CHAPTER III.-VERBS. § 323. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Verbs have Voice, Mood, Tense, Number, Person. There are two voices (1) Active.* (2) Passive. Active verbs are― Transitive. Intransitive. Transitive verbs include Ordinary transitive verbs. Reflexive verbs. Reciprocal verbs. Intransitive verbs include Ordinary intransitive verbs. Impersonal verbs. Passive verbs are only of one kind, for they can only be formed from transitive verbs. Each voice has two parts, Finite and Infinite. i. The Verb Finite has four moods : 1. Indicative. 2. Subjunctive. 4. Imperative. ii. The Verb Infinite consists of the 2. Participles, or verbal adjectives. *In many French Grammars 'Active' 'Transitive.' This is contrary to English practice, and is misleading. CLASSIFICATION OF VERBS. § 324. CONJUGATION. Independently of their uses as Transitive, Intransitive, Reflexive, etc., verbs are classified according to certain points of resemblance in their forms. This is called the Conjugation of Verbs. French Verbs are usually divided into four classes according to the ending of the Present Infinitive, Active. 1st, ER; 2nd, IR; 3rd, OIR; 4th, RE. Verbs are also divided into Strong and Weak. Any form of a verb which has the tonic accent on the stem is said to be "strong;" any form which has the tonic accent on the ending is said to be "weak." A verb which has a strong Simple Past Indicative, is said to be a STRONG VERB: je tins. A verb which has a weak Simple Past Indicative is said to be a WEAK VERB. All strong verbs are old. Many verbs which were formerly strong are now weak. Every new verb is weak. The customary classification into four conjugations is easier for the beginner; but the verbs once learnt by their means, it is good to study the strong and weak classification. § 325. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS (so called). It is usual to speak of verbs as "regular" and "irregular," certain verbs being taken as models of "regularity." The model verbs are not in reality more regular than many of the so-called "irregular" verbs. -er There may be several thousand verbs in the 1st conjugation; nearly all are conjugated like PORTER. -ir There may be several hundred verbs in the 2nd conjugation; the greater number are conjugated like FINIR; a smaller number like SENTIR. -oir There may be sixty or seventy verbs in the 3rd conjugation. No model verb can be given which will include more than six or seven verbs. -re There may be several hundred verbs in the fourth conjugation; most of these are conjugated like VENDRE ; many are like PEINDRE ; many like CONDUIRE; and many like PARAÎTRE. AUXILIARY VERBS. § 326. Auxiliary Verbs are of two kinds: 1. Auxiliaries of Tense (time). 2. Auxiliaries of Mood* (manner). The Auxiliaries of Tense are Avoir and Être. the Past Participle, form the compound' or tenses. In spite of their real irregularity, it is necessary to learn avoir and être first. Without the help of one or the other of these verbs, but few tenses in any verb can be formed. They are given a second time among the irregular verbs. The Auxiliaries of Mood are Pouvoir (to be able) Devoir (to owe) = may, might, can, could. =ought, should, have to. These are joined to the Present Infinitive, and not to the Past Participle. The Auxiliaries of Mood are only given among the irregular verbs. It is well to give them early and special attention. TENSES. § 327. Tense is another word for time. Time can only be Present, Past, or Future. But besides the time there are three principal ways in which an action or state may be spoken of: 1. It may be spoken of in the simplest and most indefinite way (SIMPLE). I write. I wrote. I shall write. * The term 'Auxiliary of Mood' has been adopted here from the German Grammars: it is short and convenient. Of course the number of such auxiliaries of mood might be increased; but this is true of the auxiliaries of tense: for example, venir in je viens de lui parler, I have just spoken to him, is an auxiliary of tense, and avoir in j'ai à lui parler is an auxiliary of mood. 2. It may be spoken of as unfinished (IMPERFECT). I am writing. I was writing. I shall be writing. 3. It may be spoken of as finished (PERFECT). I have written. I had written. I shall have written. There is no special tense-form in French for the Imperfect Present, nor for the Imperfect Future, as there is in English. The Simple forms may be used instead. For the Future Imperfect the periphrastic form, être à, is better than the Simple Future: je serai à écrire, I shall be writing. To this the Imperfect Present, je suis à écrire, I am writing, and the Imperfect Past, j'étais à écrire, I was writing, correspond; but for most purposes the simple forms, j'écris, j'écrivais, are sufficient. $$ 328, 329. FORMATION OF TENSES. § 328. A French verb has three stems: The Present stem. The Past Simple stem. The Past Participle stem. These tenses have the Present stem: the (a) Present Simple Indicative, Present Simple Subjunctive, Present Imperative, Present Infinitive, Present Participle. (b) Past Imperfect, Indicative. (c) Future Simple, Indicative and Present Conditional. These have the Past Simple stem: Past Simple, Indicative, Past Simple, Subjunctive. These have the Past Participle stem: All compound tenses. These three stems may usually be seen in Infinitive Present, Indicative Past Simple, Past Participle, and most French verbs are sufficiently described if these three parts are mentioned. But it is useful in conjugating, to mention also two other parts, which often possess the same stem as the Infinitive Present in an altered form. Sometimes they show the real Present stem better than the Infinitive does. They are the Indicative Present, 1st person singular. § 329. These five parts form altogether what are known as the "Principal Parts." From them the other parts of the verb may usually be obtained (§ 354). |