Good. Big. Big, large. Grosse. Low. Bas. Low. Basse. Fat. Gras. Fat. Grasse. Weary, tired. Las. I want a very good wife. Il me faut une très-bonne femnio. Le vôtre est plus gros que le mien. J'ai tué une grosse araignée. This seat is too low to write upon. Ce siége est trop bas pour qu'on puisse y écrire. Cet homme est d'une basse stature. Il n'est pas aussi gras qu'il était. La volaille est très-grasse cette saison. Voilà un brouillard fort épais. This beer is not fit to drink; it is too thick. I did not think he was dumb. Je ne croyais pas qu'il fût muet. Is Mes souliers sont-ils nets? Have a care to keep your teeth clean. I did not think her so foolish as she is. my white waistcoat made? Mon gilet blanc est-il fait ? la neige. He is the most open man I know. C'est l'homme le plus franc que je connaisse. Il a fait un temps fort sec toute la journée. Je leur ai envoyé de la morue sèche. It is very cool now. Il fait très-frais à présent. The water is not cool enough. Le bien public l'exige. The public voice declared in his favour. Horace est mon auteur favori. She likes blue, it is her favourite colour. Give me a bit of this hallowed bread. Il a répandu l'eau bénite. You take the longest road. Vous prenez le chemin le plus long. J'ai mangé des poires molles. Il est fou à vingt-quatre carats. Il est épris d'un fol amour pour elle. ADJECTIVES which, when placed before the SUBSTANTIVES, have a meaning different from that which they have when placed after them. L'air grand is a noble physiognomy or countenance. EXAMPLE. Voilà un jeune homme qui a l'air | There is a young man who looks grand. noble. Le grand air, means the ways or manners of a man of quality A le voir, on le prendrait pour un homine du grand air. On seeing him, one would take him for a man of quality (or for one who deports himself like a lord.) L'air mauvais, is a wicked countenance. EXAMPLE. Je ne veux point de ce petit garçon- I will not have that little boy; he has la; il a l'air trop mauvais. too wicked a countenance. Mauvais air, is a mean or ill appearance. EXAMPLE. Comment pouviez-vous vous pro- | How could you walk with a woman mener avec une femme d'un aussi of such an ill appearance? mauvais air? Un homme grand, means a tall man; and EXAMPLE. Comme un acteur marchait sur le | As an actor was walking on tiptoe to bout des pieds pour représenter le grand Agamemnon, on lui cria du parterre, qu'il le fesait un homme grand, et non pas un grand homme. represent the great Agamemnon, they cried to him from the pit, that he was making him a tall man, and not a great man. Observe, that if after grand homme, one adds several qualities of the body, as, c'est un grand homme brun et d'une belle physionomie; he is a tall, brown man, and of a handsome countenance; then grand homme means a man of high stature. In the same manner, if after homme grand we add a modification which relates to morality, then grand refers no longer to the stature. EXAMPLE. Alexandre etait un homme grand | Alexander was a man great in his dans ses projets. projects. Note, that in speaking of a woman, the adjective grand only relates to the stature, and that one does not say, une grande femme, but, instead of it, c'est une femme d'un grand mérite, she is a woman of great merit. Un bon homme, une bonne femme, mcan generally a man and a woman of little understanding; while, on the contrary, un homme bon, une femme bonne, is always an eulogium; however, bon preceded by fort, très, bien, is also an eulogium; as un fort bon homme, une trèsbonne ou bien bonne femme, a very good man, a very good woman. Un homme brave, signifies a brave man; des gens braves, brave people. Un brave homme, means a man of honour; de braves gens, people of probity. Un enfant cruel, means a cruel child; un peuple cruel, a cruel ple; une femme cruelle, a cruel woman. Un crucl enfant, a child Un cruel peuple, a nation of intolerable caprice. peo We say in the proper sense, tirer, tracer, décrire une ligne droite, to draw, to trace, to describe a straight line-and, in the figurative sense, La maison de Bourbon descend en The house of Bourbon descends in a droite ligne de St. Louis. direct line from St. Louis. Du bois mort means dead wood, and du mort bois means wood of no great value; such as, des ronces, des épines, &c. briars, thorns, &c. Une chose certaine, une nouv le certaine, une marque certaine, &c. is a sure thing, news, mark, &c. C'est un fait certain que personne ne révoque en doute. It is a sure fact which nobody questions. Une certaine chose, une certaine nouvelle, une certaine marque, is an indeterminate thing, some news, some mark. EXAMPLE. On n'a conté certaine aventure que They have related to me a certain adje crois fausse. venture, which I take to be false. Une voix, commune, is an ordinary voice. EXAMPLE. Cette actrice a une voix commune. This actress has an ordinary voice. D'une commune voix, signifies unanimously, EXAMPLE. Tout le peuple d'une commune voix | The whole people unanimously fordéfendit à Thémistocle de passer bade Themistocles to go any fur Une fausse corde, is a chord which is not raised to the tone it should have. Une corde fausse, is a chord that can never be in tune with another. Une fausse clef, is a key which is secretly kept, in order to make an unlawful use of it. Une clef fausse, is that which is not fit for the lock to which one wishes to apply it. Une fausse porte, is a secret door. Une eau morte, is stagnant water. La morte eau, is the water, when it is in its lowest ebb and ebbing. La dernière année de la guerre, is the year after which there is no longer any war. L'année dernière, is the year which precedes immediately that in which one speaks. Un homme malin, is a wicked man. Le malin esprit, ou l'esprit malin, is the devil. Le Saint-Esprit, is the Holy-Ghost. L'Esprit-Saint, is the Divine Spirit common to the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Une femme sage, is a virtuous and prudent woman Une sage-femme, is a midwife. Une femme grosse, is a pregnant woman. Une grosse femme, is a fat woman. Un homme galant, is a man who endeavours to please the ladies by his polite attention to them. Un galant homme, is a man who joins to probity the polish of a gentleman. Un gentilhomme, is a nobleman. Un homme gentil, is a lively, brisk, pretty man. Un habit neuf, is a new coat, or one that has been but seldom worn. Un habit nouveau, is a coat of a new fashion. |