Les arbres sont en fleurs au mois de The trees are in bloom in the month Mai. On fauche les près au mois de Juin et de Juillet. On commence à couper les blés au mois d'Août.* La moisson est presque finie au mois de Septembre. Les jours sont fort raccourcis au mois d'octobre. Le feu commence à être de saison au mois de Novembre. Il fait bientôt nuit à la fin de Décembre. Le Printemps est agréable; l'Eté est ordinairement chaud; l'Automne est tempéré, et l'Hiver est froid. of May. The meadows are mowed in the months of June and July. They begin to cut down the wheat in the month of August. The harvest is almost over in the month of September. The days are much shortened in the month of October. Fire begins to be comfortable in the month of November. It soon grows dark at the end of December. The Spring is pleasant; the Summer is generally hot; the Autumn is mild, and the Winter is cold. V. POUR MANGER ET POUR BOIRE. For Eating and Drinking, J'ai faim; j'ai grand'faim, Apportez-moi quelque autre chose, Nous avons aussi du jambon, qui est excellent, En souhaitez-vous manger? Voilà une assiette, un couteau et There is a plate, a knife and a fork. 1 VI. CE QUI CONCERNE L'ÉCOLE ET LEE ÉCOLIERS. Où est votre livre? Je ne sais pas à qui il est, Savez-vous votre leçon? Vhere is your book? Study your lesson. So far and no farther. I don't know whom it belongs to. Can you say your lesson? Pas encore; elle est longue et diffi- Not yet; it is very long and hard. cile. Soufflez-moi. Vous êtes un bredouilleur. Prononcez plus distinctement, Prompt me. You are a stammerer. Avez-vous une plume, de l'encre et Have you got a pen, some ink and du papier? Ecrivez votre devoir, Vous l'avez mal écrit, Il est plein de fautes, Dites ou récitez votre leçon, paper? Write your exercise. Go and write it over again. Say or repeat your lesson. A quelle heure vous êtes-vous levé At what o'clock did you get up this ce matin? A huit heures, morning? At eight o'clock Ponrquoi ne vous êtes-vous pas levé Why did you not get up sooner? plus tôt? Nobody called me up. Pourquoi me poussez-vous comme cela? Qui est-ce qui vous pousse? Il me pousse hors de ma place, Je vous en ferai repentir, Why do you push me or thrust me so? I don't care for that. Sir, he hinders me from getting my lesson. He thrusts me out of my place. He kicks me au Why did you tell the Master of him? I will make you repent of it. ΕΙΝ, ELEMENTS OF FRENCH GRAMMAR GRAMMATICAL RULES PARTS OF SPEECH. THERE are ten parts of speech, or sorts of words; six of which, namely, the article, the substantive or noun substantive, the adjective or noun adjective, the pronoun, the verb and the participle, are variable, that is, are liable to vary in their termination; and the remaining four, namely, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction and the interjection, are invariable, that is, never change. The substantive serves to name a person or thing, as HENRI, Henry; BATON, stick. The adjective is a word added to a substantive to express some quality or property of a person or a thing; as "AIMABLE enfant," amiable child; 66 rose BLANCHE,' "white rose. The peculiar adjective-words UN, UNE, a or an; and LE, LA, LES, the, are called "articles." The verb is a word by which we express that persons or things do any thing, or are any thing, or have any thing done to them; as "Charles LIT," Charles reads. "Le boeuf EST utile"-The ox is useful. "Un bon élève EST RÉCOMPENSÉ par son maître"-A good pupil is rewarded by his master. The pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, to avoid repetition; as, "L'enfant est fatigué, IL dort"-The child is tired, he is asleep. The participle is so called because it participates of both the adjective and the verb; as, "un chien DORMANT"- -a sleeping dog; "un bâton ROMPU" a broken stick. The adverb is a word added to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, to express some circumstance, modifying such verb, adjective, or adverb; as, "servir FIDÈLEMENT"-to serve faithfully; "TRES-grand," very great; "FORT bien," very well. The preposition serves to denote a relation between two words; as, “Je viens DE Paris"-I come from Paris. The conjunction is used to connect words or sentences together; as, "Dieu ET mon droit"-God and and my right. "Soyons heureux, MAIS soyons sages"-Let us be happy, but let us be wise. The interjection expresses a sudden emotion; as, Ha! Hélas! ARTICLE. There are in French three articles, the definite, the indefinite, and the partitive. They agree in gender and number with the noun to which they relate. DEFINITE ARTICLE The definite article is LE, LA, LES, the. 3. LE is masculine singular; as, "le père," the father. 4. LA is féminine singular; as, "la mère," the mother. 5. L' (apostrophe, see page 1) is singular of either gender; as, "l'enfant" the child. 6. LES is plural of either gender; as, "les enfants," the children. When LE or LES is preceded by DE, of or from, or by à, to or at, D3 LE is contracted into DU, DE LES into DES, à le into AU, and à les into AUX; therefore : 7. DU is used instead of de le. 10. AUX is used instead of à les INDEFINITE ARTICLE. The indefinite article is UN, UNE, a or an. 11. UN is masculine singular; as, “un frère," a brother. 12. UNE is feminine singular; as, "une sœur," a sister. PARTITIVE ARTICLE. 13. The partitive article is DU, DE LA, DE L' or DES, some or any. 14. Some or any is often understood in English, but in French the article DU, DE LA, DE L' or DES, is always used before a noun taken in a partitive sense, as : Il a apporté du papier, de l'encre et des plumes. Avez-vous de la cire ?. -Non, mais j'ai des pains à cacheter. 15. When a noun is preceded by an adjective, and is taken vaguely in a partitive sense, DE is used without the article, as : Cet homme a de grands talents. That man has great talents. But the article is used whenever the substantive is taken in a particular sense, or is considered as forming, with the adjective, a compound word, as: Voilà de la bonne viande. Voici des petits pains tout chauds. There is some good meat, |