If the two substantives are of different genders, the adjective is put in the masculine.

Ex.-Mon père et ma mère sont contents-my father and my mother are content.

In French, the adjective is generally placed after the substantive.

Comparison of Adjectives.

Adjectives are used in three senses; the positive, agréable-agreeable; the comparative, plus agréablemore agreeable; the superlative, le plus agréable-the most agreeable, etc.

Adjectives and Nouns of Number.

Adjectives and nouns of number are those which are used in counting; they are of two sorts, cardinal, as un— one, deux-two, trois-three, &c.: and ordinal, as premier -first, second-second, troisième-third, etc.*

THE PRONOUN.

The Pronoun is a word which supplies the place of a

noun.

Personal Pronouns.

Personal pronouns are used to denote persons.

There are three persons; the first is the person who speaks, je-I; the second is the person to whom we speak, tu-thou; the third is the person of whom speak, il or elle-he or she.

we

* The numbers will be found, in French, at the end of the Vocabulary-page 102.

Moi, toi, lui, eux, are also used in the nominative case, when no verb depends upon them. Ex. C'est moi qui lis— it is I who read, Toi et lui vous irez-thou and he will go. Qui a fait cela ?-Lui.-Who has done that?-He. There is another pronoun of the third person, soi, se― one's self. Soi is of the singular number only, but of both genders; se is of both numbers and of both genders. This is called a reflected pronoun.

The words en and y are used as pronouns. En signifies of or from him, of or from her, of or from it, of or from them; thus, when we say j'en parle, we mean-I speak of him, of her, etc. according to the person or thing mentioned before.

Y signifies to that thing, to those things; when we say je m'y applique, we mean-I apply myself to that thing, or to those things.

The pronouns il, elle, ils, elles, must always be of the same gender and number as the noun instead of which they are used: thus, in speaking of the head, we say ELLE me fait mal-it aches: elle is used because the pronoun refers to tête-head, which is feminine and singular; and in speaking of gardens we say, ILS sont beaux-they are fine; ils, because that pronoun refers to jardins— gardens, which is masculine and plural.

Possessive Pronouns.

There are some pronouns which denote the possession of a thing, as MON livre-my book; that is to say, the book which belongs to me.

These pronouns are always joined to a noun: as mon livre-my book, ton chapeau-thy hat, etc.

For the sake of euphony mon, ton, son, are used in the feminine, before a vowel or h mute; as mon âme-my soul; not ma áme: son épingle-her pin; not sa épingle: ton habitude-thy custom; not ta habitude.

Possessive Pronouns used without the Noun.

There are some pronouns which point out the thing of which we speak; thus when I say, ce livre-this book, I point out some book.

Ce is placed before nouns masculine beginning with a consonant or h aspirate: as ce village-this village, ce hameau-that hamlet; cet is put before a vowel or h mute: as cet oiseau-that bird, cet homme-this man.

Relative Pronouns.

Some Pronouns are relative; that is to say, they relate to a substantive going before: as Dieu qui a créé le monde -God who created the world; qui relates to God.

The word to which the relative pronoun refers is called the antecedent. In the above example, God is the antecedent of the relative who.

qui

dont, or de qui

que

who, which, that

of whom, of which
whom, which, that

}

of both genders

and numbers.

Qui, que, quel, are called interrogative pronouns when used in asking a question.

There are other pronouns of an indeterminate signification, called indefinite pronouns; as on or l'on—one, we, they, people; chacun-every one; personne-nobody, &c. as on frappe à la porte-somebody knocks at the door; on dit-people say; chacun à son goût-every one to his liking; personne ne l'a vu-nobody has seen him.

THE VERB.

The Verb is a word used to affirm that we are, as, je suis-I am; or that we are doing a certain thing, as, je lis-I read.

The pronouns, je, nous, with the verb, show that it is of the first person; tu, vous, denote the second person; il, elle, ils, elles, on, denote the third person.

Verbs have two numbers: the singular, which speaks of one; as l'enfant dort-the child sleeps; the plural, which speaks of more than one; as, les enfants dorment— the children sleep.

Verbs have three times, or tenses; the present, which shows what is now taking place; as, je lis, I am reading;

the preterit, or past, which shows what has been done; as, j'ai lu I have read: the future, which shows what will be done; as, je lirai—I shall read.

There are several sorts of past tenses; namely, one imperfect, je lisais-I was reading; three perfect, je lus— I read; j'ai lu—I have read; j'eus lu—I had read; one pluperfect, j'avais lu-I had read.

There are also two futures; the simple future, je lirai -I shall read; and the compound future, j'aurai luI shall have read.

There are five moods, or ways of affirming, in French verbs:

1. The Infinitive, which expresses the action or state in a general way, without number or person; as, lire— to read; être to be.

2. The Indicative, which affirms that a thing is, or has been, or will be; as je lis—I read ; je lirai—I will read.

3. The Conditional, which asserts that a thing would be, or would have been, on some condition; as je lirais si j'avais un livre-I would read if I had a book.

4. The Imperative, which expresses a command or entreaty; as, lisez-read ye.

5. The Subjunctive, which expresses a wish or doubt: as, je souhaite qu'il lise-I wish that he may read.

Conjugating a verb is repeating in order all its moods, with all their tenses, numbers and persons.

There are in French four conjugations, distinguished by the termination of the infinitive.

The first conjugation has the infinitive ending in ER; porter to carry.

The second has the infinitive in IR; finir-to finish. The third has the infinitive in OIR; recevoir-to receive.

The fourth has the infinitive in RE; vendre to sell. There are two verbs named auxiliaries, because they help to conjugate all the others: we shall first give these two verbs.