§ 18.-AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH NOUNS. (1.) The adjective must agree, in gender and number, with the noun or pronoun which it qualifies : (2.) This agreement must take place, not only when the adjective immediately precedes or follows the noun or pronoun, but also when it is separated by other words: Masculine. Singular.-Plaise à Dieu de te rendre assez bon pour mériter la vie heureuse ! FÉNELON. May God render thee sufficiently good to deserve the blessed life. Plural.-Jamais, en quoi que ce puisse être les méchants ne sont bons à rien de bon. J. J. ROUSSEAU. The wicked are never, in any circumstances, fitted (good) to perform any thing good. Feminine. Singular.-L'honneur de passer pour bonne l'empêchait de se montrer mauvaise. MARIVAUX. The honor of passing for good prevented her showing herself bad. Plural.-Loin de nous raidir contre les inclinations qui sont bonnes, il faut les suivre pour servir Dieu. MME. DE MAINTENON. Far from resisting our good inclinations, we should follow them in order to serve God. and all of the same gender, it (3.) When an adjective relates to two or more substantives, whether in the singular or the plural, must agree with the nouns in gender, and be put in the plural: Le riche et l'indigent, l'imprudent et le sage, Sujets à même loi, subissent même J. J. ROUSSEAU. sort. The rich and the poor, the impru dent and the wise, being subject to the same law, experience the same fate. (4.) When the words which the adjective qualifies are of different genders, the adjective must be put in the masculine plural: Je tâche de rendre heureux, ma femme, mon enfant, et même mon chat, et mon chien. BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE. L'ordre et l'utilité publics ne peuvent être le fruit du crime. MASSILLON. I try to render happy, my wife, my child, and even my cat, and my dog. Public order and utility cannot be the fruits of crime. For special rules on this point, see § 83. § 19.-DETERMINING OR DETERMINATIVE ADJECTIVES. There are four sorts of determining adjectives—the demonstrative, the possessive, the numeral, and the indefinite. § 20.-DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES. (1.) The demonstrative adjectives are used, when an object is to be particularly specified or pointed out. They are never, in French, used substantively, that is, without the nouns which they determine : Singular. Masculine.-Ce, this or that, placed before a word commencing with a consonant. Cet, this or that, placed before a word commencing with a vowel or an h mute. Feminine. Cette, this or that, placed before all sorts of nouns. ces hommes, these or those men; ces femmes, these or those women. (2.) When is it necessary to make, in French, a difference similar to that existing between the English words this and that, the adverbs ci and là must be placed after the noun. ce livre-ci, this book (here), ce livre-là, that book (there). ces livres-là, those books. § 21.-POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES. (1.) The possessive adjectives, which are always joined to a noun, relate to possession or property; they are: (2.) In French, these adjectives take the gender and number of the object possessed, and not, as in English, those of the possessor. Masc. sing. mon frère, my brother, ton livre, thy book, son papier, his or her paper, Fem. sing. ma sœur, my sister, Pl. both genders. mes cousins, my cousins. tes maisons, thy houses. sa table, his or her ta- ses habits, his or her ble. notre vache, our cow, notre cheval, our horse, DU TREMBLAY. clothes. nos prairies, our meadows, vos crayons, your pencils. leurs fermes, their farms. Sobriety in all things, is, my friend, the true enjoyment. My hand sketches the picture of some flower. My senses are frozen with fear. (3.) The adjectives mon, my; ton, thy; son, his or her, are used instead of ma, ta, sa, before feminine words commencing with a vowel, or an h mute, in order to prevent the meeting of two vowels, or of a vowel and an h mute; thus we say, mon épée my sword, and never ma épée. C'en est fait, mon heure est venue. All is over, my hour is come. BOILEAU. (4.) The possessive adjectives must be repeated before every noun. Mon frère, ma sœur, et mes cou- My brother, sister, and cousins are sins sont à Paris. at Paris. 8 22.-NUMERAL ADJECTIVES. (1.) There are two kinds of numeral adjectives: the cardinal and the ordinal. (2.) The cardinal numbers indicate simply the number or quality, without any reference to order: as, un, one; deux, two, etc. (3.) The ordinal numbers mark the order or rank which persons and things occupy: as, premier, first; second, second, etc. We shall, for the purposes of comparison, place the cardinal and ordinal numbers in parallel columns. § 23.-VARIATIONS OF THE CARDINAL NUMBERS. (1.) The following cardinal numbers vary : (2.) Un, one, a, or an, takes the gender of the noun to which it is prefixed: un livre, a book; une feuille, a leaf. When used substantively, un takes, at times, the form of the plural. Masc. Les uns et les autres, Fem. Les unes et les autres, These and those, (3.) Vingt and cent, when multiplied by one number, and not followed by another, take the form of the plural: quatre-vingts, eighty; L'homme vit quatre-vingts ans, le chien n'en vit que dix. BUFFON. On m'apporta chez moi, douze cents francs. J. J. ROUSSEAU. six cents, six hundred. Man lives eighty years, the dog only ten. They brought me, at my house, twelve hundred francs. (4.) Vingt and cent, however, when multiplied by one number, and |
