POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES DEMONSTRATIVE FEMININE OF ADJECTIVES AGREEMENT PLURAL OF ADJECTIVES POSITION WORDS DENOTING A QUANTITY COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
IN French Possessive Adjectives agree in gender and

number with the nouns which they define. SINGULAR PLURAL MASC FEM MASC FEM mon ma mes my ton ta tes thy son sa ses his,her,its mon champ my field mes champs my fields ma maison my house mes maisons my houses

But if a feminine noun begins with a Vowel or h mute use mon , ton ,son instead of ma ta, sa: mon cole (f.) instead of ma cole.

Notice especially the use of son , sa

Edmond et sa mre (Edmund and his mother) Marie et sa mre (Mary and her mother) Edmond et son pre (Edmund and his father) Marie et son p re (Mary and her father)

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
SINGULAR
MASC. AND FEM.

PLURAL
MASC. AND FEM.

notre votre leur

avec le captif le cheval la tour le mur with the captive the horse the tower the wall

nos vos leurs

le roi la reine lenfant perdu sur

our your their

the king the queen the child lost on

We may say de la, de l, but use du for de le before nouns masc.sing.beginning with a consonant; use des for de les before all plural nouns.
de la maison de l cole (f.) de l homme(m.) du pre
des maisons des ~coles des ~hommes des pres

of/from the house of/from the school of/from the man of/from the father
of/from the houses of/from the schools of/from the men of/from the fathers

le travail (the work) la fille (the girl) la corbeille (the basket) la famille (the family) facile (easy) le palais (the palace) le nom (the name) ferm (shut) apport (brought) la lettre (the letter)

POSSESSIVE CASE: In French we cannot use s for the possessive case , as in English. For the mans name say the name of the man.

le nom de fille le nom de Iami le nom de Ihomme le nom du pre le pre dEdmond le nom de mon pre les chiens des ~hommes les gants des filles

the girls name the friends name the mans name the fathers name Edmunds father my fathers name the mens dogs the girls gloves

la sur (the sister) la fleur (the flower) Le frre (the brother) la pomme (the apple) Le neveu (the nephew) le got (the taste) Savez-vous? (do you know) riche (rich) Aimez-vous?(do you like?) trs (very)

We may say la and l, but use au for le before masculine nouns beginning with a constant, and aux for les before all plural nouns. la porte (to or at the door) { l cole (f.) (to or at the school) { l habit(m.) (to or at the coat) u jardin (to or at the garden)
aux portes aux ~coles aux~habits aux~jardins (to or at the doors) (to or at the schools) (to or at the coats) (to or at the gardens)

 mon jardin mes jardins

l argent (m.) le prix agrable Londres Paris Pendant

to/at my garden to/at my gardens

(the money) (the prize) (pleasant) (london) (paris) (during) donn reu envoy deux trois quatre (given) (received) (sent) (two) (three) (four)

The book is Edmunds.In all such sentences say in french the book is (belongs) to Edmund.
le livre est Edmund
le livre est ma soeur le livre est au roi le livre est la reine qui qui de qui llve (m.,f ) la poche jacques

the book belongs to Edmund or is Edmunds the book belongs to my sister the book belongs to the king the book belongs to the queen

who, whom fidle faithful to whom (whose) le matre the master of whom from whom le jardinier the gardener the scholar o where the pocket do from where,whence james Marie Mary

AFFIRMATIVE
je suis tu es il est elle est nous sommes vous tes ils sont elles sont I am thou art he is she is we are you are they are they are

INTEROGATIVE
suis-je? es-tu ? est-il? est-elle? sommes-nous? tes-vous? sont-ils? sont-elles? Am I ? Art thou? Is he? Is she? Are we? Are you? Are they? Are they?

Demonstrative adjectives
These are the demonstrative adjectives.
This ce Before masc. nouns Before masc nouns beginning with a vowel or silent h

cet

That These/those

cette ces

Feminin nouns all plur . Nouns

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
Ce chien cet ami cet habit cette fleur Ces chiens ces amis ces habits ces fleurs Monseiur Madame Digne Larbre (m.) sir, Mr. maam worthy the tree Le cousin(m.) la cousine(f.) la campagne le chat cette ardoise ces ardoises the cousin the cousin the country the cat

The adjective agrees with its noun in number and gender. To form the plural of adj. add-s to singular
General rule for fem . Of adj. : add -e mute to masc ; but if the masc. ends in e mute there is no change for feminine. MASC. FEM. SING PLUR. SING. SING. grand grands grande grandes joli jolis jolie jolies occup occups occupe occupes jeune jeunes jeune jeunes

FORMATION OF THE FEMININE OF ADJECTIVES

GENERAL RULE: a. add e mute to the masculine [grand->grande(large)] b. Adjectives ending in -e mute in the masc. are unchanged in the fem.: jeune ,jeune (young) c. Adjectives in -er take a grave accent and -e mute: cher, chre, (dear) d. Adjectives in -f change the -f into -ve : actif -> active e. Adjectives in -x change the -x into -se : dangereux>dangereuse (dangerous)

f. Adjectives , ending in -on, -en, -eil, -el, and et double the final consonant before adding -e mute:bon bonne good indien indienne Indian pareil pareille like, alike,similiar cruel cruelle cruel muet muette dumb EXCEPT: complet(complte) , concret(concrte), discret(discrte) , inquiet(inquite), replet(replte), secret(secrte)

g. Adjectives ending in gu place the diaeresis over the -e mute of the feminine : aigu, aigu, (sharp). NOTE: - Words in u , not gu , do not take the diaeresis (pointu->pointue). h. List of exceptions (for full list see Appendix I ):bas basse (low) frais frache (fresh) blanc blanche (white) franc franche (free) bref brve (short) doux douce (sweet) pais paisse (thick) faux fausse (false) favori favorite (favourite)

Gras Grec Gros Las Long Nul Public Sot Sec Turc

grasse grecque grosse lasse longue nulle publique sotte sche turque

(fat) (greek) (big) (weary) (long) (no) (public) (foolish) (dry) (turkish)

GENERAL RULE: add -e mute to the masculine .grand, grande (large) Ajectives ending in -e mute in the masc. are unchanged in the fem.: jeune (young). Adjectives in -er take a grave accent and -emute: cher, chre (dear) Adjectives in -f change the -f into -ve : actif, (active) Adjectives in -x change the -x into -se: dangereux , dangereuse (dangerous). In French adjectives are generally placed after their nouns.

Plein Mr Cher Fier

full ripe dear proud

attentif neuf paresseux heureux

attentive new(new-made) idle happy

The adj. Agrees with its noun in number and gender. To form the plur. Of adj. add -s to singular. General rule for fem. Of adj. add -e mute to masc. but if the masc. ends in -e mute there is no change for feminine. VIVA VOCE: an attentive girl a happy mother a proud king the ripe apples a happy child the idle scholar (f.) a new coat the proud queens

PLURAL OF ADJECTIVES
The plurals of Adjectives follow the rules for plurals of nouns. a. GENERAL RULE: add -s to singular. b. Adjectives ending in -s , -x, and -z remain unchanged . c. Adjectives in -eau and -eu add -x . EXCEPT: bleu, pl.-bleus and feu , pl.-feus. d. Adjectives in -al change -al to -aux

EXAMPLES:SINGULAR MASC. FEM. mr mrs Bas bas Beau(bel) beaux gal gaux

PLURAL MASC. FEM. mre mres basse basses belle belles gale gales

NOTE: Adjectives which have two forms in the masc. have only one form of masc. plural : beau , bel pl. beaux; nouveau , nouvel pl. nouveaux; fou, fol pl. fous.

At , in , or to with a town is paris, at paris.In , into, or to with a country is en: en France, in France.
Most names of countries are feminine , and they are used with the definite article , except after the preposition en: la France , en France.
l Europe (f.) l Asie (f.) l Amrique (f.) l Angleterre (f.) l cosse (f.) L Irlande (f.) EUROPE ASIA AMERICA ENGLAND SCOTLAND IRELAND Vienne(f.) VIENNA jamais EVER situ SITUATED la France FRANCE la suisse SWITZERLAND IItalie(f.) ITALY

la capitale le nord (p.nore) le sud (sound the d) la grande bretagne l Allemagne (f.) l Autriche (f.) dimbourg (m.) t (p.p.) je vais l est (p. like lest) l ouest (p.west) ville (f.)

THE CAPITAL NORTH SOUTH GREAT BRITAIN GERMANY AUSTRIA EDINBURGH BEEN I AM GOING EAST WEST CITY

A few names of countries are masculine (le Prou) , and several are plural (les tats-Unis). In these cases they are never used without the article, and we cannot use en for in,into. Use (contrcted to au or aux: au Prou, aux tats-unis ).
le Prou PERU le portugal Les tats-unis THE UNITED STATES le danemark PORTUGAL DENMARK

La seine THE SEINE les Alpes(f.pl) THE ALPS La Tamise THE THAMES la source THE SOURCE Le Rhin THE RHINE montagne(f.) MOUNTAIN Ile (f.) ISLAND L anne dernire LAST YEAR

NUMERAL ADJECTIVES
1 Un (m.), une (f.) 2 deux 3 trois 4 quatre 5 cinq 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 21 vingt et un 22 vingt-deux 23 vingt-trois 30 trente 31 trente et un 32 trente-deux 40 quarante 50 cinquante 60 soixante 69 soixante-neuf

NOTE: 1. Pronounce the final consonants of cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix only where these words stand alone or before a word beginning with a vowel or silent h; (pronounce cinq, seece, set, hweet, nuff, deece). NOTE: 2.- Quatre-vingts and cents (pl.) do not takes followed by another numeral or when used in dates. quatre-vingts 80 but quatre-vingt-dix 90 deux cents 200 but deux cent cinquante 250 NOTE: 3.- Mille (1000) never takes (deux mille, 2000). Of course un mille, a mile, has a plural, duex milles, 2 miles. NOTE:4.- In dates A.D. mil stands for mille: en mil neuf cent quarante, in 1940.

TIME: In expressing time keep the word heures; the word minutes may be omitted always begin with nearest hour; eg. 9.40=dix heures moins vingt.
neuf heures neuf heures cinq neuf heures et quart neuf heures et demie dix heures moins un quart deux heures Midi Minuit un quart dheure dix heures du matin 9 0 clock 5 minutes past nine a quarter past nine half-past nine a quarter to 10(9.45) at 2 o clock 12 o clock noon midnight a quarter of an hour 10 o clock in the morning

ORDINAL Numerals are formed by adding -ime to the cardinal. If the cardinal ends in -e this letter is elided. 1 st { premier (m.) 17 th dix-septime { premire (f.) 20 th vingtime 2 nd { second, secondel 21 st vingt-et-unime { deuxime 22 nd vingt-deuxime 3 rd troisime (m. and f.) 70 th soixante-dixime 4 th quatrime 80 th quatre -vingtime 5 th cinquime 90 th quatre-vingt-dixime 6 th sixime 100 th centime 9 th neuvime 1000 th millime 10 th dixime

FRACTIONS
un entier un demi la moiti un et demi un tiers un quart un cinquime une demi-heure une demi-livre une livre et demie a whole a half the half one and a half a third a fourth a fifth a half hour a half pound a pound and a half

Words denoting a quantity, like much, too much, require in French the word de
combien de pain? combien d habits? trop de pain troph d habits beaucoup de vin beaucoup de villes peu d eau peu de chevaux how much bread? how many coatst? too much bread too many coats much wine many towns little water few horses

SIMILARLY
plus de tant de more so much piece glass than,as drop cup moins de less autant de as much assez de enough bouche mouthful poigne handful tout de monde everybody beaucoup de monde many people peu de monde few people

morceau (m.) verre (m.) que goutte (f.) tasse (f.)

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
There is no inflexion to show comparison in French. For the comparative use plus, more; for the superlative use le plus (m.), la plus (f.), les plus (pl.), most. POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE (m.s.) grand plus grand le plus grand (m.pl.) grands plus grands les plus grands (f.s.) grande plus grande la plus grande (f.pl) grandes plus grandes les plus grandes

great

greater

greatest

IRREGULAR COMPARISONS
bon (m.) bonne (f.) meilleur (m.) meilleure (f.) le meilleur (m.) la meilleure (f.)

good mauvais bad petit little

better pire (plus mauvais) worse moindre (plus petit) less

best le pire (le plus mauvais) worst le moindre (le plus petit) least

NOTE: 1.-If a possessive adjective is used with the superlative , the article is omitted: ma plus jeune soeur my youngest sister. NOTE: 2.-If the adjective is one of those which must follow the noun. The superlative must be placed after the noun and the article repeated: les feuilles les plus sches but le plus vieux chteau the driest leaves the oldest castle

COMPARISONS
(i) SUPERIORITY:

je suis plus grand que vous (ii) EQUALITY: je suis aussi grand que vous (iii) INFERIORITY: je suis moins grand que vous or je ne suis pas si grand que NOTE:- Le moins grand, the

I am taller than you

I am as tall as you
I am less tall than you vous I am not as tall as you least tall.

APPENDICES
APPENDIX -I
LIST OF ADJECTIVES HAVING AN IRREGULAR FEMININE: absous absolute absolved bas basse low beau(bel) belle beautiful bnin bnigne benignant blanc blanche white caduc caduque decrepit coi coite snug, quiet dissous dissoute dissolved doux douce sweet pais paisse thick

exprs faux favori fou (fol) frais franc Franc gentil gras grec gros hbreu

expresse fausse favorite folle frache franche Franque gentille grasse grecque grosse hbraque

express false favourite mad fresh free, frank Frank pretty fat greek big Hebrew

jumeau las long malin mou (mol) nouveau(nouvel) nul oblong profs roux sec sot tiers

jumelle lasse longue maligne molle nouvelle nulle oblongue professe rousse sche sotte tierce

twin tired long malignant soft new no oblong professed(of monks and nuns) red dry foolish third

(b) demi (half) are invariable when placed before the

noun: nu-pieds (bare-footed), une demi- livre ( a halfpound). (c) Feu (late) is invariable if placed before the article or possessive adjective, feu la reine ( the late queen) ; placed after , it agrees in number and gender ; la feue reine; feu mes oncles or mes feus oncles ( my late uncles).

APPENDIX II POSITION OF ADJECTIVE

(g) If an adjective expresses a quality which the noun

itself implies, the adjective is placed before the noun. un fidle ami un sage philosophe but un homme fidle. but un homme sage.

We expect a friend to be faithful. Ami implies being faithful, so that fidle is scarcely necessary, but merely an effective addition. But man is not of necessity faithful, and here fidle serves to distinguish this man from others.

(h) Adjectives used in a figurative sense stand before their nouns, in a literal sense after.

les noirs soucis une douce influence une profonde ignorance

un habit noir une orange douce une rivire profonde

(i) Some adjectives have a different meaning, according as

they are placed before or after their noun. un brave homme a worthy man un certain remde a remedy un cher ami a dear friend

diffrentes } choses diverses } choses une fausse clef une fausse porte un honnte homme un nouvl habit un pauvre auteur un plaisant conte mon propre habit un seul ami un grand homme une grande dame

Sundry things a skeleton key a secret door an honest man a fresh coat a poor author an unlikely story my own coat an only friend a man of genius a lady of rank

d une commune voix de mchants vers la dernire anne un petit homme un homme brave un remde certain un habit cher des objects une clef fausse une porte fausse un homme honnte

unanimously bad verses the last year of a period a short man a courageous man a sure remedy a dear coat objects of different kinds a wrong key (in music) a sham door a civil man

un habit nouveau un auteur pauvre un conte plaisant un habit propre un ami seul un homme grand une dame grande une voix commune des vers mchants Ianne dernire un homme petit

a new-fashioned coat a needy author an amusing story a clean coat a friend alone a tall man a tall lady a vulgar voice wicked verses last year (just passed) a mean man

APPENDIX III
FEMININE OF NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES IN EUR
Words in teur change this to trice. acteur actrice crateur cratrice So are excuteur, fondateur , in venteur , bienfaiteur, in specteur, ambas-sadeur .
I.

II. Words ending in eur derived from a pres. Participle

change eur into euse. So are dormeur , danseur , pcheur (fisherman) , voyageur. Flatteur , crieur , voleur. chanteur (from chantant), chanteuse.

III. Words in -rieur take -e mute. suprieur , suprieure ; so also mineur, majeur , meilleur.

IV. The following change -eur into eresse:vengeur vengeresse dfendeur enchanteur enchanteresse pcheur

dfenderesse pcheresse

NOTE: 1 .-a few words have two forms with different meanings. chasseur(hunter) chasseuse (prose) chasseresse(poetry) demandeur(asker) demandeuse(asker) demanderesse(in law) (plaintiff) (plaintiff) p.t.o

Vendeur

dealer, vendeuse dealer venderesse vendor (in law) Chanteur singer chanteuse singer cantatrice (public singer) NOTE: 2. Gouverneur , governor (gouvrnante); serviteur , servant (ser-vante); empereur , emperor (impratrice), are exceptions.

THE

END