4. ADVERBS OF QUALITY AND MANNER..

5. ADVERBS OF AFFIRMATION AND NEGATION

6. ADVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS

XXVII. CONJUNCTIONS

XXVIII. INTERJECTIONS

XXIX. FORMATION OF TENSES

XXX. IRREGULAR VERBS

II. IRREGULAR VERBS, SECOND CONJUGATION-cont.

PAGE

PAGE

IV. IRREGULAR VERBS, FOURTH CONJUGATION-cont.

A FIRST

FRENCH COURSE.

I. THE ALPHABET. ACCENTS, AND OTHER MARKS. PARTS OF SPEECH.

1. Alphabet.-The French Alphabet consists of 26 letters, the same as the English.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.
W is used only in foreign words.

The names of the French letters are given on p. 4.
The letters are divided into Vowels and Consonants.
The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y. The remaining letters
are Consonants.

2. Accents.-There are three accents, which are placed over vowels :

1. The acute ( ́), placed only over e: as, été.

2. The grave (`) placed over a, e, u: as, là, près, où.

3. The circumflex (^) placed over all the vowels except y: as, âme, rêve, ile, ôter, mûr.

3. Other marks.

(1.) The Apostrophe ('), showing that a vowel has been
dropped: as l'or instead of le or; l'âme instead of
la ame; l'histoire instead of la histoire.

(2.) The Cedilla, a sign like a comma placed under c (before
a, o, and u), thus ç, giving c the sound of s, as reçu.
(3.) The Diaresis, or Trema ("), placed over a vowel,
showing that this vowel must be pronounced distinct
from the preceding vowel: as haïr, noël.

(4.) The Hyphen, connecting two words: as, a-t-il.

4. Genders.-There are two Genders, Masculine and Feminine.

FR. P.

B

5. Numbers.-There are two numbers, Singular and Plural.

6. Parts of Speech.-There are nine parts of speech in the French language:

1. Article.
2. Substantive, or Noun. 5. Verb.

3. Adjective.

4. Pronoun.

7. Preposition.

8. Conjunction.

6. Adverb.

9. Interjection.

The Pronunciation of French can only be learned properly from a master, but a few rules may be of some help.*

*The Rules for pronunciation are from Professor Merlet's Treatise on Pronunciation. The consonants in French words printed in Italics are not pronounced.