as necessary in society for the happiness of life as in nécessaire société, f. pour bonheur, m. vie, f. Christianity for eternal salvation.-Autumn is less varied Christianisme, m. éternel2 salut1, m. Automne, m. varié than spring, but it is richer.-William the Conqueror printemps, il est en died at Hermentrude, in France, on the ninth of September, mourut à Septembre, one thousand and eighty-seven.-Ignorant men are Ignorant, m. vains fier autres. generally more conceited and more proud than others.ordinairement The Alps are very high and very steep. Alpes, f. haut escarpé. but I like it better.-Charles the Second, the son of Philip Charles je l'aime fils Philippe the Fourth, left his kingdom to Philip the Fifth.-London laissa son royaume is the richest city in Europe. ville, f. en Europe. scarce as rare went to Russia in the year one thousand eight hundred and alla en Russie dans l'année twelve, and Lewis the Eighteenth returned to France in the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.-The most beautiful comparison (that there is) comparaison, f. qu'il y ait language is that which Pope has drawn langue, f. est celle que Essai sur Critique, f. perhaps in any peut-être dans aucun from the Alps, in his Alpes, son Essay on Criticism.-(There were) two hundred and fifty a tirée Il y avait concert hier. persons (at the) concert yesterday.-The pleasures of the personnes au plaisir, m. mind are greater than the pleasures of the body, and esprit, m. corps, m. the diseases of the mind are more pernicious than those pernicieux maladie, f. celles of the body.-I wrote to your brother on the twelfth of J'écrivis votre July, and he answered me on the twenty-first of August. Juillet, il me répondit Août. -Henry the first, king of England, and brother to William Henri Angleterre, Rufus, died the richest prince in Europe. le Roux, mourut de ľ CHAPTER IV. OF PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS are words which, as their name implies, are used instead of nouns. There are six different sorts of pronouns: the personal, the possessive, the demonstrative, the relative, the interrogative, and the indefinite. OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS. Personal pronouns, which take the place of persons or things, have three persons. Pronouns of the first person represent the person or persons who speak: as, JE lis, I read; Nous écrivons, we write. Pronouns of the second person represent the person or persons to whom we speak : as, TU cherches, thou seekest; Vous voyez, you see. Pronouns of the third person represent the person or persons, or the thing, of whom or of which we speak : as, ELLE demande, she asks; ILS attendent, they wait. Personal pronouns are divided into two classes, which are called the conjunctive and the disjunctive. The conjunctive, which always go before a verb, are thus declined : y, to it, to them, &c. used in the dative in reference to things. en, of it, of him, of them, &c. used in the genitive, principally in reference to things. The disjunctive pronouns, governed by a preposition, are placed after the verb; they are NOM. Moi, toi, lui, elle, soi, nous, vous, eux, m. elles, f. they, and I thou, he, she, oneself, we, you, they, ACC. Sme, thee, him, her, us, you, them, them. To the above pronouns, même is sometimes added; as, SINGULAR.-Moi-même, myself; toi-même, thyself; lui-même, himself; elle-même, herself; soi-même, oneself. PLURAL. Nous-mêmes, ourselves; vous-mêmes, yourselves; eux-mêmes, themselves, m.; elles-mêmes, themselves, f. Of the above pronouns, se and soi are of both genders and of both numbers. Se always precedes the verb; soi always follows it, being preceded by a preposition. Soi is never used but in reference to an indefinite subject; as, chacun pense à soi, every one thinks of himself. RULES ON THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 1. The pronouns of the first and second persons are applied only to persons or to things personified. Those of the third person are applied either to persons or things. 2. The English pronouns it and they must always, when rendered in French, assume the gender of the nouns they represent. Ex. This table is old, but it is good; cette table est vieille, mais ELLE est bonne. Ex. 3. The personal pronouns in French, whether used in the dative or the accusative case, precede the verb. Ex. Il vous aime, he loves you; il LUI parle, he speaks to him. 4. If the verb be used in the first or second person of the imperative affirmative, the pronoun follows it. Suivez-LES, follow them; dépêchons-NOUS, let us make haste. But if the verb be in the imperative negative, the pronoun must always precede the verb. Ex. Ne LES suivez pas, do not follow them; ne NOUS dépêchons pas, let us not make haste. 5. If there are several verbs in a sentence, having a pronoun for nominative, that pronoun must be repeated before each of these verbs, if they are in different tenses. Ex. Il est arrivé hier, et IL viendra he arrived yesterday, and will nous voir demain ; come to see us to-morrow. 6. But if they are in the same tense, the pronoun may or may not be repeated. Ex. Il arriva hier matin, et vint nous voir dans la soirée ; he arrived yesterday morning, and came to see us in the evening. 7. The pronoun must also be repeated, if, of two verbs having a subject in common, one is used affirmatively and the other negatively. Ex. Il a promis de venir, mais IL he promised to come, but did n'est pas venu ; not. 8. But the nominative pronouns must not be repeated if the verbs are preceded by the conjunction ni, neither, nor. Ex. Il est très-malade; il ne mange, he is very ill; he neither eats, ni ne boit, ni ne dort; drinks, nor sleeps. 9. The English pronouns I, thou, he, and they, are rendered in French by je, tu, il, and ils, when they immediately precede the verb of which they are the nominative. JE sais qu'IL est riche, I know that he is rich. Ex. 10. But the pronouns I, thou, he, they, are rendered by moi, toi, lui, eux, in answer to such questions as who is it? or who has done it? and also when coming after it is. Ex. Qui l'a dit? Mor; who said it? I. it was he who did that. C'est LUI qui a fait cela; 11. I, thou, he, they, are also expressed by moi, toi, lui, eux, when a verb has two or more subjects; in that case; the verb must be in the plural, and it is generally governed by nous, when in the first person: see page 114, R. 32. Ex. Vous et moi Nous serons bons Vous et lui n'étiez jamais d'ac- you and I shall be good 12. It has been said, Rule 3, p. 54, that the conjunctive pronouns, in the dative and accusative cases, are placed before the verb. Two pronouns of this kind often occur; as, I give him to you, je vous le donne. This is the order in which the pronouns are to be placed in such cases— me le, me la, me les, m'en, m'y: te le, te la, te les, t'en, t'y: nous le, nous la, nous les, nous en, nous y: vous le, vous la, vous les, vous en, vous y le lui, la lui, l'en, l'y: les lui, les leur, les en, les y: lui en, leur en. Nous VOUS LE montrerons, Ex. ON THE PRONOUNS EN AND Y. En is principally used in speaking of things; it serves to express of it, of them, from it, from them, or the words some, any, either expressed or understood, referring to a noun antecedent. Ex J'EN parle, Je vous EN enverrai, Il s'EN abstient En may I speak of it. I will send you some. he abstains from it. likewise be used in reference to persons. Quant à votre sœur, nous n'en entendons pas parler, as for your sister, we do not hear of her. |