FRENCH GRAMMAR. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1. LANGUAGE is properly defined to be the means of communicating ideas, and may be divided into oral and written, but the latter is merely symbolical of the former. The rules which by custom have obtained for the government of a language are properly the subject of grammar. As if by common consent of civilized mankind, all languages are subject to certain primary rules or principles, and the French language, like every other, is governed as well by those general principles of grammar as by its own peculiar rules. The mode of speaking peculiar to a language is called the idiom of that language, from the Greek word idios (idios), peculiar. Thus, "Is Mr. A. at home?" is a phrase conformable to the idiom of the English language. If we translate this into French (Monsieur A. est-il chez lui?), and retranslate the expression into English, we should say, "Mr. A. is he at home?" This would be an English phrase, written according to the idiom of the French language.-STUDENT'S MANUal. Language consists of sentences, sentences consist of words, and words may be divided into syllables and letters. Words may either be composed of one or more syllables, hence the terms monosyllable, dissyllable, trisyllable, polysyllable. A syllable may be defined to be that portion of a word which is produced by a single articulation of the voice, and it may be composed of one or more letters. Letters then, the most elementary parts of written language, represent also the elementary sounds of the language, the proper utterance of which constitutes a good accent. B The manner of pronouncing the words of the French language according to the usage of good society and the rules of pronunciation, is called the French national accent. Before entering upon the study of French pronunciation, the student must bear in mind that sounds are not to be found in books. They can be acquired by the ear only. He should therefore listen attentively and carefully to his teacher, and persevere in imitating his articulation, until his own voice becomes, as it were, attuned to French sounds, and he is able to utter them with purity and ease. PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. 2. The French alphabet consists of twenty-five letters, viz. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z. These letters are named in French as follows: a, bé, cé, dé, é, èffe, jé, ash, i, ji, ha, èlle, èmme, ènne, o, pé, ku, èrre, èsse, té, u, vé, ikse, i grec, zède. But according to their more modern designations, they are pronounced: a, be, ke, de, e, fe, gue, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, ke, re, se, te, u, ve, kse, i grec, ze. In the new pronunciation, e, after each consonant, is sounded as e in the English word battery. To these letters we may add w (double v), which is found in a few French words derived from the English or German languages, as whist (pronounced ouiste), etc. We might also add œ, which is found in a few words, as cœur, heart; sœur, sister; Edipe, etc. 3. The vowels, or simple emissions of the voice, are a, e, i, o, u, and y (i grec). 4. The other letters are called consonants, being articulated with the assistance of vowels. The six vowels express only five sounds, i and y being pronounced alike; but as the French language has several other sounds, the deficiency of letters to convey them is partly supplied by marks called accents, and by various graphical combinations. (See 16 and 17.) OF ACCENTS AND OTHER GRAMMATICAL SIGNS. 5. Accents generally denote the peculiar sounds of the vowels; some, however, serve to distinguish words spelt alike, but of different signification. 6. There are three accents used on the vowels: the acute accent, l'accent aigu ('); the grave accent, l'accent grave ('); and the circumflex accent, l'accent circonflexe (^). 7. The acute is placed over the vowel e only, and gives it an acute or slender sound; as vérité, truth. 8. The grave placed over e, generally gives that vowel a broad or open sound; as près, near. 9. The grave accent has also other uses; it is placed over à, to, at; là, there; and où, where, to distinguish those words from a, has; la, the, her or it; and ou, or. It is placed over the penultimate e of certain words which end with two e's separated by a single consonant, or by two consonants belonging to the final syllable, when the last e is unaccented; as modèle, model; zèle, zeal; règle, rule. The grave accent likewise serves to distinguish the termination es when an integral part of the word, from the termination es in which the s is only the sign of the plural termination or of a grammatical inflexion; as, congrès, congress. succès, success. très, very. dès, from, since, etc. congres (plural of congre), congers, sea-eels. tu parles, thou speakest. 10. The circumflex is found on a few vowels which have a broad or open sound (son grave); as gráce, gracefulness; tempête, tempest; páte, dough; méme, same; apótre, apostle. The circumflex accent indicates the suppression of a vowel, as in âge, rôle, bâiller, (which used to be written aage, roole, baailler,) paiment, gaiment, (paiement, gaiement,) or of an s, as in tête, gîte, côte, flûte, (formerly teste, giste, coste, fluste). It is also used in many words derived from the Latin where a syllable is cut off, as âme, anima (soul), and especially in verbs, as nous aimâmes, amavimus (we loved); vous aimâtes, amavistis (you loved), etc. The circumflex accent is likewise placed upon mûr, ripe; sûr, sure; crû, grown*; and dû, due; to distinguish those words from mur, wall; sur, upon; cru, believed; and du, of or from the. 11. The apostrophe, l'apostrophe ('), marks the elision or suppression of the final vowel of a word placed. before another word beginning with a vowel or an h mute; as l'ami, the friend, for le ami; l'âme, the soul, for la ame; l'homme, the man, for le homme, etc. The elision of the final vowel occurs in le, la, je, me, te, se, de, ce, ne, que, and the compounds of que, as parce que, puisque, etc., when followed by a word beginning with a vowel or an h mute. The elision of i occurs in si when followed by il, ils. But e and a do not suffer elision in ce, de, le, la, que, before oui, huit, huitaine, huitième, onze, and onzième; nor do they suffer elision in le, la when these words are used after a verb in the imperative mood; as le oui et le non; le huit ou le onze du mois; menez-la à Paris. The elision of the e in je does not take place when je comes after the verb; as ai-je eu des amis? 12. The cedilla, la cédille (ç), placed under c gives that letter the sound of s before a, o, u; as leçon, lesson; il effaça, he effaced; façon, fashion; reçu, received. In old French, before the introduction of the cedilla, the vowel e used to be placed between the c and the following vowel; as il effacea, faceon, receu. 13. The diæresis, le tréma ("), is placed over a vowel to indicate that it is not of the same syllable as the vowel preceding or following it; as naïf, candid; je haïs, I hated; païen, pagan; baïonnette. 14. The hyphen, le tiret or trait d'union (-), is used: 1. After a verb followed by one of the pronouns je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles; le, la, les; moi, toi, lui, leur, y, en, ce, on; as ai-je ? have I? parle-moi, speak to me. 2. Between words so joined that they are considered but one, as arc-en-ciel, rainbow; c'est-à-dire, that is to say; also in moi-même, toi-même, etc.; also *The circumflex accent is also used with certain tenses and persons of the verb croître, to grow, which on account of similarity in spelling might be mistaken with tenses and persons of the verb croire, to believe. Thus je crois, I grow, je crús, I grew, are distinguished from je crois, I believe, je crus, I believed. See in the verbs the conjugation of croître. to connect the words ci and là with the word which precedes or follows them, as celui-ci, cet homme-ci, ci-dessus, etc. 3. Between the numerals from dix-sept to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf inclusively; except when et is placed between the numbers, as in vingt et un, trente et un, etc., soixante et onze, etc. NOTE. The French names of those grammatical signs, principally of punctuation, which are common to the English and the French languages, are: Virgule (,), comma. Point et virgule (;), semicolon. Deux points (:), colon. Point (.), full stop or period. Point interrogatif (?), note of interrogation. Point exclamatif ou admiratif (!), Parenthèse (), parenthesis. VOWEL SOUNDS. The vowel sounds, or simple emissions of the voice, are represented by one or more vowels. 15. By one Vowel. a is sounded as in la, the ; ma, my; ta, thy; Canada, Panama, Malaga: á broad or open as in páte, dough. e feeble, called e mute, (No. 1. of diagram, page 6,) as in le, the; je, I; me, me; te, thee; de, of; ce, that; ne, not; que, that; taxe, tax; age; chasse, chase; partage, distribution. é acute (with an acute accent) (No. 2.), as in dé, dice; né, born; été, summer; café, coffee; taxé, taxed; ágé, aged; chassé, chased; partagé, distributed; dégénéré, degenerated; répété, repeated; révéré, revered; célébrité. The é with an acute accent is called e fermé (close), because it is pronounced with the mouth nearly shut, and is sounded in a clear and rather sharp manner. NOTE. Many French words ending in té are derived from Latin words ending in tas; as vérité (truth), from veritas; volupté (pleasure), from voluptas; générosité, from generositas, etc. e unaccented has the sound of é in clef, key; pied, foot; and before r and z mute, as aimer, to love; venez, come. è open (with a grave accent) (No. 3. of diagram, p. 6) |