the one used before a consonant or an h aspirate: beau, nouveau, vieux, fou, mou; the other used before a vowel or A mute: bel, nouvel, vieil, fol, mol. They form their feminine from the latter: belle, nouvelle, vieille, folle, molle. N.B.—Jumeau, twin, makes jumelle in the feminine. 24. Adjectives in er, ier, and the following in et, add an mute, and take a grave accent on the e preceding the consonant: complet, concret, discret, inquiet, replet, secret. 25. Adjectives in ƒ change ƒ into ve. 26. Those in a change a into se. 27. Those in eur change eur into euse. 28. The following in eur take e mute: meilleur, majeur, mineur, supérieur, inférieur, intérieur, extérieur, antérieur, postérieur. 29. The following change teur into trice: accusateur, protecteur, acteur. 30. The following change eur into eresse: vengeur, enchanteur. 31. The following form their feminine irregularly: faux, fausse; roux, rousse; doux, douce; blanc, blanches franc, franche; sec, sèche; frais, fraîche; caduc, caduque; public, publique; turc, turque; grec, grecque; long, longue; bénin, bénigne; malin, maligne; favori, favorite; coi, coite. 32. The plural in qualifying adjectives: To form the plural add an s to the singular. N.B.-If the singular ends in s or a, no change takes place. 33. If the singular ends in eau, add x in the plural. 34. The following change al into aux: égal, légal, royal, loyal, cardinal, général, moral, spécial, féodal, baptismal, sacerdotal, principal. 35. Position of adjectives: Adjectives generally come after the noun with which they agree; past participles used as adjectives, always come after it. The following adjectives usually precede the noun: beau, joli, bon, meilleur, grand, petit, mauvais, vilain, gros, vieux. 36. Degrees of comparison: To form the compara tive of superiority put plus, more, before the positive, and que, than, after it. 37. To form the comparative of inferiority put moins, less, before the positive, and que, than, after it. 38. To form the comparative of equality put anssi, as, before the positive, and translate the last 'as' by que. 39. To form the superlative relative put the definite article before the comparative. 40. To form the superlative absolute put très or fort, very, extrêmement, extremely, etc., before the positive. 41. Bon, good, forms its degrees of comparison irregularly bon, meilleur, le meilleur; petit, little, and mauvais, bad, form their degrees of comparison regularly, and also irregularly, as follows: petit, moindre, le moindre; mauvais, pire, le pire. 42. When little,'' better,' 'best,' 'worse,' 'worst' are adverbs in English, they are translated into French by peu, mieux, le mieux, pis, le pis. 43. Either très or beaucoup will translate 'very much,' but très-beaucoup is not French. 44. In speaking of health, the adverb, not the adjective, is used in French: il est mieux, he is better (in health); il est meilleur, he is a better boy, or, a better man. 45. Remark: the largest book, le plus grand livre; my largest book, mon plus grand livre (not mon ie plus grand). 46. Possessive adjectives: mon, ton, son; ma, ta, sa; mes, tes, ses: for one possessor only. Notre, votre, leur; nos, vos, leurs: for more than one possessor. The possessive adjectives in French agree in person with the possessor, and in number and gender with the object possessed; it must be repeated before every noun. 27. The masculine forms mon, ten, son, my, thy, his or her, are used instead of ma, ta, sa before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel or an h mute. 43. Remark: her book' or 'his book' will be som livre; her pen' or 'his pen' will be sa plume, because the possessive adjective in French takes the gender of the object possessed. 49. Numerals. Cardinal numbers: 1, un (m.), une (f.); 2, deux; 3, trois; 4, quatre; 5, cing; 6, six; 7, sept; 8, huit; 9, neuf; 10, dix; 11, onze; 12, douze; 13, treize; 14, quatorze; 15, quinze; 16, seize; 17, dix-sept; 18, dix-huit; 19, dix-neuf; 20, vingt; 30, trente; 40, quarante; 50, cinquante; 60, soixante; 70, soixante-dix; 80, quatre-vingts; 90, quatre-vingt dix; 100, cent; 1000, mille. 50. The conjunction et, and, is used only with 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, vingt et un, etc. 51. Vingt and cent take an s if they are preceded by a number which multiplies them, and not followed by another. 52. Vingt and cent cannot take an s, if they are followed by another number, or if they are used to express the date of the year. 53. Mil is used instead of mille in mentioning a date in the Christian era. The numbers after mille are substantives, and treated as such: un million, a million, etc. 54. Ordinal numbers: 1st, premier (m.), première (f.); 2nd, second (m.), seconde (f.) or deuxième; 9th, neuvième; to form all the others add ième to the cardinal number; for 21st, 31st, etc., use unième, not première. N.B.-Those which end in e mute drop the e, and quatre-vingts drops the s. 55. Remark that the c of second and of its derivatives is pronounced like a g-Before onze, huit and their derivatives no apostrophe is used. 56. Use the cardinal number instead of the ordinal used in English (a.) after names of sovereigns, Henri Quatre, Henry the Fourth; (b.) in speaking of the date of the month, le quatre juin, the 4th of June. Remark that in Henri Quatre the English 'the' is not translated, and that in le guatre juin ‘of' is dropped. 87. Exception: for the first sovereign of the series, and for the first day of the month use the ordinal number. 53. Personal pronouns: The conjunctive personal pronouns are those which are immediately connected with the verb. R ....... vous, to you 59. The conjunctive pronouns are generally placed before the verb. 60. When the sentence is interrogative the pronoun subject (nominative) is placed after the verb. 61. When the verb is in the second person singular, first and second person plural of the imperative affirmative, i.e., when there is no negative in the sentence, put the pronoun after the verb. 62. Tu, thou, is used in addressing persons with whom the speaker is on familiar terms. 63. When vous, you, is used in addressing one person only, the adjective agreeing with it does not take the plural number. 62. The e of je, me, te, le is cut off before a vowel. 65. Me and to are never used after the verb, use moi and tot instead; before en use m', t'. 66. Do not mistake an adjective (which is joined to a noun) for a pronoun (which is used instead of a noun). 67 A. The above pronouns which have a preposition come after the verb; the others follow the same rule as the conjunctive pronouns. 68. These pronouns are used: when there is more than one subject to the verb. 69. In answer to a question: qui est là? Moi. 70. For the sake of emphasis, lui remporter un pria! After prepositions. 71. 72. After que, c'est, c'était. 73. Before même. 74. The reflexive personal pronoun: first person: me, myself, nous, ourselves; 2nd person: te, thyself; vous, yourselves; 3rd person, conjunctive: se; disjunctive: soi, himself, itself, etc. 75. Possessive pronouns. When there is only one possessor: |