soir" in the early part of the night, and "bonne nuit” when it is the time when people generally go to bed. But we never say : "bon matin; bon après-midi": the only words of greeting in these cases are: jour; bon soir; bonne nuit," and "au revoir" till I see you again. "bon 11. The word "people" has three quite different acceptations : When it means the whole of a people, it is translated by "peuple, nation": La volonté du peuple. La nation française. The will of the people. The French people. When it means a part of people, it is translated by "Monde." Il y avait beaucoup de monde There were many people yesterhier dans les rues. day in the streets. by When it means some individuals only, it is translated Il y a des gens qui ne sont There are people who are never jamais contents. pleased. 12. The following peculiarities respecting dates and numbers are not to be forgotten : The year 1868. London, June 15th. Napoleon the Third. this day week. to-morrow fortnight. six months ago. twice two are four. what is the time? what o'clock is it?} it is five o'clock. L'an mil huit cent soixante huit. Londres, 15 juin. Napoléon trois. d'aujourd'hui en huit jours. deux fois deux font quatre. il est cing heures. il est cing heures et demie. it wants five minutes to ten. il est dix heures moins cinq 13. minutes. il est midi. il est minuit. onze heures viennent de sonner. lundi. mardi. The possessive article always agrees with the noun which it precedes, and must be repeated before every noun: His wife. her husband. his children. his brother and sister and my father and mother went out tøgether last night. 14. Sa femme. son mari. ses enfants. son frère et sa sœur, et mon père et ma mère sortirent ensemble hier au soir. The definite article generally supplies the place of the possessive when there is no room for amphibology: 16. When "he, she, they" refer to a preceding noun and are followed either by a noun or pronoun, always use "ce" instead of "il, elle, ils, elles : Connaissez-vous Monsieur A? Do you know Mr. A.? he is a c'est un homme très very pleasing man. agréable. avez-vous vu Madame E.? did you see Mrs. E.? c'est une dame très respec- she is a very respectable lady. table. à qui sont ces gants? ce sont les nièces de notre voisin. whose gloves are these? they are my sister's. who are these young girls? they are our neighbour's nieces. 17.-" He, she, they" have their natural translation when followed by another word than a noun or pro noun: J'ai rencontré mon oncle; il est toujours charmant avec moi. avez-vous quelquefois parlé à ma cousine? elle sera ici demain. ces hommes réussiront: ils sont très rangés. ne passez pas par ces rues : elles sont trop sales. I met my uncle: he is always charming with me. did you ever speak to my cousin? she will be here tomorrow. these men will succeed: they are very steady. do not pass along these streets; they are too dirty. 18.-"He, she, they," before nouns denoting a pro fession or state of life, bear two sorts of translation: elle est veuve. c'est une veuve. are these? are those?" are Sont-ce là ? " Est-ce là votre maison? sont-ce là vos amis? 20.-"What followed by a substantive, is translated by quel, quelle, &c.: Quelle couleur avez-vous choisi? What colour did you choose? 21.-"What?" is translated before a verb by "qu'est ce qui ? by "que objective: when it is the nominative of a sentence; and or "qu'est-ce que ?" when it is the ? ” Qu'est-ce qui vous rend si malheureux ? que faites-vous? or, qu'est ce que vous faites? What makes you so unhappy? what are you doing? 22.-"What" meaning "that which," is expressed by "ce qui" when the subject when the object of it, by governs 'de," and by governs "à." 66 Je fais ce qui me plait. c'est ce à quoi j'ai pensé. of a sentence, by "ce que I do what pleases me. it is what I do not remember. it is what I thought of. 23.-There are two ways of turning "who" and "what," when they begin a sentence: Qui est là ? qui est-ce qui est là? qu'est-cela ? qu'est-ce que c'est que cela? Who is there? what is that? 24. "On" is generally used for "people, they, one": I do not care for what people will say. they say so. Je ne fais pas attention à ce qu'on dira. on le dit. 25.-"La plupart," used by itself, requires a plural: La plupart le pensent. Most people think so. 26. The word "that," which is often understood in English, is never omitted in French : The book I am reading. Le livre que je lis. I hope you are well. J'espère que vous vous portez bien. where are the books I gave où sont les livres que je vous you? ai donnés ? 27. The difficulty so often complained of in the proper use of the tenses of the French verbs arises especially from expressing by the imperfect the times distinguished in French by the imperfect, the past definite, and the past indefinite. I. The imperfect is used in French only in three cases : FIRSTLY.-When you wish to let understand that an action was not concluded when another took place : J'écrivais quand il est entré. I was writing when he walked SECONDLY.-When you habitual performance of the period. Sa santé n'était pas bonne in. mean continuation, an same action at a specified His health was not good at that time. When I was at the sea-side, I used to bathe every morning. THIRDLY.-When you describe the state of a person and thing; and this is why this tense has been properly called "the descriptive tense." il n'y avait pas une tache there was not one spot in the dans les cieux. skies. II. The past definite is used when the action took place but once, or when a fact is related which occurred at a period entirely past: this tense is called, for this reason, "the historical tense." |