l'antichambre le domestique m'introduisit dans le?... Ce n'est plus à vous à parler, Juliette, vous avez répondu à l'autre question, c'est à toi, Charles.

Charles. Dans le salon,

La Mère. Là je m'assis pendant que le domestique allait prévenir sa maîtresse. Le salon était très-bien meublé. Il y avait?...(La mère interroge très-vite du geste tous les enfants l'un après l'autre, et ils répondent successivement).

Marie. Des fauteuils.-Albert. Des chaises.-Léon. Un canapé.-Lucie. Une pendule.-Juliette. Une console.-Charles. Des tableaux.-(Même jeu de la part de la Mere.)

Les Enfants (l'un après l'autre, plus lentement.)—Des rideaux.—Une cheminée.— Une glace.-Des lampes.-Un tapis.—Un canapé.

La Mère. Le mot a été dit, Charles; un gage. Vous voyez, mes enfants, que je puis vous promener ainsi dans toutes les pièces d'un appartement et vous faire dire ce qu'il y a dans chacune d'elles; mais ce sera pour la prochaine fois. Il vous faut faire maintenant un peu d'exercice. Jouez à Colin-Maillard;* après la partie, nous tirerons vos gages, puis on vous servira la collation; et vous irez ensuite vous reposer pour être demain de bonne humeur, et appliqués à vos leçons comme de bons et gentils enfants.

* COLIN MAILLARD (blindman's buff), jeu où Colin cherche Maillard.

THE COMPLETE

FRENCH CLASS-BOOK.

A MODERN THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL

FRENCH GRAMMAR,

For the Use of British Schools and Private Students;

WITH

PROGRESSIVE EXERCISES,

ON A PLAN PECULIARLY CONDUCIVE TO THE ACQUIREMENT OF FACILITY IN

SPEAKING AND WRITING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.

FIRST PART.

THE COMPLETE

FRENCH CLASS-BOOK.

A MODERN THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL

FRENCH GRAMMAR.

GRAMMAIRE. Grammaire vient du mot grec gramma, qui signifie lettre, littérature.

La Grammaire est l'art d'exprimer ses pensées d'une manière conforme aux règles établies par la raison et le bon usage.

On désigne sous le nom de Grammaires les livres où ces règles sont expliquées: chaque peuple a sa grammaire particulière, sorte de code dans lequel les lois de son langage sont exposées et appuyées d'exemples empruntés à ses meilleurs écrivains.

CHAPTER I.

CONCERNING THE SUBSTANTIVE, OR NOUN, AND THE DETERMINATIVE WORDS GENERALLY PLACED BEFORE IT TO POINT OUT ITS GENDER AND NUMBER.

First Section.-Of the Noun and of the Article.

I.-OF GENDER.

28. GENDER OF LIVING BEINGS.-In French, as in English, the names of living beings, whether rational or not, are MASCULINE or FEMININE, according to sex; as, le père, the father; la mère, the mother; le lion, the lion; la lionne, the lioness, &c.-Vide Syntax of Nouns.

29. GENDER OF INANIMATE OBJECTS.-There is no neuter in F.; the names of objects, whether real or notional, i. e., whether existing in nature or merely in the mind, take the masc. or fem. gender, as custom has determined; e. g., le papier, the paper; le livre, the book; le vice, vice; le désir, desire, &c., are masc.; whilst la plume, the feather (or pen); la grammaire, the grammar; la vertu, virtue; la joie, joy, &c., are fem.

In E. all nouns that are neither masc. nor fem. are said to be neuter, i. e., neither of the two; but that term is unknown with regard to F. nouns, which are either masc. or fem. "This forms one of the great differences between the two languages. Are there any rules by which we, Englishmen, can know the gender of F. nouns? There are; but, so numerous are those rules, and so numerous the exceptions, that it is impossible for them to be of any use at all to the learner."-Cobbett.

To determine the gender of nouns of inanimate objects, grammarians generally lay down numerous rules, and make still more numerous exceptions, attempting to imitate the Latin grammars by classifying the gender of nouns according to their termination, and concluding their remarks with the cheering ritournelle: "We must except such words as usage alone will teach."

Being convinced that the ear and practice are the safest and most correct guides in this part of the grammar of the language, we recommend the student to notice attentively the genders of nouns of inanimate objects as he hears those nouns used in the phraseology of the language. The gender of a noun can, in most instances, be ascertained in a sentence by the termination of one of the accompanying words, such as an article, an adjective, a pronoun, or a participle: as, le mur, the wall; la ville, the town; de belles maisons, fine houses; l'encre avec laquelle vous avez écrit, the ink with which you wrote; l'équité est produite par l'amour de la justice, equity is produced by the love of justice, &c.-C. J. Delille,

The Definite Article is divided into simple and compound.

II. THE SIMPLE ARTICLE.

30. The E. definite article "the" is expressed in F. in different ways, according to the g. and n. of the noun which it points out; for the use of the F. art. is to denote to the ear or to the eye whether there is unity or plurality implied in the noun.

"The" is expressed by

Ex. 1. Le père, the father.

2. La mère, the mother.

1. le before a m. word in the sing.
2. la before a f. word S

3. les before all words in the plural.
1. Le bon canif, the good penknife.
2. La bonne plume, the good pen.

3. Les pères et les mères, the fathers and | 3.
mothers.

Les bons canifs et les bonnes plumes, the good pens and the good penknives.

TRADUCTION ET LECTURE I.

[These illustrations are to be translated into English, and then to be read in French, first by the teacher and afterwards by the learner. The E. translation given at the end of the book is to be reconstrued into F. at the next lesson.]

1. Le père aime le fils. filles respectent les pères.

mortels. 6. Le pain est bon.

4.

Les amis sont rares. 5.

Les hommes sont

7. La viande est bonne. 8. Nous aimons le

bon pain. 9. Mon frère a le journal. 10. La France est grande.-(Read No. 36.)

III.—OF THE ELISION (21. et seq.) OF e IN le AND OF a IN la.

31. When the word requiring the art. begins with a vowel or h mute,' the letter e in le, or a in la, is cut off, and the place of the elided vowel is supplied by an apostrophe. (10.)

Ex. 1. L'ami, the friend.

2. L'amitié, f., (the) friendship. (36.)

1. L'homme, the man.

2. L'humanité, f., (the) humanity. TRADUCTION ET LECTURE II.

1. L'or (m.) et l'argent (m.) sont précieux. 2. Le printemps, l'été (m.), l'automne (m.), et l'hiver (m.) sont les quatre saisons (f.) de l'année (f.) 3. Apportez l'ombrelle (f.) de ma sœur. 4. L'associé de mon père est allé à Paris. 5. L'oiseau d'Albert chante très-bien. 6. Aimez-vous l'hiver? 7. Savez-vous l'hindoustani? (m.) 8. L'hirondelle (f.) est un oiseau. 9. Nous étudions l'article (m.) 10. Savez-vous l'heure? (f.)

Exercise 1.-Put the definite art., according to g. and n., before every one of the nouns. The king, roi; the queen, reine; the brother, frère; the sister, sœur; the pencil, crayon (m.); the pen, plume (f.); the woman, femme; the exercise, thème (m.); the boy, garçon; the house, maison (f.); the queens (43.); the kings; the exercises; the boys; the pens; the pencils; the wine, vin (m.) The workman, ouvrier; the workwoman, ouvrière; the money, argent; the history, histoire (h mute); the star, étoile; the honour, honneur (h m.); the workmen and the workwomen; the histories.

N.B. The learner should now begin Avoir, No. 89, p. 68.

• Words beginning with h aspirate form No. 16. p. 4.

To prevent the meeting of two vowel sounds, which the F. avoid pretty often. No. 21. p. 5.
The is to be pronounced with the noun, as if forming one entire word: __ami, l'homme.

IV. THE COMPOUND OR CONTRACTED ARTICLE.

(a.) "Of" or "from" is generally expressed by DE, which also means "by," " "with," &c. But when employed in combination with "the," "of," or from," must be rendered as follows:

66

32. "Of" or "from the"

1. du* before a m. word beginning with a cons, or h asp.
2. de la before a f. word beginning with a cons. or h asp.

3.

in the de l' before a word of either gender beginning with a singular. vowel or h mute.-(P. 4.)

4. des before any word in the plural.

Ex. 1. Les livres du maître et de la maîtresse. 2. Le salaire de l'ouvrier et de l'ouvrière.

3. La simplicité de l'histoire.

1. The books of the master and of the mistress.

2. The wages of the workman and of the workwoman.

3.

4. La sévérité des maîtres et des insti- 4. tutrices.

The simplicity of (the) history. (36.)
The severity of the masters and of the go-

vernesses.

(b.) "To" or "at" is generally expressed by à,† which also means "from," "in," &c. But in combination with "the," "to," or "at," must be rendered as follows:

33. "To," or

"at the "

1. aut before a m. word beginning with a cons. or h asp.
2. à la 'before a f. word beginning with a cons. or asp.
in the
3. à l' before a word of either gender beginning with a singular.
vowel or h mute.--(P. 4.)

4. aux before any word in the plural.

Ex. 1. Je parle au père, à la mère, à l'oncle, 1. I speak to the father, to the mother, to the aux fils et aux filles. uncle, to the sons, and to the daughters. 2. Ce proverbe est emprunté aux Per- 2. This proverb is borrowed from the Per

34. V.-What most English grammarians call the INDEFINITE art. "a" an," is rendered in F. by the numeral un (62.) for the m., and une for the f. (literally one.)

or

Ex. Un homme et une femme.

A man and a woman.

Instead of de, use d' before un or une (24.):

Je parle d'un roi et d'une reine.

I speak of a king and of a queen.

VI. THE ENGLISH POSSESSIVE 's.

35. To express in F. "the king's palace," the sentence is construed as if it stood "the palace of the king," i. e., le palais du roi.

The first construction ("the king's palace") is altogether foreign to the genius of the F. language, which is characteristically uniform and regular.

TRADUCTION ET LECTURE III.

1. Je parle du trésor. 2. Avez-vous parlé au voyageur? 3. Entendez-vous le ramage de l'oiseau? 4. Voici § l'outil (m.) de l'horloger. 5. Nous parlons de la férocité de l'hyène (f.) 6. Le roi de France parlait à l'ambassadeur. 7. Le français est facile au commencement. 8. Nous allons au hameau. 9. Nous buvons à la santé de la reine. 10. Voilà § les chapeaux des messieurs. 11. Donnez-moi un couteau et une fourchette. 12. Les deux voyageurs viennent d'une très-jolie ville. 13. La géographie est la description de la terre. 14. Le thé vient de la Chine. 15. Il apprit du berger que son père et sa mère étaient dans un village voisin.

16. Les parents de Marie sont fort riches.

confounded with the verb a, "has," from which it is distinguished by a grave accent. (P. 2.)

§ VOICI is formed of vois, see, and ici, here. VOILA is formed of vois, see, and là, there; they are employed before nouns in the sing. and in the

The proposition à, "to," "at," &c., must not be plur.