CHAPTER I.-SUBSTANTIVES AND ADJECTIVES. § 144. THE SUBSTANTIVE. Substantives may be: 1. PROPER: Caesar, London. 2. COMMON: king, city. Common Substantives are divided into: 1. ABSTRACT: wisdom, justice. 2. CONCRETE: table, air. 3. COLLECTIVE: multitude. Substantives have: 1. GENDER (or Class): Masculine and Feminine. 3. CASE. Obs. The case-endings found in Latin and in Old French Substantives and Adjectives have disappeared in Modern French, their places are supplied by Prepositions. In some of the Pronouns and in the Articles real cases are found. With these the cases are two: SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE. It is convenient to employ these terms occasionally for Substantives and Adjectives. It is also convenient sometimes to speak of à as followed by a Dative, or of de as followed by a Genitive. § 145. THE ADJECTIVE. 1. Adjectives are of two kinds: (1) QUALIFICATIVE: bon, grand, vert, chaud, etc. (2) DETERMINATIVE: le, son, ce, plusieurs, etc. 2. The Qualificative Adjectives include (1) Present Participles. (2) Past Participles. 3. The Qualificative Adjectives are usually capable of three varieties of form, called " Degrees of Comparison." The Positive, The Comparative, The Superlative. § 185. Masculine Nouns ending in -se. (a) Is regularly masculine : le narcisse narcissus (b) Are irregularly masculine : (c) From Greek masculines or neuters are derived: antidote un labyrinthe labyrinth un antidote un automate automatum un squelette skeleton (d) Are also regularly masculine : § 187. Masculine Nouns ending in -ue. (a) From Latin or Greek masculines are: le catalogue catalogue le dialogue dialogue le risque risk le manque $ 190. Masculine Nouns ending in -ze: le trapòze trapeze, trapezium G § 191. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. 1. Adjectives are compared by the help of adverbs. (a) In an ascending scale. (b) In a descending scale. 2. The comparative is formed by adding plus (more) or moins (less) to the positive. The superlative is formed by adding the definite article or some other determinative adjective to the comparative. grand (great), plus grand, le plus grand. grand moins grand, le moins grand. 3. Petit (little), mauvais (bad), have two forms, one of Latin, one of French origin. plus petit Petit, moins petit Mauvais { plus mauvais Mauvais, moins mauvais, (Compare Adverbs.) le moindre le moins petit le plus mauvais le pire le moins mauvais. 4. Bon has only a comparative of Latin origin: bon, meilleur (meliorem) le meilleur PLURAL IN ADJECTIVES AND SUBSTANTIVES. § 148. Plural of ordinary Adjectives and Substantives. GENERAL RULE. The letter s is added to the singular. SPECIAL RULES AND EXCEPTIONS. (1) If the singular ends in -s, -X, -Z, no change is needed. -al, the -al is changed into aux, (2) Seven words in -ou have x: § 149. Plural of Words taken Substantively. Verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc., used substantively, remain unchanged under all circumstances, t ex. : Les qui, les oui, les ouï-dire, les rendez-vous. * Except bleu, bleus, feu, late feus (rare). |