Images de page
PDF
ePub

L'affaire fut bientôt faite;
J'eus bientôt fini de manger ;

the business was soon over. I had soon done eating.

Preterpluperfect, or Compound of the Imperfect.

21. The preterplufect is used, as well as the above tense, to express an action past before another, which is past also; but with this difference, that the action expressed by this tense is the principal object of the person who speaks; and the following sentence is subordinate to that expressed by the preterpluperfect. So that, though the time of that subordinate sentence be defined, that of the principal sentence is not the less indeterminate, because the former has no influence on the latter. As when we say,

Nous avions dîné lorsqu'il

arriva ;

we had dined when he arrived;

our principal object is to express the action of dining as past, without determining at what time, but only before an action which is past also, without, however, the latter being a consequence of the former; for we do not mean to say that he stayed, or waited, till we had dined, in order to arrive. Ex.

Je sortirais avec vous, si j'avais I would go with you if I had

diné:

dined.

Future-past, or Compound.

22. The name of this tense seems at first to imply a contradiction: what is meant by it is, not that an action can be future and past at the same time, but only that the action, which is to come, will be past when another action will happen, or even before it will happen. Ex.

[blocks in formation]

In the first sentence, I shall be gone, which is a future with respect to the time when I speak, will be past at the time when you shall arrive, &c.

Loni Lioni-USE, # Compound.

2. Is caLimone--ust presses that a thing would

CCH ID ust. I ne condition on which it

SERIL

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Touii have written to you a

math go, if I had known our ürection.

SUNCTIVS MOOD *.

so affirmation, but gene

LONGLA INI. en trives express it.

Tare ne expressed in the subjuncsu say, by the present. The

TRAIL MOH I L senas üsingushes them. Ex.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

Ian sorry to see you so much indisposed. Adieu! I wish you may be better.

pure, which is in the Zare wresses the present state of stent seene, the same verb, which

* J. JR SWIE EN ICTsses de future.

Vse na presies the conjunction is in soas e de nucative, and when we do es de sumi verò an action past, we tea de present of the subjunctive

I wish you may succeed in

your undertaking.

I will wait till he comes.

has the vert which is before the conjunction is in INNEN in the conditional, and we do not Pastat hi de send verb a past time more disHa a de irst verb, we must put this second # mort d the subjunctive. Ex.

de sojunctive mood presents great difficulties to the Alfa such as he two languages essentially differ in this Concarour has been made to smoothe this difficulty in རྣས་ཙྩཱ hང་ྟ པཱ

Alexandre ordonna que tous ses sujets l'adorassent comme un dieu :

Je voulais que vous écrivissiez

à votre sœur ;

Il souhaiterait que vous prissiez des mesures plus convenables;

Alexander ordered that all his subjects should worship him as a god.

I wished you to write to your sister.

he would wish you to take some more proper step.

27. The preterite of the subjunctive mood is used when we speak of an action past and accomplished, with regard to the tense of the verb which precedes the conjunction; and this tense is generally the present, preterite-indefinite, or future of the indicative.

Je doute qu'aucun philosophe
ait jamais bien connu l'union
de l'âme avec le corps ;

Il a fallu que j'aie consulté
tous les médecins ;
Je me garderai bien d'y aller
que je n'aie reçu quelque as-
surance d'étre bien accueilli;

Ex.

I doubt whether any philosopher has ever well understood the union of the soul with the body.

I was obliged to consult all the physicians.

I shall by no means go thither till I have received some assurances of being wel

come.

28. After the imperfect, preterite, preterpluperfect of the indicative, or one of the two conditionals, we use the preterpluperfect of the subjunctive mood; likewise after the conjunction si, when it precedes a compound tense. Ex.

J'ignorais que vous eussiez em-
brassé cette profession;
Vous n'aviez pas cru que je
fusse arrivé avant vous;
Nous aurions été fáchés que
vous vous fussiez adressé à
d'autres qu'à nous ;
J'aurais agi de la même ma-
nière, si j'eusse été à votre
place;

I did not know you had em

braced that profession. you did not believe I should have arrived before you. we should have been sorry if you had applied to any others but us.

I should have acted in the same manner, had I been in your place.

Numbers and Persons.

29. A tense contains both numbers, the singular and the plural.

That there are three persons has already been observed

under the personal pronouns; we have only to remark that one of these three persons is always joined to the verb as its subject; therefore the verb must agree with that subject in number and person.

Je fais, I do;

Tu fuis, thou dost ;
Il fuit, he does;

Ex.

nous faisons, we do.

vous faites, you or ye do.

ils font, they do.

30. The pronoun vous, you, denotes the second person singular and plural, with this difference, that when we speak to one person only, the attribute, or qualifying noun, must be put in the singular.

Etes vous marié, Monsieur! and not maries;

Ex.

are you married, Sir?

$1. When the verb has two or more nouns or pronouns for its subjects, it must be put in the plural, though all these subjects be in the singular; because two or more nouns in the singular are equivalent to a plural, with regard to verbs as well as to adjectives. Ex.

Mon frère et ma sœur sont partis 2

my brother and sister
gone.

are

32. If the verb has for its subjects one pronoun of the first person and one of the second, the pronoun nous must be added to them, and the verb is to be put in the first person plural; but if one of the subjects is of the second person, and the other of the third, the pronoun vous must follow them, and the verb is to be put in the second person plural. See p. 55, Rule 11. Ex.

Vous et moi, nous partirons demain :

Vous et votre frère, vous me l'avez promis :

you and I shall set off to

morrow.

you and your brother have promised it to me.

33. In such instances the person spoken to is always to come first, the person spoken of comes next, and the person who speaks is placed the last.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION

ON VERBS, THEIR MOODS, TENSES, &c.

What is a verb?

What are called active?

What passive?

What neuter?

What reflective?

What impersonal?

What is to conjugate verbs?

What is meant by regular and irregular verbs?
What verbs are called defective?

What auxiliary?

What is meant by the mood of a verb?

How many moods are there, and what are they?

What is the use of the infinitive mood?

What is that of the indicative?

What is that of the imperative?

What is that of the subjunctive?

[French?

How many tenses are there in the infinitive mood in

How many in the indicative ?

How many in the imperative?

How many in the subjunctive?

When is the present of the indicative used ?

Instead of what other tense is it sometimes used?

When is the imperfect of the indicative used?

When is the preterite definite used?

What is the use of the future tense?

Are there various ways of expressing the future?
What does the the conditional express

?

What does the preterite indefinite express?

In what other manner can the same tense be expressed?

What does the preterite anterior express?

What does the preterpluperfect express?
What is meant by future past?
What does the conditional past express ?
What does the subjunctive mood express ?

« PrécédentContinuer »