme temps, je meprise 1' homme qui n' est que riche. je voudrais quelques fleurs de celles que vous avez dans votre panier. j' ai vu des fleurs que vous avez dans votre panier. You see, when the qui or que : that is, the who or whom, or which, relate 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 tiiat follows must he in the subjunctive ; otherwise not. This is, I think, made quite clear by the above examples. 424. It now remains for me to speak, as far as th,e sub- junctive 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 m the present, or in the future, of the indicative ; then the present time of the subjunctive must be used : as : je desire qu' il vienne, I I desire that he may come, je desirerai qu* il vienne, \ I shall desire that he may come. But when the governing verb is in any time other than the present or the future of the indicative ; then the subjunc- tive verb must be in the past perfect : as : je desirois qu' il vint, je desirai qu' il vint, y ai desire qu* il vint, y avois desir^ qu* il vintf 1 desired that he might come. I desired that he might come. I have desired that he inig-ht 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. XXIII.] OP VERBS. 425. We have might come in these examples ; but, it W not always that this translation takes place. In the conju- gations, you find, you may he^ put against vous soyez. But, though you may he is, i n 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 It C3 que je dis" : il desire que vous soyez puni, | he desires that you may be punished, ii convient que vous soyez puni, | it is proper that you should he punished. That is enough ! Here is soyez translated by may he and, in the next line, by should he. Some grammarians say, that sJiould does not belong to the subjunctive. 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 comparison 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 should, for instance, in the last of the above examples, has in it something of the meaning of ought. 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-aad by. 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 the same manner. Take another instance : de peur que eel a ne soitj je souhaite que cela soit, je voudrais qu' il vrnt, je souhaite qu' il vienne. for fear that that should be. I wish that that may he. I wish that Ae would come. I wish that he may come. Here, in these two last examples there are the would and the may, in English, to answer to the French vienne^ SYNTAX [Letter The truth is, that, besides expressing the wish of the party speaking, the would exY^resses thrower to act in the per- son who is wished to come, while may simply expresses the wish that he may come. 426. There is one instance where the subjunctive ia 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, takes the subjunctive instead of the indicative form; as: je ne 5«c/^ seen the important part that ci and Id act along with the Demonstrative Pronouns. The first, you know, means here, and the other there ; as : ce livre- ce, ce livre-/« ; 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 IL Well, then, now comes void and voiid. The s of vols is dropped as unnecessary ; but the expres- sions are, vois ci, and vois Id ; that is literally, see herey SVXTAX pjKTTKR 9mli9BtAtre: aAdeafiessistlieawHiber ofwaysuiwIMi ^le iVm^«9e^cm»a«dptttk«lHriy the latter; t^ •fciiqAoyaif wbickisoBeof tlie greatest beaaties of tiie I ttpMy. Tltff aieaot empkuftd to express anj thiag aboatjeed^. If we vaat to tdl aaj oae to iiait at or to ace aaj tlaag» we aae rc^vrinr ori rkencfK'Eot, | see wkn o'ao^ it is. rmd aad ratXit are ased to express parts of oar Tob to be ased witb oar adveibs here and there ; as : Bat, tlKse a\>ids are ande ase of instead of Iftol ts, tiUf £9, miit a»,aiiidlMtciidof otberproMOB, ased with e#«: ,-i i iiiTlub I ikerv i^ jylii^, «r, aft £« ni^ Mi chMtt. j fhiw 4*r iv stecmg. Jge — ifi 1 1 f M \mi irfk dPiftii ■ j a* mf ttirm •M aihvf OTiB 4aw ^ est iw, I fierr, <*«, it b aO oivr. la aanatires, whea the writer or speaker wishes to give fife tohis aanatiTey he aaea vmii^ aad thas, in a aiaaner, (the pcrsaas aad thii^ before joa ; as: la ttb lart ezaapk there is, ia the Eaglish, ndther aiidiiot{ toos ctiem naneemt. they are marcliiii& I ils nuDrdient, J I H* nitt ■■■iliinf . 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 langmage. Pray mind this ; for, there is nothing that we English break ourselves of with so much difficulty as of the prone- ness to cling to our ings, and to force the French language to admit the words which literally answer to them* SYNTAX [Letter 431. The French use, in many 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 cer- tain verbs and adjectives, which require de before the in- finitive ; certain other verbs and adjectives, which require ^ before the infinitive ; certain other verbs that take neither de nor d nor any other preposition before the in- finitive ; certain other verbs that take either de or d before the infinitive ; and, last of all, certain nouns that take de before the infinitive. But, to give any thing, under the name of rule, to teach you when to use a 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. 432. But, there are these observations to make ; that when our English verb is followed by the preposition of, from, at, upon, about, with, or after, before an active participle, the de is commonly used before the in- finitive in French ; and that, when our preposition is, to, in or for, the French preposition commonly is a ; as : I employ myself in writing, I je m' occupe a ecrire. I keep myself y>'om writing, | je m' abstiens (C 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 pro-, nouns, 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 diffi-. XXIII.] OF VERBS. culty being great, our preseverance and patience must be great also. However, you will, even by this time, have acquired, from writing, reading, and speaking, the habit of using (I and de in a proper manner three times out of four. 433. Besides de and ^, there is pour^ used before the, infinitives of French verbs. This jt?OMr is used when our to means in ordo* to, or for the purpose of-, as : de r eau pour boire, \ water to drink. But, pour is also used in cases where we use /or followed by the active participle ; as : II sera recompense ^02«r avoir bien.l He shall be rewarded/or Aat^mg work- travaille, | ed well. We might say for working. But neither of these ; neither pour ay ant 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 was observed in para- graph 116) a noun; as: to quarrel is disagreeable ; it may be expressed in English by the active participle ; as : quarelling is disagreeable. But, in French, you must adhere to the infinitive, and say, disputer est d6sagr6- able. It is much better to say, il est d6sagr6able de disputer ; but, at any rate, you must avoid translating quarrelling by disputant. 435. A verb which has before it a word expressing suf^ ficieyicy, or too much, takes pour ; as: ils sont^^^e^ forts pour le faire : they are strong enough, to do it. But, ob- SYNTAX [Letter serve, if the word of sufficiency do not come before the verb, there is no pour before it. 436. THE PARTICIPLES. In paragraph 117, I spoke of the Participles ; I told you why they were so called ; and, in the conjugations, you have seen enough af them as far as relates to their formation. I have just spoken also of our English active participle as answer- ing, in many cases, to the French infinitive. This active participle is, with us, verb, adjective, noun, alternately ; as: 1. seei7iff that he was going away, I spoke to him, 2. a seeing- man is not easily deceived, 3. seeing- is believing. Now, as ve7'b we use this participle in French ; but never as adjective, nor as noun. Therefore, when we find it either of these, in English, we must give the French phi^ase a wholly diiferent turn. 1. Vot/ant qu' il s' en alloit, je lui parlai. 2 . Un homme qui voit 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 participle 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 exceptions ; 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 differences in the two lan- ^ages. When you have an ING to translate into French, XXIIL] OF VERBS. take good care how you attempt to translate it by the French active participle. 437. Even in its verbal capacity this participle must be used very sparingly. We, in English, say, for instance, instead of going : the French never : they say, au lieu d* oiler : 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. after having, for fear of beinp:, for want of asking, without speaking, . by writing, instead of swimming, save giving, apr^s avoir. de crainte d'etre. faute de demander. sans parler. par ecrire. au lieu de nager sauf a 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 e?» when it is a preposition, answering to ^w ; and, at times, when it answers to our by, or while, and, perhaps, some other of our prepositions and adverbs ; as ; en fesant cela vous m'obligerez beau- coup, C'est en ttudiant qu' on apprend une langue etrangere, tout en brulant mon omelette, elle me toisoit. in doing that you will much oblige me. it is by studying that one learns a foreign language. all tfie while that she was burning my omelet she kept eying me from head to foot. I have introuduced this wordtoiser 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 ano- ther language. 439. The active participle is, as we have seen, in some SYNTAX [Letter eases, in English, a noun ; as, the falling of the house killed the inhabitants. Here are article, noun in the no- minative case, verb, and noun in the objective case. Li- terally the sentence would be thus translated : The falling oit\xe hoMse killed tl^e in- \ Le tombant de la maison iw« les habitants, f habitans. Now, mind, the like of this can never be said in French. The language of geese would be as intelligible to a French- man as this. You must say. La chute de la maison tuse les habitans, or La maison, en tombant^ tua les habitans The fall oi Ihe house killed the in- habitants, or The house in falling, killed the in- habitants. 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 1 le b^ement des moutons. the cheating of his master, j la fourberie faite a son maitre. her complaining of her husband, 1 ses plaintes contre son mari. the cause of his going away yesterday! la cause pourquoi il s'enallahier. BoiLEAu, in one of his poems, addressed to Louis XIV. exclaims : " Grand Roi I cesse de vaincre ou je cesse iV ^crire," .Now though we say. Great King, cease to conquer^ or I cease to write, Ve may also say, XXnr.J OF VERBS. Great King, cease cotuiuering, or [ cease writiny ; but this you must never attempt to say in French ; au(J 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 par- ticiple ; and I cannot refrain from adding another ex- ample or two in order to make this matter quite clear to you. The running away of the array left the town exposed to the enemy. The defeatiu'g of the enemy opened the way for us into his camp. His perfect sobriety and his great in- dustry have been tlie cause of his being so much respected. Her being young is much in her favour. Their coming hither has ruined them. I expect his coming with great impa- tience. Our going to America was expected by nobody. Your losing your sight was a i thing for your wife and children. His coming here has made his fortune. Her pleasing them made her get a rich husband. La fuite de Y armee a laisse la ville exposee a V ennemi. La defaite de 1' ennemi nous a ouvert le chemin a son camp. Sa sobri^t^ parfaite et sa grande In- dustrie ont ete cause qu' on a eu tant de respect pour lui. Sa jeunesse fait beaucoup pour elle. lis ont ete mines a cause qu' ils sont venus ici. J' attends son arrivee avec bien de 1' impatience. Notre depart pour 1' Am^rique n' ^toit attendu de personne. C etoit malheureux pour votre femme et vos enfans que vous eussiez per- du la vue. II doit sa fortune a ce qu' il est venu ici. Elle a trouve un mari riche parce qu* elle a su leur plaire. 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 employing 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, jayant ete d la comediehier au soir. seeing that it was going to rain, • ivoyant qu'il alloit pleuvoir. having heard that they were coming, 'ay ant appris qu' ils alloient venir. perceiving that it was not very late, s'appercevant qu'il n'etoit pas fort tard. knowing very well that she would aotsachant tres-bien qu' elle ne viendroit come, pas. Relieving thathe dared not go thither, croyant qu'il n' osoit y aller. walking in the street I met them> en me promenant dans la rue je les rencontrai. being ill I could not go to their house, ttantmalade je ne pouvois aller chez eux. SYNTAX [Letter The manner of using the participle is, in this case, nearly the same in both languages. We say having seen ; the French say, ayant vie : 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 eruploy it as an adjective, nor as a noun, 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 hack to paragraph 117, and there read my description of the nature of the participles. Here you see, then, that, while the active participle some- time 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 to- gether here ; thus : Ta proscribing man, active, c a man who is proscribing, I. proscribing is horrible, nassive /^ proscribed man, ^ ' \ a man who has proscribed, un homme qui proscrie. un home qui est a proscrire. proscrire est horrible. tm homme 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 ih^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 lan- guages unchangeable in its form, and is, therefore, attended with little difficulty, compared with the passive participle, >vhich, in French, is liable to changes in its form ; which, in XXIII.] OF VERBS. fact, like an adjective, changes its form to agree in num- ber 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 un- dergoes 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 w^e 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, when we ought to make it *i changeable wordy 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 industrious. You must perceive, that it is of great consequence to know, when you are to write (and pronounce also) proscrit^ when j^ro- scrits, when proscrite, and when proscrites. And, mind, you cannot ascertain this from the Dictionary y as you can the gender of nouns and many other things. This is a matter which depends upon the construction of the sen- teKce, and upon other circumstances, which are of infinite variety and are purely contingent. In such a case, there- fore, no Dictionary can exhibit examples to be of any use. Take an instance in the use of the passive participle of our old acquaintance, Tuer. J'ai tni une brebis cet apr^s-raidi ; mais eUen'estpas si bonne que la brebis que j' ai tute ce matin. I have killed an ewe this afternoon ; but she is not so good as the ewe which I killed this morning. Now, you see, here, that the person who kills is the same in both instances, the thing killed is, in both instances, the same in number and in gender: a?id yet, in one SYNTAX ' [Letter instance we make use of tue, Piid, in the other, of tuh. In the first instance we use the participle without changing its termination, and, in the last, we change its termination to make it agree in gender with hrehis. Take a few more examples : Avez-vous tue\?i. poule ? Oui : je r ai tuee. Avez vous tue les poules ? Oui : je les ai tu^es. Avez-vous iu^ le coq ? Oui : je r ai tue. Avez-vous tue les coqs ? Oui: je les ai tues. Have you killed the hen ? Yes : I have killed lier. Have you killed the hens ? Yes : I have killed them. Have you killed the cock ? Yes : I have killed him. Have you killed the cocks ?' Yes : 1 have killed them. Thus, you see, it is always killed in English, though it is tueytu€e,tuces, ov tnes in French. And you see, that these changes take place in the French participle only sometimes. You see, that tue and tuee are both applied to the killing of the poule ; that tue and tuee^SLVQ both applied to the kWYmg of the poules ; and that it is the same with regard to the killing of the coq, and the coqs. It is clear, then, that the changes in the form of the passive participle must depend, not upon the numbers and genders of the ncuns only, but partly upon the construction of the sentences ; that is to say, the manner in which, with re- gard to other words, the participle stands in the sentence. 442. Let us now see, then, what rules we can take for our guide here, beginning with those cases in which the passive participle is subject to the changes above men- tioned. First. It is subject to change {generally speaking) when it has the verb etre before it. But, mind, this is only generally. It is, however, always, subject to change, when it is used merely as an adjective, I will take the verb proscrite for my illustration here, as far as it will suit. Proscrire is, you know, (see paragraph 201), conjugated like ccrirsy which XXIII."] OF VERBS. you find conjugated in paragraph 216. The pas- sive participle is, you see, ecrit ; and, therefore, the passive participle o£ proscrireisproscrit. This, to make the plural masculine, chsiugitQ to proscrits ; to make the singular feminine, it changes to pros- crite; and, to make the plural feminine, it changes to proscrites. Now, then, observe, the passive participle is always subject to change its form when it is used merely as an adjective ; as: un horn me proscritj deux hommes proscritesy une femme proscrite, deux femmes proscritesj Q, proscribed man. two proscribed men. a proscribed woman, two proscribed women. Now, observe, this is invariably the case, when the parti- ciple is thus used plainly and clearly as an adjective. But, we ought to notice, that the etre is understood in all these instances ; for, we mean, un homme qui a He pro- scrit : a man who has been proscribed. Tlie passive par- ticiple is, as I said before, generally subject to change when it comes after the verb Hre. And, mind, the passive participle must always have either etre or avoir before it. For, though we use it sometimes without expressing etre, that verb is, in such cases, as we have just seen, always understood. Well, then, let us see, first, how the partici- ple is used with etre, and then, how it is used with avoir. Second. The participle changes its form when it ia used with etre, when the verb to which it belongs is a neuter verb, or when it is a passive verb, whether reflected or not ; as : fW est parti, Neuter ^Ils sont partis, Verb. \ EUe est partie, ( EUes sont parties, ril est proscrit, Passive ^ lis sont proscrits, Verb. ^EUe est proscrite, (Elles sont proscrites. R 2 he is gone away, they are gone away, she is gone away, they are gone av/ay. he is pwjscribed. they are proscribed, she is proscribed, they are proscribed. SYNTAX [LeTTEK (11 s' estcoup6, I he has cut himself. Reflected Vis se sontcoup6s, | they have cut themselves. Verb. ^Elle s' est couple, i she has cut herself. (Elles se sont couples, I they have cut themselves. But, now, there are some seeming^ exceptions to this ; and these you must very exactly attend to. If the verb ttre can have its place conveniently supplied by mwir, which often happens in using the participles of reflected verbs, the participle does not change its form ; as : Elle s'iest coupe le bras, | She has cut her arm. You see, this may be expressed by avoir : elle a coupe son bras. But, the truth is, that here is action, and the action is done to the arm. The participle is not really passive. It has etre before it, but etre, as you know, is used instead of avoir in conjugating the reflected verbs. The two participles alle and venu, when there is a pronoun in the objective case before etre and a verb after the par- ticiple, do not change their form ; as : iTlui est «//e piarler, | he is gone to speak to him. ils leur sont alle parler, j they are gone to speak to them. But, this is not the case, if the place of the pronoun in the objective case be changed ; for then the participle does change its form ; as : I? est a//elui parler, ( he is gone to speak to him. ils sont all^s lui parler, | they are gone to speak to them. In the first of these cases (alle parler^, the two words make in some sort, but one. Gone to speak to. But, in the latter case, there is a clear separation. The verb etre is the only- one that has any connection with alle. Speak to is a fresh verb, and it governs les in the objective case ; whereas in the former instance alle parler govern lui and leur^ XXIII.] OF VERBS. But, besides, alle and venu, there are some iparticiples which do not, when followed by another verb, change their form, though they have etrs before them ; as : le livre qu'il s'est propose de lire, I the book that he has proposed to read. les livres qu'll s* est propose de lire, | the books that he has proposed to read. Here is no change in the form of the participle ; and the reason is, that, in such cases as this, the participle-is closely connected with the verb that follows. The proposing to read and the reading make but one affair , one act 443. Third. I now come to the use of the passive par- ticiple with avoir. Generally the participle does 7iot change its form, when it has any part of avoir before it. Let us take avoir with proscrit and coupe, AVe cannot take it with parti ; for avoir is not used with neuter verbs. 11 a proscrit, lis ont proscrit, Elle a proscrit, Eiles ont proscrit, II a coupe, lis ont coupe, Elle a coupe, Elles ont coupe, he has proscribed, they have proscribed, she has proscribed, they have proscribed, he has cut. they have cut. she has cut. they have cut. Here, you see, there are no changes in the form of the par- ticiple as there are when it is used with etre. But this is not always the case : and now we are going to see hew the participle is affected by the construction of the sentence, of which I spoke at the close of paragraph 441, and which you will now look at again. You saw in paragraph 441, the instances of poule and coq. Look at them again ; and then we will take another example. II a proscrit aujourd'hui les femmes qu'il a proscrites Tannee pass^e. He has proscribed the women to- day whom he proscribed last year. SYNTAX [LETTElt Here the person who proscribes is the same in both cases, the persons proscribed are the same in both cases, and yet, the participle does not change its form in one case, to ex- press number and gender, and does change its form for that purpose in the other case. Now, the reason is this : in the first instance the participle has an active meaning, and in the second, a passive meaning. In both instances we have the compound time of the verb proscrire ; but, in the first, the object is to express what the man has done ; and, in the second, to express what the women have had done to them. In the latter instance the meaning is pas- sive-^ it means that the women were proscribed, /wrew^ proscrites, last year. The participle, in this last instance, characterises the women. It is intended, not so much to assert anything about them as to say who or what they are. This is the reason of the change being made in the participle, in the one case, and not in the other ; and out of this reason has come this rw/e, that, when a passive participle, coming after avoir ^ has, going before it, a noun or pronoun in the objective case, and governed in that case by avoir and the participle ; then the participle does change its form to express number and gender. Now, try the last example by this rule. II a prosci'it]es femmes aujourd'hui. Here there is no noun, nor pronoun, in the objective case, going before a proscrit. The ^7 is in the nominative case. The il is the subject, and les femmes are the object ; but, in quW a proscrites Tannee passee we have qu' that is, qui (whom), which goes before the participle, and which is in the objective case, and governed in that case by avoir and the participle ; and, therefore. XXIIL] OF VERBS. the participle changes its form. Thus, you see, it de- pends, in many cases, on the place, which the participle occupies in the sentence, whether it he to change its form or not. Monsieur Restaut says, that " when the parti- ciple ceases to have a passive signification, it is inde*- elinable, that is, it does not change its form ;" and, he says, that *' it does cease to have the passive significa- tion, when it forms, with avoir, the compound times of any verh, whether active or neuter." This is, indeed, frequently the case, but is far from being always, <>r even generally, the case ; and I wonder how the observa- tion found its way to the paper from so able a pen as that of Monsieur Restaut. Why, in, " qu'il a proscrites,'' the participle forms, with avoir, the compound time of an active verb ; and yet the participle changes its form. But let us take an example from Monsieur Restaut him- self. J'ai r€<^u les lettres que vous m* avez ecrites au snjet de V affaire que je vous avois proposee : et apr^s les avoir lues avec attention, j'ai reconnu, comme vous, que si je 1' avois entreprise/^'y aurois tro&ve des obstacles, que je n'avois pas prevus. Hero are eight participles, each of which, with avoir, forms' a compound time of the verb; and yet, three of them (recu, reconnu, trouve) do not change their fonn. It is clear, then, that it is the place of the participle that is to be at- tended to here. The word lettres is a plural feminine , and, accordingly, it has ecrites, in the above sentence : les lettres, que vous m'avez ecrites. But why not make the participle of recevoir agree also with lettres ? Why not write, j'ai repues les lettres. SYNTAX [Letter and not re^u ? Because, in the instance first here men- tioned the que (which) which represents leitres^ and which is in the ohjective case, governed by avez ecrites, goes before the participle ; and because, in the last instance, les Icttres, which is in the objective and governed by ai regu, comes after the participle. The same may be said of luesy and, indeed, of all other participles thus used. J'ai envoi/e dix oiseaux §, la ville, Les dix oiseaux que j' ai envoy es. Thus, then, it is the place of the participle that you have principally to look to, in order to regulate your conduct in the use of it. — Now, there are only two exceptions to this rule. The first is, that, in the impersonals with avoir the participle never changes its form ; as : la chaleur qii il a fait, I the hot weather that has been. le froid qii il a fait , \ the cold weather that has been. Here you see, chaleur is feminine and froid masculine ; and yet the participle does not change its form. The reason of this is ; that the il, in this il fait, does not re- present any actor. There is no action ; there is nothing done to the heat or the cold. If the fait had related to something done to a thing, it would have been otherwise ; as : la table qu' il afaite, I the table that he has made. /* habit qu* il a/rti7, ) the coat that he has made. The other exception is similar to that mentioned in the last paragrapoor 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 teil my bailiff to come to me as soon as he can. 15. Go and inquire about our neighl our who was so ill the other day. 16. They greatly rejoice at your victory over your enemies. !7- By going to London you will gain a great deal. 18. In minding your business you will make yourself and your parents happy. 19. I wish with all my heart that you may do it. 20. I know nothing more fortunate than thai. 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 horse-back than to ride in a coach. 23. It is of great consequence that they should explicitly declare them.selves. 24. I do not believe that the weather will be fine to- morrow. 25. If the fine weather begin and continue for some tin^c. 26. He is the greatest rogue in the whole world. svNTAX [Letter 27. Coming to England has saved his life. 28. Going to France, in the summer time, is very pleasant. 29. Mowing, or reaphig, 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. f 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 morning. 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 conie. 42. It is not quite clear that the evil will come. 43. It was evident, that he could not defend himself. 44. It was not evident that he could not defend himself. 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. 48. 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. XXIII.] OF VERBS. 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 last war. 72. The tents have been taken by the enemy. 73. The tents which the enemy has taken. 74. What tents has he takeii ? 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 die. 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. LETTER XXIV. SYNTAX OF VOULOUR, 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 differences 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 il faut of the French, Let us take an example of this insufficiency. I shall come here to-morrow, i will come here to-morrow, je viendrai ici demain. 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 / will, the French must have some other word, or words, brought in ; such as, je vous promets or je suis resolu. SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. You shall not have that card, | vous n* aures pas cette carte. You will not have that card, | vous n* aurez pas cette carte. The French verbs are the same, you see, in both cases ; but, in the first phrase, I express my will and deterr^i- nation agbinst your having the card ; and, in the second, 1 m^veXy 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. i ne veux pas que vous ayez cette carte. You shall not Jiave that card,< C jei B ne vous permettral 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 expressed by these signs ; there the changes in the form of the French verb fail of 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 (inmost cases) to our will and would ; our m^y, can, could, and might ; and our should and ought, I say i7i 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 SYNTAX JTLeTTER in the conjugations), that vouloir, pouvoir, and devoir, are verbs complete in all their parts. In short, you know them perfecty 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 he determined, to he re- solved, and when in the negative, it expresses objection and opposition. You will mind also, that pouvoir means, to be able, to have power, to have liberty or permission, to do or to be. Mind, moreover, 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 : would, \ ^ ^^^^ P^^^ ^^ jvouloir. may, "| could, f'^y ^^"^® ^^^^ ^^ 1 pouvoir. might, J should, ? ^y g^jjjg paj-t of/ devoir. ? sometimes by the change in the verb, and sometimes snail, J ijy. gQjjjg 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 maice use of these important French words properly. 446. We will begin with voui/Oir. When we make use of our signs, will, would^ the French employ the infi- nitive of th^ir verb ; and they employ some part oi vouloir to answer to our will, or would ; as ; I will kill, I would kill, you will kill, they will kill, je veux tuer. je voulois tuer. vous voulez tuer. lis veulent tuer. XXIV.] OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. 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 expresses will or resolution y and must be translated by vouloir. When it simply intimates, ov foretells, the changes in the French verb are sufficient ; as : you will kill, I voustuerez. he will kill, I il tuera. The French, you see, take our principal verb ; they trans- late 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 senten(^e : I wiU write in spite of him, | Je veux ecrire malgre lui. You see, they take our write (not our to write^, and put tcrire in place of it ; and then they put a part of their verb vouioir, according to mode, number and person. If, in- stead 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 oi vouloir ; as; I wish him to write to me, | je veux qu* 11 m*^crire. J desire him to write, | je veux qu'il ecrive. We may also say, je souhaite qu' il m* ecrive, je dtsire qu' il 6crive : but custom and idiom lean strongly towards vouloir, I should observe before I quit this verb, that, when we use the verb to he willing, or any expression of the same, or nearly the same, meaning, the French, in rendering the phrase, put Men before vouloir ; as: I am willing for him to write, ^ or, ) I consent to his writing, > je veux bien qu'il ecrive, or, \ >like for him to write, '^ SYNTAX [Letter When we use the verb to have with will or would ^ the French use vouloir 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. vous le vouliez ainsi. ils le veulent toujours a leur maniere. je le veux ainsi. When we make use of the verb want to express wishing 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 voulez-vous ? je veux du pain et du vin, s'il vous plait, je voudrois voir du beau tems. elle ne sait ce qu'elle veut. Very numerous are the uses of the verb vouloir ; but what has been here said respecting it, will, I trust, be suffi- cient. 447. PouvoiR. This word, besides being a verb, is a noun, meaning power. As a verb, its meaning has just been de- scribed in paragraph 445. The \Qxh pouvoir means, then, in general, to he able. Our may, might, can, and could, are all translated into French hy pouvoir. Great care is neces- sary, in foreigners, to distinguish when one of these is to be used, in English, and when the other ; but there is no difficulty in turning 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, in fact, the conjugation of pouvoir, with another verb : pouvoir, like vouloir, being used, in this case, instead of our signs ; examples : XXIV.] OF VOULOIK, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. 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 ean come I shall be glad of it. V0U3 pouvez venir la seraaine prochaine. il pent s'en aller quand il voudra. ils peuvent lire et 6crire fort bien. nous ne pumes venir hier. ils pourroient etre riches s'ils le vouloient. s'il peut venir j'en serai bien aise. Thus, then, it is merely conjugating the verb pommir, as in the case of youloir^ and putting the French principal verb in the infinitive. This verb, like vouloir, is in con- stant use, as, indeed, it must, from the nature of its func- tions, necessarily be. It is often employed to express ca- pability , 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 poiivoit plus. cela est possible, or, cela se peut. These are odd expressions. Such they appear to us : but, they are correct, and they are lively and smooth. How- ever, 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-il venir I peut-il monter votre cheval ? pouvoit-il monter votre cheval } ne pouvoit 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 how to do a thing is, in English, nearly the same thing as to be able to do it ; as : 1 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 answering to our signs may, might, can, and could. When an English SYNTAX [Letter plirase, having either of these words in it, is to he 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 \o go, but I owe to go ? The origin of should is less evi- dent ; 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 ovit should ivom 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 a nswers to both ; as : YoxLeughtiohQ obedient to your master,. ^ . ^^^. , . You should be obedient to your master, / "" " a > ulxc maiwc. There is, however, this difference in these two English verbal signs ; that ought always implies ditty, 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, [ s'll voyageoit en Espagne. it he ought to travel in Spain, | s'il devoit voyager en Espagne Devoir is made use of sometimes for most. It is in cases where most does not imply any command or neces- sity ; as : you must be very hungry : vous devez avoir grand faim. You may say, in French, il faut que vous ayez grand faim. One may be as good as the other ; but, ob- serve this phrase ; Wdoit semarier demain. You cannot say, as a translation to this, he must be married to-morrow. J^either will should nor ought do. The real English of it XXIV.] OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. is : he is to be married to-morrow. You see that these verhs are of great importance. They answer to whole English phrases in many instances. They are of more consequence than hundreds of other verbs. They are amongst the pivots, on which the French language turns. To this knowledge that I have of their importance you have to ascribe this present Letter, which^when I have added a short Exercise to it,^ will, I tru&t, leave you with very little to do in the learning of the French language. EXERCISE XVII. 1. Now will I 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 hoi*se 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. 12. We shall sell our corn and wine and they shall sell theirs. 13. They shall Jiave all that I ought not to keep. 14. I am very willing to let you stay here. 15. But I am unable to give you victuals and drink. 16. Can that be ? What can he want with me ? 17. What do they want with us ? 18. Is it possible that they want our money? 19. Can there be such wicked people in the world t \ SYNTAX OF VOULOIR, POUVOIR, AND DEVOIR. 20. Did they wish to see the town on fire ? 21. Will you have some kidney beans, or some peas ? 22. 1 do not want any of either. 23. What do you wish to have, then ? 24. Shall she have some flowers ? ^5. Does she desire to have any of those that I sowed? 26. Would to God that they would get up early 27. God forbid that I should have a parcel 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 dim. 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. 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 it. LETTER XXV. SYNTAX OF ADVERBS. My DEAR Richard, 449. In paragraph 37? I explained to you the nature of Adverbs; and, in paragraph 142 to 151 inclusive, I gave you rules for t}\Q forming of the words of this part of speech. You will now read all those paragraphs 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 adverh 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 generally comes after a verb and before an adjective ; as : lis travaillent bieti, I they work well. Le via est tres^hoiij \ the wine is veiy good. 451. When the French verb is in the infinitive, the ad- verb is sometimes put before it, when it is not put before it in English ; as : pour bien faire ; in order to do well. But, this is very rarely the case. 452. AVhen adverbs are compound ; that is to say, con- sist 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 the verb, and we often do it; as : j' ecris souvent-, and not, as we say, je souvent icris. SYNTAX OF ADVERBS^ EXERCISE XVIII. 1. They, at this moment, do not know it. 2. They do not now go on horse-back. 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. Thay 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, 1 1 . 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 afl*air 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. 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. LETTER XXV]. SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. My dear Richard, » 453. It is almost mere matter of form to make separate divisions relating to the Syntax of these indeclinable parts of speech. The words belonging to them are no- thing 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 Pre- positions. 454. Go back, however, to paragraph 38 -, and also to the whole of Letter XL, including paragraphs from 15^ 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 be.en mostamply explained in the letters re- lating to nouns and pronouns. As to the placing of 4;he prepositions in the sentence, there is no difference worthy of notice in the two languages. We say in the house, /or the h»fse, to the totrn, agcnnst the door, iipon the floor -, and the French ^y, dans la maison, jmir le cheval, d la s SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. ville, contre la porte, sur le plancher. There are certain French prepositions, which, in different cases, must be rendered in English in a different manner. It is nearly the 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 would, be- sides, be to load the memory in vain ; seeing that all the difficulties arising from this cause are speedily removed by practice. EXERCISE XX. 1 . Have you thought of the affair that I spoke to you of? 2. Yes 5 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 (/your riches. But, a short time will give you a com- plete knowledge of all these matters. LETTER XXVII. SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. My dear Richard^ 455. The remarks made in paragraph 453 apply in this case also. Every thing relative to conjunctions has been taught in the Etymology of Conjunctions, and in the Syn- tax of the other parts of speech, especially that of Verbs. You must go back, however, to paragraph 39, and to the whole of Letter XII. consisting of paragraphs from 162 to 167 inclusive. Those parts contain a full account of this part of Speech. Conjunctions have a government of modes of verbs 3 but this matter is, you know, most amply explained in the Syntax of Verbs, particularly in para- graphs from 414 to 422. All that I shall, therefore, add, upon this subject is, a short Exercise, consisting of phrases, which must, in French, have a turn very diiFerent from that which they have in English. EXERCISE XX. 1. Whether you do it, or not, I shall come. 2. A great building either of brick or of stone. 3. Either from love or from fear, he praised them. 4. If they should die, what will become of us ? 5. If they should consent to it, what will you say ? 6. When you write, let me know it. 7. When they come^, they will remain a long while. 8. If you wish to go, and will come here in good time. 9. If they desire to have it, and will pay for it. 10. Even if he were to give his whole fortune. / s 2 LETTER XXVIII. TRANSLATION OF THE EXERCISES. My dear Richard, 456. The Translation of the exercises is given, in order that you, when you have finished your translation of an Exercise, may refer to this Translation, in order to see whether you have done your work correctly. But, mind, it would be mere childish- ness to be looking at this translation, until you hv^ve finished an Exercise. When you have finished an Exercise, and consulted with your Grammar as to every phrase in it : then make a fair copy of it : look at it attentively over and over again ; and, when you have made it what you look upon as complete 3 when you have put all the points, all the accents, every thing ; then turn to this translation, and compare your translation with it, phrase by phrase. EXERCISE I. 1. Cent livres, cinq sclielins. 2. Des plumes a fjs. le cent. 3. Des canards ^ dix sons la piece. 4. Avez-vous entendn parler de riea de semblable ? 5. Si un tel vient. 6 Mille soldats se sont mis en marche. 7. Cent sont de retour. 8. Je n'ai pas vu d* enfant si sage. 9. On voit rarement un homme si mt chant. 10. Un jardin avec un mur d'nn cute, 11. Un bon poGte, mais pas ua Bqileaii. 12. 11 est nicdecin, et son fr^re pro- cureur. L). II est riche, chose qu'il aime.. 14. II est arrive rarement une chose semblable. ^ 15. Qfiel jardin ! Id. Qw} bruit! 17. Quelle belle fieur ! 18. Lajolie fillequ'Emma! 19. Que son pere est riche! 20. Que I'argent a de charm es \ 21. Quel cri horrible ! 22. Quel sot de gar?on. 23. Un homme qui a plus d'nn de- faut 24. Uneatable qui a un pied de cass^. 25. La barbe d'nn juif. Vn cheval de Ijurbarie. 26. Donnez-m'en une plirase pour exemple. 27. Une pnule avec un pou^sin. 28. Une voiture attelee a* un cheval. 29. Un voile et une. voile. 30. Une eaisse de livres. 31. Uulivrcct une fieur. 32. Un jardinier et un laquais* 33. Cent d'entre eut. 34* Una henn^'t demi*e, 36» Une dami-hfure. xXVllI.] TRANSLATION OP THE EXEllCISES. EXERCISE II. L'Amerique, I'Asie, I'Afrique, et I'Eufope. La Prusse fait partie de TAlle- iiiagne. Vcnise, Valence, Grenade. 11 vient de la Rochelle. 11 demeure au Havre de Grace. 11 est parti pour Cayenne. Je demeure en Angleterre. Vous venez du Portugal, lis resident a la Martinique. EUe va en Italic. La Tamisc. Le Rhin. La Severne, la Seine. L' ivrognerie est detestable. Le meurtre m^rite la mort. La paresse conduit a la pauvrete. De la marne a la surface, ensuite de la terre glaise, et puis de la craie. L'orge est chere cette annee. Les chevaux mangent de rherl)e et du foin. I^ cheval est un animal utile. Les oiseaux volent ; les faucons volent. Les faucons tuent les autres oiseaux. 11 vient de la Chine. Le vin de Bourgogne. Le drap d 'Angleterre. Les chevaux de Flandres. Les vaches de Normandie. Les arbres viennent bien dans les ^t^s favorables. L'^t^ est passe. Je vois que les arbres .viennent bien. Le Capitaine White est parti. Les oiseaux chantent dans le printemps. Comment vous portez vous, Mr. le Capitaine ? Les poires sont mCires en Au- to mne. Le Doctcur Johnson craignoit la mort. . La reine Elizabeth et le Pape Sixte. . Les gioUes mangent du ble. , Les garcons tuent les groUes. . Les gargons tnent les groUes. 40. Les philosophes ne s'accordent pas. 41. 11 est a la campagne. 42. Elle dtoit en ville. 43. Dieu, le ciel, et I'enfer. 44. Les jardins ont un aspect riant au printemps. 45. Les fleurs se fanent en et^. 46. Elles meurent en automne. 47. L'amour faisoit le sujet de la lettre. 48. Les pommes sont un bon fruit. 49. Les pommes ne sont pas cheres cette ann6e. 50. Les renards tuent les poules. 51. Tin pain, de la viande, de la fa- rine, du beurre. '52 La terre, I'air, le feu et I'eau ; tout s'allie. . 53. L'air est froid aujourd'hui. 54. L' hiver approche. 55. 11 plut bcaucoup hier. 56. L'avoine est tres-chere. 57. Le fromage est tres-rare. 58. Je pr^ftire le noir au bleu. 59. 11 aime la chasse. 60. L'exercise est bon pour rhorame. 61. II se tue a force de boire. 62. Les hommes prudens dvitent les querelles. 63. Les oiseaux cljantent tandis que les paresseux ronftent. 64. L'homme, venez ici! la femme, allez par-la 1 65. Du bois, de I'eau et du feu. 66. La lumi^re et I'obscurit^, la cha- leur et le froid. 67. Les articles forment une partie du disco urs. 68. II a des bras. 69. 11 a des cheveux noirs. 70. Les Hollandois font le com- merce. 71. Les Americains partagent les lacs avec les Anglois. 72. lis vont au Canada. 73. La nouvelle Ecosse est un pays froid. 74. Le mais vient bien en France. 75. Le tabac est une production de la Virginie. 76. Le cbtou vient de la G^orgie, \77, De la Floride et du Bresil 78. Les P^ruviens out de Tor en abondance. TRANSLATION [LeTTER 79. Les Mexic.iins ont de rargent en grande quantite. EXERCISE III. 1 2 3, 4. 5. 6 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15, 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25, 2^. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. II a du foin a vendre. II a du foin dans sa charrette. Le foin est abondant. Le foin est cher cette ann^e. Elle porte de la soie. La soie qu' elle porte est belle. La soie est tr^s-l^gere. A-t-il des chevaux ? Oui, il en a quelques-uns. II a des chiens. Ont-ils des oiseaux ? Les chiens aboient. J' entends du bruit. J'entends beaucoup de bruit. II y a du danger. II y en a six de blancs et deux de noirs. Cinq de tues et un de blesse. lis ont de bonne viande. Elle a de beaux yeux. Les moutons mangent de Therbe. J' ai des moutons. Les moutons que j'ai vendus. Vous aviez du fromage. Elle aura beaucoup de pain. Une quantite de terre. Donnez-nous encore de T argent. Rien de bien rare. Tant de livres. Fort peu de sagesse. Corabien de fenetres ? Combien de terre ? Beaucoup de chagrin. Beaucoup de plaisir. Beaucoup de patience. Beaucoup de peine. Quel viu souhaitez-vouz ? Donnez-moi du rouge. Ce sont de bien honnetes gens. 11 y a mainteoant beaucoup de choux. Des ognons et du persil dans le jardiu. Le pommier est une g^airlande lorsqu'il est en fleur. 42. Les cerisiers sont aussi tres- , beaux. 43. Ce poirier est bien charge de^ fruit. 44. Les poires sont a bon marchl cette annee-ci. 45. Les touffes de framboisiers n*oa1 rien de remarquable. 46. Mais leur fruit est excellent. 47. Quelles belles f raises ! 48. Les epinards et les haricots. 49. Le marche abonde en legumes. 50. Un temps humide est bon pour ce terrain. 51. Tout le foin est gate. 52. Le foin sera cher 1' annee proi chaine. 53. Les haricots sont tr^s-abon- dans. 54. Les laitues sont bonnes en sa- lade. 55. L'huile, le vinaigre, le poivre„ le sel et la moutarde sont dea choses fort utiles. 56. L'huile d' olive est bien meit- leure que celle de pavot. 57. La premiere se fait en France et en Italic. 58. La seconde se fait en All6' magne. 59. Le mont de sable est tres-haut. 60. Les pierres ne font point de maj a la terre. 61. Le fourrage est a bon marche. 62. Une grande quantite de terre. 63. Les alouettes restent dans IdS champs. 64. Du poisson, de la viande, de la volaille, du grain, de la farine. 65. Nous avons du poisson. 66. Les abeilles n* aiment pas lei guepes. 67. Le miel est tris-utile dans un< famille. EXERCISE IV. La maison est grande. Une main et un pied. Deux maisons et trois champs. Quatre fils, cinq filles. Six enfans, sept amis. 6. Uncheval, unevache,uncochon. 7. Huit chevaux, neu^ vaches, dix cochons. 8. Onze noix, une noix. 9. Un enfant, douze enfans. ' XXVIII.] OF THE EXERCISES. 10. Un engagement. 59. 11. Treize engagemens. 60. 12. Quatorze clioux. 61. 13. Un fort beau chou. 62. 14. Un cliapeau noir. 63. 15. EeancoLip de ricbesses. 64. 16. Quinze chapeaux. 65. 17. Seize hibous. 66. 18. Dix-sept clous. 19. Un trSs -grand mal. 67. 20. Un grand nombre de raaux. 68. 21. L'oiil du cheval 69. 22. Mes yeux sont foibles. 70. 23. L'eau est claire. 71. 24. Les eaux de Bath, 72. 25. Dix-huit paniers. 73. 26. Dix-neuf bonnets de nuit. 74. 27. Vingt portes de jardin. 75. 28. Vingt et un poissons de riviere. 76. 29. La tete du loup. 77, 30. Les grifFes du cliat. 31. Le palais du roi. 78. 32. Trente chandeliers d'or. 79. 33. Quarante assiettes d'^taim. 80. 34. Cinquante cuilleres d' argent. 81. 35. Soixante souliers de cuir. 36. Soixante-dix huttes de bois. 82. 37. Quatrc-vingt pelles-a-fcu. 83. 38. Quatre-vingt-dix agneaux. 84. 39. Un agneau et un niouton. 85. 40. Cent boeufs. 41. Mille oiseaux. 86. 42. Un oiseau et un renard. 43. Dieu est tout-puissant. 87. 44. Les dieux des Grecs. 88. 45 Un lieu solitaire. 89. 46. Des lieux solitaires. 47. 11 a un emploi. 90. 48. A la poste aux lettres. 91. 49. Une livre de pain. 92. 50 Un livre pour vous. 93. 51, Le page du roi. 94. 52 Une page d'un livre. 95. 53. A sa maison. 96. 54 De la rue. 55. Au champ. 97. 56 Aux pares. 98. 57 Apr^s le carosse. 58 Chapitre premier. 99. Livre deuxi^mc. Un traite de Gram m aire. Entree, Monsieur. Priez ce monsieur d'entrer. J' appcrgois quelques messieurs- Monsieur, j' ai vu les messieurs. Entrez, Messieurs. Messieurs, j' ai parle ^ ces mes- sieurs. Autant de beaux jardins. Devant le trone. Hormis le domestique. Au milieu des buissons. Dans les nids d'oiseaux. Depuis Mardi dernier. Vers Londres. Les dames s'en vont. Les Lords restent ici. AUez, monsieur I'impudent. De l'eau de riviere pour faire de la bi^re. Madame, j'ai vu la dame. Mesdames, je m* en vais. Allez chez monsieur White. Les proprietes de Guillaume, de Jean, et de Richard. A qui est cette plume ? La position de ce pays. La situation du gouverneur. La laine des moutons est bonne a faire du drap. lis parlent de la maison de la dame. Madame White est raorte. Joseph, Pierre, et quelques amis. Une cuillere d' argent pleine de rin. , Un pot plein de biere. Ce sentier a cent pieds d© long. . La mort de sa mere. . Le mariage de son fils. . La bonne fortune de son fr^re. . II a fait le commerce du cuivre. . Les voitures et les chevaux cou- tent de I'argent. . Le chene est un bel arbre. . Les planches de chene durent long- temps. . Des ormes dans les haies. EXERCISE V. 1. Vous et raoi, nous allons souper. 2. Vous, votre soeur, et moi, nous aurons de I'argent demain. Nous somraes fort heureux dans ce pays, elle et moi. lis me frappeat au-gsibieu quelui. 3. 5. lis m'aiment aussi bien qu' elle. 6 Puissiez-vous devenir riche I 7. Si vous m'abaudonniez pour tou- jours. 8. Oui, repartit-il. Non, dit-il. TRANSLATION. 9. Je le vois, tous les jours, lui et son p^re. 10. II lenr donne toujours quelque chose 3, manger. 11. lis dinent tres-souvent ensemble. 12. Faites cela, je vous prie, k ma consideration. 13. Le cheval est. a moi, et la vaclie est a elle. 1 4 . Donnez-moi un pen de votre bois. 15. II leur rapporte tout ce que je lui dis. 16". Elle n'avoit aucune affection pour eux. 17. Les champs leur appartiennent. 1 8. C'est a lui qu' ils parlent toujours. 19. Ils les attendent ici aujourd'hui. 20. Donnez-lui quelqwe chose k manger et £i boire. [Letter Jc vous enverrai des fleurs, elles sont tres-belles. Ils ou elles nous ont envoye du fruit aujourd'hui. lis nous volent et nous insultent. 11 dcTit au secretaire, et lui en- voie des messages. Ils sont plus riches que moi et que lui aussi. Envoyez-leur un messager. Arretez-le, liez-le, et envoyez-Ie en prison. Nous mangeons de la viande et nous buvons de 1' eau. lis s'adressent souvent k nous pour du vin. Je lui ai donne de 1* or pour vous^ Vous les vites aller chez elle. EXERCISE 1. Ma main, mes plumes, mon pa- 17. pier, mon encre et mes livres. 2 Vos plumes ne sont pas aussi bonnes que les miennes. 3. Emportez les chaises de ma cham- bre, et mettez-les dans la sienne. 4 Prenez-en desleurs, etmettez-les dans la mienne. 5. Prenez-en des miennes, et por- tez-les dans les siennes. 6. Leurs bceufs sont plus beaux que les votres. 7. Mettez mes boeufs 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 soit foibles. 13. Elle est d'^une vilaine couleur : le bois en est pourri. 14. Voila votre carosse : voici le mien. 15. Mon fr^re, je vous prie de venir chez moi. 16. Adieu, Mr. le Capitaine. Je suis bien aise de vous voir, mon voisiu. EXERCISE L Les personnes qui demeuroient | 2. dans cette rue. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. VI. Ces oiseaux sont a vous, et ceux- la*sont i moi. Ton p^re, ta m^re et tes fr^res sont morts. Ses freres et ses soeurs sont tous partis. Leurs doraestiques viennent ici, Mon 4)^re, avez-vous son man- teau^. Approchez-vous, ma sceur, j'ai besoin de vous parler. Non, mon ami, je ne puis vous secourir. Prenez vos moutons, et mettca- les avec les miens. Separez vos poules des miennes. Sa maison ; sa maison ; notre maison ; leur maison; votre maison. Sa main, son bras, nos doigts, leurs jambes, mes pieds. Sa robe, son bonnet, sa tete, son cou, ses dents. Mettez votre foin avec le mien : separez le votre du mien. 11 ne parle pas de votre beaute, mais de la mienne. II ne parle pas des siens, mais des notres. Ce vaisseau leur appartient. VII. Le menuisier qui fit ma table. 3. La vache qui rait dans ma nrai tie. XXVIIL] 4. Les moutons qui sont sur les coliines. 5. L'hoinme dont je prise 1' amiti6. 6. Le cheval qui conduit leur voi- ture. 7. Le bl6 que vous avez Vendu au marche. 8. Le ble qui croit dans vos chanops. 9. Aimez ceux dout vous recevez des bienfaits. 10. Le marchand auquel il doit tant d' argent. 11. La compagnie qu'il a regue ce soir. 12. L'oiseau qui a vu V oiseleur. 13. L' oiseau que 1' oiseleur a vu. 14. Le siecle dans lequel nous vivons . 15. Le monsieur auquel il appar- tient. 16. Le pays que j'aime le mienx. 17. Le temps qui me plait le plus. 18. L'encre dont je me sers. 19. Les personnes dont vous me . parlates hier. 20. L'bomme qui me deplalt le plus. 21. Que nous voulez-vous ? 22. Que disent-ils a vous et ^votre famille ? OF THK EXERClSfiSi 23. C'est raffaire dont ils parloient. 24. C'cst de vous et dc votre fils qu'ils parlent. 25. Ce sont les dames dont il parloit. 26. Le monsieur de qui j' ai reQu tant de bontes. 27. De qui parlez-vous ? 28. Quel liomme est-ce ? Quel gar- Qon est-ce ? 29. Laquelle de ces deux chaises aimez-vous mieux ? 30. Lequel de ces trois miroirs preferez-vous ? 31. L' erabarras dont il est sorti. 32. Mon ami qui est mort hier et que j'aimois tant. 33. De quoi parlez-vous ? Qu' est- ce que cela ? 34. Qui est ce monsieur ? 35. Avec quelle flotte est-il venu ? 36. Qui vous a dit cela } 37. Uu de ceux qui vinrent la nuit derniere. 38. Un des premiers qui le firent. 39. Le faucou que mon frere a tue. 40. Qui peut dire ce qui pent ar- river ? EXERCISE 15. 16. 1. 11 y a beaucoup de fruit dans ce pays-hi. 2 Ce jardin est bien garni de fleurs. 3. Laquelle de ces fieurs 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 raaitre de la maisoa qui vient. 7. C* est un fort beau pays. 8. C'est grand dommage. 9. Cette plume est meilleure que celle-la. 10. Ces plumes sont aussi bonnes que celles-la. 1 1 . Ce ble est a bon marche ; mais il n' est pas bon. 12. Votre terre est aussi bonne que celle de voire voisin. 13. Ceux qui pensent qu'ils gagncnt a friponner se trompent. 14. Celui qui sc couche tard doit se lever tard. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. VIII. Celle qui s'occupe trop de sa beaute. Celui qui mfene une vie regime est plus hureux, que celui qui vit d' une maniere dereglee. Celui qui n' a point vu ce pays-ci, ne sait pas combien il est beau, J' aime beaucoup ce que vous avez envoy e. II nous dit ce qu'il sait sur leur compte. EUe rapporte a sa m^re tout c« qu'elle entend. Ce qui me fait le plus de peine, c' est qu'il ne veut pas me voir. 11 n* y a que ceux qui ne le con- noissent pas qui parlent mal de lui. Ceux qui ont toujours vecu dans r abondance ne savent pas ce que c' est que la faira. Voici les boeufs que je prefere. Ceux que vous avez sent de pauvres animaux. Ce chien-la paroit ^tre de la m§me race que celui-ci. 27. Oui, mais celui-ci est meilleur que celui-la. 28. Cet oiseau chante mieux que celui que vous avez. 29. Ces perdrix sont plus grosses que les perdrix Angloises. TRANSLATION [LeTTER 30. Ces becasses volent plus rapide- ment que celles-la. 31. Lesquelles sont meilleures at manger ? 32. Celles qui volent vite, ou celles qui volent lenteraent ? EXERCISE IX. 1. Tout le monde doit recevoir le salaire de son travail. 2. Tous les liommes doivent etre nourris et vetus. 3. Chacun va oft bou lui semble. 4. Les juges etoient assis, chacun a sa place, 5. Chacun d' eux donna son opinion sur cette affaire. 6. Donnez a manger a chacun des deux ; mais ne donnez rien an troisieme. 7. Tout le monde sait cela, et plu- sieurs le disent. 8. Quelques-uns disent qu'il va quitter sa maison. 9. Flusieurs m'ont assure qu'il vient. 10. Qnelques-uns aiment cette raa- ni^re de voyager. 1 1 . Quelques-uns sont meilleurs que les autres. 12. Nous ne devons pas prendre le bien d'autrui. 13. D' autres ne font pas cela. 14. II depense I'argent d'autrui. 15. lis s' envoyerent reciproqueinent du fruit et des fleurs. 16. Tout est vendu dans la maison et enlev^. 17. Les moutons sont tous raorts. Quoi ! tous ? 18. Quiconque prendra ce cherain, y torabera. 19. Tout ce qu' on y trouve, sans en rien excepter. 20. II causera avec le premier venu qui voudra lui parler. 21. Quiconque neglige ses affaires se ruine. 22. Je soutiendrai cela centre qui que ce soit. 23. Donnez-nous tout, quoi que ce puisse etre. 24. II reussit dans tout ce qu'il en- treprend. 25. Quoiqu' il en dise, il ne 1' echap- perapas. 26. Quel qu' en soit le prix, vous devez le donner. 27. Quel est Thomme qui a vole votre argent ? 28. Je r ignore, mais qui que ce puisse etre, il doit etre puui.- 29. L'homme est pris. On ne sait qui c'est ; mais qui que ce soit il sera puni. 30. Quelques prunes dans un petit panier de paille. 31. II y avoit deux pommes, une petite ' quantite de cerises et quelques abricots. 32. Quelques-uns disent qu'elle sera tr^s-riche ; d' autres qu' elle ne le sera pas. 33. Quelque riche qu'elle puisse etre ; quelques richesses qu'elle puisse avoir. 34. Quelque belles maisons et quel- que beaux jardins qu' ils aienL 35. lis ne s' aiment pas, je vous le jure. 36. L' un ou 1' autre viendra demain ; mais ni I'un ni I'autre ne vien- dra aujourd'hui. 37. II n' a rien fait pour raoi, et il ne fera rien pour vous. 38. Rien de ce qu'ils entreprennent ne reussit. 39. Personne ne croit cela. Je ne I'ai dit a personne. 40. A-t-on jamais vu rien de pareil auparavant } 41. Pas un de ces gens ne vint hier-soir. 42. Pas un des soldats n* echappa a I'ennemi. 43. Avez -vous des poires ? Pas une, sur ma parole. 44. Personne n' est venu avec le fruit et le vin. 45. Nous n' aimons point que les au- tres se melent de nos affaires de famille. 46. Nous mangeons quand nous a- OF THE EXERCISES. XXVIII] voos faiin, et nous buvons quand nous avons soif. 47. Nous plantons des arbres pour nos petits fils, et en ce faisant, nous agissons avec autant de justice que de sagesse. 48. lis vont semer du ble dans ce champ ; mais ils n* ont pas bien prepare la terre. 49. On dit que vous allez vous marier. 50. Je voudrois que les gens s'entre- tinssent de leurs propres affaires, et non des miennes. 51. On dit qu'il y a une grande recolte de ble. 52. On lui a conseille de quitter le pays. 53. Nous raenons une vie agreable ; nous nous levons de bonne heure ; nous nous promenons ; eosuite nous d^jeunons; puife nous faison.s une seconde pro- menade, ou bien nous montons a cheval. 54. Vous pouvez traduire des phrases, teiles que celles-ci ; et la der- ni^re, d'une mani^re ou de r autre ; c'est-a-dire, avec on, avec nous, ou avec vous. 55. S«vez-vous qu'il y a des soldats dans la ville } Oui, car j'en ai vu plusieurs. 56. Quel est ce bruit } Quelle en est la cause } 57. 0 20. Ne le lui dit-il point ? 21. Vous en parleront-ils ? 22. Je me l^ve le matin. 23. Je ne ne me l^ve point. 24. Me leve-je ? , 25. Ne ine lev^-je pas ? 26. Ne se 16ve-t-il pas de bonne lieure ? 27. Ne me 1' avez-vous pas dit .' 28. Lui a-t-elle dit cela ? 29. Nous I'auront-ils paye ? 30. Vous en auroient-ils parl6 } 31. Cherchates-vous votre argent dans sa boite ? 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 auroit-il pas fait grand tort } 36. Nc me le donnez-vous pas ? 37. Ne vous appliquez-vous pas a la langue fran^oise ? 38. Ne le lui dit-elle pas ? 39. Ne nous le donneront-ils pas ? 40. Ne vous en parlera-t-il pas ? 41. Ne me I'avez-vous pas dit.' 42. Ne le lui avoit-efle pas dit ? 43. Le ble vient-il bien dans cette terre } 44. Les arbres ne sont-ils pas tr^s- beaux dans les bois de I'Ame- rique ? 45. Nou : ils ne sont pas tres- beaux dans toutes les parties du pays. OF THE EXERCISES. 46. Les platanes y sont tr^s-grands ; n' est-ce pas ? 47. Ne v^ous en auroit-il pas parle 1 48. Thomas ne viendroit-il paa si vous I'envoyiez querir } 49. Est-ce que tons les faisans et tous les li^vres sont 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 paint en parler. 53. Ne pas trop parler de soi. 54. Je lui ai dit de ne pas payer plus de vingt livres sterling. 55. N'est-il pas colonel, ou capi- taine .' 56. La flotte ira-t-elle k la Jamal- que ? 57. Ne croyez-vous pas qu'il fasse beau } 58. Vous avez de grandes proprietes, sans parler de votre 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 i ce sujet ? 63. Ne craignez-vous pas que I'argent ne vienne trop tard } 64. N' ont-ils vu personne aller de ce c6te-l^. 65. Est-ce que les laboureurs n'ont que peu 5. boire et h. man* ger } 66. Celui-U n'est-il pas le plus pauvre, qui a moins ^ manger, et moins de vetemens pour se couvrir ? 67. Ils ne lui pardonneront jamais, ^ moins qu'il ne leur de- mande pardon. 68. Ma chambre n'est-elle pas tr^- jolie ? 69. Get exercice-ci n'estil pas bien long ? 70. II est bien long ; mais pas plus long, j'espere, qu'il n'est utile. TRANSLATION EXERCISE XII. [Letter 1. II fait beau clans ce pays-la, toute I' annee, pour ainsi dire. 2. II lit bien mauvais temps, en Amerique, I'automne dernier. 3. II pleut presque toujours dans ce pays-la. 4. On dit qu'il ne pleut jamais a Lima. 5. n y a sept acres de terre et six fort belles maisons. .6. II y a beaucoup de vase au fond du vivier. 7. Vous devez bien faire attention a la maniere dont vous taiilez les pechers. 8. II y a beaucoup d' esp^ces de peches. 9. 11 yen a plusieurs dans cejardin. 10. II y a des boutons a bois et des boutons a fruit. 11. II y eut dans la ville un cri terrible. 12. Si ce sont des arbres de fruit a noyau que vous avez ^ tailler. 13. n y en a la une grande quantite. 14. Comme je I'ai deja remarque. 1 5. U faut I'examiner, et vous assurer s' il y a un bon beurgeon a bois. 16. Veillez a ce qu' il n' y ait pas de terrain perdu et sans re- colte. 17. II ne faut en laisscr entrer aucun. 18. On a besoin ue beau temps pour la moisson. 19. Ne perdez pas de temps a causer ; faites ce que vous avez a faire. 20. Tout ce qu' il y a de respectable dans le village en a bonne idee. 21. J'aibesoia d' amis qui m'aident dans une si grande entreprise. 22. II faut un bon terrain pour re- colter de bon ble et elever de bon betail. 23. Pour produire de bon houblon, il faut beaucoup de fumier et une bonne culture. 24. II y en avoit vingt ; il falloit tous les vingt ; mais on ne nous en a laisse que sept. 25. C'estunacte que nous ne'de- vons jamais oublier. 26. Ce fut son domestique qui le eur dit. 27. II y eut soixant« maisons de ren- versees par le canop. 28. II vaut mieux rester comme vous etes, pendant quelques mois. 29. li vaut beaucoup mieux etre pauvre et bien portant, qu' etre rii:he et malade. 30. J' irai en France ; c'est-i-dire, sije me porte bien. 31. C est une mauvaise chose que de voyager quand on ne se porte pas bien. 32. II est bien penible de vous quitter dans r etat ou. vous vous trou- vez. 33. C'est un honnete liorame ; c'est un fripon. 34. II est honnete. II est fripon. EUe est bonne et sage. 35. Ce fut votre pere qui vous donna ce diamant } 36. Etoit-ce eux qui caus^rent taut de mal dans ce village ? 37. Ce furent eux qui couperent les arbres, et mirent le feu aux maisons. 38. Non : ce fut elle qui ordonna de le faire. 39. Je ne sache pas que ce fut elle qui donna I'ordre. 40. II y a quarante ans que mon oncle est mort. 41. II y a plus de vingt ans que je demeure ici. 42. De cette place a celle-la, il y a dix-sept milles. 43. Combien y a-t-ii d' ici au som- met de la montagne ? 44. Combien serez-vous de temps a revenir ? 45. II a travailie quinze ans k son ouvrage. ' 46. Combien y a-t-il de boeufs dans le pare } 47. Et combien y en a-t-il dans i'etable ? 48. II faut avoir des enfans pour pouvoir sentir pour un pere et une mere. 49. Ne dois-je pas avoir beaucoup de patience ? XXVIII.] 50. Ne doit-il pas y avoir eu beau- coup d'inconduite quelque part ? 51. N'a-t-elle pas du avoir beaucoup dc bien ? 52. N'ya-t-il pas eu un tres-long debat ce soir ? 63. Y en a-t-il jamais eu de plus long. 54. II n' y a que cela qui ne soit pas utile. 55. Je vous prie de ne pas venir ; je venx dire si vous ne trouvez pas de voiture. 56. Y a-t-il des vignes dans ce pays ? 57. Non : il n'y en a point que je sache. Comment ! II n' y en a ftucune ? 5'8. C'est le plus beau pays qu' on ait jamais vu ; mais le climat est mauvais. , 59. Quelle distance croyez-vous qu'il y ait d' ici a sa maison? OF THE EXERCISES. croyez-vous qu' il soit tard avant que nous y arrivions ? ^ 60. II y a quatre milles, et je pense que nous pourrons y ar- river a neuf heures. 61. Fera-t-il nuit avant que nous y arrivions ? Non, car il fait jour maintenant jusqu' apr^s neuf heures. 62. II fait bien crotte depuis la der- niere plnie, et il paroit qu' il pleuvra de nouveau avant de- main-soir. 63. II a fait un tres-beau temps au- jourd' hui. 64. Croyez-vous cela ? y a-t-il quel- qu' un qui le croie ? y a-t-il quelqu* un d' eux qui ne m§- prise celui qui le dit .' 65. Celui qui affecte de croire que cela est vrai, n'est-il done pas un miserable ? EXERCISE XIII. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. La tour a quatre cent quarante pieds de hauteur. Voire chambre a vingt pieds de long et dix de large. Un champ carre et une grande barriere. Un homme impertinent, fou et pareaseux. Un IxEuf jeunc et beau, et un joli petit chien. II est beaucoup plus vieux qu'elle. Vous n' etes pas aussi grand que lui de beaucoup. lis ont plus de six raille acres de terre. C*est un tres-mauvais chapeau ; le plus mauvais que j' ai eu de ma vie. 11 fait plus beau aujourd' hui qu'hier; encore fait-il un temps froid et assez triste. C'e&t la plus mauvaise route que j'aiejamais vue. C'est le plus grand coquin qui existe. Avez-vous beaucoup de bou- teilles de vin dans votre . cave ? Donnez-lui un peu de vin et quelquea grappes de raisin. 15. Je n'ai pas beaucoup d'huile, mais j' ai beaucoup d' olives- 16. N' a-t-il pas beaucoup de che- vaux, et une grande quantity de foin ? 17. Donnez-moi quelques noix, et apportez-moi un peu de ce Sucre. 18. II est aussi zel6 pour une bonne, que pour une mauvaise cause. 19. Soixante mille livres sterling pour une terre et les meubles. 20. Mil huit cent vingt-huit. 21. Londres, le 4 Juin, mil huit cent vingt-huit. 22. George IV et Charles X regnent actuellement. 23. J' aime mieux un ennemi declare qu'un ennemi cach6. 24. Vous etes indigne de tout hon- neur et de toute distinction. 25. II fut transports de joie en la voyant arriver. 26. lis ne meritent point de reproche ■ient ? THE EXERCISE XX. 6. Quand vous ^crirez, faltes-le- moi savoir. 7. Qnand ils viendront, Us reste- ront long-temps. 8. Si vous deslrez vous en^ alle^, et etre de retour a temps, 9. S! ils le veulent, et (ja* tie le payent, 10. S' il donuoit m^uje tpute «a fortuije. END. BKNisLEY, ANDOVER. ■%: 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 250ct6 5BG -rc^ Ql-P -mr^ -4P*^ LD 21A-60m-3,'65 (F2336sl0)476B General Library University of California Berkeley YA 0470^