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Syntax and Morphology
The following point is a basic similarity to English, and the points after are differences in the word order of French sentences that make it difficult for French learners of English as a Second Language. French language sentence structure is similar to English in that both languages use a Subject-Verb-Object formation. In French, the direct object is marked by a lack of preposition, while the indirect object is marked by the presence of a preposition. For
example:
Articles
(definite, indefinite and partitive) or determiners of some kind are almost
always found in front of nouns, whereas in English, they are often omitted,
especially the partitive article.
Adjectives
are most usually found after the noun, with the exception of the few that
fall into the categories of age, beauty, goodness and size. Like adjectives,
adverbs are usually found next to the word they modify, except adverbs
of time, which can also be found at the beginning or end of the sentence.
Pronouns are frequently used in French, and a very complicated sentence may find up to five or six object pronouns in front of the verb, whereas, again in English they would often be omitted. There are eight tenses, and four moods used in French, while in English there are a similar number of tenses. The English continuous forms do not exist in French. For
futher information, consult: About.com
MORPHOLOGY The following is an overview of French morphology. As you will discover, French is much more inflected than English. In addition, unlike English, words must agree with each other in gender and number.
All French nouns have gender, either masculine or feminine. Even if the noun is inanimate it has gender, but whether it is masculine or feminine is quite arbitrary.
However, some nouns have only one form for both genders. Sometimes
it is possible to distinguish the gender of a noun by its ending.
The
plural is formed by adding an -s to the singular. Although this
a general rule, many words have irregular plural forms.
Like
in English, in French pronouns are conjugated with the verbs. Since many
verb forms are pronounced exactly the same way (despite their different
spelling) personal pronouns are useful to understand the meaning of what
one says.
French has three groups of verbs that are conjugated differently. The verbs of the third group are described as irregular, while the first two groups include only five irregular verbs. The auxiliary and modal verbs pertain to the third group. French has four tenses (the present, the past, the imperfect and the future). The compound tenses are constructed with the auxiliary avoir to have, and the past passive participle; a few intransitive verbs (as venir to come, aller to go, partir to part, mourir to die, etc.) and all the reflexive (pronominal) verbs are conjugated in the compound tenses with être to be; in this way, French is similar to Italian. Moreover, French uses verbal constructions to express immediate intention (aller to go + infinitive), and recent accomplishment (venir to come + infinitive). French has five verbal moods -- indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive and potential (or conditional) mood. The passive voice is formed analytically with the auxiliary être to be and the past passive participle. The polite address requires the verb to be used in the second person plural. Here is a summary of all the tenses in French: French présent resembles two English tenses: I sing, I'm singing = je chante. French imparfait resembles to the English form: I was singing = je chantais. French passé composé resembles to the English tense: I sang = j'ai chanté. In French, always to have/to be + past paticiple. French passé simple or prétérite resembles to two English tenses: I sang, I've sung. = je chantai. Note that it is mainly used in literature; people prefer to use the passé composé in everyday life. French futur resembles to the English form: I will sing = je chanterai French conditionnel resembles to the English form: I would sing = je chanterais French subjonctif présent is not used very much in English (eg. 'God save the Queen'). This tense is used after words such as que (that). For example: je veux que tu sois riche=I want you to be rich. Following
is an example of the conjugation of the first group of verbs (regular conjugation).
As you can see, French verb conjugation is more detailed and specific than
English conjugation.
Determiners are words that make specific the denotation of a noun phrase. In French they agree with the noun in gender and number. Definite
article: In English there is only one definite article (the). In French
there are three:
Le and la are contracted to l' when followed by a vowel or an h. Examples:
Like
the definite article, the indefinite article is also divided into masculine,
feminine, and plural in French.
Examples:
The
partitive article (some/any) also differs according to gender and number:
Examples:
Note:
In negative sentences French only uses de (or d' before a
vowel).
Example:
Possessive
adjectives agree in number and, when the forms allow, in gender with the
object they modify.
* mon
before a vowel
There is a major difference in the use of possessive adjectives in French compared to English. In English we say 'her dog', 'her house' if the owner is feminine, regardless the gender of the objects (which do not exist). In French they say 'son chien', 'sa maison'. The possessive adjective is declined according to the gender of the thing possessed (chien is masculine and maison is feminine) and not according to the owner (here the owner can be masculine or feminine). Demonstrative Adjectives: This/that: ce or cet for masculine (cet before a vowel or h) cette for feminine Example:
These/those: ces for masculine and feminine Example:
French adjectives agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify. The feminine is generally built by adding an -e at the end of the adjective. The plural is formed by adding an -s. Examples:
The comparative and superlative degree are formed analytically. Examples:
Conjunctions join elements of a sentence together. A coordinating conjunction 'coordinates' two equivalent elements in a sentence, while a subordinating conjunction links an independent clause to a subordinating clause. Coordination
Conjunctions:
Subordination
Conjunctions:
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