its position in compound tenses: Je n'ai rien vu, 'I have seen nothing.' Rien autre chose aucune autre chose, 'no other thing, nothing else.'

504 soi-même: soi can only be used to-day when the subject is indefinite. Example: Chacun travaille pour soi, 'every one works for himself.' Dit en soi-même le Phrygien would be to-day, dit en lui-même le Phrygien.

505 sans t'en remettre à: 'without relying on, without trusting to.' en = de cela, i.e. du soin de spécifier ce que tu souhaites.

507 lesquelles il fit accommoder: this use of lequel is rather obsolete; que is to-day used in this case.

508 l'entrée, le second, l'entremets: the first course, the second course, the entremets' (a course between the roast and the dessert).

50 26 et, qui pis est: and what is worse.' Qui is used here idiomatically for ce qui, and pis is an adjective.

50 31 ce valet: 'this servant.' Valet means here esclave. Domestique is to-day more commonly used than valet, which has been confined to expressions like valet de pied, 'footman.'

50 32 le mieux du monde: 'supremely well, most admirably.'

APPENDIX

NOTE. In preparing this appendix the authors have not taken into account the new rules adopted in 1900 by the Minister of Public Instruction in France. These rules affect only minor points of the spelling or syntax of the language, and they are rather a mere toleration than a positive change.

1. I. À: 'at, to, in, of': Je me lève à six heures, * I rise at six'; Donnez cette plume à votre frère, 'Give that pen to your brother'; Il demeure à Paris, 'He lives in Paris'; Il s'adressa à moi, 'He applied to me'; Il courut à vous, 'He ran to you'; Je pense à lui, 'I think of him.'

2. Au commencement, 'in the beginning'; au printemps, 'in the spring. (But, en été, en automne, en hiver.)

3. A voix basse, 'in a low voice'; à l'avenir, 'in the future.' 4. Il passe son temps à lire, 'He spends his time reading.'

5. à is sometimes used between two nouns.

a. It may express a characteristic: un vieillard à cheveux blancs, 'a white-haired old man.'

b. Or a relation of purpose or means: un ver à soie, 'a silkworm'; une tasse à thé, 'a teacup'; un moulin à vent, a windmill.' NOTE. Some verbs require à before an infinitive. those verbs.

Do not mistake à for a, 'has' (without an accent).

See list of

2. Adjectives. I. Their position depends a good deal on euphony. In some cases it makes no difference whether the adjective is placed before or after the noun. Sometimes, however, its meaning is determined by its position: C'est un grand homme, 'He is a great man'; C'est un homme grand, 'He is a tall man.'

2. Most adjectives are placed after the noun; usually those of color, shape, nationality, religion, etc., and those which have more syllables than the noun.

3. Adjectives of fewer syllables than the noun are placed before it. Also a few very common adjectives, as beau, bon, grand, gros, jeune, joli, long, meilleur, petit, vieux, etc.

4. Adjectives are sometimes used as adverbs: Cette fleur est fort belle, . This flower is very beautiful.'

In expressions like nouveau venu, nouveau may be either an adjective or an adverb, according as the second word is a noun or an adjective.

3. Adverbs. The adverbs are placed after the verb except in compound tenses, when they are usually placed between the auxiliary and the past participle: Je le vois souvent; Je l'ai souvent vu. EXCEPTION. Ici, là, hier, aujourd'hui, demain, tôt, tard, generally follow the past participle: Il est venu hier.

4. Aimer. 1. In the sense of 'approve of,' aimer takes the subjunctive: J'aime qu'il vienne, 'I approve of his coming.'

2. It is often followed by à and an infinitive: Il aime à jouer, 'He likes to play.'

5. Aller, plus an infinitive, expresses an immediate future: Il va lire, 'He is going to read.'

6. Après governs the past infinitive: après avoir lu la lettre, 'after reading the letter.'

7. Article. 1. The definite article le, la, les, (l' before a vowel or a mute h), is used

a. Before a noun taken in its general sense: L'argent est le nerf de la guerre, 'Money is the sinews of war.'

b. Before abstract nouns: Aimez la vertu.

c. Before nouns of material: l'or.

d. Before the names of countries, states, provinces, large islands, lakes, mountains, etc.: La France est un beau pays, 'France is a beautiful country.'

e. Before a title (and a proper name): le général Kléber, 'General Kléber.'

f. Before names of fractional parts: la moitié de l'armée, 'half of the army.'

g. Before nouns of weight or measure: Ce drap vaut vingt francs le mètre, 'That cloth is worth twenty francs a meter.'

2. The definite article must be repeated before each noun.

It is sometimes omitted, a. in proverbs: Plus fait douceur que violence.

b. In enumerations: femmes, moines, vieillards, tout était descendu.

c. Before many abstract nouns used as object of a verb or after a preposition: avoir faim, être en danger.

d. After être, devenir, paraître, and some other verbs, before the predicate noun: Il est devenu roi, 'He became king.'

e. Before a noun in apposition: Jean, fils du menuisier, 'John, the carpenter's son.'

f. In correlative clauses the English word the has no equivalent in French: Plus on étudie, plus on voit ce qu'il y a à apprendre, 'The more you study, the more you see what there is to learn.'

3. a. The partitive article is equivalent to de, plus the definite article: du, de la, de l', des. Donnez-moi du pain, 'Give me some bread.'

b. When a noun used in the partitive sense is preceded by an adjective, de is used without the article: Du pain, but de bon pain.

Compare la couleur du papier and donnez-moi du papier; l'armée des ennemis, and dès ce moment, 'from this moment on.'

8. Avant, devant: 'before.' Avant generally refers to time, devant to position: Il s'est assis avant moi, 'He sat down before I did'; Il s'est assis devant moi, 'He sat down in front of me.'

Avant denotes priority and corresponds to après, 'after.' Devant corresponds to derrière, 'behind.'

9. Bien takes de + the definite article: Bien des fois, 'many times.'

10. Chacun. 1. Chacun is followed by son, sa, ses, when the noun following it is not necessary to the sense: Ils ont apporté des offrandes, chacun selon ses moyens, 'They brought presents, each one according to his means.' We have a complete sense in Ils ont apporté des offrandes.

2. It is followed by leur, leurs, when it precedes the direct object or when it is placed between an intransitive verb and a noun which is necessary to the sense.

Ils ont apporté chacun leurs offrandes.

Il vit les ombres d'Homère et d'Orphée qui sortaient, chacune de leur côté, d'un riant bosquet. In these two sentences offrandes and bosquet are necessary to the sense.

Of course chacun is followed by notre, nos, votre, vos, if the verb is in the first or second person plural.

11. Cheveux. Cheveu in the singular means a single hair. It must be used in the plural when meaning 'the hair' (of the head).

12. Chez. Chez moi, 'at or to my house;' chez le boucher, 'at or to the butcher's;' chez les Romains, 'among the Romans.'

e

Chez is often used where an apostrophe and an s are used in English: I bought that hat at Dunlap's,' J'ai acheté ce chapeau chez Dunlap.

13. Ci, là: Ce livre-ci, 'this book'; ce livre-là, 'that book'; celui-ci, this one, the latter'; celui-là, 'that one, the former'; ceci, 'this'; cela, 'that.' (See 56.)

14. Collective Nouns. I. A collective noun in the singular and without a complement can never be followed immediately by a verb in the plural: L'assemblée approuva. La plupart, 'most,' is an exception to that rule: La plupart périssaient.

2. If the collective noun has a complement the verb agrees with this complement, provided it contains the principal idea; otherwise it agrees with the collective noun: Une foule d'enfants couraient dans la rue, 'A crowd of children were running in the street'; Le tiers des enfants est mort, 'One third of the children died.'

15. Comme. Note the difference in construction: Comme ce paysage est beau, 'How beautiful this landscape is.'

16. Comparative. 1. The comparative of superiority is formed by placing plus before the adjective or adverb: plus fort que, 'stronger than.'

2. Equality is expressed by aussi . . . que: aussi vite que, as quickly as.' In the negative si . . . que is commonly used : Il n'est pas si fort que moi, 'He is not as strong as I.'

3. The comparative of inferiority is formed by means of moins: moins fort que, 'not as strong as.'

EXCEPTIONS: bon, meilleur, 'good, better'; mauvais, pire or plus mauvais, 'bad, worse'; petit, moindre or plus petit, 'small, smaller'; bien, mieux, 'well, better'; mal, plus mal or pis, 'badly, worse'; peu, moins, 'little, less.'

17. Conditional.

1. The present conditional generally corresponds to the imperfect indicative, the past conditional to the pluperfect indicative.

2. The conditional is used to express the future in the past: Il a dit « je viendrai » = Il a dit qu'il viendrait.