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Essential French Grammar

Page 15

by Seymour Resnick


  Preterit, Imperfect. Many languages have more than one verb tense for expressing an action that took place in the past. They may use a perfect tense (which we have just covered), or a preterit, or an imperfect. English, although you may never have thought about it, is one of these languages, for we can say “I have spoken to him” [present perfect], or “I spoke to him” [simple past], or “I was speaking to him” [past progressive]. These sentences do not mean exactly the same thing, although the differences are subtle, and are difficult to put into other words.

  While usage differs a little from language to language, if a language has both a preterit and an imperfect, in general the preterit corresponds to the English simple past (I ran, I swam, I spoke), and the imperfect corresponds to the English past progressive (I was running, I was swimming, I was speaking). If you are curious to discover the mode of thought behind these different tenses, try looking at the situation in terms of background-action and point-action. One of the most important uses of the imperfect is to provide a background against which a single point-action can take place. For example, “When I was walking down the street [background, continued over a period of time, hence past progressive or imperfect], I stubbed my toe [an instant or point of time, hence a simple past or preterit].”

  Auxiliary Verbs. Auxiliary verbs are special words that are used to help other verbs make their forms. In English, for example, we use forms of the verb to have to make our perfect tenses: I have seen, you had come, he has been, etc. We also use shall or will to make our future tenses: I shall pay, you will see, etc. French, German, Spanish, and Italian also make use of auxiliary verbs, but although the general concept is present, the use of auxiliaries differs very much from one language to another, and you must learn the practice for each language.

  Reflexive. This term, which sounds more difficult than it really is, simply means that the verb flexes back upon the noun or pronoun that is its subject. In modern English the reflexive pronoun always has-self on its end, and we do not use the construction very frequently. In other languages, however, reflexive forms may be used more frequently, and in ways that do not seem very logical to an English speaker. Examples of English reflexive sentences: “He washes himself.” “He seated himself at the table.”

  Passive. In some languages, like Latin, there is a strong feeling that an action or thing that is taking place can be expressed in two different ways. One can say, A does-something-to B, which is “active;” or B is-having-something-done-to-him by A, which is “passive.” We do not have a strong feeling for this classification of experience in English, but the following examples should indicate the difference between an active and a passive verb: Active: “John is building a house.” Passive: “A house is being built by John.” Active: “The steamer carried the cotton to England.” Passive: “The cotton was carried by the steamer to England.” Bear in mind that the formation of passive verbs and the situations where they can be used vary enormously from language to language. This is one situation where you usually cannot translate English word for word into another language and make sense.

  Impersonal Verbs. In English there are some verbs which do not have an ordinary subject, and do not refer to persons. They are always used with the pronoun it, which does not refer to anything specifically, but simply serves to fill out the verb forms. Examples: It is snowing. It hailed last night. It seems to me that you are wrong. It has been raining. It won’t do.

  Other languages, like German, have this same general concept, but impersonal verbs may differ quite a bit in form and frequency from one language to another.

  Words about Nouns

  Agreement. In some languages, where nouns or adjectives or articles are declined, or have gender endings, it is necessary that the adjective or article be in the same case or gender or number as the noun it goes with (modifies). This is called agreement.

  This may be illustrated from Spanish, where articles and adjectives have to agree with nouns in gender and number.

  Here una is feminine singular and has the ending -a because it agrees with the feminine singular noun casa; blanca has the ending -a because it agrees with the feminine singular noun casa. blanco, on the other hand, and un, are masculine singular because libro is masculine singular.

  Gender. Gender should not be confused with actual sex. In many languages nouns are arbitrarily assigned a gender (masculine or feminine, or masculine or feminine or neuter), and this need not correspond to sex. You simply have to learn the pattern of the language you are studying in order to become familiar with its use of gender.

  Miscellaaeous Terms

  Comparative, Superlative. These two terms are used with adjectives and adverbs. They indicate the degree of strength within the meaning of the word. Faster, better, earlier, newer, more rapid, more detailed, more suitable are examples of the comparative in adjectives, while more rapidly, more recently, more suitably are comparatives for adverbs. In most cases, as you have seen, the comparative uses -er or “more” for an adjective, and “more” for an adverb. Superlatives are those forms which end in -est or have “most” prefixed before them for adjectives, and “most” prefixed for adverbs: most intelligent, earliest, most rapidly, most suitably.

  Idiom. An idiom is an expression that is peculiar to a language, the meaning of which is not the same as the literal meaning of the individual words composing it. Idioms, as a rule, cannot be translated word by word into another language. Examples of English idioms: “Take it easy.” Don’t beat around the bush.“ ”It turned out to be a Dutch treat.“ ”Can you tell time in Spanish?“

  The Parts of the Sentence

  Subject, Predicate. In grammar every complete sentence contains two basic parts, the subject and the predicate. The subject, if we state the terms most simply, is the thing, person, or activity talked about. It can be a noun, a pronoun, or something that serves as a noun. A subject would include, in a typical case, a noun, the articles or adjectives which are associated with it, and perhaps phrases. Note that in complex sentences, each part may have its own subject. [The subjects of the sentences above have been italicized.]

  The predicate talks about the subject. In a formal sentence the predicate includes a verb, its adverbs, predicate adjectives, phrases, and objects—whatever happens to be present. A predicate adjective is an adjective which happens to be in the predicate after a form of the verb to be. Example: “Apples are red.” [Predicates are in italics.]

  In the following simple sentences subjects are in italics, predicates in italics and underlined. “Green apples are bad for your digestion.” “When I go to Spain, I always stop in Cadiz.” “The man with the handbag is travelling to Madrid.”

  Direct and Indirect Objects. Some verbs (called transitive verbs) take direct and/or indirect objects in their predicates; other verbs (called intransitive verbs) do not take objects of any sort. In English, except for pronouns, objects do not have any special forms, but in languages which have case forms or more pronoun forms than English, objects can be troublesome.

  The direct object is the person, thing, quality, or matter that the verb directs its action upon. It can be a pronoun, or a noun, perhaps accompanied by an article and/or adjectives. The direct object always directly follows its verb, except when there is also an indirect object pronoun present, which comes between the verb and the object. Prepositions do not go before direct objects. Examples: “The cook threw green onions into the stew.” “The border guards will want to see your passport tomorrow.” “Give it to me.” “Please give me a glass of red wine.” [We have placed direct objects in this paragraph in italics.]

  The indirect object, as grammars will tell you, is the person or thing for or to whom the action is taking place. It can be a pronoun or a noun with or without article and adjectives. In most cases the words “to” or “for” can be inserted before it, if not already there. Examples: “Please tell me the time.” “I wrote her a letter from Barcelona.” “We sent Mr. Gonzalez ten pesos.” “We gave the most ene
rgetic guide a large tip.” [Indirect objects are in italics.]

  INDEX

  The following abbreviations have been used in this index: conj, for conjugation and def. for definition. French words appear in italics and their English translations in parentheses.

  à before the infinitive

  abbreviations

  accents

  adjectives

  agreement with nouns

  def.

  cognates

  comparison

  def.

  demonstrative

  how to form feminine singular

  interrogative

  irregular

  placement

  plurals

  possessive

  adverbs

  comparison

  def.

  how to form

  aller (to go)

  in idioms

  substitute for future

  articles

  definite

  def.

  indefinite

  auxiliary verbs

  avoir

  def.

  être

  in passé composé

  with reflexive verbs

  avoir (to have)

  in idioms

  cognates

  false

  command form

  how to form

  irregular forms

  pronoun with.

  reflexive verbs

  substitutes

  comparative adjectives and adverbs

  def.

  how to form

  irregular forms

  comparisons

  adjectives

  adverbs

  how to form

  how to use

  irregular forms

  miscellaneous expressions

  superlative

  compound relative pronouns

  compound tenses

  être as auxiliary

  forming questions

  how to use ne ... pas

  conditional tense

  how to form

  how to use

  irregular forms

  past conditional

  conjugations

  def.

  models in present tense

  -er (ist conj.)

  -ir (2nd conj.)

  -re (3rd conj.)

  conjunctions

  def.

  connaître and savoir (to know) when to use

  contractions

  au, aux, du, des (to the, of the)

  de before the infinitive

  in partitive construction

  in superlative expressions

  definite article

  demonstrative adjectives

  demonstrative pronouns

  devoir (to owe; must)

  in idioms

  direct object

  def.

  direct object pronouns

  -er verb conjugation

  est-ce que

  être (to be)

  in idioms

  in telling time

  irregular command forms

  irregular imperfect

  faire (to make, do)

  in idioms

  falloir (to be necessary)

  in idioms

  false cognates

  familiar form (tu)

  when to use

  future tense

  how to form

  how to use

  irregular verbs

  reflexive verbs

  replaced

  by aller plus infinitive

  by present tense

  gender

  def.

  nouns

  greetings

  health expressions

  idiomatic verbs

  il y a (there is, ago)

  imperative; see command form

  imperfect tense

  comparison with passé composé

  def.

  how to form

  how to use,

  irregular forms of être

  indefinite article

  indirect object

  def.

  indirect object pronouns.

  infinitive

  after aller

  def.

  directly after verb

  prepositions used with

  interrogative words

  adjectives

  pronouns

  useful words

  -ir verb conjugation

  irregular verbs

  conditional tenses

  imperfect

  future tense

  past participles

  present tense

  negative

  expressions

  word order

  ne ... pas (not)

  use

  with compound tenses

  with object pronouns

  n’est-ce pas? (isn’t it?)

  nouns

  cognates

  def.

  gender

  plurals

  object; see direct and indirect object

  obligation expressions

  on (one)

  substitute for passive

  partitive construction

  parts of speech

  def.

  passé composé tense

  compared with imperfect

  English and French compared

  how to form

  how to use

  reflexive verbs

  passive voice

  def.

  how to form

  past conditional tense

  past indefinite tense; see passé composé tense

  past participles

  agreement with subject

  footnote,

  def.

  how to form

  irregular forms

  penser (to think)

  in idioms

  personal pronouns

  pluperfect tense

  possession

  adjectives

  English and French compared

  pronouns

  special forms used after être

  prepositional forms of personal pronouns

  prepositions

  def.

  infinitive used with

  present participle

  def.

  how to form

  present tense

  English and French compared

  irregular forms

  reflexive verbs

  substitute for future tense

  probability expressions

  pronouns

  def.

  demonstrative

  direct object

  in affirmative command

  indirect object

  interrogative

  normal position

  possessive

  prepositional forms

  relative

  sequence of

  table of

  que (that, what)

  as conjunction

  as interrogative pronoun

  as relative pronoun

  questions

  how to form

  in compound tenses

  qui (who, whom)

  as interrogative pronoun

  as relative pronoun

  -re verb conjugation

  reflexive pronouns

  def.

  forms

  reflexive verbs

  conjugations

  English and French compared

  how to use

  important examples

  substitute for passive

  relative pronouns

  savoir and connaître (to know) when to use

  subjunctive

  superlative

  def.

  how to form

  irregular forms

  -t- inserted for pronunciation

  tense

  def. and classification of

  time expressions

  tu (familiar form)

  useful expressions

  valoir (to be worth)

  in idioms

  venir (to come)<
br />
  in idioms

  verbs (see also auxiliary verbs, command form, compound verbs, conditional tense, future tense, imperfect tense, passé composé tense, pluperfect tense, present tense, and reflexive verbs)

  auxiliary

  cognates

  command form

  conditional tenses

  def.

  English and French compared

  future tense

  idiomatic

  imperfect tense

  participles

  passé composé

  passive voice

  pluperfect tense

  present tense

  reflexive

  veuillez (please)

  substitute for command form

  vocabulary tips

  voici (here is)

  voilà (there is)

  voulez-vous bien (please)

  substitute for command form

  vouloir (to want)

  in idioms

  weather expressions

  word order

  negative

  normal

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