Friday, 2 May 2014

FRENCH GRAMMAR.

FRENCH   GRAMMAR.

INTRODUCTION:
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Part of a series on the
French language
History
Phonological history
Grammar
Orthography
Phonology
French grammar is the grammar of the French language, which in many respects is quite similar to that of the other Romance languages.
French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently); adjectives, for number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood, and the person and number of their subjects. Case is primarily marked using word order and prepositions, while certain verb features are marked using auxiliary verbs.

Verbs

Main article: French verbs
Verbs in French are conjugated to reflect the following information:
Some of these features are combined into seven tense–aspect–mood combinations. The simple (one-word) forms are commonly referred to as the present, the simple past or preterite[3] (past tense, perfective aspect), the imperfect[3] (past tense, imperfective aspect), the future, the conditional,[1] the present subjunctive, and the imperfect subjunctive forms. However, the simple past is rarely used in informal French, and the imperfect subjunctive is rarely used in modern French at all.
Verbs in the finite moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and conditional) are also conjugated to agree with their subjects in person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural), but as in English the subject must be included except in the imperative mood. In other words, unlike other Romance languages, French is neither a null subject language nor a pronoun-dropping language.
French also combines the simple forms of helping verbs with the past participles of main verbs; it sometimes uses the verbs "être" (to be) and "avoir" (to have) as an auxiliary in the compound past.
The imperative mood, which only has first person plural and second person singular/plural forms, almost always has conjugations identical to the corresponding ones in the present indicative.

Nouns

Gender

Every French noun has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. The grammatical gender of a noun referring to a human usually corresponds to the noun's natural gender (i.e., its referent's sex or gender). For such nouns, there will very often be one noun of each gender, with the choice of noun being determined by the natural gender of the person described; for example, a male singer is a chanteur, while a female singer is a chanteuse. In some cases, the two nouns are identical in form, with the difference only being marked in neighboring words (due to gender agreement; see below); a Catholic man is un catholique, while a Catholic woman is une catholique. Nonetheless, there are some such nouns that retain their grammatical gender regardless of natural gender; personne 'person' is always feminine, while (at least in "standard" French) professeur 'teacher' is always masculine (except in Québec where une professeure is standard).
A noun's gender is not perfectly predictable from its form, but there are some trends. As a very broad trend, nouns ending in -e tend to be feminine, while the rest tend to be masculine. More consistently, some endings, such as -sion, -tion, and -ure, occur almost exclusively with feminine nouns, while others, such as -eau, occur almost exclusively with masculine ones. Nonetheless, a noun that seems masculine judging by its ending might actually be feminine (e.g., la peau 'skin') or, less commonly, vice versa (e.g., un squelette 'skeleton').
A small number of nouns can be used either in masculine or feminine gender with the same meaning (e.g., après-midi 'afternoon'). Often one gender is preferred over the other. Some (very rare) nouns change gender according to the way they are used: the words amour 'love' and délice 'pleasure' are masculine in singular and feminine in plural; the word orgue 'organ' is masculine, but when used emphatically in plural to refer to a church organ it becomes feminine (les grandes orgues); the plural noun gens 'people' changes gender in a very unusual way, being usually masculine but triggering feminine agreement when certain adjectives precede the word.
The vocabulary of French includes many homophones, i.e., pairs of words with different spellings but the same pronunciation. Grammatical gender, however, may serve to distinguish some of these. For example, le pot 'pot' and la peau 'skin' are both pronounced [po] but disagree in gender.

Number

As in English, nouns are inflected for number. The plural is usually formed from the singular by adding -s (cf. maison > maisons 'houses'). Nouns ending in -au, -eu, and -ou often take the ending -x (cf. jeu > jeux 'games'). However, since the endings -s and -x are generally mute, these plural forms have the same pronunciation as the singular. The actual plural mark in spoken French is therefore not the plural form of the noun itself, but that of its preceding article or determiner (cf. la maison [la mɛzɔ̃] 'the house' > les maisons [lɛ mɛzɔ̃] 'the houses'; mon frère [mɔ̃ fʁɛːʁ] 'my brother' > mes frères [mɛ fʁɛːʁ] 'my brothers'). Nouns which end in -s, -x or -z in the singular are left unchanged in the plural in both pronunciation and spelling (cf. croix > croix 'crosses', both pronounced [kʁwa]).
Liaison between a plural noun and a following adjective is only common in careful speech, for example, by newsreaders. In this case the plural ending -s or -x may be pronounced: des fenêtres ouvertes [dɛ fənɛtʁəz‿uvɛʁt] ("open windows"). In common speech this is almost never done, so singular and plural forms are homophonous in all contexts.
However, some French nouns have distinguishable spoken plural forms. This includes most of those ending in -al, whose plural form is -aux (cf. cheval [ʃəval] > chevaux [ʃəvo] 'horses'), as well as a few nouns ending in -ail which also follow this pattern (cf. travail [tʁavaj] > travaux [tʁavo] 'works'). Three nouns form completely irregular plurals: aïeul [ajœl] > aïeux [ajø] 'ancestors'; ciel [sjɛl] > cieux [sjø] 'heavens'; and œil [œj] > yeux [jø] 'eyes'. Three other nouns have regular plurals in spelling but have irregular pronunciations: bœuf [bœf] > bœufs [bø] 'oxen, cattle'; œuf [œf] > œufs [ø] 'eggs'; and os [ɔs] > os [o] 'bones'.
As with English, most uncountable nouns are grammatically treated as singular, though some are plural, such as les mathématiques 'mathematics'; some nouns that are uncountable in English are countable in French, such as une information 'a piece of information'.

Case

Nouns in French are not inflected for any other grammatical categories. (However, personal pronouns are inflected for case and person; see below.)

Articles and determiners

Main article: French articles and determiners
Articles and determiners agree in gender and number with the noun they determine; unlike with nouns, this inflection is made in speech as well as in writing.
French has three articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive. The difference between the definite and indefinite articles is similar to that in English (definite: the; indefinite: a, an), except that the indefinite article has a plural form (similar to some, though English normally doesn't use an article before indefinite plural nouns). The partitive article is similar to the indefinite article but used for uncountable singular nouns.

Adjectives

An adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. French adjectives therefore have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.
The masculine singular, an adjective's basic form, is listed in dictionaries. The feminine singular is normally formed by adding -e to the basic form. This -e is mute, which makes many masculine and feminine forms homophonous (cf. civil > civile 'civil', both pronounced /sivil/). However, the ending causes "mute" final sounds to be pronounced, whereby masculine-feminine pairs become distinguishable in pronunciation if the masculine form ends in a mute consonant, which is the case with a great deal of adjectives (cf. lourd [luʁ] > lourde [luʁd] 'heavy'). Under certain circumstances, other minor changes occur in the formation of feminine forms, such as the placement of an accent, the doubling of a consonant, or its replacement with another, changes that often reflect the pronunciation of such endings (cf. bon [bɔ̃] > bonne [bɔn] 'good'; heureux [øʁø] > heureuse [øʁøːz] 'happy'). Irregular feminine forms include beau > belle 'beautiful', blanc > blanche 'white', and a limited number of others. If an adjective's basic form ends in -e, it is left unchanged in the feminine (cf. riche > riche 'rich').
The plural is normally formed by adding -s to the singular (masculine and feminine). This -s is usually mute, but pronounced [z] in liaison with a following noun that begins with a vowel. Unlike with nouns, this liaison is common and even obligatory in standard usage. If the basic form ends in -s, -x, or -z, an adjective is left unchanged in the masculine plural (cf. doux > doux 'soft, gentle'). A few adjectives take the (also mute) ending -x in the masculine plural (cf. nouveau > nouveaux 'new'). Plural forms that are distinguishable from the singular outside of liaison environments occur only with adjectives ending in -al. These normally have -aux in the masculine plural (cf. central [sɑ᷉tʀal] > centraux [sɑ᷉tʀo] 'central'). By contrast, the feminine plural is formed according to the general rule: centrale > centrales.
Due to the aforementioned rules, French adjectives might have four distinguished written forms which are all pronounced the same. This is the case if an adjective's masculine and feminine forms are homophonous and if there is no liaison between the adjective and a following noun.

 Written form Pronunciation Translation
masc. sg. un prince turc œ᷉ pʀɛ᷉s tyʀk a Turkish prince
fem. sg. une princesse turque yn pʀɛ᷉sɛs tyʀk a Turkish princess
masc. pl. des princes turcs de pʀɛ᷉s tyʀk Turkish princes
fem. pl. des princesses turques de pʀɛ᷉sɛs tyʀk Turkish princesses
On the other hand, if the masculine and feminine forms have different pronunciations and liaison does occur, all four forms can be distinguishable in pronunciation. Adjective declension is therefore important in spoken French, though to a lesser extent than in writing. (All forms distinguished in pronunciation are also distinguished in writing, but not vice versa.)

 Written form Pronunciation Translation
masc. sg. un grand empereur œ᷉ ɡʀɑ᷉t‿ɑ᷉pʀœʀ a great emperor
fem. sg. une grande impératrice yn ɡʀɑ᷉d‿ɛ᷉peʀatʀis a great empress
masc. pl. de grands empereurs də ɡʀɑ᷉z‿ɑ᷉pʀœʀ great emperors
fem. pl. de grandes impératrices də ɡʀɑ᷉dz‿ɛ᷉peʀatʀis great empresses
Due to the peculiar orthography of French, which denotes mute final consonants, most female forms seem regular to the learner because they are formed by adding -e to the masculine form, e.g., grand > grande, lent > lente, persan > persane. However, if we put this etymologic orthography aside and consider only current pronunciation, the formation of French female forms becomes quite irregular with several possible "endings": [ɡʀɑ̃] > [ɡʀɑ̃d], [lɑ̃] > [lɑ̃t], [pɛʀsɑ̃] > [pɛʀsan].
Most adjectives, when used attributively, appear after their nouns: le vin rouge ("the red wine"). A number of adjectives (often having to do with beauty, age, goodness, or size, a tendency summarized by the acronym "BAGS"), come before their nouns: une belle femme ("a beautiful woman"). With a few adjectives of the latter type, there are two masculine singular forms: one used before consonants (the basic form), and one used before vowels. For example, the adjective beau ("beautiful") changes form from un beau garçon ("a handsome boy") to un bel homme ("a handsome man"). Some adjectives change position depending on their meaning, sometimes preceding their nouns and sometimes following them. For example, ancien means "former" when it precedes its noun, but "ancient" when it follows it. To give another example, un homme grand means "a tall man", whereas un grand homme means "a great man".
Many compound words contain an adjective, such as belle-mère "mother-in-law", which is distinct from belle mère "beautiful mother". Some of them use an archaic form of the feminine adjective that lacks the final -e and sometimes show an apostrophe instead of a hyphen, such as grand' route "main country road", which is distinct from grande route "long way", and grand-mère "grandmother", which is distinct from grande mère "tall mother".

Adverbs

Main article: French adverbs
As in English, adverbs in French are used to modify adjectives, other adverbs, verbs, or clauses. Most adverbs are derived from an adjective by adding the suffix -ment to its feminine form (-ment is analogous to the English suffix -ly), though some adverbs are derived irregularly and others do not derive from adjectives at all.
Adverbs are almost all invariable; that is, unlike nouns, verbs, and adjectives, they are not inflected in any way, with the exception of certain uses tout.

Prepositions

French prepositions link two related parts of a sentence. In word order, they are placed in front of a noun in order to specify the relationship between the noun and the verb, adjective, or other noun that precedes it. Some common French prepositions are: à (to, at, in), à côté de (next to, beside), après (after), au sujet de (about, on the subject of), avant (before), avec (with), chez (at the home/office of, among), contre (against), dans (in), d'après (according to), de (from, of, about), depuis (since, for), derrière (in back of, behind), devant (in front of), durant (during, while), en (in, on, to), en dehors de (outside of), en face de (facing, across from), entre (between), envers (toward), environ (approximately), hors de (outside of), jusque (until, up to, even), loin de (far from), malgré (despite), par (by, through), parmi (among), pendant (during), pour (for), près de (near), quant à (as for, regarding), sans (without), selon (according to), sous (under), suivant (according to), sur (on), vers (toward).

Pronouns

Main article: French pronouns
In French pronouns can be inflected to indicate their role in a clause (subject, direct object, etc.), as well as the person, gender, and number of their referent. Not all of these inflections may be present at once; for example, the relative pronoun que (that, which, whom) may have any referent, while the possessive pronoun le mien (mine) may have any role in a clause.
As noted above, French (like English) is a non-pro-drop ("pronoun-dropping") language; therefore, pronouns feature prominently in the language. Impersonal verbs (e.g., pleuvoir — to rain) use the impersonal pronoun il (analogous to English it).
The French object pronouns are all clitics. Some appear so consistently — especially in everyday speech — that some[who?] have commented that French could almost be considered to demonstrate polypersonal agreement.

Negation

French usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle ne attached to the verb, and one or more negative words (connegatives) that modify the verb or one of its arguments. Negation encircles a conjugated verb with ne after the subject and the connegative after verb, if the verb is finite or a gerund. However, both parts of the negation come before the targeted verb when it is in its infinitive form. For example:
  • Je les ai pris 'I took them' → Je ne les ai pas pris 'I did not take them'
  • Je voudrais regarder un film et m'endormir 'I would like to watch a movie and fall asleep'
    → Je voudrais regarder un film et ne pas m'endormir. 'I would like to watch a movie and not fall asleep'
Other negative words used in combination with ne are:
  • negative adverbs
ne … plus — "not anymore, no longer"
ne … jamais — "never"
ne … nulle part — "nowhere"
ne … guère — "not much, hardly" (literary)
ne … point / aucunement / nullement — "not, not at all" (literary)
  • negative pronouns
ne … rien — "nothing"
ne … personne — "nobody"
  • others
(determiner) ne … aucun — "no/not any" (also nul, literary)
(restrictive particle) ne … que — "only"
Examples:
  • « Je ne sais pas. » — "I do not know."
  • « Il ne fume plus. » — "He does not smoke anymore."
  • « Nous n'avons vu personne. » — "We did not see anybody."
  • « Elle n'a rien bu. » — "She didn't drink anything."
  • « Je n'ai aucune idée. » — "I have no idea."
  • « Vous ne mangez que des légumes ? » — "You eat only vegetables?"
The negative adverbs (and rien) follow finite verbs but precede infinitives (along with ne):
  • « Il prétend ne pas/ne jamais/ne rien fumer. » — "He claims not to smoke/to never smoke/to smoke nothing."
Moreover, it is possible for rien and personne to be used as the subject of a sentence, which moves them to the beginning of the sentence (before the ne):
  • « Rien n'est certain. » — "Nothing is certain."
  • « Personne n'est arrivé. » — "Nobody came."
Several negative words (other than pas) can appear in the same sentence, but the sentence is still usually interpreted as a simple negation. When another negative word occurs with pas, a double negation interpretation usually arises, but this construction is criticised.
  • « Elle n'a plus jamais rien dit à personne. » — "She never said anything else to anybody."
  • « Elle n'a pas vu personne. — "She did not see nobody (i.e., she saw somebody)."

Colloquial usage

In colloquial French, it is common to drop the ne, although this can create some ambiguity with the ne … plus construction when written down, as plus could mean either "more" or "not anymore". Generally when plus is used to mean "more", the final "s" is pronounced ([plys]) whereas it is never pronounced when used to mean "not anymore" ([ply]).
As an example, the informal sentence Il y en a plus could be pronounced with the final [s] ([il i ɑ̃n a plys, jɑ̃n a plys]) to mean "There is more". Or it could be pronounced without it ([il i ɑ̃n a ply, jɑ̃n a ply]) to mean "There is none left".

Independent ne

In certain, mostly literary constructions, ne can express negation by itself (without pas or another negative word). The four verbs that can use this construction are pouvoir ("to be able to"), savoir ("to know"), oser ("to dare"), and cesser ("to cease").
  • (standard, ne + pas) « Je n'ai pas pu venir. » — "I was not able to come."
  • (casual, pas only) « J'ai pas pu venir. » [same]
  • (literary, ne only) « Je n'ai pu venir. » [same]; cf. phrase « Je ne sais quoi » — "I do not know what [it is]" remaining in colloquial speech as a fossilized phrase

Expletive ne

In certain cases in formal French, the word ne can be used without signifying negation; the ne in such instances is known as expletive ne (French: ne explétif):
« J'ai peur que cela ne se reproduise. » — "I am afraid that it might happen again."
« Il est arrivé avant que nous n'ayons commencé. » — "He arrived before we started."
« Ils sont plus nombreux que tu ne le crois. » — "There are more of them than you think."
Expletive ne is found in finite subordinate clauses (never before an infinitive). It is characteristic of literary rather than colloquial style.[4] In other registers French tends to not use any negation at all in such clauses, e.g., J'ai peur que cela se reproduise.
The following contexts allow expletive ne
  • the complement clause of verbs expressing fear or avoidance: craindre (to fear), avoir peur (to be afraid), empêcher (to prevent), éviter (to avoid)
  • the complement clause of verbs expressing doubt or denial: douter (to doubt), nier (to deny)
  • adverbial clauses introduced by the following expressions: avant que (before), à moins que (unless), de peur/crainte que (for fear that)
  • comparative constructions expressing inequality: autre (other), meilleur (better), plus fort (stronger), moins intelligent (less intelligent), etc.

Existential clauses

In French, the equivalent of the English existential clause "there is" is expressed with il y a, literally, "it there has" or "it has to it". The verb may be conjugated to indicate tense, but always remains in the third person singular. For example
  • « Il y a deux bergers et quinze moutons dans le pré. » - "There are two shepherds and fifteen sheep in the meadow."
  • « Il y aura beaucoup à manger. » - "There will be a lot to eat."
  • « Il y aurait deux morts et cinq blessés dans l'accident. » - "There appears to have been (lit. would be) two dead and five injured in the accident." (as in news reporting)
  • « Il n'y avait personne chez les Martin. » - "There was nobody at the Martins' home."
This construction is also used to express the passage of time since an event occurred, like the English ago or it has been:
  • « Je l'ai vu il y a deux jours. » - "I saw him two days ago."
  • « Il y avait longtemps que je ne l'avais pas vu. » - "It had been a long time since I had seen him."
  • « Le langage d’il y a cent ans est très différent de celui d’aujourd’hui. » - "The language/usage of one hundred years ago is very different from that of today."
In informal speech, il y is typically reduced to [j], as in:
  • Y a [ja] deux bergers et quinze moutons dans le pré.
  • Y aura [joʁa] beaucoup à manger.
  • Y avait [javɛ] personne chez les Martin.
  • Je l'ai vu y a deux jours.

Word order

The components of a declarative clause are typically arranged in the following order (though not all components are always present):
  1. Adverb(s)
  2. Subject
  3. ne (usually a marker for negation, though it has some other uses)
  4. First- and second-person object pronoun (me, te, nous, vous) or the third-person reflexive pronoun (se)
  5. Third-person human direct-object pronoun (le, la, les)
  6. Third-person human indirect-object pronoun (lui or leur)
  7. The pronoun y
  8. The pronoun en
  9. Finite verb (may be an auxiliary)
  10. Adverb(s)
  11. The pronoun rien (if not subject)
  12. Main verb (if the finite verb is an auxiliary)
  13. Adverb(s) and object(s)
French basic word order is thus subject–verb–object (Je lisais un livre: I was reading a book) although, if the object is a pronoun, it precedes the verb (Je le lisais: I was reading it). Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular inversion of the subject and verb. For example, some adverbial expressions placed at the beginning of a sentence trigger inversion of pronominal subjects: Peut-être est-elle partie (Maybe she has left).
Word order can be an indicator of stylistic register. For instance, inversion of nominal subjects is possible in many relative clauses.
  • C'est le livre [que mon cousin lui a donné]. (Object–subject–verb)
  • C'est le livre [que lui a donné mon cousin]. (Object–verb–subject)
"That's the book my cousin gave her."
The second version of the sentence, with inversion, is more formal.

See also

Portal icon French language and French-speaking world portal

Notes

  1. In some of its uses, the conditional acts as a tense of the indicative mood; in other uses, including the use from which it takes its name, it acts as a distinct mood.
  2. The gerundive mood, the perfect, and the passive and reflexive voices are not synthetic but analytic; that is, they are expressed using multi-word verb forms.
  3. The preterite and imperfect are sometimes called, somewhat redundantly, the preterite past and imperfect past. The preterite is also called the simple past, a translation of its French name (le passé simple).
  4. Lawless, Laura K. "Ne explétif - French Expletive Ne". About.com. Retrieved 2007-02-25.

External links

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LL 377 .FRENCH MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

FRENCH   VERB   MORPHOLOGY 

INTRODUCTION:
Flag of La Francophonie.svg
Part of a series on the
French language
History
Phonological history
Grammar
Orthography
Phonology
Main article: French verbs
In French, a verb is inflected to reflect its mood and tense, as well as to agree with its subject in person and number. Following the tradition of Latin grammar, the set of inflected forms of a French verb is called the verb's conjugation.

Stems and endings

French verbs have a large number of simple (one-word) forms. These are composed of two distinct parts: the stem (or root, or radix), which indicates which verb it is, and the ending (inflection), which indicates the verb's tense and mood and its subject's person and number, though many endings can correspond to multiple tense-mood-subject combinations. In certain parts of the second conjugation there is also a suffix -iss- between the stem and the ending, which derives historically from an inchoative suffix.
  • In parlaient, the stem parl- indicates that the verb is parler (to speak) and the ending -aient marks the third-person plural imperfect indicative.
  • In finissons, the stem fin- indicates that the verb is finir (to finish), the suffix -iss- follows it, and the inflection -ons marks the first-person plural present indicative or imperative.
Note that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the stem from the ending, especially in irregular verbs such as avoir, aller, dire, être, faire, pouvoir, savoir, valoir, and vouloir:
  • Il va travailler.
  • Tu es là ?
  • Elle a rougi.

The principle of the fixed stem

The stem normally stays fixed in the first two conjugations:
  • Parler: Je parlerais, tu parlas, qu'ils parlassent, parlant, parlé, que nous parlions, parlez…
  • Finir: Je finirais, vous finîtes, finissant, qu'ils finissent, fini, finis, que nous finissions…
In the third it is often modified, sometimes even between persons in the same tense:
  • Vouloir: Je veux, tu veux, il veut, nous voulons, vous voulez, ils veulent.
But such irregularities apart, the principle is that nothing is removed from the stem. Consequently, verbs ending in -guer and -quer keep the -gu- or -qu- throughout the conjugation, even where simplifying this combination to -g- or -c- would be consistent with the rules of French orthography:
  • Naviguer: nous naviguons, je naviguais, en naviguant…
  • Provoquer: nous provoquons, je provoquais, en provoquant…

Adding to the stem to preserve the pronunciation

But although things are generally not removed from the stem, it is permissible to add letters when this is necessary. Certain stems can undergo various orthographic changes (which are not strictly speaking considered to be irregularities) in order to retain the correct pronunciation:
  • The -c- in certain stems receives a cedilla before any ending which would otherwise change its pronunciation:
Avancer: j'avance, nous avançons, j'avançais…
Apercevoir: j'aperçois, tu aperçus, nous apercevons…
  • The -g- in certain stems is followed by a silent -e- before any ending which would otherwise change its pronunciation:
Manger: je mange, nous mangeons, je mangeais, vous mangiez, en mangeant…

Endings (terminaisons)

The ending is a suffix which tells us:
  • For all verbs, the mood and the tense;
  • For finite verbs, the person and the number; and
  • For the past participle alone, the gender and the number.
Apart from a few frequent verbs which are considered totally irregular (mainly avoir, être, aller and faire), for each tense of each mood a series of six endings (one for each person singular and plural) is associated to a group or subgroup of verbs. Each of these series must now remain fixed throughout a single tense. Consequently, no ending may be modified even when orthographical simplification would be possible:
  • For example, when the verb stem ends in a vowel (crier, fuir, tuer, voir, etc.), the -e- of the ending may become silent but must still be written (in the present, future, and conditional):
Fuir, present subjunctive: que je fuie, que tu fuies, qu'il fuie, que nous fuyions, que vous fuyiez, qu'ils fuient…
Créer, future indicative: je créerai, tu créeras, il créera, nous créerons, vous créerez, ils créeront…
  • Similarly, the imperfect indicative and present subjunctive endings for the first and second persons plural are -ions et -iez: for verbs such as gagner, voir, rire, briller, etc., the -i- of these endings must be retained, even though some speakers pronounce them the same way as the present indicative forms without -i-:[1]
Nous gagnions (vs. gagnons), vous voyiez (vs. voyez), nous riions (vs. rions), vous brilliez (vs. brillez), …

Formation of simple tenses active

These tenses are not formed with an auxiliary, and their formation is discussed in the following section.

Infinitive (Infinitif)

A verb is normally named by its present infinitive (Infinitif présent). Starting from this infinitive, the conjugations can be classified into three different groups:
  • The first group or first conjugation. This contains the verbs with infinitives ending in -er /e/ (with the exception of aller, which due to its numerous irregularities is usually classed as being in the third conjugation):
Aimer, balayer, chanter, envoyer, fermer, manger, passer, payer, promener, regarder, etc.
For example, for the verb parler, the stem is parl- and the ending is -er /e/.
  • The second group or second conjugation. This contains the verbs with infinitives ending in -ir /iʀ/ whose present participle ends in -issant /isɑ̃/:
Bénir, compatir, déguerpir, fleurir, grandir, haïr, investir, polir, rougir, rugir, salir, etc.
For example, for the verb finir, the stem is fin- and the ending is -ir.
  • The third group or third conjugation. This contains all the other verbs, all considered as to some extent irregular, to wit: the verbs ending in -ir not belonging to the second conjugation, the verbs ending in -oir, the verbs ending in -re, and the verb aller:
Conduire, connaître, dire, dormir, exclure, faire, mettre, plaindre, prendre, résoudre, savoir, vivre, etc.
Examples:
courir – the stem is cour- and the ending is -ir.
devoir – the stem is dev- and the ending is -oir /waʀ/.
rendre – the stem is rend- and the ending is -re /ʀ/.
aller – the stem is all- and the ending is -er.
Note that the auxiliaries être and avoir, although they would naturally seem to belong to the third conjugation, are traditionally classed separately.

Present indicative (Indicatif présent)

The stem of the present indicative is not always regular and not always invariant (especially in the third conjugation), and there are two main sets of endings:
  • Verbs ending in -er (all verbs of the first group): -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent, pronounced /ᵊ, ᵊ, ᵊ, ˈɔ̃, ˈe, ᵊ/.
  • Verbs ending in -ir (all verbs of the second group and most of the third): -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent, pronounced /ˈi, ˈi, ˈi, isˈɔ̃, isˈe, ˈis/. But there are numerous irregularities, especially in the third group.
  • Verbs ending in -re (all verbs of the second group and most of the third): -s, -s, - , -ons, -ez, -ent, pronounced /s, s, , ˈɔ̃, ˈe, /.
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group 3rd group
je parle je finis je descends
tu parles tu finis tu descendes
il, elle, on parle il, elle, on finit il, elle, on descend
nous parlons nous finissons nous descendons
vous parlez vous finissez vous descendez
ils, elles parlent ils, elles finissent descendent
  • Verbs of second group take an -iss- in plural.
  • Verbs of third group :
  • Verbs in -oir : the indicative present stems depend of the verbs. The endings are -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent. However, verbs pouvoir, valoir, équivaloir and vouloir have -x, -x, -t in singular (je peux, tu peux, je (j'équi)vaux, tu (équi)vaux, je veux, tu veux).
  • Verbs in -re : endings are the same, stems are equally irregular. There are verbs dire, faire and être which have -tes instead of -ez and other irregularities. Verbs with -ttre have -ts, -ts, -t in singular (je mets for mettre, tu bats for battre). Verbs with -dre have endings -ds, -ds, -d in singular (e.g. : je prends, tu mouds, il répand) except verbs in -indre and -soudre (Verbs in -soudre in plural: -solvons, -solvez, -solvent). Verbs vaincre and convaincre have -cs, -cs, -c in singular (je (con)vaincs, tu (con)vaincs, il (con)vainc).
  • Verbs in -ir : endings are the same than the second group in singular, and they have regular ending of third group in plural.

Imperfect indicative (Indicatif imparfait)

  • The stem of the imperfect indicative is always invariant for a single verb. It is derived from the first person plural of the present indicative (except for the verb être):
Verb boire, present indicative: je bois, tu bois, il boit, nous buvons, vous buvez, ils boivent.
Verb boire, imperfect indicative: je buvais, tu buvais, il buvait, nous buvions, vous buviez, ils buvaient.
  • The endings of this tense are for any of the three groups always: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient, pronounced /ɛ, ɛ, ɛ, jɔ̃, je, ɛ/.
For the 1st and 3rd groups, the -i- of the first and second persons plural must always be kept even though it may not be reflected in the pronunciation of certain verbs:
Nous travaillions, vous travailliez, nous riions, vous riiez, nous essuyions, vous essuyiez, nous gagnions, vous gagniez, nous tressaillions, vous tressailliez, nous priions, vous priiez...
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
je parlais je finissais
tu parlais tu finissais
il, elle, on parlait il, elle, on finissait
nous parlions nous finissions
vous parliez vous finissiez
ils parlaient ils, elles finissaient
  • In older texts, one can find the endings -ois, -ois, -oit, -ions, -iez, -oient, corresponding to the orthography of Old French. This spelling coexisted with the modern endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient and was not officially abandoned by the Académie Française until 1835.[2]
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
je parlois je finissois
tu parlois tu finissois
il, elle, on parloit il, elle, on finissoit
nous parlions nous finissions
vous parliez vous finissiez
ils parloient ils, elles finissoient
  • Verb être : the stem is ét- (/et/), endings are the same.

Past historic (Indicatif passé simple or Indicatif passé défini)

The stem of the past historic tense is not always regular but is always invariant for a single verb. There are four sets of endings for this tense:
  • Past historic in -a-: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent. [1st group and aller]
(pronounced /e, a, a, ɑm, ɑt, ɛʀ/.)
  • Past historic in -i-: -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent. [2nd and 3rd groups]
(pronounced /i, i, i, im, it, iʀ/.)
  • Past historic in -u-: -us, -us, -ut, -ûmes, -ûtes, -urent. [3rd group]
(pronounced /y, y, y, ym, yt, yʀ/.)
  • Past historic in -in-: -ins, -ins, -int, -înmes, -întes, -inrent. [verbs venir, tenir and all the verbs which are formed with them (survenir, maintenir, etc.)]
(pronounced /ɛ̃, ɛ̃, ɛ̃, ɛ̃m, ɛ̃t, ɛ̃ʀ/.)
Je chantai, je finis, je bus, je vins…
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
je parlai je finis
tu parlas tu finis
il, elle, on parla il, elle, on finit
nous parlâmes nous finîmes
vous parlâtes vous finîtes
ils, elles parlèrent ils, elles finirent

Future (Indicatif futur simple)

The future endings correspond to the present indicative of the verb avoir. They are always regular: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, pronounced /e, a, a, ɔ̃, e, ɔ̃/.
  • Between the future stem and these endings the infinitive ending is inserted, though the pronunciation of the -er infinitive changes from /e/ to /(ə)ʀ/ In other words, to form the future tense these endings are appended to the infinitive:
Je finirai, tu parleras, elle sortira, nous travaillerons, vous rougirez, ils partiront.
But there are several irregular future stems, especially in the third group.
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group 3rd group
je parlerai je finirai je descendrai
tu parleras tu finiras tu descendras
il, elle, on parlera il, elle, on finira il, elle, on descendra
nous parlerons nous finirons nous descendrons
vous parlerez vous finirez vous descendrez
ils, elles parleront ils, elles finiront ils, elles descendront
The following verbs have a double r in future forms: envoyer, renvoyer (j'enverrai, je renverrai), mourir (je mourrai), courir (je courrai), choir and échoir (il cherra, il écherra), acquérir and conquérir (j'acquerrai, je conquerrai), voir (je verrai), pouvoir (je pourrai).

Present conditional (Conditionnel présent)

The conditional endings correspond to those of the imperfect indicative. They too are always regular: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient, pronounced /ɛ, ɛ, ɛ, jɔ̃, je, ɛ/..
  • The conditional stem is always the same as the future stem:
Je finirais, tu parlerais, elle sortirait, nous travaillerions, vous rougiriez, ils partiraient.
Consequently, if the future stem is irregular, so will the conditional be, and vice versa. Moreover, if the future does not exist (defective verbs) neither will the conditional.
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group 3rd group
je parlerais je finirais je descendrais
tu parlerais tu finirais tu descendrais
il, elle, on parlerait il, elle, on finirait il, elle, on descendrait
nous parlerions nous finirions nous descendrions
vous parleriez vous finiriez vous descendriez
ils, elles parleraient ils, elles finiraient ils, elles descendraient
Sometimes the past imperfect subjunctive is used to replace the present conditional. This form is called the present conditional second form (Conditionnel présent deuxième forme). In contrast the regular conditional is then called present conditional first form (Conditionnel présent première forme). This has become very unusual, only in sentences starting with Même si and the expression fût-ce this form is still used. The perfective tense (the past conditional second form (Conditionnel passé deuxième forme) is however used very often in literature.
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
je parlasse je finisse
tu parlasses tu finisses
il, elle, on parlât il, elle, on finît
nous parlassions nous finissions
vous parlassiez vous finissiez
ils, elles parlassent ils, elles finissent

Present subjunctive (Subjonctif présent)

  • The present subjunctive endings are for all three groups (except the verbs être et avoir): -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent, pronounced /ᵊ, ᵊ, ᵊ, jɔ̃, je, ᵊ/.
For the 1st and 3rd groups, the -i- of the first and second persons plural must always be kept even though it may not be reflected in the pronunciation of certain verbs:
(Il faut) que nous travaillions, que vous travailliez, que nous riions, que vous riiez, que nous essuyions, que vous essuyiez, que nous gagnions, que vous gagniez, que nous tressaillions, que vous tressailliez, que nous priions, que vous priiez. Exceptions: que nous ayons, que vous ayez, que nous soyons, que vous soyez...
  • The present subjunctive stem is generally derived from the third person plural of the present indicative (except for the verbs aller, avoir, être, faire, falloir, pouvoir, savoir, traire, valoir, and vouloir, which have irregular stems):
Verb craindre, present indicative: je crains, tu crains, il craint, nous craignons, vous craignez, ils craignent.
Verb craindre, present subjunctive: (que) je craigne, tu craignes, il craigne, nous craignions, vous craigniez, ils craignent.
Verb faire, present indicative: je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font.
Verb faire, present subjunctive: (que) je fasse, tu fasses, il fasse, nous fassions, vous fassiez, ils fassent.
But sometimes when in the present indicative the stem used for the first and second persons plural differs from that used for the other four persons; the present subjunctive also uses this stem for these two persons:
Verb recevoir, present indicative: je reçois, tu reçois, il reçoit, nous recevons, vous recevez, ils reçoivent.
Verb recevoir, present subjunctive: (que) je reçoive, tu reçoives, il reçoive, nous recevions, vous receviez, ils reçoivent.
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
(il faut que) je parle (il faut que) je finisse
(que) tu parles (que) tu finisses
(qu') il, elle, on parle (qu') il, elle, on finisse
(que) nous parlions (que) nous finissions
(que) vous parliez (que) vous finissiez
(qu') ils, elles parlent (qu') ils, elles finissent
  • Irregular endings : être(que je sois, que tu sois, qu'il soit, que nous soyons, que vous soyez, qu'il soient) and avoir (qu'il ait, que nous ayons, que vous ayez, the rest are regular)

Imperfect subjunctive (Subjonctif imparfait)

The imperfect subjunctive is always constructed from the past historic; hence, if the past historic does not exist (defective verbs) neither will the imperfect subjunctive. To be more exact, the imperfect subjunctive stem consists of the second person singular of the past historic, except that in the third person singular of the imperfect subjunctive the final -s- of the stem is replaced with a circumflex over the preceding vowel. The stem is otherwise stable for a single verb, and the endings are always: -se, -ses, -ˆt, -sions, -siez, -sent, pronounced /s, s, -, sjɔ̃, sje, s/.
(Il fallait) que je chantasse, que tu finisses, qu'il bût, que nous vinssions, que vous parlassiez, qu'elles rougissent…
  • Example:
1st group 2nd group
(il faut que) je parlasse (il faut que) je finisse
(que) tu parlasses (que) tu finisses
(qu') il, elle, on parlât (qu') il, elle, on finît
(que) nous parlassions (que) nous finissions
(que) vous parlassiez (que) vous finissiez
(qu') ils, elles parlassent (qu') ils, elles finissent

Imperative (Impératif)

Recall two unusual features of the imperative: it exists only in three persons (second singular, first plural and second plural) and its subject pronoun is always omitted.
  • Most often, the present imperative (Impératif présent) is copied from the indicative present (this is always true for verbs from the first two groups). Thus when the present indicative has two alternate forms, so does the present imperative:
Asseoir: assieds (assois), asseyons (assoyons), asseyez (assoyez).
Payer: paie (paye), payons, payez.
  • The imperatives of avoir and être are based on the present subjunctive, and those of savoir and vouloir are irregular:
Aie, ayons, ayez.
Sois, soyons, soyez.
Sache, sachons, sachez.
Veuille, veuillons, veuillez.
  • Note that the singular of verbs ending in -e or in -a in the imperative has no final -s. This applies to all verbs from the 1st group and to some from the 3rd (assaillir, couvrir, cueillir, défaillir, offrir, ouvrir, souffrir, tressaillir and verbs derived from them, as well as the verbs aller, avoir, savoir et vouloir):
Parle, cueille, va, aie, sache, veuille, finis, sors...
  • However, for euphonic reasons this -s reappears if the imperative is immediately followed by one of the indirect object pronouns en and y:
Cueille (cueilles-en). Pense (penses-y)...
  • Example:
-er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs
parle finis descends
parlons finissons descendons
parlez finissez descendez

Present participle and gerundive

The present participle (le participe présent) is typically formed from the first-person plural of the present indicative by replacing -ons with -ant. There are exceptions to this, as with avoir, être, and savoir (whose present participles are ayant, étant, and sachant, respectively), but in all cases the present participle ends in -ant.
The gerundive (le gérondif) consists of the preposition en together with the present participle; for example, the present participle of faire is faisant, so its gerundive is en faisant.
The present participle and the gerundive are both invariable; that is, they do not change form to agree with any other part of a sentence.

Past participle

Past participles, unlike present participles and gerundives, may be inflected to show gender and number by adding -e and -s, as with a normal adjective. Hence, "un fruit confit", "une poire confite", "des fruits confits", and "des poires confites." As they are passive participles, this inflection only occurs with transitive verbs, and with certain reflexive verbs.
The plain (masculine singular) form of a past participle may end in -é (1st group verbs, naître [né], être [été] and aller [allé]), -i (2nd group; sortir [sorti], partir [parti], etc.), -u (entendre [entendu], boire [bu], lire [lu], etc. and savoir [su], voir [vu], pouvoir [pu]), -is (mettre [mis], prendre [pris], etc.), -us (inclure [inclus] and reclure [reclus] and only this verbs), -it (maudire, [maudit], dire [dit], etc.),-t (verbs in -indre : peindre [peint]), -ert (ouvrir [ouvert], couvrir [couvert], offrir [offert] and souffrir [souffert]), or eu (avoir [eu]).

Verbal adjective (Adjectif verbal)

  • For most verbs, the verbal adjective is nearly the same as the present participle, however the verbal adjectif is inflected as an adjective, e.g. le garçon sautant (the jumping boy), la fille sautante (the jumping girl), les garçons sautants (the jumping boys), les filles sautantes (the jumping girls). This is called the Present verbal adjective (Adjectif verbal présent). The past participle can act as the Past verbal adjective (Adjectif verbal passé) (e.g. la fille sauvée (the girl that has been rescued)).
  • However some verbs are irregular, their verbal adjective slightly differs from their present participle (most of these irregular verbs have a verbal adjective ending on ent instead of ant). A relative construction is almost always preferred to the present verbal adjective (e.g. les garçons qui sautent preferred to les garçons sautants), especially when there is a risk of orthographic confusion in some irregular cases (e.g. adj. résident vs. verb. adj. résidant, pronounced exactly the same, with only a slightest distinction of meaning).
Irregular verbs:
    • Present Infinitive (Infinitif présent) - Verbal adjective (Adjectif verbal) - present participle (Participe présent) - Translation
    • adhérer - adhérent - adhérant - to adhere
    • affluer - affluent - affluant - to rush
    • coïncider - coïncident - coïncidant - to coincide
    • communiquer - communicant - communiquant - to communicate
    • confluer - confluent - confluant - to meet (for rivers)
    • convaincre - convaincant - convainquant - to persuade
    • converger - convergent - convergeant - to converge
    • déléguer - délégant - déléguant - to delegate
    • déterger - détergent - détergeant - to wash
    • différer - différent - différant - to differ
    • diverger - divergent - divergeant - to diverge
    • exceller - excellent - excellant - to excel
    • équivaloir - équivalent - équivalant - to equal
    • fatiguer - fatigant - fatiguant - to wear, to tire
    • influer - influent - influant - to affect
    • intriguer - intrigant - intriguant - to intrigue
    • naviguer - navigant - naviguant - to navigate
    • négliger - négligent - négligeant - to neglect
    • précéder - précédent - précédant - to precede
    • provoquer - provocant - provoquant - to provoke
    • suffoquer - suffocant - suffoquant - to suffocate
    • vaincre - vaincant - vainquant - to conquer
    • valoir - valent - valant - to be worth
    • violer - violent - violant - to assault
    • vaquer - vacant - vaquant - to take a break

Verbal adverb (Adverbe verbal)

Out of the present verbal adjectif, a present verbal adverb (adverbe verbal présent) can be formed for every verb by replacing nt with mment:
  • courir - courant - couramment - to run
  • précéder - précédent - précédemment - to precede
Out of the past verbal adjectif, a past verbal adverb (adverbe verbal passé) can be formed for some verbs by adding ment:
  • assurer - assuré - assurément - to ascertain

Defective verbs

Some verbs have incomplete conjugations: they do not have forms for certain tenses, moods, or persons. Such verbs are said to be defective. They include:
  • some archaic verbs that survive only in very narrow contexts, such as accroire, choir, clore, ester, férir, gésir, occire, ouïr, poindre, and quérir. Hence, we have "Ci-gît un homme irremplaçable", "Oyez, oyez, braves gens !", and "Je l'ai obtenu sans coup férir."
  • necessarily impersonal verbs, such as falloir, pleuvoir, s'agir, and importer. Hence, we have "Il fallait que tu viennes", "Il tonne", and "Il s'agit de réussir."
  • some other verbs for which certain forms are useless, such as barrir, éclore, and pulluler. Hence, we have "Les moustiques pullulent", "Les fleurs éclosent", and "L'âne brait."

See also

Notes

  1. Other speakers maintain a distinction between, for example, voyez [vwaje] and voyiez [vwajjez] (Tranel 1987, p. 120–21).
  2. Cabinet de curosités, L'histoire de l'imparfait

References

  • This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the French Wikipedia, accessed 21 April 2005.
  • Tranel, Bernard (1987). The Sounds of French: An Introduction. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31510-7.

External links

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