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Ex.: si [si], pense [pã:s], casser [kase]; also scène [sɛ:n], place [plas], façade [fasad], leçon [ləsɔ̃], reçu [rosy], commençait [kɔmãsɛ], commençons [komãsɔ̃], reçûmes [rǝsym], portion [porsjɔ̃], soixante [swasă:t].

14. (—Like sh in shoe, but with the tongue more advanced (§ 1, 5). Ex.: chou [fu], lâche [la:Л], also, schisme [fism].

15. t-Like t in 'tall,' but with the tongue advanced as for [d] above; avoid the slight aspiration which generally follows the English sound. Ex.: tas [to], patte [pat].

16. v-Like v in 'vine,' 'cave.'

Ex.: vin [ve], cave [ka:v]; also, wagon [vagɔ̃], neuf heures [nov œ:r]. 17. z-Like z in 'zone,' or s in 'rose,' but with the tongue advanced as for [d] above.

Ex.: zone [zo:n], rose [ro:z]; also, deux heures, [døz œ:r], exact [egzakt].

18. 3—Like z in 'azure' or s in ‘pleasure,' but with the tongue more advanced (§ 1, 5).

Ex.: je [39], rouge [ru:3]; also mangeant [mãzã], Jean [3ã].

18. Liaison. Final consonants are usually silent, but in oral speech, within a group of words closely connected logically, a final consonant (whether usually sounded or not) is regularly sounded, and forms a syllable with the initial vowel sound of the next word. This is called in French 'liaison' = 'linking,' 'joining.'

Ex.: C'est un petit_homme [s_ε-to-pǝ-ti-tɔm].

1. A few of the consonants change their sound in liaison, thus, final s or x=z, d=t, g=k, f=v, e.g., nos_amis [no-za-mi], quand_on parle [kã-tɔ̃-parl]; the t of et is silent, for examples see p. 12.

2. The n of a nasal is carried on, and the nasal vowel loses its nasality in part, or even wholly, e.g., un bon_ami [œ-bo-na-mi, or œ-bo-na-mi].

NOTE. The sounds carried over really belong in pronunciation to the initial syllable of the following word, but to avoid confusion they will be indicated in the transcription with the preceding word, e.g., les hommes [lez ɔm, more properly le zɔm].

19. Elision. The letters a, e, i, are entirely silent in certain cases :—

1. The a and e are silent and replaced by apostrophe in le, la, je, me, te, se, de, ne, que (and some of its compounds) before initial vowel or

h mute (not, however, je, ce, le, la after a verb); so also i of si before il(s).

Ex.: L'arbre (=le arbre), l'encre (=la encre), j'ai (=je ai), qu'a-t-il (=que a-t-il), jusqu'à (=jusque à), s'il (=si il).

2. In prose the letter e is silent at the end of all words (except when e is itself the only vowel in the word), silent in the verbal endings -es, -ent, silent within words after a vowel sound, and in the combination ge or je [3]. In verbs which have stem g [3], g becomes ge [3] before a or o of an ending, to preserve the [3] sound.

Ex.: rue [ry], donnée [dɔne], rare [ra:r], place [plas], ai-je [ε:3], table [tabl], sabre [sa: br], prendre [prã:dr], tu parles [ty parl], ils parlent [il parl], gaieté [gete], mangeons [mã35], Jean [3ã].

NOTE.-In ordinary discourse, this sound is usually slighted or wholly omitted in most cases in which consonantal combinations produced by its weakening or elision can be readily pronounced, but beginners will do well to sound it fully, except in the cases above specified. The treatment of the [ə] in poetry is beyond the scope of this work.

20. Punctuation. The same punctuation marks are used in French as in English.

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2. They are used as in English, but the 'tiret' commonly serves to denote a change of interlocutor.

Ex.: "Qui est là? dis-je.-Personne.-Quoi! personne !-Personne, dit-il."

21. Capitals. The principal differences between French and English in the use of capital letters (Fr. 'lettres majuscules,' 'capitales') may be seen from the following examples :

Un livre canadien écrit en français par un Canadien. Toronto, lundi, le 3 janvier. Je lui ai dit ce que je pensais.

[The sign (:) in unstressed syllables indicates 'half long.'] Tu aimeras le Seigneur ton Dieu de tout ton cœur, de toute ty Є: mra 1 sɛɲœ:r tõ djø d tu to ko:r, də tut ton âme, de toute ta force, et de toute ta pensée; et ton tɔ̃n a:m, də tut ta fors, e d tut ta pãise; e tõ prochain comme toi-même...

profe kom twa mɛm...

œn

ɔm

Un homme descendait de Jérusalem à Jéricho; et il est desã:dɛ d 3eryzalɛm a 3eriko; e il Ε tombé parmi des brigands, qui l'ont dépouillé, ils l'ont chargé to: be parmi de brigã, ki 1 5 depuje, i 1 5 Jarze de coups, et ils sont partis, en le laissant à moitié mort. Et d ku, e i sɔ̃ parti,, ã 1 lɛ:sã a mwatje mɔ:r. e par hasard un prêtre descendait par ce chemin-là, et en le par azair œ prε:trǝ desã:de par sə Jme la, e ã 1 voyant, il a passé outre. vwajỡ, il a pa:se utr. dans cet endroit, il est venu, et en le voyant, il a passé outre. dã st ã:drwa, il Ε vny, e ã 1 vwajã, il a pa:se utr.

De même aussi un lévite, arrivé də mɛ:m 0:si œ levit, ari:ve

Mais un Samaritain, qui voyageait, est venu là, et en le voyant, me œ samarite, ki vwaja3Є, ε vny la, e ã 1 vwajã,

pur bã:de se puis il l'a mis sur pчi i la mi syr

il a été ému de pitié; et il s'est approché pour bander ses il a ete emy d pitje; e il s ɛt aprofe blessures, en y versant de l'huile et du vin; blɛsy:r, an i versã də 1 qil e dy vẽ; sa propre bête pour le conduire à une auberge, et il a pris soin sa proprǝ bɛ:t pur lə kɔ̃:dчi:r a yn ǝbɛr3, e il a pri swe

de lui. Et le lendemain il a tiré deux deniers, et il les a d lyi. e 1 lã:dmẽ il a tire dø dǝnje, e i lez a

donnés à l'aubergiste, en disant, 'prends soin de lui, et ce que done a 1 obɛrzist, ã di:zã, prã swe d lui, e S kə

tu dépenseras de plus, moi je te le rendrai à mon retour.' ty depãsra d plys, mwa 3 to 1 rã:dre a mɔ̃ rtuir.

-Reprinted by kind permission of M. Paul Passy, from his "Version populaire de l'Évangile de Luc en transcription phonétique.”

12

PART I.

LESSON I.

22. Definite Article. 1. The definite article has the following forms in the singular:

'The '=

le [lǝ], before a masculine beginning with a consonant.
la [la], before a feminine beginning with a consonant.
l' [1], before any noun beginning with a vowel or h mute.

Le père, la mère.

L'enfant (m. or f.), l'homme.

The father, the mother.

The child, the man.

2. The definite article must be repeated before each noun

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2. Names of male beings are masculine, and names of female beings feminine, as in English.

24. Case. French nouns have no case endings. The direct object (accusative) is expressed by verb+noun; the indirect object (dative) by the preposition à + noun; the possessive (genitive) by de + noun, and these prepositions must be repeated before each noun to which they refer :

La mère aime l'enfant.

J'ai la plume de Robert.

The mother loves the child.
I have Robert's pen (the pen of
Robert).

Je donne l'argent à Marie et à I give the money to Mary and (to)

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25. Agreements. French has the following agreements, and they are usually expressed by change of form: (1) Verb and subject, in number and person; (2) adjective and noun, in gender and number; (3) pronoun and antecedent, in gender and number.

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A. 1. Où est le livre? 2. Voici le livre. 3. Où est la table? 4. Voilà la table. 5. Où est le papier? 6. Voici le papier. 7. Où est la plume? 8. Voici la plume. 9. Où est l'encre? 10. Voilà l'encre sur la table. 11. Où est le crayon? 12. Voilà le crayon avec la plume. 13. Voici le livre et la plume sur la table. 14. Voilà le papier avec l'encre sur la table. 15. Montrez-moi le papier, la plume et l'encre. 16. Où est le crayon? 17. Voici le crayon et la plume. 18. Voilà le papier et l'encre.

B. (Oral Exercise-questions to be answered in French by the pupil.) 1. Montrez-moi la table. 2. Montrez-moi le papier. 3. Montrez-moi la plume. 4. Montrez-moi l'encre. 5. Où est la table? 6. Où est le papier? 7. Où est la plume? 8. Où est l'encre ? 9. Montrez-moi le papier, la plume et l'encre. Etc., etc.

C. 1. Here is the pen. 2. There is the ink. 3. Where is the paper? 4. There is the paper with the pen. 5. Here is the book. 6. Show me the paper. 7. Here is the paper on the table. 8. Where is the pen? 9. The pen is with the ink. 10. Show me the paper and ink. 11. The paper is on the. table. 12. The ink is with the paper.

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