S'IMAGINER SE FIGURER faire, to believe that one is doing. 2. When two verbs, an auxiliary and its correlative, are not translated in English by a single verb, as, to mean, vouloir dire, the repetition of the pronoun before each verb must be avoided by putting the second verb in the infinitive, instead of making of it a tense similar to that of the first verb, as in English. I think I ought, je crois devoir I thought I ought, je croyais instead of Je crois que je dois. REFLECTED VERBS OF COMMON OCCURRENCE. (They take être in their compound tenses. See S'en aller.) MONOPERSONAL VERBS. FALLOIR, Must, should, ought, to be necessary, to be obliged, to require. This verb, which is used as an active one in English, is monoper sonal in French. These expressions, the equivalents of il faut, might be used with de instead of que. DIFFERENCES. Monopersonal verbs, used with de Monopersonal verbs, used with que and the subjunctive. Il est nécessaire Il est indispensable Il est important Il importe Il est à propos Il convient Il est convenable que je parle. Il est convenable 20 In lorsque, puisque, quoique, before il, elle, on, un (adjective): lorsqu'il, &c. 3o In quelque, quel que, before un, autre, il, elle : quelqu'un, &c. 4o In jusque before à and ici: jusqu'à, jusqu'ici. 5o In entre, whenever it enters in the composition of another word beginning with a vowel: entr'ouvrir. 6o In presque, in the word presqu'île. 70 In grande, before a few words: grand'mère, grand'tante, grand'salle. The vowel e is never suppressed before oui, onze, huit, and their derivatives; nor before un (the figure 1). Le onze, le huitième, &c. 80 Elision of A In le, la, the; and la, her, it: L'or, l'abbé, je l'attends. 90 Elision of I Before il, ils, the i of si is cut off: S'il veut, s'ils ont. e 10° Elision of OI. Moi and toi, following an imperative, are contracted into m', t, before en pronoun, but never before en preposition, nor y: Parle-m'en, Sers-t'en. (See Pronouns.) They are governed by prepositions and conjunctions, and used after the verb c'est, and in answering questions. (See next article.) |