BOOK IV.SYNTAX.

§ 443.-Syntax treats of sentences.*

A sentence is simple or compound.

A simple sentence expresses but one thought, and has but one finite verb.

Two parts are necessary to every simple sentence:

A grammatical subject, of which something is said (predicated);

A grammatical predicate, which says (predicates) something of the subject.

All other words found in the simple sentence are only extensions of either the grammatical subject or of the grammatical predicate.

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences.

Of these, one is the principal sentence, the others are co-ordinate or subordinate.

A co-ordinate sentence depends for its complete sense upon the principal sentence, but is not dependent upon it for its construction. A subordinate sentence depends upon the principal sentence, both for its complete sense and for its construction.

* In nearly all French Grammars, if not quite all, "Uses of Words appear under " Syntax." This is open to serious objection in itself, and is moreover contrary to the practice followed in the Grammars of other languages. Some uses of words are most conveniently placed under Accidence; a few are on the border-land between Accidence and Syntax, and are perhaps more conveniently placed with the latter; by far the largest number find their natural place in a Dictionary.

CHAPTER I.-AGREEMENT.

FIRST CONCORD: THE VERB AND ITS SUBJECT.

§ 444. General Rule.

The Verb agrees with its Subject* in number and

person:

They will speak

On éleva une chapelle en commémoration de cet événement. They raised a chapel in commemoration of this event.

(PASCAL.)

Je viens à vous; car enfin aujourd'hui si vous m'abandonnez, quel sera mon appui ? I come to you; for in short, if now you abandon me, what will be my help?

§ 445. Special Rules.

(RACINE.)

(a) Two or more singular subjects equal one in the plural, and require a plural verb :

Patience et longueur de temps

Font plus que force ni que rage.

(LA FONTAINE.)

(b) If the persons differ, the verb agrees with the first person rather than with the second, and with the second rather than with the third. A pronoun in direct agreement with the verb is often added:

Lui et nous sommes d'accord.

He and we are agreed.

*When not otherwise stated, grammatical or word subject, and grammatical or word object, are always meant.

Vous et moi partirons demain.

You and I will set out to-morrow.

Vous et votre père, vous vous portez bien ?
You and your father are well?

Toi et lui, vous êtes d'accord.
Thou and he are agreed.

SECOND CONCORD: THE ADJECTIVE AND ITS NOUN

§ 446. General Rule.

An Adjective agrees with that to which it is in attribution. This is true,

(a) Whether the Adjective is qualificative: bon père, bonne mère, bons pères, bonnes mères; or determinative : ce père, cette mère, ces pères, ces mères.

(b) Whether the Adjective is an epithet: le bon père, la bonne mère; or a complement le père est bon, la mère est bonne.

(c) Whether the Adjective is an ordinary Adjective: un beau jardin, une belle ville, le jardin est beau, la ville est belle; or a participial Adjective: un jardin cultivé, un bruit effrayant, le jardin est cultivé, le bruit est effrayant, une terre cultivée, la chaleur est effrayante.

(d) Whether the Adjective is in the Positive, Comparative, or Superlative degree: une bonne maison, une meilleure maison, la meilleure maison.

§ 447. Special Rules.

1. Two or more singular Substantives (or their equivalents) equal one in the plural, and require the Adjective in the plural.

Du pain et du vin excellents.

La viande et la moutarde sont gátées.

2. If the genders differ, the Adjective is put in the masculine. The masculine noun is generally put near the Adjective: De la viande et du pain excellents.

§ 448. Agreement of the Present Participle.* In French, the following rules are now observed in regard to the agreement of the Present Participle:

1. If the Present Participle is more adjective than verb, it agrees like an adjective: Une lionne vivante, a living lioness.t

2. If the Present Participle is more verb than adjective, it does not agree: Une lionne tremblant de fureur, a lioness trembling with fury.

§ 449. Agreement of the Past Participle.*

The Past Participle has three uses. In two of these uses it differs in no respect from an ordinary adjective. The examples already given will illustrate this sufficiently. Its third use needs detailed explanation. It is necessary to have a right understanding of what is meant by active and passive, transitive and intransitive, direct object, etc.

1. A Verb is said to be in the active voice when the subject is active, i.e. does something: the woman killed the lioness; the woman killed herself; the woman died.

An Active Verb is said to be transitive when the action takes effect upon something called the Direct Object : ‡ the woman killed the lioness.

An Active Transitive Verb is called reflexive when the Subject and the Direct Object are one: the woman killed herself.

*

An Active Verb is said to be intransitive when the action does not take effect upon something: the woman died.

A Participle as its name implies, is partly a verb, partly an adjective. † Approchant, appartenant, dépendant, descendant, existant, participant, prétendant, ressemblant, résultant, séant, subsistant, tendant, agree more often than other participles. The reason is not apparent, unless it be the example set by some well-known authors (§ 457).

See note, p. 290.

A Verb is said to be in the Passive Voice when the Subject is passive, i.e. does nothing: the lioness was killed by the woman.

2. The Direct Object in French usually follows the verb; sometimes it precedes the verb. L'homme a tué le lion, the man has killed the lion. L'homme l'a tué, the man has killed it. L'homme s'est tué, the man has killed himself. Quel gros lion l'homme a tué, what a large lion the man has killed. Voici le lfon que l'homme a tué, here

is the lion which the man has killed.

3. The Direct Object of an Active Transitive sentence becomes the Subject of the corresponding Passive sentence. Compare:

The woman has killed the lioness; the lioness was killed by the woman.

4. In a Passive sentence the Past Participle agrees with the Subject like any ordinary complement: (§ 446, b, c.) La lionne sera tuée.

La lionne sera morte.
La lionne sera grande.

La lionne sera effrayante.

5. In an Active transitive sentence the Past Participle may be considered

(a.) Either as being so far a verb as to govern the Direct Object, and yet so far an adjective as to agree with that Direct Object : *

L'homme aura tuée la lionne.

*

(B.) Or as being (with the auxiliary) a verb governing the Direct Object, and as not being an adjective at all: L'homme aura tué la lionne.

Till the 16th century the Past Participle was always made agree with its Direct Object, as in (a) above. Then came a period of confusion in which some writers made the Past

to

* See note, p. 290.