2ndly. The verb; 3rdly, the direct case or object; 4thly, the indirect case, or dative, or genitive or ablative. It need hardly be told that if there is not a direct case, the indirect comes next to the verb, les enfants obéissent au père. A deviation from this order or arrangement i called an INVERSION. See Inversion, p. 497. My mother received recevoir ind-4 EXERCISE. two letters this morning, which (have faire Did not the soldiers resist the résister à ind-4 given) her * Send this game to Mr. L. Have Envoyer bought a venir de 437+ penser à beautiful house in Paris. Has the (nurse maid) given (any thing to eat) to these poor children? bonne à manger these envoyer ind-7 books to his cousin when he has read them? avoir ind-7 GOVERNMENT OR CASES. 172. By government, is meant the case in which a noun is to be put after the verb, that is, whether it will be direct or accusative, indirect or dative, genitive or ablative, or, to speak more plainly, whether that noun will be preceded by à or de. Personal pronouns me, te, nous, vous, lui, leur, in the dative case, are placed before the verb, as is explained in the article Pronoun Personal 61. What is said here, must, in fact, be understood solely of nouns substantives. + See Examples on Difficulties, Chapter XIX, to which this figure refers. The learner must bear in mind that the figures which he will occasionally meet with in the Exercises refer to the general series of riles. 284 SYNTAX AND IDIOM OF THE SUBSTANTIVE. 173. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO LANGUAGES AS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF VERBS. To those who are acquainted with the Latin language, this will present little or no difficulty, accustomed as they are to the proper distinction of cases; but to those who are not, and to young ladies principally, the distinction is not so obviously clear. As in learning the French language, much of the task consists in turning English into French; and also, as, when endeavouring to speak, people first think in English, and then translate, a very natural propensity leads them to translate literally, thereby expressing themselves in a way little in accordance with the peculiar construction of the French language. We cannot devise a more efficacious method to guard them from such erroneous proceeding, than by showing the different cases used in the one or the other language, after the corres ponding verb. The list of the instances in which the two languages differ, in respect to the case of the governed words, might easily be extended to several pages, but the few examples here given, must be sufficient to awake the attention and carefulness of the learner, and to make him sensible of the necessity of mastering this point. A few more remarks may tend to impress still deeper in his mind the necessity of attending to it. 174. NECESSITY OF ATTENDING TO THE GOVERNMENT, WITH REGARD TO THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS. Sometimes, and even frequently, verbs govern a relative pronoun representing some noun antecedently expressed, and such pronoun must be put in the proper case, according to the preposition which would be placed before the noun. For instance, to translate "such is the law which you have not obeyed," telle est la loi QUE vous n'avez pas obéi, would be wrong, it must be à LAQUELLE, because we have seen that obéir requires the dative, or the preposition d. Again, to say je vous donne de bons avis AUXQUELS vous n'écoutez pas, would be literal and wrong, because, as we have seen also, écouter is active in French, that is, requires no preposition. I repent EXERCISE. my idleness. Do you Avoir want besoin de this pen? I was penser his duty se repentir de à ind-2 s'acquitter de ind-4 devoir m. to my satisfaction. I advise you to go and conseiller 2 1 d'aller change your shoes. changer de very grateful for your reconnaissant de kindness. You have gone too near the river. Are you not afraid s'approcher de ind-4 * craindre of that cruel man? We did not expect such an answer. 'attendre à ind-2 2 1 3 2 1 If you come to-night we will agree about art. terms. convenir de nos conditions ce soir music. I do not know why, but your brother savoir room very abruptly. Do not mind his threats.* I am not fond of sortir de ind-3 faire attention à This form of the genitive case, or of the case marking possession, is rendered in French in an inverted manner, as if it were the palace of the king, le palais du roi. 176. OF COMPOUND WORDS. SILK-STOCKINGS. DINING-ROOM, ETC. ETC. These are a sort of compound word of which the order is likewise inverted in French. Bas de soie, salle à manger. Here again also, two different prepositions are used, (à, de) the choice of which depends upon the nature of the expression. De is used when made of, composed of, coming from, of the, belonging to, can be understood. The same difficulty occurs with regard to the preposition used before the infinitive in French. See infinitive, 394, 397. is used when for the purpose of, by means of, with, may be understood. moulin à vent moulin à papier fille aux yeux bleus EXAMPLES. wind-mill i. e. mill going by wind paper-mill i. e. mill for the purpose of making paper blue eyed girl i. e. girl with blue eyes EXERCISE. père maison soirée f. My father's house. The mayor's authority. Shall you go to maire = aller Mrs. B's party? He has bought a gold box. Go out at the boîte f. sortir par acheté от that long eared animal? Send devant porte Qu'est-ce que c'est que longues oreilles me the letter box. Where is the oil bottle? Give me a wine glass, 2 1 canif long cloak? My sister has given me a penknife with an ivory * ivoire handle. They have lately discovered a copper mine on his estate. manche m. on venir de découvrir Where is the milk jug? Is this the hay market? cuivre terre f. |