Il est plus grand que vous de la tête. Un homme à la barbe noire. La belle question! À la (sc. mode) française. S'en aller à l'anglaise. À la (sc. mode de) Henri IV. Cent (mille) ans. Les amis, où allez-vous? He is taller than you by a head. A man with a black beard. In the style of Henry IV. A hundred (a thousand) years. (My) friends, where are you going? THE ARTICLE WITH PROPER NOUNS. 332. Names of Persons. 1. Names of persons usually take no article, as in English: Corneille; George Fox. Corneille; George Fox. The novels of Lesage. a. The definite article is a constituent part of some surnames : Les romans de Lesage. Les fables de La Fontaine. The fables of La Fontaine. 2. The definite article is used according to Italian analogy in the French form of a few famous Italian surnames; so also, in a very few names which are not Italian : Le Corrège; le poème du Tasse. Correggio; the poem of Tasso. Poussin; Camoens. 3. The article is used when the name has a distinctive adjunct, when it is plural, or when used as a common noun: 4. Familiarly, often in a depreciatory sense, the definite article is not uncommon, especially with names of females : Sans attendre la Barbette. Le Duval me l'a dit. Without waiting for Barbara. Duval told me so. 333. Names of Countries. 1. Names of continents, countries, provinces, large islands, regularly take the definite article, always so when standing as subject or object of a verb: L'Asie est un grand continent. Nous aimons le Canada. La Normandie; l'Angleterre. a. A few countries named after Naples; Parme; Bade. Asia is a large continent. We love Canada. cities have no article: Naples; Parma; Baden. NOTE.- Considerable variety prevails regarding the use of the article with names of islands: some require the article, whilst it is omitted with others, e.g., 'La Corse,' Corsica; La Sicile,' Sicily; 'Cuba,' Cuba; Terre-Neuve,' Newfoundland. L'île de, preceding the name, and l'île in apposition, are common forms; e.g., 'L'île de Cuba,' 'L'île Saint Domingue,' St. Domingo; 'Les îles Bahama,' the Bahama Islands. 2. Before names of continents, European countries singular, and feminine countries singular outside of Europe, en denotes 'where,' 'where to,' and the article is omitted; so also, after de denoting 'point of departure from' and after de in most adjectival phrases: Il est en (va en) Europe. Il voyage en France (Portugal). He is in (is going to) Europe. a. Exceptions are very rare, e.g., au Maine,' 'Le duc du Maine,' etc. NOTE.-In an adjectival phrase, de denoting titular distinction, origin, description, or mere apposition usually omits the article, e.g., 'le pays de France,' 'Le Royaume Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande.' 3. But the definite article is not omitted, in answer to 'where?' 'where to?', or after de as above, when the name is plural, or has a distinctive adjunct, or denotes a masculine country outside of Europe: Il est aux Indes. Il va aux États-Unis. Aux Pays-Bas. He is in India. He goes to the United States. In Southern France. Dans l'Amérique du Nord. Le Dominion du Canada. La Puissance du Canada. Chassé de la Chine. Le consul du Pérou. Le fer du Canada. In North America. The Queen of Great Britain. The Dominion of Canada. Expelled from China. The consul of Peru. Obs.: When the definite article is used, where,' 'where to,' =à (general) or dans (specific). a. In a few names like 'Asie Mineure,' 'basse Bretagne,' the adjective is no longer felt to be distinctive : En Asie mineure. In Asia Minor. 4. Omission of the article in the predicate, in enumerations, titles, etc., sometimes occurs (cf. §330, 5): La Gaule est devenue France. Espagne, Italie, Belgique, tout eût pris feu. 334. Names of Cities. Gaul became France. Spain, Italy, Belgium, all would have caught fire. Names of cities and towns usu ally have no article, unless used with a distinctive adjunct: Londres, Paris, Québec. À Toronto (Montréal). But: La Rome de ce siècle. La Nouvelle-Orléans. London, Paris, Quebec. To or in Toronto (Montreal). a. The definite article is an essential part of several names of cities: Le Caire; le Havre; la Havane. Cairo; Havre; Havana. 335. Names of Mountains and Rivers. Names of mountains always, and names of rivers regularly, have the definite article: Les Alpes; le Nil; le mont Blanc. a. For rivers, the usage after en, in § 333, 2: De l'eau de Seine. Un abordage a eu lieu en Seine. The Alps; the Nile; Mt. Blanc. de, is parallel with that described Seine water. A collision occurred on the Seine. THE ADJECTIVE. THE FEMININE OF ADJECTIVES. 336. General Rule. The feminine of an adjective is regularly formed by adding -e to the masculine singular, but adjectives ending in -e remain unchanged: a. Similarly, nouns of like termination (but see § 306, 2) : b. Adjectives in -gu are regular, but require the diæresis to indicate that u is sounded, e.g., aigu, sharp, aiguë. c. The circumflex in dû (f. due) distinguishes it from du = ' of the,' and disappears in the fem. (§ 214); observe also mû (f. mue, § 219). d. Besides adjectives in -e, a very few others are invariable for the feminine, e.g., capot, in être capot = 'have come to grief,' grognon, grumbling, rococo, rococo, sterling, sterling, and rarer ones. NOTE.-Here also properly belongs grand in grand'mère, etc. In O. F. grand was masculine or feminine, but grammarians at a later date gave it the apostrophe to denote the supposed elision of e. 337. Special Rules. 1. Irregularities consist chiefly of changes in the stem on adding the feminine sign -e; thus, when -e is added :: (1) Final f=v, x=s, c=ch in some, and qu in others, g=gu: +So also: Ammoniac (-que), ammoniac; caduc (-que), decrepit; franc (-que) Frankish; turc (-que), Turkish. NOTE.-Here also belongs bailli, bailiff (O. F. baillif), baillive. b. The adjectives doux, douce, sweet, faux, fausse, false, roux, rousse, red (of hair, etc.), retain the [s] sound in the feminine, denoted by c and ss respectively; grec, Greek, has feminine grecque; préfix prefixed, is regular. (2) Final -el, -eil, -ien, -on, and usually -s, -t, double the final consonant : But ras, rase, flat; gris, grise, grey; mat, mate, dead, dull; prêt, prête, ready; dévot, dévote, devout; bigot, bigote, bigoted; cagct, cagote, hypocritical; idiot, idiote, idiotic, and a few rarer ones. a. Similarly, nouns of like termination, but see § 306: b. A very few adjectives and nouns of other endings follow this analogy: NOTE. The doubling of the final consonant in -el, -ien, -et serves to denote the required [ɛ] sound (§12, 1); a few adjectives in -et denote this [e] sound by the grave accent without doubling, cf. (4) below. (3) The following have two masculine forms (in sing., not in pl.), one of which doubles 1 for the feminine, like the above: Obs.: The -1 form is regularly used only before a vowel or h mute; vieux before a vowel is permissible, e.g., un vieux ami' (better: 'un vieil ami'). |