Essential French Grammar
Page 15
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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