PENDULE, M. Les vibrations de ce pendule sont | The motions of this pendulum are très-rapides. very rapid. When it signifies a clock, it is feminine.-EXAMPLE: PENDULE, F. Combien voulez-vous de cette pen- | How much do you ask for this dule? clock? Période is feminine when alluding to language.-EXAMPLE: PERIODE, F. C'est une période nombreuse et | It is an extensive period expressed exprimée en termes bien ar- in terms well arranged. rangés. It is also feminine when it signifies the revolution of a celestial body, or the crisis of a fever.-EXAMPLES: PERIODE, F. La lune fait sa période en vingt- | The moon completes her periodineuf jours et demi. cal revolution in twenty-nine days and a half. But it is masculine when it signifies the highest degree of any thing, or the highest point one may reach.-EXAMPLES: PERIODE, M. Démosthène et Cicéron ont porté | Demosthenes and Cicero have carl'éloquence à son plus haut pé- ried eloquence to its highest riode. pitch. Il est dans le dernier période de sa vie. He is at the last period of his life. Pâque, without an s, signifies the passover of the Jews, and is feminine.-EXAMPLE: PAQUE, F. Notre Seigneur a célébré la pâque | Our Lord celebrated the passover avec ses disciples. with his disciples. But, when signifying the Easter of the Christians, and spelt with an s, it is masculine, and admits of no article.-EXAMPLE: PAQUES, M. Quand pâques sera venu, je régle- | When Easter comes, I will settle my account with you. rai mon compte avec vous. When pâques is used in the plural, it becomes feminine.—EXAMPLE: PAQUES, F. Cette vieille dévote ne fait point This old devotee does not perform de bonnes pâques. her Easter duty conscientiously. Pourpre is masculine, when it signifies that which is dyed in the colour of red, tinctured with blue, and feminine when it signifies the dye itself, or is used in a figurative sense.-EXAMPLES: Cette étoffe est d'un beau pourpre. | That stuff is of a fine purple colour. La pourpre de Tyr était la plus The Tyrian purple was in higher estimée de toutes. estimation than any other. Qui naquit dans la pourpre en est rarement digne. VOLTAIRE. Trompette is feminine when it means an instrument of martial music, and masculine when it means he that sounds it.-EXAMPLES: La trompette sonnait la charge, la | The trumpet sounded the charge, retraite. Le trompette somma la citadelle de se rendre. the retreat. The trumpeter summoned the ci tadel to surrender. Vague is masculine when it signifies an indefinite or unconfined space, and feminine when it signifies a swell of water raised above the even surface.-EXAMPLES: Le vague de l'air, ou des airs. Il fait de grandes vagues. The airy way, the airy plains. Les vents sont déchaînés sur les vagues émues. VOLTAIRE. Voile, a sail, is feminine; and voile, a veil, blind, cover, &c. is masculine.-EXAMPLES: Des voiles latines, ou triangulaires | Les femmes en Orient ne sortent point qu'elles ne soient couvertes d'un voile. Lateen sails. The Oriental women never appear abroad without having their faces covered with a veil. Si vous voulez partir; la voile est préparée. RACINE. Pleurs, tears, is always masculine.-EXAMPLES: PLEURS, M. Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer. Cesse tes pleurs, Alzire, ils ontragent ton père. There are some nouns, which, under the same inflection and gender, designate two sexes; such are, auteur, docteur, écrivain, garant, témoin, médecin, orateur, peintre, soldat, poéte, &c.-EXAMPLES: La fameuse madame D'Eon était The famous madame D'Eton was un brave soldat. Cette femme est un témoin irrécusable dans cette affaire. a brave soldier. This woman is an unobjectionable witness in this business. I will conclude by making some remarks on the manner of forming the plural of compound nouns. 1st. When a noun is composed of a substantive and an adjective, both take the termination of the plural.-EXAMPLES: SINGULAR. Un arc-boutant. Un bout-rimé. PLURAL. Des arcs-boutans. 2d. When compound nouns are formed with a preposition, or a verb and a noun, the noun alone can be made plural.—EXAMPLES: 3d. When a word is formed by uniting two nouns by means of a preposition, the first of the two nouns alone takes the inflection of the plural.-EXAMPLES: SINGULAR. Un arc-en-ciel. Un cul-de-lampe. Un coq-à-l'âne. PLURAL. Des arcs-en-ciel. Des coqs-à-l'âne. Nouns, borrowed from foreign idioms, without being Gallicised, are written alike in the plural and singular; thus we say, in French, The words factum, debet, and placet, are an exception; for, to these, the French Academy adds an s in the plural. Proper names, used in a figurative sense, admit of the plural final -EXAMPLES. Les Racines et les Voltaires sont | The Racines and the Voltaires are des hommes rares. Les Lockes et les Montesquieus ont été les vrais législateurs du monde. rare men. The Lockes and the Montesquieus have been the true legislators of mankind. Proper names of persons, serving only to distinguish men by their names, though applied to several, do not assume the plural.-Ex AMPLES: Les deux Corneille se sont distin- | The two Corneilles have distingués dans la république des let- guished themselves in the republic of letters. tres. Les trois Bernard ont été chantés The three Bernards have been par Voltaire. sung by Voltaire. LESSON THE FOURTH. OF THE ADJECTIVE AND NUMBERS. Master. The adjective must always, as we have already shown, agree with the noun in gender and number. Having in the first part of this volume acquainted you with what relates to the gender and number of adjectives, I will now proceed to point out some difficulties in the French language, relative to the place which the adjectives ought to occupy, either before or after the noun, when they are not attributes in a sentence. RULE I. Several kinds of adjectives, in French, are always placed after their noun: 1st. Adjectives formed of the present or past participles of the verbs.-EXAMPLES: C'est un ouvrage divertissant. Le médecin m'a dit homme mort. Une belle pensée embrouillée est un diamant couvert de boue. It is an entertaining work. You give him indeed a convincing proof of friendship. The physician told me he was a dead man. A fine thought, when perplexed, is like a diamond covered with mud. There are but a few exceptions in which adjectives formed of the participles present can be put before the noun.-EXAMPLES: Le plus décidant personnage n'est | pas toujours le mieux instruit. The most dogmatizing character is not always the best informed. La campagne offre mille riantes The country affords a thousand images. delightful objects. 2dly. Adjectives which denote figure, colour, taste, sound, or relate to the sense of feeling.-EXAMPLES: Il me faut une table ronde. Le médecin lui a ordonné de boire La nuit passée, j'ai couché sur un lit dur. A dîné, on nous servit une volaille tendre et des œufs mollets. Nous passâmes par plusieurs chemins raboteux. 3dly, Those relating to matter or spirit, or which express any kind of operation. |