OF INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. These pronouns are called indefinite, because they only serve to denote persons and things in a vague and indeterminate manner. Many of them, being invariable, will require no observation, and rules will only be given regarding those which offer peculiar difficulties. 1. AUTRE, another, any other, which is considered as a pronoun, whenever it is not joined to a substantive or accompanied by the pronoun en, is generally preceded by tout or un. Ex. Tout AUTRE que moi vous parlerait-il avec la même franchise? would any other speak to you with the same frankness as I do? 2. But when autre is joined to a substantive or accompanied by the pronoun en, it is an adjective, and en, which supplies in French the place of some antecedent word understood, must be placed immediately before the word which governs another or others. Thus we translate, This pen is not good, give him another, by Cette plume n'est pas bonne, donnez-lui EN une AUTRE; that is, another of them, or another pen. Ex. Laissez ces livres, et prenez leave those books, and take EN d'AUTRES ; some others (of them). 3. L'UN L'AUTRE, one another, each other, in which the article un is declined, is used in speaking of persons and of things. Ex. Ils se haïssent Les uns les autrES; they hate one another. 4. When this pronoun is governed by a preposition, that preposition must not, as in English, be placed before the two words of which this pronoun is composed, but between them. Ex. Ils parlent mal l'un DE l'autre; they speak ill of one another. 5. L'UN ET L'AUTRE, both, governs the verb in the plural: and when l'un is preceded by a preposition, that preposition must be repeated before l'autre. Ex. L'un et l'autre ONT raison; both are right. I do justice to both. 6. NI L'UN NI L'AUTRE always requires ne before the verb; and as it implies two subjects, whenever both have concurred in the action expressed by the verb, that verb must be put in the plural. Ex. Ni l'un ni l'autre ne PURENT they, neither of them, could corrompre ; corrupt him. le 7. But if, on the contrary, the action can fall on one subject only, the verb must be in the singular. Ex. Ni l'un ni l'autre ne sera nommé; neither of them will be appointed. 8. The same observation is applicable to substantives united by the conjunction ni, repeated before two or more substantives, which are the subjects of one verb. Ex. Ni la grandeur ni la richesse neither grandeur nor wealth ne nous RENDENT heureux; render us happy. 9. When neither is governed in English by a preposition, that preposition must be repeated, in French, after each of the conjunctions ni. Ex. Je n'ai parlé ni à l'un ni à l'autre ; I have spoken to neither. ON, signifying one, people, we, they, some one. 10. The English pronouns above enumerated may, when they are used in a vague or indefinite sense, be elegantly rendered in French by the pronoun on, which always governs the verb in the third person singular. Ex. some one knocks at the door. people talk of war. they say you are going to France. 11. On, like every other pronoun, must be repeated before every verb of which it is the subject. Ex. ON joua, ON chanta, ET l'ON dansa toute la nuit ; they played, sang, and danced all night. 12. L'on is used instead of on after the words et, si, ou, and où. Ex. Dites-moi où L'ON va ; Demandez si L'ON vient ; tell me where they are going. ask if any body is coming. 13. But even after any of the words above mentioned, on must be preferred to l'on, before the pronouns le, la, les, leur, lui. Ex. Si ON le lui donne ; Et ON la loua beaucoup ; if it is given him. 14. It must be recollected that, as on requires the singular, all the words which it governs or which relate to it, must be in the singular in French, though they may be in the plural in English. Ex. Quand ON PERD SA réputation, when men lose their reputation, ON CROIT tout perdu : they consider every thing lost. QUELQUE QUE, whatever, however, &c. 15. When the English words however, howsoever, &c. occur before an adjective or a participle, they must be rendered in French by quelque, undeclined, before the adjective, and que before the verb, which must be in the subjunctive. Ex. QUELQUE grandes QUE soient however great may be your vos fautes; faults. 16. If the English word whatever be placed before a substantive, it must be rendered in French by quelque, if the substantive be singular, and quelques if it be plural, the verb being also in the subjunctive, and governed by que. Ex. QUELQUES fautes QUE vous ayez commises; whatever faults you may have committed. 17. But if whatever be placed before a verb, it must be rendered by quel que or quelle que for the singular, and quels que, quelles que for the plural, according to the gender and number of the substantive to which it relates, taking care not to write the pronoun in one word, as before (quelque), but in two, as above (quel que). Ex. QUELLES QUE soient nos fautes; whatever be your faults. 18. When whatever can, in English, be changed into all that which, every thing which, it must be rendered in French by tout ce qui and tout ce que; by the former, if the English pronoun which be the subject of the following verb, and by the latter (tout ce que), if it be the object. Il fait TOUT CE QUI est né cessaire ; If fera TOUT CE QUE VOUS voudrez ; Ex. he does whatever (or all that which) is requisite. he will do whatever (or every thing) which you wish. TOUT, quite, entirely, &c. TOUT-QUE, although, however, &c. 19. Tout, preceding an adjective immediately followed by que, is declined only before adjectives, used in the feminine gender and beginning with a consonant or with an h aspirated. Ex. TOUT Savans qu'ils sont, ils se trompent quelquefois; TOUTE belle qu'est cette dame, elle ne me plaît pas ; learned as they are, they sometimes err. though that lady is handsome, she does not please me. 20. If several adjectives occur in the sentence, tout must be repeated before every one. Tour riche et TOUT grand que vous étes, soyez modeste: Ex. rich and great as you are, be modest. |