USE OF CERTAIN ADVERBS.

420. Distinctions. The following are especially liable to be confounded in use:

1. Oui, Si. 'Yes' in affirmation or assent is oui; 'yes' is usually si in contradiction, in correction, in dissent:

L'avez-vous dit ?-Oui, monsieur.
Venez.-Oui, oui, j'irai.

Il ne s'en va pas. Si, monsieur, il

s'en va.

Il ne s'en va pas ?-Mais si.

Je n'irai pas.-Si, si venez.

Did you say it?—Yes, sir.

Come.-Yes, yes, I shall go.

He is not going.—Yes, (sir), he is (going).

He is not going?—Yes, certainly.

I shall not go.-Yes, yes, come.

NOTE.-The use of si as also of the intensive si fait, etc., though very common, is classed as familiar by the Académie; it is often avoided by pardon, etc., or other expressions: 'Il ne va pas.-Pardon, monsieur (il va).'

a. Oui, si, and non, are often preceded by que, really with ellipsis of a whole que clause, and are then variously translated by 'yes,' 'so,' 'no,' 'not,' etc., or by a clause :

Je dis que oui (non).

Je crois que oui (non).

Vous ne l'avez pas ?-Oh! que si.

Le fera-t-il? Je crois que oui.

Je dis que non.

Peut-être que non.

I

say yes (no).

I think so (not).

You haven't it?-Oh yes!

Will he do it ?—I think he will.
I say it is not so.

Perhaps not.

2. Autant, Tant. 'As much (many)'= autant; 'so much (many)'=

tant:

Je gagne autant que vous.

I earn as much as you.

Il but tant qu'il en mourut.

He drank so much that he died

from it.

J'ai tant d'amis; j'en ai autant I have so many friends; I have as que vous.

3. Plus, Davantage.

many as you.

Plus is used in all senses of 'more,' 'most' (see below); davantage (strengthened sometimes by bien = 'much,' encore='still ') = 'more,' is regularly used only absolutely, and usually stands at the end of its clause :

N'en parle pas davantage.}

N'en parle plus.

Ne restez pas davantage.
Ne restez plus.

Say no more about it.

}

Do not remain any longer.

Cela me plaît encore davantage That pleases me still more. (plus).

Je suis riche; il l'est bien davan- I am rich; he is much more so.

tage (plus).

But only: J'en ai plus que lui; il est plus habile; plus de dix francs; c'est ce qui le flatte le plus, etc.

NOTE.-Davantage is occasionally followed by que in archaic style.

4. Ne . . . que, Seulement. Seulement must be used, (1) when no verb is present, (2) when 'only' refers to the subject, (3) or to the verb, (4) or to a que clause, and (5) it may be used to strengthen a ne . . . que; otherwise 'only': = ne... que or seulement : Seulement les braves. Seulement mon frère le sait. Écoutez seulement.

Il dit seulement qu'il irait.
Il n'a seulement qu'à venir.

Only the brave.

Only my brother knows it.
Only listen.

He only said he would go.
He has only to come.

But Nous ne serons que trois (or trois seulement); je ne veux que voir son père (or je veux seulement voir son père), etc.

a. 'Only,' referring to the subject, may be turned also by il n'y a que, ce n'est que; 'only,' referring to the verb, may be turned by the help of faire :

NOUNS OF NUMBER: 1,000,000 un million [ỡ miljɔ̃]; 2,000,000= deux millions [dø miljɔ̃]; 1,000,000,000 un milliard [ỡ milja:r].

Observe: 1. The hyphen unites together compound numerals under 100, except where et occurs. 2. Et stands regularly in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, is optional in 70, omitted in 81, and elsewhere.

NOTES ON PRONUNCIATION : 1. The final consonant of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, is silent before initial consonant or h aspirate of a word multiplied by them, not elsewhere: 'Cinq livres' [sẽ li:vr], but 'le cinq mai' [lə sẽ:k mɛ]. 2. No elision or liaison occurs before huit, onze: Le huit [lə qit]; les huit livres [le qi li:vr]; le onze [lə 5:z]; les onze francs [le 5:z frã]. 3. The t is sounded in vingt in 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, becomes d in 22, is silent from 81 to 99, is silent in cent un, deux cent un, etc.

a. Un (f. une) is the only cardinal which varies for gender:

Une (deux, trois, etc.) plume(s).

Vingt et une vaches.

One (two, three, etc.) pen(s).
Twenty-one cows.

b. Cardinals are invariable for number, except that -s is added to quatre-vingt and the multiples of cent, but only when immediately preceding a noun, or an adjective + a noun, or when they themselves serve as nouns of number :

Quatre-vingts francs.

Trois cents (bonnes) plumes.

Deux cents millions.
Trois cents de pommes.
Les cinq cents.

Eighty francs.

Three hundred (good) pens.
Two hundred millions.
Three hundred apples.
The five hundreds.

But: Trois cent un francs; les cent hommes engagés; quatre-vingtune plumes; deux cent mille; trois mille milles, etc.

N.B.-They are not nouns of number in dates (c. below) or when used as ordinals (§ 427): 'L'an quatre cent'; 'page deux cent'; 'page quatre-vingt.'

c. The form mil (not 'mille') is used in dates of the Christian era from 1001 to 1999:

But: L'an mille (sometimes mil); l'an deux mille trois cent; l'an mille cent du monde, etc.

d. From 1100 onward dates are often expressed by hundreds, as so frequently in English :

Onze cent(s); treize cent(s).

Quinze cent cinquante.

Eleven hundred; thirteen hundred.
Fifteen hundred and fifty.

e. 'A (or one) hundred' = cent; 'a (or one) thousand' = mille :

Mille soldats.

A (one) thousand soldiers.

NOTE.-Septante=70, octante =80, nonante=90, six-vingt(s)=120, and quinzevingt(s)=300, are now obsolete in the literary language.

422. Ordinal Numerals. The ordinal numerals denote order or place in a series relatively to the first; they are formed, from 'third' up, by adding -ième to the last consonant of the corresponding cardinal, cinq adding u, and f of neuf becoming v before -ième :

1st premier [prǝmje].
(second [sǝg5].
2nd deuxième [døzjem].
3rd troisième [trwaziem].
4th quatrième [katriɛm].
5th cinquième [sekjɛm].

6th sixième [sizjem].

21st vingt et unième [vet e ynjem].

22nd vingt-deuxième [vend døzjem].

NOTES.-1. Besides the ordinary forms, tiers (f. tierce)= 'third,' quart(e)='fourth,' are used in a few expressions and in fractions: 'Le tiers état,' 'The commoners' ; 'En maison tierce,' 'In the house of a third party'; 'Une fièvre quarte,' 'A quartan ague.'

2. Quint='fifth' is used only in 'Charles-Quint,' Charles V. (the Emperor)'; 'Sixte. Quint,' 'Sixtus V. (the Pope).'

a. Ordinals are like ordinary adjectives in inflection and agreement, and regularly precede the noun:

Nous sommes arrivés les premiers. We arrived first.

b. Deuxième instead of second is more usually employed in a series of more than two, and always in compounds :

a. They take -s in the plural, and have the construction of ordinary

424. Fractions. The numerator is regularly denoted by a cardinal and the denominator by an ordinal; 'half' = moitié, f., as a noun, and demi as an adjective or a noun:

a. Demi, before its noun, is invariable and joined by a hyphen, but agrees elsewhere; as a noun, demi is hardly used, except in arithmetical calculations :