Déjà la renommée Par d'étonnans récits m'en avait informée. RULE IX. When the past participle is followed by que, it is always indeclinable.-EXAMPLES: Terminez les affaires que vous avez prévu que vous auriez. Les bijous que j'ai ordonné qu'on m'envoyât. Les dépenses qu'ils ont cru que je ferais. Les terres qu'il aurait désiré que j'eusse achetées. Put an end to the business which you foresaw you should have. The jewels which I ordered to be sent to me. The expenses which they thought The lands that he would have de- 3d. Of the past participle of reflective verbs. RULEI. The past participle of reflective verbs is always declinable, when attended by its complement direct.-EXAMPLES: Les Amazones se sont couvertes | The Amazons covered themselves de gloire. Ils se sont décidés à lui faire un procès. Elle s'est avisée de me donner un Elle s'est assise auprès de moi. Elle s'était flattée de réussir. with glory. They have determined to sue him. She took it into her head to give me a box on the ear. She sat by me. They have rendered themselves formidable. She flattered herself she should succeed.' RULE II. The past participle of reflective verbs, when attended by a complement indirect, is indeclinable.-EXAMPLES: Lucrèce s'est donné la mort. Les Amazones se sont acquis de Vous vous êtes dit des honnêtetés. Lucretia killed herself. She has stored chimeras in her head. The Amazons have acquired to themselves glory. You spoke to one another civilly. They have prepared themselves. much trouble. Deux fois nos tristes yeux se sont vu retracer, Ce même enfant toujours tout prêt à me percer. RULE III.--The past participle of reflective verbs, when attended at the same time by two complements, one direct, and the other indirect, is declinable.—EXAMPLES: VOL. II. Y La mort que Lucrèce s'est donnée. Les chimères qu'elle s'est mises dans l'esprit. La gloire que se sont acquise les Amazones. Les honnêtetés que vous vous êtes dites. Les peines qu'ils se sont préparées. The death that Lucretia gave herself. The chimeras which she has put into her brain. The glory which the Amazons acquired. The civil speeches you made one to another. The trouble they prepared for themselves. S. You have said nothing concerning the declinability of the past participle of stationary or neuter verbs, construed with avoir. M. For a good reason: you have seen, in all the above examples "oncerning the past participle, that, to be declinable, it must be preceded by a complement direct; and, as the stationary or neuter verbs have none, their past participle must necessarily be indeclinable, when construed with avoir.-EXAMPLES: On pourrait compter par les bien- | We may reckon the good deeds faits de cet homme rare les jours qu'il a vécu. Il faut retrancher de la vie les heures qu'on a dormi. of that extraordinary man by the days that he has lived. We must deduct from life the hours we have slept. In the two above examples, que is not a complement: it is used, in the first, instead of pendant lesquels; and, in the second, instead of pendant lesquelles. The past participle of stationary or neuter verbs, is, on the contrary, always declinable, when construed with être.-EXAMPLES: Elle est venue me parler. Cette femme est arrivée à cinq She came and spoke to me. This woman arrived at five o'clock, I conclude this account of the declinability of the past participle, by observing, 1st. That fait is indeclinable, as well as some other past participles, when used in an abstract sense.-EXAMPLES: La pluie qu'il a fait m'a empêché | The rain which has fallen has pre de sortir. Les troupes qu'il a fallu leur envoyer ont affaibli l'armée. vented me from going out. The troops, which it has been necessary to send them, have enfeebled the army. La dépense qu'il y a eu dans cette The expense which there has been maison est effroyable. in that house, is horrible. 2d. That fait, of all the past participles which may be united either to the infinitive of active, or to that of stationary or neuter verbs, is the only one that always remains indeclinable.---EXAMPLES: Les chemises que j'ai fait faire. Voilà les livres que j'ai fait venir de France. Je l'ai fait entrer avec beaucoup de difficulté. The shirts that I caused to be made. There are the books I ordered from France. With a great deal of difficulty I made her come in. But, if fait has the sense of fabriquer, créer, former, produire, &c. it is declinable.-EXAMPLE: Les bottes qu'il m'a faites sont | The boots he made for me are too trop étroites. tight. 3d. That when the past participle has after it an infinitive understood, it is then indeclinable.-EXAMPLES: J'ai cité les plus beaux traits que | I have cited the noblest traits I j'ai pu. could. Elle a dit toutes les plaisanteries! She said all the pleasantries she qu'elle a voulu. pleased. J'ai fait toutes les démarches que I took all the steps I should or j'ai dú. ought. The infinitives citer, dire, and faire, are understood in the foregoing phrases. LESSON THE TWENTY-FIRST. ON THE PROPER CHOICE OF THE AUXILIARY Master. You have undoubtedly observed, in the course of this work, that the past participles of active verbs, having a direct complement, are combined with the auxiliary être, in order to give a passive sense to the phrase, as in the following line: Tout mortel est chargé de sa propre douleur: est chargé is used in a passive sense, because one may say, charger quelqu'un. Also, that all French reflective verbs, contrary to the genius of the English, are conjugated with être in their past tenses; as, Je suis père et ce cœur qu'un tel arrêt déchire S'en est dit cent fois plus que tu ne peux m'en dire. There are some verbs, which, without being used passively or reflectively, take the auxiliary être; as, Aller, arriver, décéder, déchoir, entrer, mourir, naître, partir, 1ester, sortir, tomber, venir, and its compounds devenir, intervenir, parvenir, revenir, and survenir. REMARKS ON ALLER, SORTIR, AND TOMBER. ALLER. We always make use of être, when aller is conjugated with its own participle: thus it is said, Il est allé, il était allé; but, should the word été be substituted for the word allé, then the auxiliary avoir must be substituted for the auxiliary être ; so we must say, in the sense of aller, Il a été, instead of Il est été, which is a barbarism in French. There is a very nice distinction between Il est allé, and Il a été, for they are by no means synonymous; the former meaning that the person is gone and is not yet returned, while the latter means that he is returned from the place where he had been, or where he had lived. From this remark, it is evident that aller, conjugated with the verb être, cannot be used for the first nor the second person, but only for the third. SORTIR. This verb first takes the auxiliary avoir, to express that somebody who was out, returned: so we say of somebody that has returned, Il a sorti; but, should he not be returned yet, we would say, Il est sorti. Sortir is also conjugated with avoir, when it is followed by a complement.-EXAMPLES: Le palefrenier a-t-il sorti mes che- | Has the hostler taken my horses vaux de l'écurie? Remerciez-le de vous avoir sorti d'une affaire si fâcheuse. out of the stable? Thank him for having extricated you from so unpleasant an affair. TOMBER. This verb never admits for the conjugation of its past tenses of any other auxiliary than être: so we must say, je suis tombé, j'étais tombé; but never, j'ai tombé, j'avais tombé, which are mistakes into which the French themselves are very liable to fall: even Voltaire, one of the most correct of our writers, has committed it in the fol lowing lines: Où serais-je, grand Dieu! si ma crédulité Eût tombé dans le piége à mes pas présenté ? Fút should have been used instead of eût. The verbs subvenir, apparaître, comparaître, approcher, are always conjugated with the auxiliary avoir.-EXAMPLES: On a subvenu à tous les besoins | All the most urgent wants have been relieved. Vieillards, femmes, enfans, troupeau faible et timide, The verbs accourir, disparaître, croitre, décroitre, contrevenir, arc conjugated with either of these auxiliary verbs.-EXAMPLES: J'ai accouru, ou je suis accouru I ran to the noise. au bruit. La rivière a cru, ou est crue. Il prétendait n'avoir point con- The river has increased. The waters have much decreased. He contended that he had not con. travened the law. Je n'ai fait que tourner la tête, elle | I did but turn my head, and she a disparu, ou elle est disparue. disappeared. Périr is generally ranked by all grammarians (Restaut excepted) among the verbs which admit equally well of either auxiliary. The distinction which the latter makes, appearing as delicate as it is judicious, I shall insert his remark on the use of this verb: "It is probable that the auxiliary avoir suits better when the verb has a general and indeterminate sense; as, when we say, Les enfans du grand prêtre (high priest) ont péri misérablement: and that the auxiliary être is preferable, when the verb is attended by particular circumstances, as in the following phrases: Les habitans de Jérusalem sont péris par le fer et par le feu. The meaning of the following verbs is affected by changing their auxiliary. Cesser is always conjugated with avoir, when it has a complement; it then means to leave off, to cease.-EXAMPLES: |