digne, worthy; grand, great; jeune, young; joli, pretty; mauvais, bad; méchant, wicked; meilleur, better; moindre, less; petit, little; saint, holy; tel, such; tout, all; vieux, old; vilain, ugly. The meaning of some adjectives, however, differs according to their position before or after the noun; as, Un honnête homme, an honest man. Un homme honnête, a polite man. Un grand homme, a man of great Un homme grand, a tall man. merit. Un brave homme, a worthy man. See APPENDICE, Place de l'adjectif. Un homme brave, a brave man. Exercise. A young man. (An) important news. A good study. An agreeable nouvelle f. étude f. jeune agréable amusement. A valuable collection of old manuscripts. A cultivated m. précieux — - f. manuscrits m. cultivé (65) country is always admired. (The) idleness is fatal to (the) campagne f. est toujours admiré health. The Italian language is easy. italien langue f. facile santé f. J'ai paresse f. The gods of the pagans étaient nombreux bold and ferocious. hardi féroce grec dieux païens There is a beautiful part f. étudié The manners of those good countrymen are mœurs f. pl. ces paysans sont They are (of the) deceitful promises. speech. They are troublesome. The discours m. Ils sont importun Fear the avenging thunderbolt. That is your Craignez vengeur foudre f. C'est votre favourite reading. This is for the public good. Have you a good favori lecture f. C'est pour bien m. Avez-vous pen? plume f. The enchanting style of Bernardin de St. Pierre. The enchanting voice of that actress. The soul is immortal. (The) ancient history is ancien histoire f. immortel Those boys are docile and âme f. A new coat. neuf habit The grass is thick. Ces amiable. sont man history. main histoire f. events A protecting protecteur The paint is peinture f. An interesting intéressant remarquable événements m. pl. of the Ro TO A plain, simple, and natural style. An ingenuous uni naturel m. ingénu candour, an amiable simplicity, and a lively artlessness are the dour f. aimable simplicité f. charm charme m. of (the) youth. piquant naïveté f. sont 67. Formation of the Degrees of Comparison. There are three degrees of comparison : 1. The Positive, or the adjective itself. 3. The Superlative, expressed by le, la, or le, la, les moins, Superlative. Le plus sage, wisest. Le moins instruit, the least learned. le, la, or les is not used NOTE. In the superlative degree the article when a possessive pronoun precedes the noun, as mon plus cher ami, my dearest friend. NOTE. The French have no terminations similar to the er and est used to express the English comparative and superlative. 68. The following are irregular : Le meilleur, the best. Pire (or plus mauvais), Le pire (or le plus mau Bon, good; Meilleur, better; 69. The comparative of these adjectives must not be mistaken for the comparative of the following adverbs : Bien, well; Mieux, better; Le mieux, the best. Mal, badly; Pis*, or plus mal, worse; Le pis, or le plus mal, the Londres est la plus belle des villes. Le meilleur ami. La plus belle comparaison. Mes plus jolies fleurs. Son meilleur * Pis is also used as a comparative adjective, C'est bien pis, it is much worse. Il n'y a rien de pis que cela, there is nothing worse than that. ouvrage. La plus jeune de mes sœurs. mes frères. Un meilleur raisonnement. Exercise. Le moins sage de Il raisonne mieux. Rich, richer, richest. A pretty village, a prettier village, the joli ―m. Riche prettiest village. Amiable, less amiable, the least amiable. Small, Aimable smaller, smallest. A good drawing, a better drawing. He draws dessin m. Il dessine well his brother draws better. son OF COMPARISON. Superiority. 70. In a comparison of superiority, plus, more, is placed before the adjective, and que, than, after it. plus......que Il est plus savant que moi. Inferiority. 71. In a comparison of inferiority, moins, less, is placed before the adjective, and que, than, after it. moins......que. less than Il est moins riche que vous. Equality. 72. In a comparison of equality, aussi, as, in affirmative, or si, so, in negative, phrases, is placed before the adjective, and que, as, after it. si .........que. La tulipe est aussi belle que la rose. beautiful as the rose. La tulipe n'est pas si belle que la rose. NOTE. Aussi is also used occasionally in negative sentences. Read, translate, and parse: Homère me paraît plus sublime que tous les autres poëtes épiques. La rose est plus belle que la violette. L'automne est moins varié que le printemps. Vous êtes moins instruit que votre frère. Il est aussi savant que moi. Il n'est pas si âgé que votre sœur. Exercise. Nothing is more agreeable to the mind than the light of (the) Rien n'est agréable esprit lumière f. truth. William is less attentive than his brother. He is as rich vérité f. Guillaume attentif son riche as they. He is not so rich as they. (The) shipwreck and (the) eux Il n'est pas eux naufrage m. death are less fatal than the pleasures which attack (the) virtue. mort f. sont funeste plaisirs qui attaquent vertu f. My dear friend, be as good and as benevolent as your father. soyez OF NUMERAL ADJECTIVES. Numeral adjectives indicate a reference to numbers. They are of two sorts, the cardinal and the ordinal. The cardinal are the numbers which indicate quantity without marking the order, and the ordinal are the numbers which serve to indicate the order in which things may be arranged. From the cardinal and ordinal numbers are derived other numeral expressions, understood by their denominations of collective, fractional and proportional numbers. |