PARTICULAR OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

DIFFERENTW AYS OF CONJUGATING A VERB,

AND THE

USE OF THE TENSES AND THE PARTICIPLES.

OBSERVATION I.

A Verb must always agree with the word from which the action done by the Verb proceeds, and which is called its SUBJECT or NOMINATIVE.-The SUBJECT or NOMINATIVE may easily be known by asking the question WHO or WHAT? with the VERB of which you wish to know the Nominative: as, My brother has bought a book. Q. Who has bought? A. My brother, which is the Nominative case to the Verb has bought. Are you his father. Q. Who is? You are: therefore YOU is the Nominative to the Verb are.

When a pronoun is the Nominative to a Verb, there can be no difficulty; and if a Noun in the singular be the Nominative, the Verb must be put in the third person Singular: but if the Noun be Plural, or the same action be done by several Nouns, then the Verb should be in the third person Plural.

OBSERVATION II.

The English language often requires another Verb to be placed either before the infinitive of the principal Verb, or before the Participle present, to express its tense; I would therefore advise the learner particularly to observe whether the last Verb be a distinct one from the Verb preceding it, or whether both Verbs imply but one action, in which case the French language requires but one Verb; as, I did speak, or I was speaking, which only expresses one idea, that of the past imperfect of the Verb to speak and therefore should be rendered in French by je parlais; not je fesais parler, or j'étais parlant.-Some Verbs in English are even formed with an Adjective and the Verb to be, and would not be sense if expressed by one word but in French,

F

even in those cases, only one Verb is used to express the same idea as the words which the English Verb requires imply: I am ABLE, means, I can or I have the power, and these words, therefore, should be translated in French, by the Verb pouvoirje puis, I am able.

OBSERVATION III.

The sign of the future, in English, is, shall or will; but as WILL sometimes signifies a present meaning, willing, or to be willing, it is not always a sign of a tense, but sometimes a verb in itself; and therefore requires to be expressed in French by its appropriate Verb, vouloir, to be willing; as, I WILL speak to him, je veux lui parler. The same remark applies equally to should, could, and would, which, when they are verbs of themselves, are expressed should by devoir, could by pouvoir, and would by vouloir. Ex. You should be more attentive, vous devez être plus attentif ; I could not write because I had no pen, je ne pouvais écrire, n'ayant pas de plume; Would you have the kindness, voulez vous avoir la bonté.

OBSERVATION IV.

A Verb coming immediately after another Verb by which it is governed, should always be in the infinitive present, provided the first Verb be not one of the two auxiliaries, avoir or être, which are sometimes understood, and then the latter Verb should be in the Participle past, which Participle is sometimes declinable and sometimes not, according to the rules from page 47.

Note. One very great difficulty in almost every language is, to know what Case or Preposition is required after a Verb. To facilitate this difficulty, I have selected a list of all the French Verbs, showing the Cases or Prepositions they govern, which will be found of the greatest use, and will abbreviate the rules I am about to give. Vide the list of Verbs, a few pages further.

OBSERVATION V.

1. Most reflective Verbs govern the genitive case. Vide the list, and page 38.

2. Some Verbs require no preposition before the next infinitive. Vide list.

OBSERVATION VI.

A Verb, when used substantively, should never be preceded by a preposition; as, Trop manger est nuisible à la santé, to eat too much is hurtful to health.

OBSERVATION VII.

A verb in the Infinitive, coming after any of the Adjectives that govern the genitive or dative, must have de or à according to the case the adjective requires after it. Vid. TAB. III. v.

OBSERVATION VIII.

The Preposition To is rendered in French by pour after the Verbs être suffissant, or suffire, and after the Adverbs trop and assez; also when To expresses the cause, end, or design for which a thing is done, and in general when it can be turned by in order to, except when the verb does not require a preposition; as, Vous avez assez d'honneur pour ne pas nuire à ma réputation, you have honour enough not to injure my reputation.

OBSERVATION IX.

In English the preposition FOR often precedes the present Participle; as, I give you this pencil for having learned your lesson, in which case the English scholar should well observe whether the Verb refers to a present, past, or future tense, as in the first instance, the French Verb corresponding to the English is merely expressed by the infinitive present; but in the latter the Preposition should be followed both by the auxiliary avoir or être according to the sense, and by the Participle past of the corresponding English Verb; as, My brother was punished for not learning his lesson, mon frère a été puni pour ne pas avoir appris sa leçon. If for does not express the cause, end, or design, it is rendered in the above cases by de.

OBSERVATION X.

The Preposition To may be often expressed in English by that of IN after a Substantive, putting the Verb in the Participle present; as, I have great pleasure to assist you, which might be rendered by, I have great pleasure IN ASSISTING YOU, and then the Preposition should always be à with the Verb in the present infinitive; as, J'ai grand plaisir à vous secourir.

OBSERVATION XI.

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The Verb is always preceded by the Preposition de after an Adjective; if the Preposition to in English could be rendered by

for, in the sense of because, with the Verb in the present Participle; as, Are you not very glad to have received a letter, N'êtes vous pas bien aise d'avoir reçu une lettre, (because or for having received a letter.)

OBSERVATION XII.

The impersonal Verbs, il est, il semble, and il parait, followed by an Adjective, require the Preposition de before the next Verb in the Infinitive; and all impersonal Verbs that can be rendered by the impersonal il est followed by an Adjective expressing the same meaning; as, il suffit or il est suffissant.

OBSERVATION XIII.

Some Verbs have different meanings according to the Preposition by which they are followed.

The Verbs, continuer, contraindre, forcer, s'efforcer, and obliger may, the same as commencer, have à or de; the correct use of which Prepositions can only be obtained by the habit of hearing and reading the language.

OBSERVATION XIV.

The Verbs laisser and manquer require the Preposition de before the next Verb, if they are negatively used, and à when affirmatively.-Manquer, however, always requires the Preposition de when it signifies, to be on the point of, to omit, or to forget; as, Ne manquez pas de m'écrire dès que vous aurez le tems.-Do not forget to write to me as soon as you shall have time.

OBSERVATION XV.

Before I proceed to what is called the conjugation of a Verb, I think it necessary (particularly for those learners who may not

have a sufficient grammatical knowledge) to explain the different terms by which Verbs are known.

There are five different sorts of Verbs : 1st. The active, because the action done by its nominative passes on to some other object; and may be known by admitting these words to come immediately after them, making good sense, somebody, or something; as, I love SOMEBODY, SOMETHING.-2dly. The Neuter Verb, which does not admit of the aforesaid words; as, I sleep, I walk, &c., after which the words something, &c., could not with propriety be put, for there would be no sense in saying-I sleep something, &c.– Another way of knowing when a Verb is neuter, is, that the action finishes in the person who has suffered and has done it.-3dly. The Passive Verb, which is nothing but the Active Verb preceded by the Verb to be ; as, J'aime, I love, je suis aimé, I am loved. Passive Verbs are in general followed in English by the Prepositions, from, with, or by. In French those Verbs generally require to be followed by the genitive case; as, They were loaded WITH booty, Ils étaient chargés DE butin, not avec. The Preposition par should supply the place of by, if the sentence implies some action done by one person to another; as, Son père fut tué par un voleur, en voyageant en Italie, his father was killed by a highwayman, when travelling in Italy. As some Verbs also govern other Prepositions, for which rules would only perplex, I therefore refer the scholar to the list.

Note. The Passive turn is always avoided in French when the active can be substituted, which is generally the case in vague reports, or when the Pronoun they does not imply determinately the number of persons; (or when those persons are not known ;) and then the Nominative to the Verb should always be the Indeterminate Pronoun ON, so frequently used in the French language, with the Participle Past of the English Verb in the same Tense the Verb to be is; but always in the singular. Vid. TAB. IV. L. U. 1.

EXAMPLES.

They say we shall soon have peace.
He was rewarded for his industry.

On dit que nous aurons bientôt la paix.
On l'a recompensé de son industrie.

Whenever the active is used, as above, instead of the passive, observe that if the Verb has for its Nominative any of the personal Pronouns, I is expressed by me, thou by te, he by le, if the Verb govern the accusative, and by lui if the dative. She by la acc. lui, dat; we by nous; you by vous; and they, m. and f. by les for the Accusative, and by leur for the Dative.

We have been paid.
They have been rewarded.
She has been punished.

EXAMPLES.

On nous a payé.

On les a recompensés.

On l'a punie, (l' before a vowel for la or le.)