223.-When two or more nouns or pronouns in the singular are the subject of a verb, the latter must be put in the plural. If the subjects do not belong to the same person, the verb must be put in the first person when there is one subject of that person, in the second if the subjects belong to the second and third persons, and in the third if all the subjects belong to the third, as: "I, you and Peter are ill" (moi, vous et Pierre sommes malades); "you and Peter are ill," (vous et Pierre êtes malades); " Peter, John, and their sister are ill" (Pierre, Jean et leur sœur sont malades). 224. Most of the French verbs can be conjugated according to given rules. Therefore it is necessary to know well the conjugations of only a few of them. 225.-We call regular those which follow these rules, and irregular those which do not follow them. 226. The regular verbs are divided into four classes called conjugations, distinguished from each other by the termination of the present of the infinitive. The termination of the first conjugation is ER. CONJUGATION OF THE AUXILIARY VERB AVOIR (TO HAVE). I have thou hast he, she or it has or hath INDICATIVE. J'ai eu Tu as eu Il a éu Nous avons eu Ils ont eu (COMPOUND TENSES.) 2. PAST INDEFINITE. 1 have had thou hadst had he has or hath had we have had you have had J'avais eu Tu avais eu Il avait eu would, or we could, would, or you could, would, or * As we have already seen, je, tu, nous, vous, are of both genders. We have made use of il and elle in the 1st tense to remind you to pay attention to the gender of the noun represented by the pronoun. |