from the Dictionary of the Royal Academy, or from the most approved writers. After a Copious Praxis, the whole closes with a few Elegant Extracts, from the most approved and esteemed productions of the best French Poets, for the use of the Proficient, and well adapted for the Adept. Finally, to make the pupil feel the foundation on which he stands, to furnish him with the armor necessary to vanquish easily all difficulties, which may obstruct his way, and, in fine, to encourage him to the fearless escalade, will, it is thought, be found, on experiment, to have been the end, the aim, and the successful achievement of the PORTLAND, JANUARY, 1848. AUTHOR. FRENCH COURSE. INTRODUCTION. FRENCH ALPHABET. THE French Alphabet contains twenty-five letters, which are divided into Vowels and Consonants. The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and y; the remainder are Consonants. PRONUNCIATION OF THE FRENCH LETTERS. ABCDE F G HI J K ah bay say day a eff jay ahsh e jee kah L M N ell emm enn V X Y Z O P Q R S T U 0 pay ku* heir ess tay น *The sound of the French u and q must be heard from the teacher, as there is no similar sound in English. ACCENTUATION: There are three accents, viz: the acute, the grave, and the circumflex. The acute (') never placed but on e, as in bonté. The grave (') placed over a, e, u, as in these adverbs: là, très, où. The circumflex (^) is placed over the long vowels, as, apôtre, le vôtre, &c. THE DIÆRESIS. The name diaresis ( ̈) is given to two points placed over the vowels ë, ï, ü, to show that these letters must be pronounced without the vowel which precedes them; as hair, aïeul, naïf, ambiguë, aiguë, &c.. The ordinal numbers are formed from the cardinal by adding ième; as, deux, deuxième; trois, troisième, &c. The cardinal numbers are used instead of the ordinal numbers, when mentioning the day of the month; except, le premier du mois, the first of the month. The cardinal numbers are also employed in French after the christian name of a sovereign; except Philippe premier, Philip the first, &c. Vingt and cent are the only cardinal numbers which take the mark of the plural, as follows: Vingt and cent in the plural take s:-quatre-vingts sol dats, eighty soldiers; trois cents chevaux, three hundred horses; ils sont quatre-vingts, they are eighty; il y en a deux cents, there are two hundred (of them.) EXCEPTION. Vingt and cent, although in the plural, do not take s when followed by another number: quatre-vingt cinq soldats, eighty-five soldiers; trois cent dix chevaux, three hundred and ten horses. Vingt and cent, employed for vingtième, centième, remain invariable, because they thus qualify a substantive singular, expressed or understood: chapitre quatre-vingt, chapter eighty; page deux cent, page two hundred; en l'an mil-sept-cent quatre-vingt, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty; en mil-huit-cent, in one thousand and eight hundred; that is, chapitre quatre-vingtième, eightieth chapter; page deux centième, page two hundredth; en l'an mil-sept-cent quatre-vingtième, in the one thousand seven hundred and eightieth year; en l'an mil-huit centième, in the one thousand eight hundredth year. Mille never takes s in the plural, and we say trois mille, dix mille, &c. When speaking of the christian era, we say l'an mil huit cent, and never l'an mille. Onze and une are pronounced as if they were written with an h aspirated; thus we say, le onze, au onze, sur les onze heures, sur les une heure. |