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THE

FRENCH VERBS
ARRANGED

ON A NEIF
55Y

SYSTE3I:

WHICH THE LEARNER IS TAUGHT TO FORM

THE INFLECTIONS OF

ALL THE VERBS

IN

THE FRENCH LANGUAGE,

AMOTNTING TO

501L

BY THE AUTHOR OF
THE FRENCH GENDERS TAUGHT IN

SIX FABLES.

LONDON
J.

CHAPPELL, ROYAL EXCHANGE.

J 830.

PREFACE.
Encouraged by

reception

the

my

of

little

manual of the French Genders (nine thousand copies of

which have been sold

in eight months)

have endeavoured to remove another of the great

impediments

to

an

efficient

knowledge of the French

language, by facilitating the acquirement

of the

VERBS.
I

did not undertake this work, until

out an accurate

list

of

all

had drawn

the verbs in the French

according to their terminations,

lansfuaoie, classed

and had examined whether,

in respect to the divi-

sion of the verbs into conjugations, the arrangement

of the grammars most in use appeared to admit of

improvement.

found, that

some of the most

popular French grammarians (of whose

merits

it

is

general

scarcely possible to speak too highly)

had classed the conjugations without consideration

either as to the

number

a method which
to assist the

is

memory

instance, there

or regularity of the verbs,

calculated rather to perplex than

of the young scholar.

are but three

primitive

Ui^iirni

For

verbs in

PREFACE.

IV

and benir; the

enir, viz. tenu', venir,

these are merely

viz. benir, is

two of

first

exceptions to verbs in ir; the last,

regular; surely the reader need not

be embarrassed with a separate conjugation

for

two

verbs only.

regular conjugation

verb and

its

compounds,

is

viz.

made

an irregular verb, and

tially

also of a single

faire, which
is

French verbs which depart from

is

essen-

one of the

five

that absolute rule,

viz.

Every verb

in

the French language,

except

AVOIR, ETRE, ALLER, DIRE, and FAIRE,* ends Vt

ons, ez, ent, in the three plural persons

of the

present indicative, and of the imperative mood.

Another instance

furnished in verbs in

is

number of which

small

tir,

conjugation, when, out of sixty-seven verbs in

all follow the regular rule of verbs in

issant,

i,

are assigned to a distinct

/;,

tir,

and make

in the participles, except six verbs, with

compounds.

their

On

the other hand, some grammarians, in order

to diminish the

number of the

conjugations, have

adopted a system which appears more calculated

to perplex

than twenty conjugations could be,

clearly enumerated.

the

verbs

if

allude to the union of all

ending in re, into one

* With the Compounds.

conjugation.

PREFACE.
This plan brings under one head the most

dissiiVii-

lar terminations, as

oudre, ettr6, aire, oitre, ire,

How

the learner must be bewildered

ompre, &c.

by numerous exceptions, may be

easily seen

by the

various terminations to the past participles of verbs

in re ; thus
battre, to beat

past participle

battu

conduire, to conduct

conduit

connoitre, to knovs^

corimi

joindre, to join

joint

naitre, to

ne

be born

mettre, to put

niis

nuire, to hurt

hiir

paitre, to feed
rire, to

The preceding

ri

verbs, tTiough a Very siAall pro-

portion of the whole,

sbow how' the

be burthened by an attempt

under one

pti

laugh

ilAiemof y

ittiiSt

to class verbs in

re

have endeavoured

to

rule.

In the following pages

avoid similar embarrassment to the -etudent, by a

separate exposition of the verbs, according to their

endings, each termination of the regular verbs being

preserved absolutely distinct from the

all the verbs in er are treated of;
ir ;

and

First,

rest.

then,

all

those in

so of the remaining regular verbs.

a2

But,

PREFACE.

VI

labour to the

in spite of every exertion to spare

scholar, there

remain a small number of irregular

verbs which cannot be classed:

learned separately

though, as the irregularity

found in a few tenses only, the

disheartening.

been

My chief

to simplify, as far as

the relative importance

learners to

difficulty

is

cannot be

aim, in this attempt, has

was

possible, the arrange-

ment of the conjugations, and

recommend

must be

these

impress clearly

to

of each.

particularly

make themselves

well ac-

quainted w^ith the table of invariable terminations,

and

to

copy out and

conjugations, viz.

When

two

recite frequently the first

of verbs ending in er, and

ir.

these are learned perfectly, the certainty -of

knowing, and of being able to employ with

sixteen parts out of seventeen of

all

facility,

the French

verbs, will cheer the scholar through the difficulties

of the remaining portion of the task.

W.
London y May, 1827.

R.

GooDLUCK,

Jun.

CONTENTS.
Page

Preface
The

iii

accidents of a verb

Voice

Mood, Tense, Number, Person

10

The number of the French verbs

11

The auxiUary

verb, Avoir

12

The auxihary

verb,

The

classification of the

First conjugation

Of

Eire

15

5011 French verbs.

18
19

in er

26

reflected verbs

Exemplar of a

27

reflected verb

Exceptions of the

first

conjugation in er

31

Observations on Piier, Recouvrer, and Tisser

33

Observations on verbs in ger, cer, and

33

7/er

Observation on the dipthong oi

34

Second

35

conjugation in fr

Exceptions of the Second conjugation in ir..

Six verbs in

tir, w^ith

a sentence to fix

memory

them

37

in

37

Four verbs in frir and vrir

40

Two

41

verbs in enir

Eleven verbs in tr

43

CONTENTS.

VIU

Third

47

conjugation in olr

sentence fixing the seven regular verbs in

47

olr

Exceptions of the third conjugation in oir

Fourth

50

conjugation in dre

56

Exceptions of the fourth conjugation

57

Verbs

in iudre

57

Verbs in oudre

59

The verbs prendre, ardre, sour dre

Fifth

conjugation in oitre

Sixth

conjugation in uire

60
-.

62
64

Irregular verbs, amounting to 114

66

Of passive

77

verbs

Table of invariable terminations

78

INTRODUCTION,

A Verb is that part of speech which expresses either

the EXISTENCE, A( TioN, Or SITUATION of a siiljstautive,
as

I live, I

The

icalk, I stand.

accidents, or grammatical appertinents of a verb,

are five

li'r.

voice, mood, tense, number, and per-

son.

OF THE VOICE.

1.

The
or

is

voice of a verb
acted upon.

When
action

shows whether the nominative

acts

the nominative acts, the verb expressing the

the active voice ; as 1 strike, he binds, they

is in

kill.

When the nominative is acted upon, the verb is in the

passive voice; as 1 was struck, he was bound, they were
killed.
Verbs which are neither active nor passive, where the
nominative neither acts nor is acted upon, are called
neuter; as,

wait,

remain,

recline,

expect,

pos-

sess.

Note ^ome

jjrammarians most erroneously declare those

verbs to be neuter, the action of whicli will not pass to some
object;, and because they cannot say, 1 run it, J walk it,
aflirm that the intransitives run, walk, leap, fli/, &.c. are
not active verbs, thus embarrassing' learners, by makiii!*'
trramniatical rules oppose the evidence of their senses.
According^ to their sjstera, I possess would be an active
verb, as we can s;iy, /possess it ; but, as there is no action,
it is clearly neuter: when we wish to express action, we u.se
the active verb to possess oneself of ; /possessed myself

of

it.

10

French Verbs.

OF THE MOOD.

2.

The mnod

of a verb signifies the manner in which tlie

action of the verb is spoken of.
If we speak in an
indefinite manner, we use the the infinitire mood; as, to
come, to go, to write if we simply indicate or declare,
we use the indicative mood ; as, he came, they went, they
have written- if we speak in a commanding manner,
we use the imperative mood; as, come, go, write: when
a verb is subjoined to another in a conditional manner,
we use the subjunctive mood ; as, I will watch, that you
may sleep ; I will send paper, that you may write.
:

OF THE TENSE.

3.

As

moods express

the

the

manner, the

verb mark the time of the actioa, whether

present, future, or conditional.

of a
be past,

tenses
it

OF NUMBER.

4.

English and French verbs

have two numbers, the

the nominative expresses
but one person or thing, the verb is singular; when the
nominative expresses more than one, or when a verb has
several nominatives, it is put in the plural.
singular

and plural

.5.

There are

when

OF PERSON.

three persons in

each number.

Sing.
1.

2.

Thou,
He, she.

3.

Plural.

Je

We,

Tu.

Ye, you,

II, elie.

They,

Nons.
Vous.
lis, elles.

person is employed when the person who is

speaking or writing is the nominative of the verb; as,

The

first

/love, we love.
second person is employed when the person
to or written to is the nominative of the verb ; as,
thou lovest, ye or you love.
The third person is employed when a person or thing

The

spoken

French Verbs.

spoken ofov written o/'isthe nominative of

/ie

tl>e

verb; as,

loves, she loves, they love.

the first and second

All nouns are of the third person
persons of verbs are employed only when the pronouns
"employed
or
thou,
OT
you,
are
understood; any
ice, ye,
I,
other nominative requires the third person.

iV^ofe

In varying the moods, tenses, persons, &c. of a verb,

differs materially
greniiis of the French language
from that of the English. An English regular verb
admits of no more than six changes in the word itself,
the

as, love, lorest,

loveth, loves, loved, lovedst, lovijtg.

The

other necessary variations are made by prefixing to the

verb the auxiliaries, do, may, can, might, shall, will,
would, could, should.
The French have no similar words, and supply the
necessary changes by the inflections of the verb itself.
A French regular verb admits of 35 changes, as, aimer,
aimant, aime, aime, aimes, aimons, aimez, aimeut,
aimois, aimoit, ainiions, aimiez, aimoient, aimai, aimas,
aima, aimames, aimates, aimercnt, aimerai, aimeras,
aimera, aimerons, aimerez, aimeront, aimerois, aimeroit,
ainierions, aimeriez, aimeroient,
aimasse, aimasses,
aimat, aimassicins, aimassiez, aimassent.
The learner will particularly observe, that the precedinff remarks apply to the simple tenses only: in the
compound tenses the French employ the auxiliary verbs
To HAVE and to be in a manner very similar to that in
which they are employed in our own language.

OF THE NUMBER OF THE FRENCH VERBS,

AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION.
The French language contains 5011 verbs: they all,
without exception, end either in R or in re in the infinitive

As

mood.

the French verbs do not all form their inflections

or changes in the same manner, it is necessary to separate
them into classes or conjugations.
Th? word conjugalioji is derived from a Latin word,
signifying a yoking or joining together; a conjugation
of verbs is a joining together, or union of all the verbs
that form their inflections in the same manner.

THE AUXILIARY VERBS.

AVOIR, TO HAVE:

AND ETRE, TO

BE.

The learner must remember, that a most intimate

Icnowledge of these two verbs, in all their inflexions and
combinations, is an indispensable preliminary to the
acauisition of all the other verbs. They are called auxiliaries, because they help to form the compound tenses
of every other verb; they are used in French ia a manner
nearly similar to that in which we employ them in
English. Avoir should be written and recited, and translated from French to English, and back again, several
times, previous to any attempt to learn ctre, or the two
verbs will not be kept distinct in the mind, because the
compound tenses of etre are formed by the help of avoir.

AVOIR, TO HAVE.
i'AKTICIPLES.
Present Tense,

ayant

Past Tense,
Compound of

ayant eu,

having
had
having had

eu,

the Past,

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,

avoir,

Past Tense,

avoir eu,

to have
to have

had

INDICATIVE .MOOD.
Present Tense.
j'ai,*
til as,

ila,

have
thou hast
he has,
I

The

e in je is

nous avous
vous avez,
ils

rnt off before

we have
Vou have
they have

ont,

vowel.

French Verbs.

13

Impetfect Tense.
j' a vols,
til

il

avois,
aroit,

had

thou

nous avions,
vous aviez

liadst

he had

ils

avoient

we had
you had
tliey had

Perfect or Past Tense.

ens,
tu ens,
il eut,

had
thou hadst
he had

j'aurai,

I shall have, or 1

.)

nous eunies,
vous eutes,

ils

L'urent,

we had
you had
they had

Future Tense.
will
til
il

auras,
aura,

have

thou shalt have,&c.

he shall have

nous aurons
vous aurez,
auront

ils

we shall have
you shall have
they shall have

Conditional Tense.
would, should,
or could have
thou wouldst have
he would have

tu aurois,
il

auroit,

The Compound Tenses

nous aurions,
vous auriez,

we would have
you would have

auroient

they would have

ils

are formed by adding the past

tenses, exactly as we

participle eu, had, to the simple

form the same tenses in English.

Compound

y ai

eu,
tu as eu,
il a eu.

have had
thou hast had
he has had

oj" the

Present Tense.
nousavonseu, we have had
vousavez eu, you had had
ils out eu,
they have had

Compound of the Imperfect

avois eu,
tu avois eu
il avoit eu,

had had
thou hadst had
he had had

Compound of the Perfect

eus eu,
tu eus eu,
il eut eu.

had had
thou hadst had
he had had

aurai eu,
tu auras eu,
il aura eu,

or Past Tense.

nouseumeseu, we had had

vous eutes eu you had had
ils eurent eu,
"they had had

Compound of the Future

J

shall

have had

thou wdt hiive had

he will have had

Tense.

nousavionseu, we had had

vous aviez eu, you had had
ils avoient eu, they had liad

Tense.

nous aurons eu, we shall have had

vous aurez eu, you will have had
ils auront cu,
thcv will have had

14

French Ferbs.
Compoicnd

j'

aurois eu,

til

il

aurois eu,

auroit eu,

q^f the

Conditional Tense,

\-ouUl, should, or

could have had

thou woulds have
had
he would have had

nous aurions eu, we would hare

vous auriez eu,
ils

auroient eu,

had
you would have
had
thev would have
had

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
aie,

"qu'il ait

ayons,
ayez,

have thou
let him have

qu'ils aient,

let us

have

havgye
let

them have

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
quej'aie,
que ta aies,

that I may have

that thou raayst

qu'

have
that he

ait,

il

may have

que nous ayons, that wemayhave

que vous ayez, that you may
have
qu' ils aient,
that they may
have

Perfect or Past Tense.

that 1 might have
quej'eusse,
que tu eusses, that thou mightst

que nous eus-

have
that he mig'ht have

que vous eus.

qu'

il eiit,

that

that you might

have

siez,

qu'

ils

we might

have

sions,

eussent,

that they

might

have

Compound of the Present

quej'aieeu, that

may have que nous

had
que tu
qn'

il

thou mayst
have had
that he may have

aies eu, that

it eu,

Tense.
aj'ons

that

que vous ayez

that you

ils

aient eu,

have had

Compound

oj" the

que j eusseeu, that I might have

had
que tu eusses that thou mightst
have had
eu,
qu' il eut eu, that he niieht have
had
'

e in the

may

that they

had

The

may

have had

eu,

qu'

we may

have had

eu,

word

rjiie, is

Perfect Tense.
que nous eussions eu,

que vous eussiez eu,

qu'

ils

eu,

eussent

that

we might

have had
that you might

have had
that they

have

cut off liefore the vowel

might

liad

i.

French Verbs.

15

AUXILIARY VERB ETRE, TO

BE.

PARTICIPLES.
Present Tense,

eUnt,

Pant Tense,
Compound of

ayant

being;

beeu

ete,

Ike Past,

havmsir been

etc,

INFINITIVE MOOU.
Present Tense,

Ltre,

Past Tense,

avoir Ote

to be
to liave beea

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je suis,
tu es
est

il

am

nous sommes, we are

vous etes,
you are

thnn art
he is

il.s

they are

sonr,

Imperjict Tense.
j' etois,

tu etois,
il

etoit,

was
thou wast
he was

nous Ftions,
vous eticz,

ils

etoient,

we

are

you were
were

{liey

Perfect or Past Tense.

je fus,
tu fus,
il

fut,

was
thou wast
he was
I

nous fumes,
vous futes,

we were

ils furent,

they were

you were

Future Tensebe or

je serai,

I .shall

tu seras,

thou slialt be, &c.

he sliall be

I will

be
il

sera,

nous serous
vous serez,
ils

serout.

we

shall be
shall be
they shall be

you

Conditional Tense.
I

tu

seroi8,

il !><-roit.

should, would,
c<)uhl,ormi'xht be

thou wouldst be
he would be

nous senons,
vous seriez,
ils .seroient,

we slioubl be
you should !
they would ba

The Compound Tenses are formed by the aid of the

simple tenses oi atvir, to which is added the participle
4t4, been, as in English.
Compound of t lie Present
j" ai

tu
il

a.")

et6,
et6,

ttte,

have been
thou hast been
lie hat been

T'ense.

nous avons ete, we have been

vousavez tte, you have been
iN out etO,
they have been

16

French Verbs.
Compound of the ImpeTfect

avois fete,
tu avois ete,
il avoit ete,

been
thou hadst been
he had been
I hru)

Compound
eus ete,
tu eus ete,
il eut ete,

oj" the Perfect or

had been
thou hadst been
he had been

j'

1 shall

Past Tense.

nous eurnes ete, we had been

vous eutes ete, you had been
ils eurent ete,
they had been

Compound of the Future

aurai ete,
tu auras ete,
il

aura ete,

have been
thou wilt have
been
he will have been

Tense.

nous avions ete, we had been

vous aviez ete, you had been
ils avoient ete,
they had beeo

Tense,

nous aurons

auront ete,

Compound oj" the Conditional

I

tu aurois ete,

thou wouldst have

been
he would have
been

il

auroit etc,

should, would,
could, or might
have been

we

shall

have

been

ils

j'auraisete,

ete,

vous aurez ete,

you

will

have

been
they will have
been

Tense.

nous aurions ete,we should have

been
vous auriez ete, you would have
been
ils auroieut ete, they would
have beeu

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

soit,

il

soyons.
soyez.

be thou

sois.

qu'

let

him be

qu'

ils

soient,

us be

let

be ye
let

them be

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
que je sois,
que tu sois,
qu'

il

soit,

that I may be
that thou maystbe
that he may be

que nous soyons, that we may be

que vous soyez, that you maybe
qu' ils soient,
that theymaybe

Perfect or Past Tense.

that I might be,
or that I was
que tu fusses, that thou mii^htst
be, or that thou

que je

qu'

il

fusse,

fOt,

wast
that he might be,
that he was

que |ious
sions,

que vous
siez,

qu'

ils

fus-

that we might be
that we were

fus- that

you might be

that you were

fu8sent,that theyraight be

that they were

Fr&nch Verbs.

quej'aieete,

Compound of the Present Tense.

may have que Hous ayous, that we may

that I

been

que tu
qu'

il

17

aies ete.that tliou niayst

liave beeu
that he may have
ait ete,

ete,

quevousayez,
ete,

qu'

lis

aient ete,

beeu

Compound of the Perfect

que j' eusse
ete,

that I mi^ht have

been, or that I

had been
que tu

eusses

^tfe,

qu'

il

eut etc,

that tliou miulitst

have beeu, &c.
that he might

sions ete,

que vous eussiez ete,

ils

ete,

they may have

beeu

Tense,

que nous ens-

qu'

have been
that you may
have been

eussent

that vve might

have beeu
that you miglit
have beeu
that they might
liave been

have beeu

N. B. The Scholar must be absolutely perfect in

these two auxiliary verbs, before he proceeds to the regular conjugations.

B 2

..

French Verbs.

18

OF THE DIVISION OF THE VERBS INTO

CONJUGATIONS.
I

HAVE

Language

classed the

5011 verbs of the French

in the following

tion of the infinitive

manner, by the termina-

Mood.
No. of Verbs
.

4304

in ir.

407

First Conjugation, endinsc in er.

Second Conjugation, ending

Third Conjugation, ending in

43

oir.

102

Fourth Conjugation, ending in dre

Fifth Conjugation, ending in oitre

Sixth Conjugation, ending in nire

13

26

Irregular verbs of various other endings

The two

auxiharies, avoir

and etre

114
2

5011

French Verbs.

19

EXEMPLAR OF THE FIRST CONJUGATION.

Containing 4304 V'erbs, ending in

er.

Termination of the Infinitive Mood, er.

Termination of the Present Participle, ant.
Termination of the Past Participle, c.

DEMANDER, TO

ASK.

PAKTICIPLES.
Present Tense,

demamlant,

askin?;:

Past Tense,

deniamle,
ayant ilemande,

askeil

Compound of

the Past,

having- asked

INFINITIVE JIOOD.
Present Tense,
Past Tense,

demander,

to

ask

avoir deiuande,

to

have asked

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je demande,
tu deraandes,

I ask,

thou askest,
demande,
he asks,
nous demandons, we ask,
vous deniandez, you ask,
il

ils

deniaudeut,*

they ask.

I do ask,
or I am asking
thou dost ask,
thou art asking
he does ask,
he is asking'
we do ask,
we are asking
you do ask,
you are asking
tliey do ask.
tliey are asking

Imperfect Tense.
jederaindois,+

was asking, or

1 asked
tu dcmaudois, thou wast asking-,

nous deman-

we were asking

dions,

vous deuian-

you were asking

diez,
il

demandoit,

be was asking

ils

demandoi.

tliey

were asking

ent,

' Remember that ENT, at tlie end of the third person plural, never
sounds in any tense.
+ See the observation at page 34, on the dipihong oi.

20

French Verbs.

\sl

Conjugation.

Perfect or Past Tense.

til
il

uous demandames,
vous deniandutes,

asked
thou askedst
he asked

je deiuandai,

demandas,
deraanda,

ils

deniauderent,

we asked
you asked
tliey

asked

Future Tense.
I v/ill ask, or I
shall ask
tu demauderas, thou wilt ask,
thou shall ask
il deiiiaudera,
he will ask, he
shall ask

je demanderai,

nous deman-

we

deroHs
vous deman-

you

derez,
ils

demander.

ont,

will ask, we
shall ask
will ask, you
shall ask
they will ask,they
shall ask

Cohditiohal Tense.
je demander-

would

ask, or I
ahall ask, of I
could ask
tu demander- thou wouldst ask
ois,
&c.
il deraanderoit, he would ask
I

nous demaude- we would ask

rions,

ois,*

vous demande

you would ask

riez,
ils

demande-

they would ask

i"oient,

Compound of the Present Tense

ai

demande,

have asked, or
I have been
askin,?

tu as demande, thou hast asked,

&c.
il

a dem.auds,

nous avons de- we have asked

mande,
vous avez de-

you have asked

mand^,
ils out deman-

they have asked

he had asked

de,

Compound of the Imperfect

avois deman- 1 had asked, or I
d^,
had been askingtu avois deman-thou hadst asked
de,
&c.
il avoit deman- he had asked
de,

'

Compound of

eus deman-

had asked

de,

tu eus deman-

thou hadst asked

de,
il

eut deman-

he had asked

de

'

Sec the observation

Tense.

nous avions de- we have asked

mande,
yon have asked
mande,
ils ont demanthey have asked
vous aviez de-

de,

the

Past Tense.

nous eumes de- we had asked

mande,
vous elites de- you had asked
mande,
ils eurent dethey had asked
mande,

at pag-c 31,

on the dipthong

oi.

French Verbs.
Compound
j'aurai deman-

shall

\st

o^f the

have asked

de,

tu auras deman-thoii shall have

asked
de,
il aura demau- he
shall have
de,
asked

Conjugation.

21

Future Tense.

nous aurons de- we shall have

mande,
asked
vous aurez de- you shall have
"
mande,
asked
ils auront dethey shall have
mande,
asked

Compound of the Conditional Tense.

aurois demau-lshould,orwould
have asked
de,
tu aurois denian-thou wouldst
de,
have asked
ilauroit demau- he wovild have
de,
asked

j'

we would have

nous aurions de-

mande,

asked

vous auriez de-

you would have

niande,
ils auroieut de-

asked
they would have
asked

maude,

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

demaudo,
ask thou
<iu' il demande, let him ask

demandons,

let

demande/,,
qu' ils deman-

ask ye
let

us ask

them ask

dent.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
()ue je
de,

deman- that

que tu deman.!es,

iu'

il

deman-

tliat

may

ask

thou mayst

ask
that he

may

ask

de,

nous demandions,
vous demandiez,

we may ask

q\ie

that

([ue

that you

may ask

qu' ils demandent.

that they

may ask

Perfect or Past Tense.

queje deman- that
<lasse,

mislit ask,

or that

asked

que tu deman- that thou raightst

(lasses,

qu' il deman.
dat,

ask,

6i.r..

that he might ask

nous dethat we might

maudassions,
ask
that j'oii niisht
mandissiez,
ask
qu' ils deman. that they might
dassent,
ask
qiu'

que vous de.

Compound of the Present

quej'aiede.

that I may have

mande,
asked
que tu aies de. that thou mayst
mande,
have asked
qu' il ait dethat he may have
mande,
asked

Tense.

que nous avons that we may have

demande,
asked
que vous ayez thatyou mayhave
demande,
asked
qu'

ils

aient

demande,

they may
have asked

that

22

French Verbs

1st

Conjugation.

Compoufirl of the Perfect Tense.

quej'eusse de- that I might have
manrle,
asked
que tu ensses that tliou miglitst
(leniande,
have asked
qu' il eut de- that he might
have asked
mande,

que nons eusthat we niiglit

sioiis demande,
have asked
que vous eustliat you might
siez demande,
liave asked
that they might
qu' ils eussent
demande,
have asked

REMARKS UPON THE FIRST CONJUGATION.

Of

the 4304 verb* ending in er, all are regular, except

go; and two or three single tenses in other
verbs, as puer, &c. explained at page 33. The learner,
therefore, having learned demandkk, perfectly, can have
no difficulty in declining anyotlier verb in er, by changing
the terminations exactly as they are changed in the word
aller, to

demander.
After having recited and copied out demander, several
times; the scholar ought to practise himself in forming
the tenses of other verbs in er.

Take, for instance, the verbs parler, to speal<, porter,

to carry, aiiner, to love, chanter, to sing.

Remember

that the changes are made only in the final

and that the radical Letters, as pari, in parler,
port, in porter, aim, in aimer, and chant, in chanter,
like demand in demander, always remain the same.
letters, er,

Termination of the Present Participle, ant. present

PAKTiciPiES. demandant, asking, parlant, speaking,
portant, carrying, aimant, loving, chantant, singing.

Termination of the Past Participle, e. Past Participles, demande, asked, parte, spoken, porti, carried,
aimd, loved, chante , sung.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Termination of the Present Tense.

12

es

12

Plural.

Singular.

ons

ez

3
ent

Ftench Verbs.
je deiuande,
tu deinandes
il deniande,
nous dernandons,

parte,
paries,
parle.
parldiis,

vous demandez,
lis demandeut,

parleiit,

parle/.

23

CoHJngution.

\st

porte,
portes,
porte.
portons,
portez.
portent,

aimez,

chante
chantes
chante
chantons
chantons

aiineiit.

cliantent

ainre,
airaes,

aime,
airaons,

Termination of the Imperfect Tense.

12

12

Plural.

Siiitrular.

ois

ois

Note.

ious

oit

Remember

that the Imperfect Tense of

\'erb in the language ends in a similar

je demandois,
fu demandois,

parlois,
parlois,
parloit,
parlions,
parliez,
parloient,

demandoit,
nous deraandions,
vous deraandiez,
lis demandoient,
il

3
oient

iez

chantois
clmntois
chantois
chantions
chantiez.
chautoient

aimois,

portois,
portois,
pnrtolt,
portions,
portiez,

a i mo is,

aimoit,
ainiions,

aimiez.
aimoient,

portoienc

every

way.

Termiyiation of the Perfect or Past Tense.

12

12

Singular.

ames

as

ai

Plural.

je deraandai,
lu demandas,
il demaiida,

parlai,
parlas,
parla,

nous deinandames, parlilmeii,

vous demandates,
parlites,
demanderent,
parlerent,

ils

portai,
portas,
porta,

ates

aimai,

chantiii

aima.s,

chantas
chanta

aima,

portames,

3
erent

chantaraes

portates,

airaames,
aimates,

porttrent

aimerent, cUaaterent

chantiites

Termination of the Future Tense.

Plural.

Sini^ular.
1

rai

ra

roQS

ront

Note. The future tense of EVERY verb in the language

ends in a similar manner.
je demanderai,
tu deniandcras,

parlerai,
parleras,

demandera,
parlera,
nous demanderons, parlcnms,
vous deniandcrez, jjarlerez,
il

ill

deutiiadttrout,

parleront

porterai,
porteras,
portera,
porterons,
porterez,

aimeras,

chanterai
chanteras

aitnera,
aitaerons,
airaerez,

chauterez

porteront

aimeiout,

I'Imntcront

airaerai,

chaiitera
clianterons


24

French Verbs.

\st Conjugation^.

Termination of the Conditional Tense.

12

12

Plural.

Sina;ular.

rois

rois

Note.

The conditional

guage ends

in a similar

je dernanderois,
tu dernanderois,
il denianderoit,
nous deraanderions,

tense of

riez

rioas

loit

every verb

roient
in the lan-

manner.

parlerois,
parlerois,
parleroit,
parlerions,
vous demanderiez, parleriez,
ils denianderoient, parleroient,

chanterois
chanterois
chanteroit
chanterions
rhanteriez,
chanteroient

porterois, aimerois,
porterois, aimerois,
porteroit, aimeroit,
porterions, airaerions,
porteriez, ainieriez,
porteroient,airaeroient,

tenses the learner can have no

he has only to repeat the tenses oi avoir
with the past participle of the verb ; as
J' ai demande, j' ai parle, j' ai porte, j'ai aime, j' ai
chante, j' avois demande, j' eus parle, j* aurai porte,
j' aurois aime, j' aurois chante, &c. &c.

With

the

compound

difficulty, as

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Termination of the Imperative Mood.

12

Plural.

Sing-ular.

ons

3
ent

ez

Note The three persons plural of the imperative mood

of EVERY verb in the language end in a similar manner.
demande,
parle.
parle.
demande.
demandons. parlous,
demandez.
parlez,
qu'ils demandent. parlent.
qu'

il

porte.
porte.

portons,
portez,
portent.

chante

aime,
aime.
aimons,
aimez,
aiment.

chante
chantons.
chantez

chantent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Termination of the Present Tense.

12
e

es

12

Plural.

Singular.

3
e

ions

iez

3
ent

That, except etre and avoir, every verb in the

Note.
language ends in a similar "manner in the present tense of
the subjunctive.


French Verbs.
que je demande,
que tu demandes,
il demande,
que iiousdemaudions
que vousdemaudiez,
qu'

qu'

ils

demaudeiit,

parle,
paries,
parle,
parlions,
parliez,
parlent,

25

\st Conjugation.
porte,
portes,
porte,
portions,
portiez,
portent.

rhante

aimes,
ainie,

eliantes

aime,
aimions,

cliante

ainiiez,

aimeut,

chanlions
chant iez
chantint

Termination of the Past or Perfect Tense.

Plural.

Singular.
1

-2

asse

asses

at

assions

2
assiez

3
assent

aimasse,
chantasse
parlasse,
portasse,
que je demandasse,
parlasses, portasses, ainiasses, chantasses
que tu deniandasses,
ainiiit,
portat,
chautat
parlat,
il demandat,
que nous ilemandassionsparlassionsportassionsainiassionsdiantassions
que vous demandassiez, parlassiez, portassiez,airaassiez, chantasiez

qu'

qu'

ils

dcniandassent,

The compound

parlassent,port{issent,aimassent,chantassent

tenses of the subjunctive are formed

with the tenses oi avoir and the past participle; as
yiie j' aie demande, que j' aie parlo, que j' eusse porte,
que j' eusse aime, que j' eusse chantc, &c.

26

OF REFLECTED VERBS.

A reflected verb is a verb the action of which is reon the nominative case instead of passing; to another object. Verbs of this kind answer to the middle
voice of the Greeks, and are frequently used in English
with myself, thyself, &c., added to them; as
flected

I perjure myself
thou perjurest thyself
he perjures himself

we

perjure ourselves

you perjure yourselves

they perjure themselves

The French

also use au additional pronoun in verbs

of this kind; but they place it immediately before the
verb, instead of immediately after it, as we do.
The principle is precisely similar in both languages ;
the only difference in practice is, that the genius of the
English language requires the pronoun to follow the
verb, and that of the French requires it to precede it.
If the French followed our system, thej' would say
I

perjure myself.

thou perjurest thyself,

he perjures himself,

we

je parjure me
tu parjures te
il parjure se

you perjure yourselves,

nous parjurons nous

vous parjurez reus

they perjure themselves,

ils

perjure ourselves,

parjurent se

Instead of which they say

je me parjure
tu te parjure
il

se parjure

nous nous parjurons

VDUS vous parjurez
ils

se parjurent

using exactly the same words in a different order.

French Verbs.

Conjugation.

\st

27

EXEMPLAR OF A REFLECTED VERB.

Every reflected verb follows its proper conjugation:
by comparing se morjuar with dematider, the learuer will
perceive that the only diiference

in the prefixed pro-

is

noun.

LAUGH

SE MOQUER, TO

AT.

P.\RTICIPLES.

Present Tense,

se

fast Tease,
Note.

moquant,
luociue,

Compound of the Past

Tense,

s'

etant

moque,

laughing- at
laughetl at'
haviuij laughed at

Let the learner take particular notice that re-

form the compound tenses by

the help of the auxiliary etre, and never with avoir:
therefore we say, s'etant luoque, having laughed at ; and
not s'ayant moque.
flected verbs, in French,

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
Past Tense,

se
s'

moquer,
moque,

to laugh at
to have laughed at

etre

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
1

laugh

il

se

&c.

at,

nous nous moquons

vous vous mcxjuez

je nie moque
tu tc inoques

moque

ils se

moqueat

Imperfect Tense.
I

was laughing

il

as

at,

&c.

nous nous moquions

vous vous nioquez

je me moquois
tu te mo()uois

moquoit

lis se

inoquoieut

Perfect or Past Tense.

I

je me mnquai
tu te nioqua*
il

it iiiiiqua

laughed

at.

nous nous moquames

vous vous mo()uatcii>
\\i

se iuo(iui:rt;nt

28

French Verbs.

\st Coyijiigation.

Future Tense.
laugh

I shall
,je

at,

me moquerai

il

se

&c.

nous nous moquerons

vousvous moquerez
ils se moqueront

tu te raociueras

moquera

Conditional Tense.
1

should lauijh

je me moquerois
tu te moquerois
il

se

&c.

at,

nous nous moquerions

vous vous moqueriez
ils se moqueroient

moqueroit

The compound

tenses are merely the simple tenses of

etre, with the past participle.

Compound of the Present

I

have laughed

je me suis moque
tu 'V es moque
il

est

"s'

nous nous somraes moques

vous vous etes moques

moque

had laughed

je 'm' etois moque

tu t' etois moque
etoit

sont

ils se

Compound of the

il "s"

Tense.

at, 8cc.

moques

Imperfect.
at,

&c.

nous nous etions moques

vous vous etiez moques

moque

ils s'

etoient

moques

Compound of the Imperfect Tense.

I

had laughed

me

fus moque
tu te fus moque
il se fut moque
je

il

Compound of
I shall

se sera

moque

ils

The

at,

moques

&c.

se serout

should have laughed

e in vac, te, e,

moques

at, 8cc.

nous nous senons moques

vous vous seriez moques

moque

se furent

Future Tense.

the Conditional Tense.

je me serois moque
tu te serois moque
se seroit

&c.

nous nous serons moques

vous vous serez moques

Compound of

il

the

have laughed

je me serai moque
tu te seras moque
il

at,

nous nous fumes moques

vous vous futes moques

ils

is

se seroieut

moques

cut off before the vowel.


Freiich

Verbs. 1st Conjugation.

29

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Imoqiions nous,
moijiii'Z vous

let

mo-

let

se

ils

<(u'

us laugh at

lau!"h at

"them laugh

queut,

Observe, that ia tbe second person singular, and first

and second persons plural of the imperative of reflected
verbs, the French place the pronoun after the verb, as we
do; moque toi, laugh thou; leve toi, rise thou; levez
TouSj rise ye, 8i,c.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense-

That

queje me moque
que tu te moque
qu'

St

il

may

laugh

moque

at, See.

que nous nous moquions

que vous vous moquiez

qu'

ils

'

moqueut

se

Perfect or Past Tense.

That

me

queje
que tu
qu'

might laugh

at, &.c.

que nous nous moquassioiis

que vous vous moqua.ssiez
qu' ils se moquasseut

te mo()uas,ses

be

il

moquasse

moquut

Compound of the Present

That
queje
il

may have laughed

me sois moque

que tu
qu'

&c.

que nous nous soyons moques

que vous vious soyez iiioques

moque
moque

te sois

ne soit

Tense.

at,

qu'

ils se

soieut

moques

Compound of the Past Tense.

That 1 might have laughed
queje mefusse moque
que tu te fus.scs moque
qu'

il

se fut

The

moque

at,

&c.

que nous nous fussions moques

que vous vous fussie/. moques
qu'

ils

se fussent

mocjues

learner must take particular notice, that when the

nominative case of any verb in a compound tense is passive, the past participle must agree with that nomiuativc
in number and gender.
Thus, iu the active


French Verbs. 1st Conjugation.

30

lie has carried

she has carried
men have carried
women have carried

a porte,

il

elle a porte,
les

porte

is

But

hommes

ont porte,

femmes oat

les

porte,

not liable to change.

in the passive

he has been carried

she has been carried
les hommes ont ete portes, the men have been carried
les femmes ont ete portees, the women have been carried
a cte portee,
elle a ete portee,

il

porte

to change according to the number and

nominative case.

is liable

gender of

its

Reflected

verbs follow the same rule, except in some

Therefore, in the verb se moquer, and other similar verbs, when the nominative is feminine, the participle must take the final e feminine ; thus, she had
laughed at me, elle se fut moquee de moi; my sisters
had laughed at their aunt, mes soeurs se furent moquees
de leur tante.
cases.

Of the 4304 verbs in e?-, 183 are reflected; but many

of the others admit of being conjugated reflectively, with
the prefixed pronoun, as
laver, to

wash

euferrer, to run through

se laver, to
s' enferrer,

wash oneself
to

run oneself

through
cnfermer, to shut up

s'

enfermer, to shut oneself up

Sometimes a verb conjugated

reflectively

assumes a

different signification, as

couper, to cut
porter, to carry

se couper, to equivocate
se porter, to be, in respect

passer, to pass

health ; as, se porter bien, to be

well in health
se passer, to dispense with
to

do without

to


31

EXCEPTIONS OF THE FIRST CONJUGATION.

The uniformity of

the verbs in er ougrht to

t^ive c:reat

encouragement to the learner, who, when he has made

himself well acquainted with demander and two exceptions, knows six-sevenths of all the verbs, viz. 4304 out
of 5011.

The

/'o

verbs in

which do not make their inflecdemander, are aller, to go ; and

er,

tions regularly like

ENVoYER, to send.

FIRST EXCEPTION.
Aller,

to

go

allant, going

gone.

alle,

INDICATIVE MOOD.
All the tenses of this mood are regular, like demander,
except ihe present, J'uture, &xi.A conditional.

Present Tense.
je vais,
tu vas,
il

nous
vous

I fro

thou gfoest
he ^oes

rn,

ils

%ve go
you tjo
they go

aliens,
allez,

vont,

Tiie imperfect, j'allois, and the perfect,

regular.

j' allal,

are

Future Tense.

irai,
tu iras,
il

ira,

I shall or will go
thou shalt go
he shall go

nous irons,
vous irez,
ils

iront,

we

shall go
shall go
they shall go

you

Conditional Tense.
j'

tu irois,

il

iroit,

irois, I would go
nous irions, vous iriez,

ils

iroient

The compound tenses are formed with ctre

alle, nous sommes alles, ellc sera allcc, elles
:

allees.

je siiis

scront

32

French Verbs.

\st

Conjugation.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
va vas,
qii' il ailie,

go

thoii

let

him go
qu'

allons,

let us

allez,

go ye

ils

go

aillent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

The only

irregular tense in this

mood

is

the present.

Present Tense.
quej'ai7/e,

que tu
qu'

il

that

allies, that

aille,

The

que nous allions, that we may go

que vous alliez, that you may go
qu ils ailleut, tliattheymaygo

may go
thou mayst go
may go

that he

irregular parts

of each tense are shown by the

italics.
s' en aller, to go away, is conjuwith the prefixed pronoun and the participle eu- asje m' en vais, tu t' en vas, il s' en va, nous
nous en allons, vous vous en allez, ils s' en vont, &c.

The

reflected verb,

gated like

aller,

SECOND EXCEPTION.
Envoyer,

to send

envoyant, sending

envoye, sent.

This verb is irregular only in the future and conditional of the indicative mood.
Future Tense.
Notj' envoy erai, but
j'enverrai,
if would send
tu enverras,
il

enverra,

thou shalt send

he shall send

nous enverrons, we will send

vous enverrez, you shall seud
ils enverront,
they shall send

Conditional Tense.

Not j' envoyerois, but

j'enverrois,
tu enverrois,
il enverroit,

1 would send
thou wouldst send
he would send

nous enverrions, we should send

vous enverriez, you would send
ils enverroient,
they would seud

Renvoyer, to send back, varies in the same manner

je renverrai, je renverrois.

French Verbs.
Observations on Puer,

\st

Conjugation.

33

Recouvrer, and Tisser.

Pucr, to stink, in the present tense of the indicative,

sometimes written, by corruption, je pus, tu pus,
il put ; instead of je pue, tu pues, il
pue.
Recouvrer, to recover, sometimes makes recouvert, ia
the past participle, instead of recouvre.
Tisser, tn weave, makes, in its past participle, ^w.tw,
woven. Tissu is borrowed from the obsolete verb tistre,
to weave.
The five foregoing verbs of the first conjugation may
be fixed in the mind by the following sentence
f^elui qui ne va pas dans le droit chemin, un jugcment severe sur son Tissu de mauvaises actions l'en
VERRA dans uns abyme puant de soufre d'ou personne
ne sera recouvert.
is

Observations on Verbs in ger, cer, and yer.

In those parts of verbs in ger, where an a or an o
would follow the ^>-, an e must be inserted, to preserve
the soft sound of the i^. Thus, in the present tense of
7>ia>i<^er, to eat, we
must not say nous mangons, but

nous mangeons; and, in the present participle, we must

say mangeant, and not mangant.
For the same reason, verbs in cer take a cedilla (a
mark used only under the letter c, thus 9) when a or o
follow the c, which shows that the c is to be sounded
soft, like an s: thus, in commencer, to begin we must
write nous commen9ons, je commen<;ai, tu commen9as,
il comraen^a, &c.
Verbs in i/er change the y into i before e, e, cut, and
t; as in employer, to employ, j' emploie, tu emploies,
il emploie, nous employons, vous employez,
ilsemploient,
j' emploirai, j' emploirois, &c. &c.

Observations on the Dipthong

oi.

Imperfect and Conditional Tenses of the Indicative.

34

French Verbs.

\st

Conjugation.

The observation on the dipthong oi, though it applies

equally to every conjugation, had better be learned in
this place.

Every verb in the French language makes the imperand conditional tenses of the indicative mood to end

fect

as follows:
1st person
2nd3rd-

^
Siugular

ois
ois
oit

ions
Plural

iez

oient

In these endings, the dipthong oi sounds ai, for which

reason Voltaire attempted to introduce the custom of
spelling the imperfect and conditional tenses with ai
instead of oi.
Many writers have adopted this system.
Lest the learner should be embarrassed when he meets,
in some modern author, with a verb spelled in this way,
he bad better copy out a few tenses spelled in that manner,

e.

g.

Imperfect

Teiisc.

me moqua/s,

elais,

demanda/s,
demandais,

eta it,

demaiidaii,

se moquerati,

etions,
etiez,

demandions,

demand iez,

nous uioquions
vous moquiez

tatent

demandazent,

se

avois,,

etais,

tu avats,
tu avais,

nous avions,
vous aviez,
ils avaienC

te raoqueais,

moqaient

Conditional Tense.
j'

auxais,

tu aura^s,
il

aurdf'f

nous aurions,
vous aurif z,
ils

auroieat,

svxais,
serais,
serait,
serious,

deraanderni*,

me maquerftts,

demandernts,

seriez,

demandericz,
deraanderaient.

moqueroit
moqueroit
nous moquerions
vous moqueriez,
se nioquerotent

seraient,

deraanderni/,
demanderioiis,

te
se

End of the First Conjugation, which contains 4304

verbs ending in er.

35

EXEMPLAR OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION.

Containing the 407 Verbs, ending in

ir.

Termination of the Infinitive Mood, ir.

Termination of the Present Participle, issanl.
Termination of the Past Participle, /.

DIVERTIR, TO DIVERT.
PARTICIPLES.
Present Tense,

Past Tense,

Compound of

the Past,

divertissant,
diverti,
diverti,

ayant

diverting
diverted
having- diverted

INFINITIVE Moot).
Present Tense,
Past Tense,

divertir,

avoir diverti,

to divert
to liave diverted

It will be unnecessary to swell these pages with the

English of each verb at full length, as the learner can
easily make the same change for each tense in the verb
to divert, as he had already done in the verb to ask.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je divertis
tu divertis
il

nous divertissions
vous divertissez

divertit.

ils

divertissent

Impetfect Tense.
je divertissois
tu divertissois
il

divertissions
Incus
vous divertissiez

divertissoit

ils

Perfect or
je divertis
tu divertis
il

divertit

Past

divertissoient

Tetise.

nous dlverttniM
vous divertites
ils

divertireut

Future Tense.
je diTcrtirai
tu diverti ras
il

divertir*

nous divertirons
vous divertirez
ils

divertiront

36

French Verbs.

2nd Conjugation.

Conditional Tense.
je divertirois
til
il

nous divertirions
vous divertiriez

(livtrtiiois

divertiroit

ils

divertiroient

Coynpound Tenses.

Of the
Of the
Of the
Of the
Of the

Present,
Imperfect,
Past,

j' ai diverti
j' avois diverti

eus diverti

j'

Future,

aiirai diverti

.i'

Conditional,

j'

aurois diverti

IMPEIfATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
divertis
divertisse

fill' il

divertissons
divertissez

quilsdivertissent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
fjiie

je divertisse

que nous divertissions

que vous divertissiez

divertisses
divertisse

<|iie til

i|ir

il

qu'

ils

divertissent

Perfect or Past Tense.

f|ue je divertisse
(|iie

t|ir

que nous divertissions

que vous divertissiez

tu divertisses
il

divertit

qu'

Compound

ils

divertissent

Tenses.

Of the Present,
Of the Perfect,

que j' aie diverti

que j' eusse diverti

When

the learner has written and recited divertir till

quite perfect in it, let him conjugate^w/r, to finish,
punir, to punish, ejnbellir, to embellish, and nourrir, to

he

is

nourish
je
je
je
je

e.

g.

divertis,

finis,

divertissois,
diverti rai

finissois,

divertisse
divertissant,
diverti,

finirai,
finisse,

finissant,
fini.

pimis,
punissois,

punirai,
punisse,
punissant.
puni,

erabellis,

embellissois,
erabellirai,
erabellisse.

embellissant,
embelli,

nourris
nourrissois
nourrirai
uourisse
nourrissant
iiourri

37

EXCEPTIONS OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION.

There are twenty-three irregular verbs in ir, with their
compounds, which are conjugated differently from divertir.
That the learner may fix these exceptions easily
in the memory, I have divided them into four classes,
according to their endings.
6 Verbs ending in tir,
4
frir and
2
enir,
11
ir,

They are

as follows

and 12 compounds.
6 compounds.
28 compounds.
25 compounds.

vrir,

and 71 compounds.

23 simple verbs,

FIRST CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

Six Verbs in

tir,

and twelve Compounds.

The

six verbs in tir, which depart

rule of issant, i, in the participles, are

Present Participles.

from the general

Past Participles.

mentant,

menti,

3 se repentir,

l>artant,
se repentant,

parti,
repenti,

4 sentir.
5 sortir,

sentant.
sortant.

senti.

inentir,

2 partir,

sorti,

to
to
to
to
to

lie

set out
repent
feel, to

smell

go out

These five are declined alike, se repentir taking a

double pronoun as a reflected verb. These five verbs in
tir may be remembered as exceptions, by committing to
memory the following sentence: Je sens que vous vous
repentirez d'avoir menti quand vous serez sorti ct parti
d'ici en consequence.

6 vetir,

vctant,

vetu,

to dollie

38

French Verbs.

^d Conjugatimi.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present

je meuts, tu nients, il ment, nous

mentez, ils menteiit, je pars, je me re-

Tense,

mentons, vouse

pens, je sens, je sors.

Tense, je mentois, je partois, je

hnperfect

me

repen-

tois, je sentois, je sortois.

Perfect, or Past Tense, je mentis^ je partis, je

pentis, je sentis, je sortis.
.

Future Tense, je mentirai, je partirai, je

me

me

re-

repen-

tirai, je sentirai, je sortirai.

Conditional Tense, je mentirois, je partirois, je

repentirois, je sentirois, je sortirois.

me

Observe, that partir and sortir form tlieir compound

tenses with ^tre; as does se repentir, of course; mentir
and sentir take avoir; j'ai mentis, je suis parti, je raesuis
repenti, j' ai senti, je suis sorti.
INFINITIVE MOOD.
qu'

ment!',
pars,

il

mente, mentons,

parte,
repens-toiyse repente,

partons,

sens,

sentons,
sortons,

sente,
sorte,

sors,

mentez,
partez,

qu'ils mentent
]>artent

repentons nous, repentez vous,se rej)entent

sentent
sortent

sentez,
sortez,

SUBJUNCTIVE IMOOD.
Present Tense, que je mente, que je parte, que je
repente, que je sente, que je sorte.

me

Tense, que je mentisse, que je partisse, que

rcpentisse, qne je sentisse, que je sortisse.

Perfect
je

me

All compound verbs are, with very few exceptions,

declined in the same manner as their primitives; thus,
dementir follows mentir, consentir and pressentir follow
sentii

Observe, that rcpartir, to set out again, and dcpnrtir,

to depart, are declined like partir; put report ir and
dcpartir, to divide,

are regular, and

make

repartissant,

departissant.
to go out again, follows sortir ; but
be under the jurisdiction of, and belong to,
regular, and makes ressortissant, ressorti.

Also, rcssortir,
ressortir, to
is

39

VETIR, TO CLOTHE.
Vetant, clothing, vetu, vetue, clothed.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present, je v^ts, tu vets,
tez, ils vetent.

il

v6t, uous vutons, vous, ve-

Imperfect, je vetois, tu vetois, &c.

Perfect or Past, je vetis, tu vetis,

times, vous vetites, ils vetirent.
Future, je vetirai.

il

vetit,

nous v6-

Conditional, je vetirois.

Compound Tenses,]'

vetu, j'avois vetu, j'eus v^tu,

ai

j'aurai vetu, j'aurois vetu.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
V^ts, qu'il vete, vC'tons, vetez, qu'ils vetent.

SIBJUKCTIVE MOOD.
Present, que je vete, que tu vetes, &c.

Perfect or Past, que je vetisse, que tu vetisses, qu'il

vt'tit,

que nous vCtissions, &c.

Compound Tenses, que j'aie

There are

five

vetu, que j'eusse Vetu.

Verbs compounded from

vctir:

Ddvetir, to divest, to strip, to undress.

Reietir, to dress

in

hence, to invest with an

robes of office or dignity, and

office or dignity.

Survetir, a vestry term, to put on a surplice or robe

over the dress.

These three are declined

like vetir.

Investir, to invest,

Travestir, to burlesque, to disguise, to travesty,

are regular verbs, and make their Participles in issant,
this by the words, a font invested toith a
i ; remember
di~fnit;i is regularly travestied.

40

SECOND CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

Four Verbs infrir and

vrir,

and

compounds.

six

There are eleven French Verbs ending mfrir, and vrir,

ten of which form the second class of exceptions to
Verbs in ir: the eleventh Verb is regular.
These ten are
couvrir, to cover, with

two compounds,

dccoucrir, recoii-

vrir :
offrir, to offer, with two compounds, mesojfrir, roffrir
ouvrir, to open, with two compounds, entroiivrir, ruuvrir :
souffrir, to suffer: which are all declined alike, in the

following manner

Ouvrir, to open; ouvrant, opening

ouvert, opened.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Presetif, j'ouvre,

vous ouvrez,

ils

tu ouvres,
ouvrent.

il

ouvre, nous ouvrons,

Imperfect, j'ouvrois, tu ouvrois, &c.

Perfect or Past, j'ouvris, tu ouvris, &c.

Future, j'ouvrirai.

Conditional, j'ouvrirois.

Compound

Tenses, j'ai ouvert j'avois ouvert, j'eus

ouvert, j'aurai ouvert, j'aurois ouvert

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Ouvre,

qu'il

ouvre, ouvrons, ouvrez, qu'ils ouvrent.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present, que j'ouvre, que tu ouvres, &c.
Perfect, que

j'

ouvrisse, que tu ouvrisses, qu'il ouvrit,

&c.

Compound Tenses, que

j'aie

ouvert, que j'eusse ouvert.

In the passive voice, the Past Participle takes an e in

the feminine, as usual. La fenetre est ouverte, les fenetres
sont ouvertes.

French Verbs.

2rf

41

Conjugation.

The eleventh Verb, which most of the grammarians

have omitted to notice, appaturir, to impoverish, is
regular, like divcrtir, and makes appauvrissant, impoverishing, appauvri, impoverished.

THIRD CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

Two

Verbs in

and twenty-eight compounds.

enir,

There are three French Verbs ending

their compounds, viz.

in e?ur,

with

Benir, to bless, which, with its compound, rebenir,

regular, and makes bcnissant, beni.
Xote.

must

say,

is

Speaking of consecrated bread and water, we

du pain benit, de I'eau benite.
the third class of excep-

The two Verbs which form

tions to Verbs in 2r,are

words of very extensive

come, with eighteen compounds

to hold, with ten compounds;

venir, to
tenir,

use, viz.
:

both declined alike, venir, with etre, and tenir, with

avoir.
A'cHir, to

come;

Tenir, to hold

vetiant, comiiif;; venu,/em. veiiiic, come.

tenant, holding tenu,/effi. tenue, held.
;

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je viens
tu viens
il vient

je tii'us
tu tiens
il

tient

nous venons
vous vencz
ils viennent

nous tenons
vous tenez
ils

tiennent

Imperfect Tense.
je venois
tu venous
il

TL-noit

je tenois
tu tenois
il

tenoit

nous venions
vous veniez
ils

venoient

nous tcnions
vous teniez
ils

tenoient

Perfect or Past Tense.

jc Tins
tu viu
il

Tint

tins
tu tins

nous vmmes
vous vintes

il liiil

ils

ji;

vinrcnt

nous tinmes
vous tintes
ils

tinrtuf

42

French Verbs

Conjugation.

26?

Future Tense.
tu viendras
il

nous viendrons
vovs vienrtrez

je tiendrai
tu tiendras

je viendrai

viendra

il

tiendi-a

ils

vieudi'ont

uous tiendrous
vous tiendrez
ils

tieudront

Conditional Tense.
jeviendrois
tu viendrois
il viendroit

nous viendrions nous tiendrions

vous tiendrions
vous vieudriez

jetiendrois
tu tieudrois
il

tieudroit

ils

vieudioient

ils

tiendroient

Compound Tenses.

je suis

Of

the Present

Of
Of
Of
Of

the Imperfect

venu, tu es venu, il est venu, elle eat

venue, aous sonimes venus, vous etes venus, ils sont venus, elles sont
venues: j'ai tenu, tu as tenu, il a tenu, elle a tenu, nous avous tenu,
vousavez tenu, ils ont tenu, elles ont tenu.

etois venu, j'avois tenu.

je fus venu, j'eus tenu.
Future je serai venu, aural tenu.
j'

Perfect

the

the

j'

the Conditionalje

.serois

venu,

j'

aurois tenu.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
viens

qu'

qu'

il

ils

tiens

Vienna
venons
venez
viennent

qn'

qu'

il

ils

tienne
tenons
tenez
tiennent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
quejevieune
que tu viennes
qu'

il

vienne

queje tienne
que tu tiennes

que nous veuions que uous tenions

que vous veniez que vous teniez

qu'Jl tienne

qu'

ils

viennent

qu'

ils

tiennent

Perfect or Past Tense.

queje vinsse
que tu vinsses
qu'

il

vint

queje
que tu

que nous vins- que nous tinssions

qu'

que vous vins- que vous

il

tinsse
tinsses
tint

sions
tinssiez

siez

qu'

Compound Tenses
ttnu, que

j"

queje

eusse tenu.

sols

ils

vinssent qu'

ils

tinssent

venu, que je fusse venu, que

j' aie


43

FOURTH CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

Eleven Verbs in

ir,

and twenty-five compounds.

These eleven Verbs are

Present Participle.

Past Participle

bouillir.

bouillant,

bouilli,

courir.

courant,

couru,

cueiilir.

cueilbint,-

cueilli

ilormir,

dormant,

dormi

faillant

failli,

Jaitlir,

fair.
mourir,

fuyant,

fui,

mourant,

morl,
oni.

ouir.

querir.
sail/ir.

saillant,

servir,

servant,

to boil
to run
to gfather
to sleep
to fail
to fly
to die
to hear
to fetch
t" project

servi,

to serve

COURIR, CUEILLIR, FUIR, MOURIR.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
Je coHrs
u cours
tl court
laous courons
vous courez
ils courent

cueille
cueilles
cueille

fiiis

meurs
meurs

fuit

nieurt

cueillons
cueille/
cueilleut

fuyons
fuient

mourons
mourez
meurent

je courois

cueiUois

fuis

fiiyez

Imperfect Tense.
fuyois

uiourois, &c.

Perfect or Past Tense.

je courus
tu courus

courut
nous courflmes
vous courfites
ils courureut
il

cueillis
cueitlis
cueillit

cueillimes
cueillites
cueillircut

mourus
mourus
mourut
mourumcs

fuis
fuis
fuit
fuiines
fuites

mourutis

fuirent

niiiurureut

Future Tense.
cucillcrai

fuirui

mourrai, &c.

44

French Verbs.

Conjugation.

2(1

Conditional Tense,
je courrois

Compound Tensesj'
elle est

ai

mourrois, &c.

fuirois

cueillerois

couru,

j' ai cueilli, j' ai fui,

je suismort,

morte, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
cours
qu'il coure
courons
courez
qu'ilscourent

cueille
cueille

fuis

ciieillons

fuyons
fuyez

meurs
meurt
mourons

fuie

cueillez
cueillent

mourevs

meurent

fuient

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
qucje coure

cueille

que je courusse

cueillisse

meure, &c.

fuie

Perfect or Past Tense.

Compound Tenses

mourusse, &c.

fuisse

quej' aie couru, que

cueilli, quej' eusse cueilli, quej' aie

mort, que je fosse mort, &c.

fui,

j'

que j'aie
que je sola

eusse couru,

quej'eusse

fui,

is used actively in one phrase onlj', viz. boulldu lait a quelqu'im, to make much of one, to do any
one a pleasure; also, in an unfavourable sense, to treat
We do not say bouillir de I'eau,
like a child, to mock.
to boil water, but faire bouillir de I'eau; fair bouillir a
demi, to parboil. As a Neuter Verb, it is used in the
third person only ; I'eau bout, les choux bouillent,

Bouillir

lir

bouillir, bouillant.

bouilli, je

nous bouillons, je bouillois, je

bouillirois,

bous,

tu bous,

il

bout,

bouillis, je bouillirai, je

bous, qu'il bouille, que je bouille, que je

bouillisse.

their compounds, are declined

except asservir, which is regular, and makes
asservissant.
Ouir, to hear, is used only in the infinitive: ouir, in the perfect; j'ouis, I heard, il ouit, he
heard, in the perfect of the subjunctive; que j'ouisse,
that I might hear; and in the compound tenses, j'ai
oui, j'ayoit oui, j'eus oui, &c.

Dormir, and sernr, with

like sentir,

French Verbs.
Faillir

is

on\y. Perfect

vous

Conjugation.

45

used iu the perfect and compound tenses

^je faillis, tu t'aillis, il faillit, nous failliraes,

faillites,

ils faillirent, j' ai failli,

j'avois

j'eus

failli,

&c.

failli,

Querir

men

2d

used in the infinitive only ; aller me queriigo and fetch my valet. Acqucrir, requerir,

is

valet,

&c. are declined thus

Acqucrir. to acquire; acquerant, acquiring; acquis,

acquired.

^j'acquiers, tu acquiers, acquiert,

Imperacquierent.

'acquis. &c. Future

Conditional^j'acquerrois, &o.
j'acquerrai,
Imperative acquiers, qu'
acquiere, &c.
Subjunctive,
Present que j'acquiere, &c. Perfect que j'acquissc.
Compound Tenses with avoir que j'aie acquis, &c.
Indicative, Present

il

nous acquerons, vous acquerez,

Perfect
fect ^j'acquerois, &c.

ils
j

(Sue.

ii

Saillir, to project, to jut out, is used in the third person only; cette corniche saille trop, that cornice is too
prominent. Tressaillir, to start, and assaillir, to assail,

are declined thus;

Tressaillir, tressaillant, tressailli.

Indicative,

Present

je

tressaille,

&c. Perfect ^je

tressaillirai, &c.
Conditional

tressaillois,

Subjunctive Present

que je

tressaillisse,

que

&c.

tressaillis,

je

je

Imperfect
&c. Future

trcssaillirois,

tressaille,

The Compound

&c.

&c.

je

^je

&c. Perfect
Tenses, with

avoir.

Note.
assaillir

Tressaillir has no imperative.

Imperative of
assaille, qu'il assaille, &c.
Some grammari-

ans think that the future and conditional

j'assaillerai,

je

tressaillerai,

may

j'assailkrais,

be spelled,

je

tressail-

krois.

Observations on Ferir, Fleurir, Gerir, Hair, and

coup

ferir,

Issir.

used in one phrase only, viz. sans

without striking a blow, without any risk.

Ferir, to strike,

Fleurir, in its

is

common

put forth flowers,

Jleuri: but when it

is

is

blossom, to
and makes JleurissanI

signification of to

regular,

used figuratively,

o 4

it is

irregular in

46

French Verbs.

2cJ

Conjugation.

the present participle, and tbe imperfectof the indicative,

which are then Jlorissant, je Jorissois. Thus we say,
une cinnee
vn empire Jiorissant a prosperous empire
,

army

beaux arts Jiorissoient

alors, the fine arts were successfully cultivated at that
period

Jlorissante, a flourishing

les

is used but in a few phrases

ci git, here
a common form of commencing an epitaph: ci git
ma feymne, here lies my wife. The French sometimes
use il git, nous ^isoits, ils gisent, il gisoit, ils gisoient,

Gesir, to lie,

lies, is

gisant.

Hair, to hate, is regular, and makes, ka'issant, Ita'i.

Only, observe, that the three /singular persons of the
]>resent indicative are pronounced in one syllable, je
hais, tu hais, il bait; as is the second person singular of
the imperative, hais. Every other pf;rt is regular, and
takes the diaeresis("j over the the letter i, which separates
it from the a, and shews that it is to be pronounced ha-ir,
ha-issant, ha-issois, ha-irai, &c.
Issir, to issue

from, to be descended from,

in the participles,

is

used only

viz. issu, y(;?/?'we issue; as, les rois

il est issu,\.\\e. kings from whom he is descended.

present participle, issant, is used as a term of
heraldry, and sgnifics rising out, naissant.

dont

The

End

of the Second Conjugation, which

407 verbs

in

ir.

contains the

47

EXEMPLAR OF THE THIRD CONJUGATION.

There are. 43 French verbs ending in oir, without
reckoning avoir, which has been given in its place as an
auxiliary.
Of these 43 verbs, 7 only are regular, viz.
Present Participle.

Past Participle.

pPPercevant, apper?u,*

appercevoir,
concevoir,
decevoir,
devoir,
perceioir,

concevant

lon^u,

decevant,
devant,
percevant,

di'(;u,

dii,

pcr^u,

to perceive
to conceive
to deceive
to owe
to collect dues

and taxes
recevant,
redevaut,

recevoir,

redevoir.

re9u
redu,

to receive
to owe, still to
remain in debt

These seven may be fixed in the memory by the followA man collected ta.xes (^/jercero/;) in our
ing sentence:
street vesterday, and received frececoirj whatever duties
he was an impostor; conceive Tco^fceI owed (^f/eco/r^
voirj my vexation, when I perceived (^s' appercevoirj
that I was deceived f decevoir J, f and that 1 still remained in debt f redevoir.

These seven verbs are declined thus

Termination of the Infinitive Mood, oir.
Termination of the Present Participle, evant.
Termination of the Past Participle, u.

RECEVOIR, TO RECEIVE.

DEVOIR, TO OWE.

P.\RTICIPLES.

Present Tense,

rerevant,
devant,

owing

Past Tense,

Te9U

received

owed

/ifl,

Compciundof the Past Tense, ayant

ayant

receiving

ro^n,
dfi,

liaving received
liaving owed

The c takes the cedilla to preserve the soft sound of the ce in

cevoir. Pronounce sppersu, consii, deiru, Jto.
t lusttad of di'ccvoir, theFremli now gvueially use romper.
t

48

French Verbs.

3<i

Conjugation.

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,

to receive

recevoir,
devoir,
avoir reju,

Past Tense,

to
to
to

avoir du,

owe
have received
have ov?ed

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
nous recevons
vous recevez

e recois
tu rejois
il re5oit

je (lois
tu dois

je recevois
tu recevois

je devois
tu devois
il devoit

il

doit

ils

rejoivent

nous devons
vous devez
ils

doivent

Imperfect Tense.

il

recevoit

nous recevions
vous receviez
ils

recevoient

nous devions
vous deviez
ils devoiont

Perfect or Past Tense.

je refus*
tu regus
il

nous resumes
vous refutes

je dus
tu dus

regut

il

dut

ils

re(;urent

nous dumes
vous dutes
ils durent

Future Tense.
je recevrai
tu recevras
il

nous recevrons
vous recevrez

je devrai
tu devras
il devroit

rerevroit

ils

reoevront

nous devrons
vous devrez
ils

devront

Conditional Tense.
nous recevrions
vous recevriez

je devrois
tu devrois
il devroit

recevrois
tu recevrois
il recevroit

,ie

ils

Compound
Of
Of
Of
Of
Of

tke Present,
tlie

Conditional,

nous devnons
vous devriez
ils

devroient

Tenses.

j'ai regu,
j'avois regu,
j' eus regu,
j' aurai regu,
j' aurois regu,

Imperfect,

the Perfect,
the Future,
tlie

recevroient

j' ai

du

J'avois du
J' eus du
j' aurai du
j' aurois du

IMPERATIVE MOOD,
dois

rejois

qu'

il

resolve

fju' il

doire
qu'

'Remember

ils

recevons
recevez
regoivent

that, thouerh before w, the c keeps the soft

Pronounce, resus, resut, resumes, resutes, resurent.

devons
devez
doivent

sound of

#.

French Verbs.

3d Conjugation.

49

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que tu re9oivcs

que je doive
que tu doives

qu'

qu'

que je re^oive
il

resolve

il

que nous

rece-

que nous devious

vions

que vous rcce-

doive

que vous deviez

viez
qu" ils re5oivent qu'

doivent

ils

Perfect or Past Tense.

queje re^nsse,
que tu re^usses
qu'

il

reyut

queje dusse
que tu dusses
qu'

il

que nous recus. que nous dussions

sious

que vous recus- que vous dussiez

dut

siez

qu'

Compound
Of the Present
Of the Perfect,

ils

re^ussent qu'

ils

dussent

Tenses.

que j' ale re^u,

que j' eusse reru,

que j' aie du

que j eusse du
'

Jppnroir, to he evulentYn law termj, is used only in

the indnitive, and third person singular of the indicative
il

appert par uu

tel acte, it

appears by such an act, &c.

Choir, to fall, chu, fallen.

Udchoir, to decay, dechu, decayed.

Echoir, to expire, to lapse, echu, expired.
Rechoir, to relapse, rechu, relapsed.
Chaloir, to care for.

Comparoir, to appear in a court of justice.

to condole with

Se condouloir,

Douloir, to grieve.

Ramentevoir, to speak of again,

Souloir, to be

wont, to use.

Mouvoir, to move, mu.

Emouvoir, to stir up, to move, emu.
Demouvoir, to make a person desist.
Promouvoir, to promote.

These

fifteen

infinitive,

verbs are very rarely used except in the

and the past participles, given above.

50

EXCEPTIONS OF THE THIRD CONJUGATION.

S'

DOWN.

ASSEOIR, TO SIT

S* asseyant, sitting

down,

assis, assise.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je m' assieds
tu

t'

il s'

nous nous asseyons

vous vous asseyez

assieds
assied

asseyent

ils s'

Imperfect Tense.

nous nous asseyions

vous vous asseyiez

asseyois
j
jet' asseyois
il s' asseyoit

ils

s'

asseyoient

Perfect or Past Tense.

nous nous assimes
vous vous aesites

je to' assis
tu t' assis
assit

il s'

ils s'

assirent

Future TenseJe

m'

tu

t'

il s'

assierai , or
assieras, or
assiera, or

nous nous assierons, or nous nous

il s'

vous vous assierez, or vous vous

e m' assey erai

tu t' asseyeras
asseyera

asseyerons
asseyerez
ils

s'assieront,

or asseyeront

Conditional Tense.
je m' assierois, or je m' assey erois
tu t' assierois. or tu t' assayerois
il s' assieroit, or tu s' asseyeroit

nous nous assierions, or nous nous

asseyerions

vous vous

assieriez,

or vous vous

assay eriez
ils

s'

assieroient,

or

ils

s'asseye-

roient

Compound Tensesje me
assis,

je

me

serai assis,

je

suis assis,

jem'

etois assis, je

me

me serois assis.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
assieds toi,

qu'

il

s'

asseye

asseyons nous
asseyez vons
qu' lis s' asseyent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
que je m' asseye
que tu t' asseyes
qu"

il s'

asseye

que nous nous asseyions

que vous vous asseyiez
qu'

ils b'

asseyent

fus


French Verbs.

3rf

51

Conjugation.

Perfect or Past Tense.

que.) em' assisse
que tu f assisses
qu' il s' assit

que nous nous

que vous vous
qu'

Compound Tenses

que je me

ils s'

sois assis,

assissions
assissiez
assissent

que je me

fussc assis.

down, is declined in tlie same manner

with a sinjrle pronoun; j'ai assis I'enfant sur une chaise,
I set the child upon a chair.
Asseoir, to set

settle, is used only in the infinitive and

tenses; le cafe est hien rassis, the coffee

Rasseoir, to

the
is

compound

quite settled.

Falloir to be necessary, is used only in the third person singular, as a verb impersonal, as follows

faut

it is

il

falloit

it

il

fallut

it

was necessary
was necessary

il

faudra,
faudroit,

it

will be necessary

it

would be necessary

il

that
that

qu'il faille,
qu'il fallut,
il
il

il

necessary

il

eut

a fallu,
avoit fallu,
fallii, il

aura fallu,

il

may be

it

necessary

might be necessary
it has been necessary
it had been necessary
auroit fallu, &c.
it

Phuioir, to rain, pleuvant, raining, plu, rained,

only in the third person singular,
il

it

rains

il

it
it

was raining
rained

it

will rain

it

would rain

pleut,
pleuvoit,
il pint,
il pleuvra,
il pleuvroit,
il a plu,
and the rest of the
qu'il pleuve,
qu'il pliit,

is

used

has rained
compound tenses, with avoir.
it

that
that

it

m ay rain

it

might rain

Racotr, to get again, to have again, is used only in

the infinitive ; ravoir mes biens, to have my property
again.


52

French Verbs,

Pouvoir, to be able

know

and

pouvoir,
pouvant,
P".
avoir pu,
ayant pu,

3rf

Conjugation.

pourvoir, to provide ; savoir, to

thus declined
; are

sursenir, to supersede
pourvoir.

pourvoyant.
pourvu",
avoir pourvu.

ayant pourvu,

savoir,
saehaiit,
su,
avoir su,
ayant su,

surseoir

sursoyant
sursis

avoir sursis

ayant sursis

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je puis,*
tu peux;
il pent.

pourvois,
pourvois,
pourvoit,

sais,

nous jiouvons,
vous pouvez,
ils peuvent

pourvoyons,
pourvoyez,
pourvofent,

savous,
savez,
savent,

sais,
sait.

sursois
sursois
sursoit

sursoyons.
sursoyez
sursoient

Imperfect Tense.
je pouvois.
tu pouvois,
il pouvoit,
nous pouvions.
vous pouviez.
ils pouvoient,

pouvoyois,
pouvoyois
pourvoyoit,
pourroyions
pourvoyiez,
pourvoyoient.

savois,
savois,
savoit,
savions,
saviez,

savoient,

sursoyois
sursoyois
sursoyoit*'

sursoyoions
sursoyoiez
sursoyoient

Perfect or Past Tense.

je pus,
tu pus,
il

put,

nous
vous
ils

pilraes,
piitcs,

parent,

pourvus.
pourvus.
pourvut.
pourvuraes,
pourvutes.
pourvurent,
.

sus,
sus.
sut,

sumes,

Bursis
sursis
sursit,

sursimes

sdtes.

sursites

surent,

sursirent

Future Tense.

jepourrai,
pourvoirai,
pourvoiras.
tu pourras,
pourvoira,
il pourra.
nous pourrons, pourvoirons,
pourvoirez.
vous pourrez,
pourvoiront,
ils pourrout,

saurai,
sauras.
saura.
saurons.
saurez.

sauront,

surseoirai,

surseoira*
surseoira
surseoirons
surseoircz
surseoiront

Conditional Tense.
pouvoirois,
saurois,
surseoirois, &c.
je pourrois,
with the regular terminations of every conditional.

Or je peux.


French Verbs.

3d Conjugation.

53

Compoufid Tenses.
liave been aV>le; j'ai pourvu, I have provided; j'ai su, 1
known; j'ai siirsis, 1 have superseded ; and the other tenses
avoir, in the usual manner-

pu,

j'ai

have
with

IMPERATIVE IMOOD.
pouvoir has
pourvois,
j
no impera- \. qu'il pourvoie,
live

mood. J

sache,

pourvoyons
pourvoyez,
qu'ilspourvoient,

saclie,

sursois
sursoie

sachons,
sachez,
sachent,

sursoient

sursoyons
sursoyez

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que je puisse,
que tu puisses,

pourvoie.
pourvoies

qu'

pourvoie
pourvoyions.
pourvoyiez,
pounoient.

puisse,
ciue nous puissions.
que vous puissiez.
qu' ils puisseut,
il

sache.
saches.
sache,
sachions,
sachiez,
sachent.

sursoie
sursoies
sursoie

sursoyions
sursoyiez
sursoient

Perfect or Past Tense.

quejepusse.
que tu pusses,
qu'

put,
que nous pusslons,
que vous pussiez,
qu' ils pussent,
il

pourvusse.
pourvusses,
pourvut.
pourvussions
pourvoyiez,
pourvussent

Compound Tenses
Seoir, to

person,

is

que

become,

j'ai pu,

to

susse,
susses.
sut,
sussions,
sussiez,

jursisse,
sursisses

sursit
sursissions
sursissiez
sursisseut.

sussent,

pourvu, su,

suit, to

sit

sursis,

&c.

becomingly upon a

used only in the following person.

becoming. Plural, ils sicent.

il seyoit, it was becoming.
PL, ils seyoient.
il siera, it will be becoming.
PL, ils sieront.
il sieroit, it
would be becoming. PL, ils sieroient.
qu'il siee, that it may be becoming.
il

sied,

it

is

This verb has no compound tenses.

Valoir, to be worth; voir, to sec
willing, are thus declined:

and vouloir,

valoir.

voir.

vouloir

valant,
valu.
avoir valu,
avaut vahi,

voyant,
vu,
avoir vu.

voul u
avoir voulu

ayant vu

iyant voulu

voulant

to

be

54

French Verbs,

3(/ Conju!>-ation.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je vaux,

vois,
vois,
voit,

veux
veux

il

voyons,
voyez,

voulons

vous valez,

tu vaux,
vaut,
nuus valons,
valent,

ils

veut,

voulez,
veulent

voient,

Imperfect
je valois,
tu valois,

voyois,
voyois,
voyoit,
voyions,
voyiez,

valoit,
nous valions,
vous valiez,

il

ils

voulois
voulois
vouloit
voulions
vouliez
vouloient

voyoient

valoient

Perfect or Pai
je valus,
tu valus,
valut,
nous vairimes,

vit.

il

vous
ils

voulu.s
voiilus
vottlut

vis,
vis,

voulOmes

vimes,

voulutes
voulurent

vites,

valfltes,

valurent,

virent.

Future Tense,
verrai,
je vaudrai,
witli the regTilar terminations of every future.

voudrai, &c.

Conditional Tense.
verrois,
je vaudrois,
with the regular terminations of every conditional.

Compound Tenses

J' ai

vaUi,j'ai vu,j'

ai

voudrois,

voulu,&c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
vaux.
qu'

vaille

il

valons.
valez.

qu'

ils

vaillent,

VOIS,
voie.

voyons.
voyez,
voient

the only
sou u
veuillez

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que je
que tu
qu'

il

vaille.
vailles,

vaille,

que nous
que vous
qu"

ils

valions,
valiez.
vaillent,

voie,
voies.
voie.

veuille
veuille
veuille

voyions,
voyiez.
voient,

veuillent

vouhons
vouliez

&c

French Verbs.

3d Conjugation.

55

Perfect or Past Tense.

que je valiisse,
que tu valusses,

visses,

voulusse
voulusses

qu'

vit,

vouliit

vissions,
vissiez
vissent,

voulussions
voulussiez
voulussent

il

visse,

valflt,

que nous valussions,

que vous valussiez,
qu'

ils

ralusseut

Compound Tensesquej'

aievalu, que

j'

aievu, quej' aie voulu,

&c.

The compounds of valoir follow the primitive verb,

except that prevaloir makes prevale, and not prevaille,
in the present subjunctive.
The compounds of voir follow the simple verb, except pourvoir, which has been already given, and preioir, which follows pourvoir, and
makes prevoirai, prevoirois, in the future and conditional,
and not preverrui, preierrois.
The

auxiliary verb, avoir, has been already learned in

place remember, that when avoir is preceded by the
adverb y, t/iere, it takes the meaning of etre, and becomes a verb impersonal, as
its

there
II y a, there is ; y a-t-il ? is there ; il y avoit,
was; y avoit-il? was there ? il y eut, there was; y eutwas there ? il y aura, there will be ; il y auroit,
il ?
there would be qu' il y ait, that there may be ; qu' il y
eut, that there might be.
:

End

of

43 verbs in

Third
oir.

Conjugation,

which

contains

the

56

EXEMPLAR OF THE FOURTH CONJUGATION.

Containing 102 Verbs, ending in

dre.

Termination of tbe Infinitive Mood, dre.

Termination of the Present Participle, dant.

Termination of the Past Participle, du.

VENDRE, TO SELL.
PARTICIPLES.
Present Tense,

Past Tense,

Compound of

the Past,

vendant,
vendu,
ayant vendu,

selling
sold

having sold

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
Past Tense,

vendre,
avoir vendu

to sell
to have sold

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je vends
tu vends
il

vend

nous vendons
vous vendez
lis vendent

Imperfect Tense.
je vendois, with the regular terminations of the imperfect.

Perfect or Past Tense.

je Tendis
tu vendis
jl vendit

nous vendimes
vous vendites
ils vendirent

Future Tense.
je vcndrai, with the regular terminations.

Conditional Tense.
je vendrois, with the regular terminations.

French Verbs.

Ath Conjugation.

Compound

57

Tenses.

Of the Present,
Of the Imperfect,
Of the Perfect,
Of the Future,
Of the Conditional,

veudii
avois vendu
eus vendu
aurai veudu
aurois vendu

j' ai
j'
j'

y
j'

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
qu'

il

vends
vende

qu'

ils

vendons
vendez
vendent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que je vende,
que tu vendes,
qu'

il

que nous vendions

que vous vendiez
qu'

vende,

ils

vendent

Perfect or Past Tense.

que nous vendissions
que vous vendissiez

que je vendisse
que tu vendisses
qu'

il

qu'

vcndit

Compound Tenses

que

j'

aie vendu,

ils

vendissent

que j' eusse vendu.

EXCEPTIONS OF THE FOURTH CONJUGATION.

All verbs in dre are regular,

and make dant, du,

ia tbe

participles, except
2.

Those which end

Those which end

3.

Tbe verbs

1.

\a indre.

in nudre.

prendre, ardre, and sourdre.

FIRST CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

Verbs in

indre.

There are thirty-two verbs in aindre, eindre, and

dre, which are all declined alike, as follows

ohi-

craindre,

to fear

craip;uaiit,

fearinif

joindre,
joi^naut,

craint,
avoir craint
avant craint

feared

joint,

to

have feared

liaviuLT feared

avoir joint,
.lyaut joint,

to join
joining
joined

to have joined
havinjj joined

Ffench Verbs.

58

Mh Conjugation.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

il

noQs craignons
vous craignez

joius
joins
joint

je crains
tu crains
craint

craignent

ils

Imperfect

joignons
joignez
joignent

Tense.

je craignois, joignois, with the regular terminations of the imperfect.

Perfect or Past Tense,

il

nous craignimcs
vous craignites

joignis
joignis
joignit

je craignis
tu craignis
craignit

craiguirent

ils

joignimes
joignites
joignirent

Future Tense.
joindrai, &c.

je craindrai

Conditional Tense.
joindrois, &c.

je craindrois,

Compound Tenises~y

aicraint,j' ai joint,

j'

avois craint,

j'

avois

joint, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

qu'

il

joins
qu' il joigne

crains
craigne

qu'

ils

craignons
craignez
craignent qu'

joignons
.loignez
ils

joignent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que J e craigne
que tu craignes
qu'

il

craigne

.loignes

que nous craignions joignions

joigniez
que vous craigniez

joigne

qu'

joigne

ils

craignent

joiguent

Perfect or Past Tense.

que je craignisse
que tu craignisses
qu'

il

craignit

joignisse
joignisses
joignit

que nous craignis- joignission

sions

que vous

craignis-

joignissiez

siez

qu' ilscraignissent joignisseiit

Compound

Teiises

que

j'

aie craint,

que j' eusse craint, &c.

French Verbs.

4f/!

Conjugation.

.59

SECOND CLASS OF EXCEPTIONS.

\'erbs in oudre.

These are three verbs, aud their compounds,

viz.

Soudre, to solve, not declinable.

Coudre, to sew.

Moudre, to grind.
Soudre is now obsolete ; instead of it we must employ
resomlre: absoudre is declined ditferently from resoudre, and dissoudre is declined like absoudre.

Abhoudre,

to absolve

absolvant, absolving; absous,

absolved.

Resoudre, to dissolve, solve, and resolve ; resolvant,

resolving, &c.; resolu, resolved; aud sometimes resous,
resolved.
Co'JDKE, to sew; cousant, sewing; cousu, sewed.

Moudre,

to grind

moulant, grinding

moulu, ground.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

absous,
tu absous,

absoiit,
liuus absolvons,
il

vous absolvez,
lis

absolveut,

couds.
couds.
coud.
cousons.
cousez.
cousent.

resous,
resous.
resout.
resolvoBS,
resolvez.
resolvent,

mouds
niouds

moud
raoulons

moulez
moulent

Imperfect Tense.
j'

absolvois,

cousois,

resolvois,

moulois, &c.

Perfect or Past Tense.

Absoudre has no
perfect tense.

je resolus,
tu resolus,
il resolut,

nous
vous
ils

resoliinries,

resoliites,

resolureut,

e2

moulus
moulus

cousis,
cousis,
cousit,
cousinies,
cousites,

inoulut
luouluuie*
moulfltes

cousiront

moulurcnt

00

French Verbs.

Ath Conjugation.

Future Tense.

absoudrai,

resoudrai,

j'

absomlrois,

resoudrois,

The Compound

tenses are

coudrai,

moudrai, &c.

Conditional Tense.
coudrois,

formed with

nioudrois,

fscc.

avoir.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
absous.
absolve.
absolvous.
absolvez.
qu' Is absolvent,

qu'

'1

resous,

couds,

mouds

resolve,

couse.
cousous,
cousez.
consent,

moule

rtsolvons,
rcsolvez,
resolvent,

nioulous
nioulez
niouleut

SUBJDNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
quej' absolve,

resolve,

rouse.

moule, &c.

Perfect or Past Tense.

Absoudre
has no
perfect
tense.

que je resolusse,
que tu resolu.sses,
qu'

il

resolut,

que nous
que vous
qu'

Compound

lis

resolussions
resolussiez
resolussent,

cousisse,
cousisses,
cousit,

nioulu.sse
nioiilusses

consissions

moulussions
moulussiez

cousissiez,
cousissent,

mouliit

nioulussent

tenses with avoir.

THIRD

CL.\SS

The Verbs

OF EXCEFflONS.

prendre, urdre, nonrdre.

Ardre, to burn, is obsolete : but the French sometimes

say, la gorge m' arde, my thront burns; quelejeu Saint
Anloine les arde may Saint Anthony's fire burn them;
which is equivalent to our expression, " plague on 'em."
,

Soiirdre, to spring, to flow, to gush ont, is used only in

the infinitive and the third persons of the indicative; as,
sourd, it flows; ils sourdent, they flow.

il

Prendre, to take, with its compounds, apprendre,

comprendVe, &c. is of very great importance, and must
be learned quite perfectly.

French Verbs.
Prendre, to take

Ath Conjugation.

prenant,

pris,

taking

ayant

taken

pris,

61
;

avoir

pris.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je prends,
nous prenons,

tu prends,
vous prenez.

je prenois,
nous prenions,

tu prenois,
vous preniez,

prend
prenneut

il

ils

Imperfect Tense.
il

ils

prenoit
prenoient

Perfect or Past Tense.

je pris,
nous primes,

tu pris,

il

vous prites,

ils

je prendrai,
nous preudrons.

vous prendrez.

prit

prirent

Future Tense.
tu prendras,

il

ils

prendra
prendront

Conditional Tense.
tu prendrois,
vous preudriez,

je prendrois,
nous pretidrions

Compound

Tenses

j' ai pris, j'

avois pris,

il

ils

j'

prendroit
pendroieut

eus pris, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
prends,
prenez,

prenons,

qu' il prenne,
qu' ils prenneut

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
que tu prcnnes,
que vous preniez.

que je prenne,
que nous prenions,

qu'
qu'

ils

qu'
qu'

ils

il

prenne
prenneut

Perfect or Past Tense.

que tu prisses,
que vous prissiez.

que je prisse,
que nous prissons

Compound Tenses
is

que

Observe tbat,
doubled before

iies,

in

j'

aie pris,

que j' eusse

il

prit
prissent

pris.

prendre and its compounds, the n

not sounded, as prenne, pren-

e, ev, ent

prennent.

End

of the Fourth Conjugation, -wbich contains the

102 verbs in dre.
E 3

62

EXEMPLAR OF THE FIFTH CONJUGATION.

Containing the 13 verbs ending in

nitre.

Termination of the Infinitive Mood, oiire.

Termination of the Present Participle, oissnnt.
Termination of the Past Participle, u.

All

the verbs of this conjugation are declined alike,

in the following

manner.

Observe, that the dipthong oi is pronounced ai, in

every verb of this conjugation, except croitre, to grow,,
and its compounds.

CONNOITRE, TO KNOW.

PARTICIPLES.
Present

Teitse,

Pant Tense,
Compound of

the Past,

connoissant,

knowing

connu,
ayant connu,

having

known

known

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
Past Tense,

conuoitre,
avoir connu

to know
to have known

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je connois
tu connois,
il connoit

nous connoissons
vous connoissez
ils connoissent

Imperfect Tense.
je connoissois
tu connoissois
il connoissoit

nous connoissions
vous counoissiez
ils

connoissoient

Future Tenseje connus

tu connus
il

connut

nous connumes
vous eonnutes
ils connurent

French Verbs.

Mh Conjugation.

Go

Future Tense.
nous connoitrons

je counoitrai
tu counoitras
il conuoitra

vous couuoitrez
couiioitront

ilsj

Conditional Tense.
je counoitrois

nous connoifrions
vous fonnoitrif

tu connoitrois
il counoitroit

ils

Compound Tenses j'

ai

connu,

j'

conuoitroient

avois connu, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOO.
connoissous

counois

coniioissez

qu'

qu'

il

connoisse

ils

eonnoissent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que nous connoissioas
que vous connoissiez

que je connoisse
que tu conuoisses
qu'

il

qu'

uounoisse

ils

eonnoissent

Perfect or Past Tense.

que nous connussions
que vous conuussiez

que je connusse
que tu coiuiusses
qu'

il

lonnut

Compound Tenses

qu'

riuej'

aie

ils

counusseut

connu, que j eusse connu.

'

End of the Fifth Conjugation, which

13 verbs in oitre.

eA.

contains

the

64

EXEMPLAR OF THE SIXTH CONJUGATION.

Containing 26 Verbs, ending in

uire.

Termination of the Infinitive mood, uire.

Termination of the Present Participle, uisant.
Termination of the Past Participle, uit.

CONDUIRE, TO CONDUCT.
PAUTICIPLES.
conduisant,
conduit,

Present Tense,
Past Tense.

Compound of

Ihc Past,

ayant conduit,

conductin;?

couducted
having- conducted

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,

Past Tense,

conduire,
avoir conduit,

to conduct
to have conducted

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je conduis
tu conduis
il

conduit

nous conduisons
vous conduisei
ils conduiseul

Imperfect Tense.
je conduisois
tu conduisois
il conduisoit

nous conduisious
vous conduisiez
ils

conduisoieut

Perfect or Past Tense.

je conduisis
tu conduisis
il conduisit

nous conduisimes
vous conduisites
ils

conduisirent

Future Tense.
je conduirai
tu conduiras
il

conduira

nous conduirons
vous conduirez
ils conduiront

French Verhs.

^th Conjugation.

05

Conditional Tense.
jc conduirois
li\ oonduirois
il

Gonduiroit

nous conduirions
vous conduiriez
conduiroient

lis

Compound Tenses j'

nie conduit., j' avois couduis, Stc.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
conduise ns
conduisez
qu' ils conduiscnt

conduis
qu' il couduise

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que nous conduisions
que vous comluisiez

que je conduise
que tu conduises
qu'

il

conduise

qu'

ils

couduisent

Perfect or Past Tense.

que nous conduisissions
que vous conduisissiez

que je conduisisse
que tu conduisisses
qu'

il

qu'

couduisit

Compound Tenses
Observe, that
hurt, omit the

que

j' aie

at the

conduisissent
j'

eusse conduit.

and nuire to
end of the past participle, and

luire, to sliine,
t

ils

conduit, que

with

reluire,

make

Bruire is used in speaking of the

l/n, relui, nui.
roaring of the sea and wind. The French employ the
participle and the third persons of the imperfect tense
Only ; these arc, brin/nnt, briii/oit, brni/oient.

End

of the Sixth

2C verbs in

uire.

Conjugation,

which contains the

66

IRREGULAR VERBS OF VARIOUS TERMINATIONS, AMOUNTING TO 114.

The SIX preceding conjugations contain // the verbs

of the French Language, except about thirty irregular
verbs, which must of necessity be learned separately.
The compounds of these verbs make iqi the number 114 ;
but the simple verbs only need be learned, as the compounds are of course declined in the same manner. As
the irregularity falls only upon a few of the tenses, the
learner will not find much difficulty in acquiring these
verbs.

BATTRE,

BOIRE, to drink; OONCLURE,

CROIRE, to believe DIRE, to say.

to beat;

to conclude;

PARTICIPLES.
Present Tensebattant, ieatinp ; buvant, drinkini/

concluant,

concluding; croyant, believinc/ ; disuni, saying.

Past Tense battu, beaten; bu, dru7ik ; conclu, concluded;
cru, believed

dit, said.

Compound of

the

Pastayant battu,

bu, conclu, cru, dit.

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tensebattre,

to

beat; boire, to drink; conclure, to

C07iclude; croire, to believe; dire, to say.

Past Tense AVOW battu, bu, conclu, cru,

dit.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je bats,
tu bats,
11

bat,

nous battons,
vous battez,
ilsbattcnt,

buvons,
buvez,

ronclus,
conclus,
conclut.
concluons,
roncluez,

boivent,

conclueiit,

bois,
bois.
boit.

crois,
crois,
croit,

croyous,
croyez,
croyent,

dis
dis
dit

disons
ditea
disent

Irregular Verbs.

<37

Imperfect Tense.
jebattois,
liuvois,
couclnoi<!,
croyois,
with the iuvaiiuble ttrraiuations of the imperfect.

Sec.

(\isois,

Perfect or Past Tense.

je battis,
tu battis,
il

bus.
bus.
but.

battit,

nous battimes,
vous battites,
battirent,

ils

dis

ITU8,
crus,
<rat,

bCinies,

couclus,
conchis,
couchit.
conoliimes,

orrtiues.

dimes

butis,

ronch'ites,

trrttes.

burent.

foiiclurent,

crureut,

dites
dirent

(lis

dit

Future Tense.
je battrai,
croirai,
boirai,
conclurai,
with the invariable terminations of the future.

dirai,

&c.

Conditional Tense.
je battrois,
boirois,
concUirois,
croirois,
w itli the invariable terminations of the conditional.

Compound Tenses

j' ai

battu;

j' ai

bu,

j' ai

(lirois, 4tc.

conclu, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
il

conclue

boive,

batte.
battoiis,

battez,

conduons,

buvons,
buvez,

qu' ilsbattent.

crois,
croie.

roni'lus,

bois,

bat.s,

M"'

croyons,
croyez,

conrluez,
conchient,

boivent,

rroient,

dis

disc
disons
dites
disent

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que jc
que tu

qu'

ils

buvions,
buviez,
boivent,

Perfect.,

or

busse,
busses,
but.
batnssions,
bussions,
noun

il

battit,

que
que vous

battissiez,

bu-ssiez,

bussent.

cju' ils baltisscflt,

Compound Tense

croyiez,

conchient.

croieut,

diseut

coiulu'i'ons

que je battisse,
que tu battisses
qu'

ronchaez,

conchies,
conclue,

1)oive,

battent.

dise
dise
dise
disiong
disiea

conc'lue,

boive,
boi ves,

batte,
battes,
qu' il batte,
<|ue nous battions,
que vous battiez,

f)ue j' aic

croie,
croies,
croie,
oroyioiis,

Past Tense.
conclusse
couclusses,
conclut,
conclussioBS,
couclussiez,
conclussent,

and que

j'

disse

rruspe,
crusses,

di.sses

cn'it,

dit

crussions,
crussiez,
crussent,

disssions

dissiez
dis.'sent

eusse battu, bu, conclu,

cru, dit.

Battri:

li.'is

nine compounds abattrc, combattre,

the simple verb.

all tkcliie<} like

<S:c.

68

Irregular Verbs.

BoiRE has one compouad reboire.

CoNCLURE: exclnre, to exclude, is declined
:

like conIntrure, to intrude, and reclure to sliut up, are

used chiefly in the infinitive and compound tenses.
clure.

Obserye, that exclnre makes the past participle exclu,

or exclus, for the masculine, and exclue or excluse for
the feminine
intrure makes intrnse ; reclure makes re:

Hence a nun is called une recluse.

Croire has two compounds, accroire and decroire.
Accroirs is used only in the infinitive, with the word
clus, recluse.

faire before it,

croire means to

and requires particular attention.

Fuire
a person believe a thing that is
either true or false, as it may happen ; hwt faire accroire

make

means to make a person

believe that which

is false

to

impose. S' en faire accroire, means to be self-conceited,

to be arrogant.
Decroire, to disbelieve, is used only in
familiar conversation.

Dire has eight compounds, one of which, redire, to

say again, is declined exactly like the simple verb; but
the others make isez, instead of ites, in the second person plural of the present indicative and in the imperative
mood ; as vous contredisez, you contradict, and not
Tous contredites. Observe, that in maudire, to curse,
the s is doubled when it is followed by any other letters,
as maudissant, maudissois, &c.
Conjire, to pickle, is
declined like dire ; circoncire, to circumcise, and sufSre
to suffice, follow the same verb, except in the past ])articiple, circoncis, circumcised; feyn. cironcise, and suffi,
sufficed, without feminine.

ECRIRE.
read

to write;

FAIRE,

METTRE,

to put

to do, to
;

make: LIRE,

NAITRE,

to

to be born.

PARTICIPLES.

Present Tense ecrivant, writing; faisant, doing or making ;

I'lsant, reading ; raettiut, putting ; iia.issant, being born.
Past Tense ecrit, written; fait, done or made; lu, read;
mis, put; ne, born.

Compound of

the

Past

ayant

crit;

ayant

fait;

ayaut lu;

ayant misj etant' n6.

*

Naitre

is

flecliued

with etre

in the

compound

tenses.

Irreffular Verbs.

fiO

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tenseecrire, fo write; faire,
read; mettre, to piU; naitre, to be born.

Past Tense

avoir ecrit,

fait, lu,

ia

do or make;

lire,

to

mis, ctre ne.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

tfris,

tu ecris,
il

ecrit,

fais;

lis,

fais,

lis,

fait,

ht,

mets,
mets,
met,
mettons,

nais
nais
nait
naissons

nous ecrivons,
vous ecrivez,

faisons,

lisons,

faites,

lisez,

mettt'z,

tiaissez

ilsecrivent,

font

lisent,

metteut,

naissent

Imperjert Tense.
j'ecrivois,

faisois,

raettois,

lijois,

naissois, &c.

Perfect or Past Tense,

naquis

lut,

mis,
mis,
mit,

lumes,

mimes,

naquimes

Ifites,

mites
mirent,

naquites

j" ecrivis,

fis.

tu ecrivis,

fis,

lus,
lus.

ecrivit.

fit.

fimes,
files,

il

nous ecrivimes,
vous ecrivites,
lis

ecrivirent,

lurent,

fireut,

naqiiis

nuquit

naquirent

Future T,mse.
lirai,

ferai,

j' ecrirai,

mettrai.

naitrai, Sic.

with the invariable terminations of the future.

Conditional Tense.
j'ecrirois,

ferois,

lirois,

mettrois,

naitrois,

&c.

with the invariable terminations of the conditional.

Compound

ai ecrit,

lu,

fait,

Tenses.
mis,

je suis ne

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
qu'

qu"

il

ils

nais

ecris,

fais,

lis,

mets,

ecrive,
ecrivons,
ecrivez,

fasse,

lise,

niette,

naisse

faisons,

lisons,

faites,

li.sez,

mettons,
mettez,

nais.sez

ecrivent

fassent

li.cnt,

raettenl,

naissent

naissons

70

Irregular Verbs.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
que j' ecTive,
que tu ecrives,

fasse,

lise,

fisses,

lises,

qu'

fasse,

lise,

ecrive,
que nous ecrivions,
que vous ecriviez,
qu' ils ecrivent,
il

fassions,
fassiez,

lisions,

fasseiit,

lisent,

mette,
mettes,
mette,
mettions,
mettiez,
mettent,

lisiez,

naisse
naisses
naisse
naissions
naissiez
naissent

Perfect or Past Tense.

que j' ecrivisse,
que tu ecrivisses,

fisse,

fisses,

lusse,
lusses,

qu'

fit,

liit,

11

ecrivit,

que nous
que vous
qu'

ils

ecrivissions, fissions,
ecrivissiez, fissiez,
ecrlvissent,
fissent,

Compound Tenses
que je

sois,

que je

que

lussions,
lussiez,
lussent,

j' aie,

naquisse
naquisses

inisse,

misses,
misse,
missions,
missiez,

naquit
naquissions
naquissiez
uaquissent

missent.

quej' eusse

ecrit, fait, lu,

mis,

fusse ne.

EcRiRE, has eight compounds; faikk has eleven; all

declined like the primitive verbs.
Forfaire, to forfeit, is
used only in the infinitive and compound tenses.

Lire: relire, to read again; elire, to elect; re-elire,

to elect again, are declined like lire: prelire, to read
over previously, is used chiefly iu the infinitive.

Mettre, has twelve compounds,

all

declined like the

simple verb.

NaItre, has two compounds, declined

like the simple

verb.

PAITRE,

to graze;

REPAITRE

on a journey; PLAIRE,

ROMPRE,

to

to please;

bait,

or take food
to laugh;

RIRE,

to break.

PARTICIPLES.

paissant, ^roriH^

Present Tense
pleasing;

riant,

Past Tense
pleased;

t\,

pu,

repaissant,iaih';;(;

plaisant,

the

feminine) grazed; repu, baited;

Tompu, broken.

(no

laughed

Compound of

laughing; vom\nnt, breaking.

;

Past

ayant pu, repu, plu,

ri,

rorapu.

plu,

Irregular Verbs.

71

INFINITIVE MOOD.
Present Tense
please

rire, to

Past Tense

paitre,

lavgk

to

graze;

repaitre,

to bait; plaire, to

rompre, to break.

avoir pu, repu, plu,

ri,

rompu.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je pais,
tu pais,
pait,

il

nous paissons,
vous paissez,
ils

paissent,

repais,
repais,
repait,
repaissons,
repaissez,
repaissent,

plais,
plais,
plait,

ris,

plaisons,
plaisez.
plaisent,

rions,
riez,
rient,

ris.
rit,

romps
romps
rompt
rompons
rompi'Z
rompeiit

ImpeTfect Tense.
repaissois,
plaisois.
riois,,
je paissois,
..,
^
with the invariable teriniuations of the imperfect.
,

rorapois, &c.

Perject or Past Tense.

paitre has no
lierfftt:

in-

jerepus,
tu repus,

plus,
plus,

steadof it, the il reput,

plut,
French say
nous repiimes, pliimes,
jejis paitre, vous reputes, plutes,
ils

repurent,

plurent,

ris,
ris,

ronipis

romp is

rit.

rorapit

rimes.
rites.

rorapimes
rompites

rirent.

ronipirent

Future Tense.
jepaitrai,
repaitrai,
plairai,
rirai.
with the invariable terminations of the futur

romprai, &c.

Conditional Tense.
rirois,
plairois,
je paitrois,
repaitrai,
w ith the invariable terminations &f the conditional.

Compound Tensesj'

ai

pu, repu, plu,

romprois, &c.

Stc.

IMPERATIVE :M00D.
pai.<!,

qu'

il

paisse,
])aissons,

paissez
qu' lUpaissent,

repais,

repaisse,
repaissons,
repaissez.
repaissent.

plais.
plaise.

plaisons,
plaisez.
plaisent.

ris,

rie.

rions.
riez,
rient,

romps
ronipe

rompons
rompez
ronipent

Irregular Verbs.

72

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
fjueje paisse,
repaisse,
plaise,
rie,
rompe, &c.
with the invariable terminatidus of the present subjunctive

Perfect or Past Tense.

paitre has no
perfect subjuuctive: in
stead of it,

que je

fisse

paitre.

queje repusse,
que tu repasses,

risse,
risses,

rompisse
rompisses

qu'

rit,

rompit

rissions,
rissiez,

rorapissions

plusse,
plusses,
reput,
plut,
que nous repussions,plussions,
que vous repussiez, plussiez,
plussent,
qu' ils repussent,
il

Compound Tenses

que

j' aie,

que

rissent,

j' eusse,

rompissiez
rompissent

pu, repu, plu,

ri,

rompu.

Paitre: this verb has two compounds ; first, repaitre,

which I have given at full length, because it has tvvo
tenses which paitre has not, viz. perfect indicative and
perfect subjunctive.

which means

to

Second, forpaitre, a hunting term,

wander from the covert.

Plaire has two compounds, complaire and deplaire,

they both follow the simple verb. Taire, to conceal, is
declined like plaire: se taire, Io be silent, of course reIn familiar converquires etre in the compound tenses.
sation, it answers to the English, to hold one's tongue:
taisez-vous, hold your tongue.

RiRE has one compound, sourire, to smile,

follows the simple verb.

which

RoMi'RE has three compounds; corrompre, interromand derompre, which follow the simple verb. Derompre is a term of falconry, and expresses the act of a
pre,

falcon or hawk striking down its prey. Derompre is

also used by paper makers, to express the act of cuttingup rags derompre le chiffon, to cut up rags or linen.
:

Irregular Verbs.

SUWRE,

73

to follow; TRAIRE, to milk;

to conquer ; VIVRE, to lire.

VAINCRE,

PARTICIPLES.

Present Tense suivant, following ; trayant, milking; vain,

quant, conquering vivant, living.
Past Tense sui\\, followed trait, milked; vaincu, conquered;
;

virii, lived.

Compound of

Past

the

ayant suivi,

trait,

vaincu, vecu.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

Present Tense suivre, to follow traire, to milk

conquer vivre, to live.
Past Tense avoir suivi, trait, vaincu, vecu.
;

vaincre, to

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.
je suis
tu suis,
suit,

il

trais,

trais,
trait,

nous snirons,
vous suivez,

trayons,
trayez,

suivent,

traient,

ils

vaincs,
vaincs,
vainc.

vis
vis

vainquons,
vainquez,
vainquent.

vivotw
vivez
vivent

vit

Imper/ect Tense.
vainquoia,
trayois,
je suivois,
tbe invariable terminations of the imperfect.

vivois, Sec.

with

Perfect or Past Tense.

je suivis,
tu suivis,
il

suivit,

Traire

is

vainquis,
vainquis,
vaitiquit.

vainciuimes,
vainquites,
vainquireut,

nous suivimes,
vous suivites,
ils

de-

fective in
this tense.

suivirent.

'

vecus
vecus
vecut

vecumes
vecutes

vecureat

Future Tense.
trairai.
vaincrai.
je suivrai.
the invariable terminations of the future.

virrai,

iccwith

Conditional Tense.
trairois,
vaincrois,
vivrois, &c.
je suivrois,
with the invariable terminations of the conditional.

Compound Tentes j"

ai suivi, trait,

vaincu,

v^u

74

Irrefftdar

Verbs.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
qu'

qu'

il

suis,

trais,

vaincs,

vis

suive,
suivons,

traie,

vainque,
vainquons,
vainquez,
vainquent,

vive
vivons
vivez
vivent

siiivez

trayons,
trayez,

suivent,

traleut,

ils

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
Presen t Tense.
que je

suive,

que je
que tu

suivisse,
suivisse,

vive,
vainque,
the invariable terminations of the present subjunctive.
traie,

Sec.

with

Perject or Past Tenae.

Traire lias
no perfect

vecusse
vecusses

vainquisse,
vainquisses,
vainquit,
vainquissions,
vainquissiez,
vainquissent,

subjunctive
suivit,
que nous suivissions,
que vous suivissiez,
qu' ils suivissent,
qu'

il

Compound Tenses que j'aieand j'eussesuivi,

vecut
vecussions
vecussiez
vecussent

all

simple verb s'ensuivre, to result, to follow,

in the third persons.
:

vaiucu, vecu.

trait,

SuivRE has three compounds, which

follow the
used only

is

Traire, means to draw, when it is compounded, and

has seven compounds attraire, to draw, to attract, and
abstraire, to draw from, to abstract, are but seldom
used instead of them, attirer and falre abstraction are
:

employed.

Vaincre has one

the simple verb.

compound, convaincre, which follows

ViVREhas two compounds, revivre andsurvivre, which

are declined like the simple verb.

The following defective verbs complete the

tion of the irregular verbs:

enumera-

Br AIRE, to bray, is used only in the infinitive and

ils
the third persons, present tense il brait, he brays
braient, they bray.
:

Clorre,
only in the

to close,
infinitive,

its four compounds, are used

the three persons of the present

and


Irregular yerbs.

JS

and conditional, and the compound

indicative, the future

tenses, as follow
:

Clorrk, to close, to shut: clorre 1' ceil, to close the

eyes, to sleep; clorre le bee, to stop one's mouth, to
pose, te puzzle.

Declorre, to open, to put down a feuce; il a ete condamne a declorre son champ, he has been condemned to
pull down the enclosure of his field.
EcLOKRE, to be hatched, to come out, to blow ia
flower;

des oiseaux, to hatch birds; le

the sun causes the flowers to

faire eclorre

soleil fait eclorre les fleurs,

blow.

Enciorre,
a

to enclose; enclorre

un champ,

to enclose

field.

FoRCLORRE is a law term, signifying, to debar a person from doing a certain act, because the time appointed
is gone by
in meaning, forclorre is equivalent to our
:

foreclose,

which

is

derived from

it.

PARTICIPLES PAST.
fem. close,
declos, fem. declose
eclos, fem. eclose
enclos, fem. enclose
forclos, fem. forclose

closed
unclosed, opened

clos,

hatched
enclosed
foreclosed

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense,
tu clos, thou closest,

je clos, I close,
no plural.

Future Tense je
Conditional

il

clot,

he closet

clorrai, I will close

Tenxe je tlorrois, I should close

Compound Tenses j"

ai clos,

j'avois clos, ice.

Frire, to fry, borrows the verb faire

where it is defective; decline it thus:

in those tenses

Frire, to fry; faisant frire, frying; frit, fried.

Indicative,

sons

frire,

faisoii

frire.

je
Perfect jo

Present

vous

fris,

tu

fris, il frit,

faites frire, ils font frire.

fi

frire.

nous

Imperfect

Fnltire

je

fal-

je

frirni.

Irregular Verbs.

76

Compound Tenses j' ai frit,

frirois.
avois frit, j' eus frit, &c.
Imperative Mood fris, fry thou; qu' il fasse frire, let
bim fry: faisons frire, faites frire, qu' ils fassent frire.
que je fasse frire. PerSubjunctive Blood, Present
Conditional^^

j'

fect

que je

tisse frire.

become

obsolete.
It can be
Recourre,
used only in the infinitive, recourre; the perfect, je recourus, and in the compound tenses, j' ai recouru,
j' avois recouru, &c.
tissu, woven.
Tjstre, to weave, is become obsolete
The past participle of this verb is borrowed by the verb
Vide p. 33, 1. 8.
tisser, of the first conjugation.
to rescue,

is

End

of the Irregular Verbs.

OF THE PASSIVE VOICE.*

The French form the passive voice of verbs exactly

as we do in English, with the verb to Be joined to the
But observe (as is explained at page 30,)'
past participle.
that the participle, which never changes in the active
voice, must, in the passive, agree in gender and number
with the nominative case. For the masculine singular
the past participle remains unchanged, as portc. For
the iMASCULi.NE PLURAL an 5 is added, as portia. For
the FFMiN'i.\E SINGULAR an e final is added, as jwrtee.
For the femini.ve plukal es is added, as pnrlees.

To form any passive verb, therefore, the learner has

only to decline c/re, lo be, regularly through, from beginning to end, adding to it the past participle of the
verbi and, at the same time, making that participle agree
with the nominative case in number, case, and gender;
e.

g.

je suis portc; or, if a female speaks, je suis portce.

tu es porte, or portee.
il est porte, or elle est portee.
nous sommesportes, or portees.

vous ^tes portes, or portees.

ils

sont portes, or elles sont portees.

And

the

same with the other

Vide page

0,

teases.

respecting Voice.

78

A TABLE OF THE INVARIABLE TERMINATIONS OF ALL THE FRENCH VERBS.

PARTICIPLES
The Present Participle always ends
The Past Participle is variable.

in

ANT.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense. The three persons singular of this

tense are variable ; the plural persons invariably end in
DNS, EZ, ENT, cxcept in the vcrbs avoir, etre,faire, uller.

and

dire.

Imperfect Tense. In every French verb the imperfect

tense ends in ois, ois, oit, ions, iez, oient.
Perfect or Past Tense.
this tense are variable

The

three persons singular of

the plural persons always end in

MES, tes, rent.

Future Tense.

This tense

always ends ia RAI, HAS,

RA, RONS, REZ, RONT.

Tense.
This tense always ends in
Conditional
RIONS,
ROIENT.
ROIS,
ROIT,
RIEZ,
ROIS,
Respecting this tense and the imperfect, see the note on
the dipthong oi, at page 34.

IMPERATIVE BIOOD.
The

singular persons are variable; the plural persons

always end in ONS, ez, ent.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

This tense always ends in e, es, e,

Present Tense.
IONS, iEZ, ENT, except in the verbs avoir and itre.

Invariable Terminaliuns.

79

Perfect or Past Tense. This tense ahvaj'S ends in SSE,

SSES, T, SSION&, SIEZ, SSF.N T. /

Of tliose tenses whioli never vary in termination, as

the imperfect, future, &c. I have frequently inserted only
the first person singular, from which tle learner can of
himself easily form the rest of the tense, hy subjoining
For instance, at page 43
the invariable terminations.
from the fust person singular of the imperfect, je courois,
the scholar, knowing that the imperfect tense of every
verb in the French language ends in ois, ois, oit, for the
three persons singular; and la ions, iez, oient, for the
three persons plural, could not possibly hesitate in
forming the tense je courois, tu courois, il courolt, nous
courions, vous couriez, ils couroient. The same observation applies to yc courrai, je cuillerois, que je coure,
que je meure, and to the unvarying tenses of any other
:

verb.

R. Rirhard", Printer, 4R, Crooked Lane.

May
Mr.

CHAPPELL,

be had

of

ROYAL EXCHANGE.

98,

Fifth Edition, Just Published, Price

In.

6d.

GUIDE TO FRANCE;

Explaining

ever!/

form and expense from

PARIS,

LONDON TO
DOVOR and

BRIGHTON
And Steam

BY
CALAIS,
and

DIEPPE,

SOUTHAMPTON and HAVRE,

>1ARGATE

and

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Packets from London to Calais and Boulogne:

BY FRANCLS COGHLAN,
CONTAIMNG ALSO
Hints how to avoid Imposition and Delay, Customhouse Forms, Passl^orts, Permits, Table of French Coins,
Lugcage, Coach Offices, List of Hotels and Prices at each.
Posting Laws, Fees to Postillions, Waiters, &c. &c.
Illustrated with a Map of Routes and Plan of Calais.

By

the

same Author, price

\s. 6(1.

A VISIT TO PARIS;
OR,

THE STRANGER'S GUIDE TO EVERY OBJECT

WORTHY NOTICE IN THAT GAY CITS'
;

Englishmen on their first arrival

Illustrated with a descriptive Map of Paris, showing

IVitk twenty valuable hints to

the situation of all the public buildings, places of amusement, public gardens, &c.
" These are very usefvil little Books and they contain, in a small
every Englishman who
compass, a great quantity of information
visits France should carry these .neat, valuable, and cheap little
works in his pocket." Dispatch.
;

Also, Published by Authority, price \s.

THE CUSTOM-HOUSE GUIDE,

Containing a List of Duties upon all Articles likely to
be imported into France or England by Travellers, either
with Revenue Regulations,
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articles actually prohibited, &c.
:

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IS

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NEW FRENCH PRONOUNCING GRAMMAR;

Or, The Art of acquiring the French Language with the

most perfect Accent and Pronunciation without the
Assistance of a iVIaster
H'ith numerous Dialogues, familiar Phrases, kc. exactly as
thei/ are 'pronounced.

THE

FRENCH GENDERS,
TAUGHT

IN

SIX FABLES;
BEING A PLAIN AND EASY

ART OF MEMORY,
BY WHICH THE GENDEKS OF

15,548

FRENCH NOUNS

MAY BE LEARNED

BY

W. R.

IN A

FEW

IIOUUS.

GOODLU C K,

TWENTIETH

Jun.

EDITZOSJ.

KEVISED AND COURECTED.

Hcntron
J.

CHAPPELL, ROYAL EXCHANGE.

183J.

PUEFACE
TO THE SEVENTEENTH EDITION.

In prepariHg for the Press the Seventeenth

Edition of this Work, I avail myself irilh great
pleasure of the opportrinity of eccpressing my
thanks for the signal support ivith which it has
been honored, both by teachers and the public in

general ; sixteen editions having been sold in little more than Two Years.
Causes, ivith ivhich it
iinneeessary to trouble the Public, have kept the

is

" French Genders" and " French Verbs" out of

print for several months. I more particularly
regret this circumstance on account of the inconvenience which has arisen to the proprietors of the

numerous

schools in which they are used.

As I have now

transferred both of these Publi-

"Help to French,"
Mr. Chappell, 98, Royal Exchange, London,
a bookseller tvhose care and punctuality are well

cations, together ivith the

to

known, there is no danger of the recurrence of

any similar delay in future.
IV.
\Q Februarv, 1830,

R.

GOOD LUCK,

Junr.

PREFACE.

In the publication

of this work, which was

\-umposed chiefly for the use of my own schohirs,

1 am influenced by a thorough conviction and
experience of

its utility.

Its object is to

remove the greatest obstacle

the acquirement of the French language

by

to

fix-

ing indelibly in the memory, the Genders of the

French nouns; without a perfect knowledge of
which, it is im[>ossible to speak that language
with even tolerable propriety.

French

is

now

learned by almost every class

of the British youth, and

appreciated.
a general

its

importance

is

duly

It is a species of universal passport,

medium

of communication on the con-

In the foreign tour and the domestic

circle, in war and in commerce, this language is
In the counting-house
of incalculable value.
tinent.

and the camp,

in

the splendid assembly aiul in

who can write and sjjeak

French possess a decided advantage over those

the distant port, those

who cannot.*
* Smollett (George II. chap. XI.) relates, that in the
night which preccfUid tlic battle on the hoiglits of Abraham

General Wolfe and his army, who were sailing down the
dvcrSt. Lawrence in tlie dark, were saved from defeat by
A 2

PREFACE.

IV
I

am persuaded,

will prove

therefore, that this

generally acceptable; as,

plain and easy method,

it

book

little
b)'

a very

leads the learner over

the most difficult step to this useful and elegant

acquirement.

The most

striking

between

difference

English and French languages consists

genders of their nouns.

In Englisk,

we

the

in

the

call a

male by the masculine term, he ; a female, by

the feminine term, she; and any thing inanimate
by the neuter term, it. The French likewise
call a male he, and a female she, as we do; but,
by a fault in the genius of their language, they
have no neuter, but call every inanimate thing
either he, or she,

making

it

masculine or femi-

nine; and hence arises the difficulty.

child,

why a chair or
why a hinge or

learning French, can see no reason

a table should be called she, or

a nail should be called he; these things are neither males nor females, and

it

therefore appears

strange to the learner that they should be classed

as masculines

and feminines

hut they are so

the readiness of an English officer, who replied so skilfully to the challenges of the French sentinels, that they
mistook our troops for a French detachment, and suffered
The historian remarks, that the consetheiD to pass.
quence of discovery at that moment would have been the
Here, then, we see that a
total destruction of the army.
British army was preserved,, a glorious victory gained,
and (Quebec and all Canada secured to England, because
an Englishman had learned French well.

PKEFACE.
classed, and

must be learned

To

correctly.

ac-

con)plisli this is a very g-re.at dilliculty to all ]>er-

sons learning French

some

it

is

extremely trouble-

of the quickest talents and

to pupils even

most retentive memory, who learn from the

French grammars now in use. Though some of
them are extremely well-arranged for grammatical instruction in other respects, in regard to the

genders they are entirely destitute of any contrivance to assist the

memory; while

endless

and exceptions are

to

lists of rules

the almost
fit

only

harass and discourage learners of even the

So impracticable are these

readiest abilities.
rules, that I have

known masters

to

recommend

their pupils to go completely through the

dictionary, and copy out

the gender to each

much

all

French

the nouns, prefixing

a labour of weeks

and

question whether a twentieth part of them

would by that method be fixed in the mind, uncopying was many times rei)eated and,
even afterall that trouble and consumption of time,
the pupil, being without any certain rules, would
seldom feel an absolute confidence in the corless the

rectness of his

To

memory.

obviate the necessity of this disheartening

labour on the one hand, or recurrence to a confused labyrinth of insufficient rules on the other,
the learner

is

here furnished with a plain

OP MiiMORV," from which

a3

am

"Anx

convinced that

PREFACE.

VI

the genders of

all

tlie

learned in a few hours

to be

French nouns may be

and learned so as never

I feel the more confident on

French teacher of great experience, who has taught French in England during
the last 42 years, and to whom I explained ray

forgotten.

this point, as a

plan, assured

me

that

would derive great

many

natives of France

from

benefit

book

this

memory.

fixing the genders in the

in

offer it,

therefore, to the public in general, and to teachers in particular, with a certainty that

it

will

answer the purpose desired; and, by putting

within the reach of all, what has hitherto been

fully

scarcely

attainable

by any,

it

will

found

be

equally beneficial to the teacher, the pupil, and

the adult.

Knowledge and learning cannot be acquired

without exertion

those

who

aspire to possess

these distinctions must prove by industry and

perseverance that they deserve them: but

may be done
method: and

to
it

is

assist the

memory by

much

art

and

the duty of every teacher to

render the path of improvement as smooth as

possible.

W.
June

8th, 1826.

11.

GooDLucK, Jun.

INTRODUCTION.

The system by -wlncli the genders of the

French nouns may be most readily and firmly
fixed in the memory, begins by classing them
by their final syllables. Thus, there are 643
nouns ending in cr, which are all masculine
except two: there are 144 ending in oir, all
70 in
masculine without a single exception
al, 24 in ais, and 83 in ard, all masculine withand 305 in et, all masculine
out exception
Therefore, if these six
except one word.
endings can be fixed in the memory, as masculines, the learner Avill knoAv the genders of 1,269
:

nouns.

But the difficulty is to remember long lists

of terminations, and to fix in the mind the genThere are many grammars Avhere
der of each.
whole pages are filled with terminations and
exceptions; but they contain nothing to assist
no clue by wliich the ending
the memory
connected to its own ])articular gender.
is
Those who learn from these books, may perhaps remember that all nouns ending in ais
are of the same gender; but, there being no
guide or catchword to assign ais to the masculines, they must be continually in doubt.
My plan to help the memory is this I have
iiitioduccd the masculine endings into three
rallies, the actors in which fables arc inascu;

GENDERS OF

every noun in these three fables is masand no nouns are admitted into them
;
but such as give the rules.
Thus, the endings
mentioned above are given in the first four
lines of the first fable, wliich ji pupil can easily
learn in half an hour, and will thus acquire the
genders of five thousand seven hundred and
forty French nouns.
line

culine

Le Cheval et

le Sanglier.

Un sangUer, fier de son ponvoir,

Prenant lefrais dans un bosquet,
Uencontra, un beau soir,
Par hazard, un bidet.
Here the Avord cheval will fix the nouns in al
sanglier, those in er; and so of the rest.
Having learned these fables by heart, perfectly,
which, as there are only three in number, may
be accomplished in a very few honrs, the pupil,
with a noun ending like any
one of those nouns given in the fables, will
easily ascertain the gender by recurring to the
guiding word: for instance, if he wants to use
a word ending in ais, or in ard, he Avill immediately call to mind the word frais or hazard,
and, remembering that those nouns occur in the
fable with masculine actors, viz., a tvild boar, a
horse, and a man, he will decide at once and
with confidence tliat ais and ard are masculine
terminations, and that the word he wants to use
is masculine. The feminine endings, being inlro-

when he meets

FRENCH NOUNS.

having a female speaker

each of tliem, and every noun in them feminine, will be fixed in the memory in the same
manner. The exceptions, which are not very
numerous, must be learned by heart.
The
(luced in three fables,

in

pupil

remember

must

that

the

nouns

only

they are printed in italics to be

more easily observed but, of course, a person
learning French cannot be so ignorant of grammar as to find any difficulty in distinguishing the
substantives from the other parts of speech.
In the perusal of these fables I trust that the
reader will remember, that, as the plan required
a certain number of endings to be introduced
with connection in a fable, all the masculines
being in one place, and all the feniinines in
another, there could be little choice as to words
and phrases. This ought to disarm all criticism
against the construction of the lines and sengive the rule

tences.
For the peculiarity and oddity of some of the
lines, 1 shall make no apology, as the practice
of Von Feinagle in his admirable " Art of
Memory," and the experience of all who have
formed systems to aid the memory, agree in
proving that eccentric, quaint, or, as they may
cfilled, out of the icaj/ expressions, are much
more easily fixed in the recollection than sentences unmarked by any peculiarity.

be

FIRST MASCL'LINE FABLE

Which gives the Gender of 5740 Nouns.

Le Ciieval et

t,e

Sanglieu.

l;n sangUer, (1) fier de son pouvnir, (2)

Prenant \e frais (3) dans un hosqnet, (4)
Rencontra, un beau soir,
Par hazard, (5) un bidet.

" Ho! }naraud," (6) dit-il, enfurieiuv,

" Qui te rend si audacieux?
Que fais-tu ici, malotrti?" (8)
" Oh rien!" (9) " Rien, dis-tu!
Je

suis le roi (10) et le

De Juin (12)

maitre (11)

ici,

(7)

Pardi

Mai, (13) de Mercredi a

Mardi; (14)
V instant, (15) sans dire mot, (IG)

Et

si, dfes

Tu

ne tournes pas

le dos, (17)
(18) je te mangerai comme un gigot.''
cheval, (19) en ce cas, (20)

i'rt//

Le

Retourna sur ses pas

Vite,

comme

de

lait

(21) ou de vin, (22) uu

ocean (23)
(^oule dans teslomac (24) d'un gourmand : (25)
A.ussi vite qu'un oiseau (26) ou le vent. (27)

Notre

Pour

enfuribund, (28)
venger de cet affront, (^29)

clievalj

se

GENDERS OF

12

A Vhomme

(30) s'adressa,

Et son antagoniste (31)'Iui nomma.

"Oui," dit riiomme, " mais un mord, (32)
un licou (33)
II faut te
II

mettre sur

n'aime point

le

ecu."

le licou

Et il croit que le frein (34)

N'a pas le bon gout (35)
De Y herbage (36) ou du grain. (57)
N^anmoins il part, et dans le viandis (38)
II

trouve son ennemi.

Plein de courage et dejiel, (39)

Comme Vedair,

(40) feu (41) du

ciel,

lis s'^lancent sur le tyran

Et

le

chasseur (42) mort I'etend.

Le cheval le remercie,
Avec beaucoup d^esprit: (43)
"Et maintenant que j'ai mon hut, (44)
Adieu

!" dit-il

mais I'honime

I'arrfite

d'un refns!

(45)

" Non! non!

raon pauvre fou,

J'ai besoin (46) de vous,"

Dit

le

chasseur; et puis

II I'entraine

au

logis.

Ainsi Vorgueil (47) et I'outrage

Furent punis dans le sanglier:

Et le cheval par un dur esclavage,

Paya cher le plaisir (48) de s'6tre venge.


FRENCH NOUNS.

13

NOTES TO THE FIRST MASCULINE

FABLE.
SangUer.

1.

cuillei*,

who

a spoon.

643 noiins ending in

mer, the sea, and una

Tliere are

er, all masculine except la

I

recommend those

learners,

beyond childhood, to fix all

the memory, by forming- them into

are advanced

exceptions in
short sentences, after the manner of Feinagle,
in his "Art of Memory,"
For instance, they
might sa.\',the man who attempts to learn loithont
method, is like one ri'ho tries to empty the sea
with a spoon: vider la nier avec une cuiller.
After which it is scarcely possible that the words
mer and cuiller could enter the mind, without
being remembered as exceptions.
2.
Pouvoir. There are 144 words in oir all
masculine.
3.
Frais.
24 in ais all masculine.
4.
Bosquet. 303 French nouns end in ct:
the only one feminine is une for6t, a forest.
5.
Hazard. 83 in urd are all masculine.
6.
Maraud. 22 ending in aud, all masculine.

The learner will observe that

here used as a substantive.
French adjectives are very frequently made subFurieuA'.

7.

tliis

adjective

stantives.

is

There are

masculine.
8.
Malotru.
wliich

gill,

fifty

nouns

in

<'//.?',

all

There are 49 nouns in n, of

birdlime, tribu, a tribe, and vertu
K

GENDERS OF

14

Bru, a daughter-in-law, is
Words which are mascufeminine of course.
lines or feminines absolute, as designating males
and females, it is not necessary to except particularly, as their gender must be immediately
obvious.
Rien. 78 i" ^^h all masculine.
9.
Roi.
Of 24 in oi, loi and foi, law and
10.
faith, are the only feminines, except parol, a wall,
which is chiefly used in the plural, parois.
Ma'itre.
3 in o<<re, masculine.
11.
1 in uin, masculine.
Juin.
12.
Mai. 17 in J, all masculine.
13.
Mardi. There are 98 nouns in i; of
14.
which the feminines are merci, mercy, fourmi,
an ant, and I'apres midi, the afternoon.
virtue, are feminine.

15.

Instant.

participles

123

converted

in ant,

many

of which are
are all

into substantives,

masculines.
16.

Mot.

Of 102

in

ot, the

only feminine

the marriage portion.

12 in OS, all masculine.
I^os.
17.
128 in at, all masculine.
18.
Fat.
69 in 7, all masculine.
19.
Cheval.
68 in as, all masculine.
20.
Cas.
15 in 7, all masculine.
Lait.
21.
Of 239 in in, fin, the end, is the
Vin.
22.
only exception, with catin, a feminine absolute.

is la dot,

23.
24.
25.
26.

Ocean. 95 in an, all masculine.

Estomac. 21 in ac, all masculine.

13 in and, all masculine.

Of 226 nouns in au, peau, the
Oiseau.
resldn, and eau, water, are the only feminines
member these tv.o exceptions by this sentence ;
in Spain skins are used to carry water.

Gourmand.

FRENCH NOUNS.

15

Of 710 nouns in rut, gent, a

Vent.
nation, and dent, a tooth, are the only feniinines:
with jument, a mare, of course,
10 in and, all masculine.
Furihond.
28.
6 in ont, all masciiUne.
29.
Affront.
Homme. There sre 13 in omme, of
30.
27.

which BOiume, a sum, gomme, gum, and porame,

Somme, a sleep or nap,

an apple, are feminine.
vide page 54 line 3.
masculine
31. Antagoniste. Of 151 in iste, piste, a footstep, batiste, cambric, liste, a list, and baliste,
an immense Roman cross-bow, are feminine.
32.
Mord. 13 in ord, all masculine.
33.
Licou. 41 in on, all masculine.
9 in cin, all masculine.
34. Frein.
35.
Gout. 23 in ont, all masculine.
Herbage. There are 374 nouns in age,
3G.
of which the following are feminine: rage, malerage, rage, image, an image, page, a page of a

is

book, cage, a cage, nage, the act of sailing, ambages, doubtful expressions, plage, the sea shore,
and passeragc and saxifrage, the names of plants.
The two last are seldom used.
Of 06 in ain, la main, the hand,
Grain.
37.
it takes its gender from the Latin
is feminine
;

manus.

Of 127 in ^S souris, a mouse,

Viandls.
screw, brcbis, a sheep, (leur de lis, a lily,
and chauve-souris, a bat, arc feminine; as are
Iris and Themis, of course, as females,
45 in el, all masculine.
39. Fiel.
40.
Eclair.
17 in >, all masculine, except
la chair, the flesh, which is derived from, and
follows the Latin caro, carnis.
41.
Feu. 30 in eu, all masculine.
n 2
38.

vis, a

'

GENDERS OF

16

Chasseur. As words of this ending occur

42.
very frequently, the learner must he quite perfect

this

in

note.

There are

masculine hut

etir, all

ceptions

ai"e

so

(>7

1234 words

in

hut, though the ex-

numerous, they may be learned

Remember that, ed'cept eight,

the masculine nouns in eiir designate men
in their actions or trade, and are derived from
verbs, or Latin nouns in or, as parleur, jaseur,
acteur, lecteur, &c.
The eight masculines in
enr, which do not designate men, are equateur, labeur, heur, luck, and its compounds,
in

two

tiiinutes.

all

bonheur, malheur, with honneur, deshonneur,

and pleurs, tears.
Therefore, whenever the
learner meets with a word in enr, which expresses a living creature, he must remember
it is masculine: and if it does not express
a
living creature, it is feminine, if it he not one
of the eight masculines mentioned above.
The
67 feminines in eur express properties and quaas laideur, ugliness, hauteur, height,
rongeur, redness, 8cc. Let the learner copy out
this note three or four times, that he may retain
and understand it thoroughly: it is of great consequence, as the termination eur occurs so very
lities,

frequently.
43.
44 in it, all masculine.
Esprit.
44.
But. 22 in nt, all masculine.
45.
Refus. 34 in us, all masculine.
The
46.
Besoin.
15 in oin, all masculine.
reader will observe, that I could not well include oin in the rule of in, ait in the rule of it,

&c. as, though the gender and two final letters

are the same, the pronunciation is so different,

FRENCH NOUNS.
that the

memory wouhl

not

easily

17
refer

hesoin

to vin, or lait to esprit.

17 in cU, all masculine.

17 in "* all masculine.
The learner will observe, that though, in
these fables, a termination is sometimes rejjeated,
yet none are to be found hut such as give the
rule; therefore, the repetition will help, rather
than confuse the memory: thus, for a word
in ot or age, if mot and herbage do not instantly
occur to tiie mind as the guiding word, gigot anil
courage very probably may and so of the rest.

47.
48.

Orgueil.

Plaisir.

GENDERS OF

18

SECOND MASCULINE FABLE:

Which gives the Gender of 1470 Noims.

Les deux Militaires et l'Ours.

Diiuxfils (1) de Mars, (2) frais et gaillai'ds,
Pour voyager prirent leur depart; (3)
Et firent entr'eux le marche (4)

De mutucllement

s'assister.

Au

d^clin du ;o?<r, (5)

lis

entendent un grand bruit; (6)

un ours (7)

Et, en Imrlant,

D'un
11

bois (8) sortit.

vient droit

Jl

Us ne peuvent

Un

nos militaires ; (9)

fuir, et

que

faire?

d'eux, Idger et dispos,

Laisse son conipagnon (10) seul;

Et, s'elan^ant d'un saut, (11)

Grimpe sur un

tilleul. (12)
L'autre, qui toujours le rusbif {\^) ainia,

Et qui

buvait

comme un

Czar, (14) ou

un

Bacha, (15)

Et qui ^tait aussi gras et gros

Qu'un nioine, (16) ou qw'un popjilo, (17)
Dans un sillon (18) s'etendit,
Tout de son long; (19) et le mort (20) contrefit.

FRENCH NOUNS.

19

L'ours s'approcbe en coiirrou.v ; (21)

il manque son coup;
(22)
Car, en lui flairant le corps, (23)

Mais

II

prend uotre

homme pour un

Et, corame aux cadavres (24)

Grognant coninie un

mort.
il

clogue, (25)

ne touche pas,
il

s"en va.

Le inatamnre (26) de Wirbre (27) descendit,

Et demanda ce que l'ours avait dit
' Car, du haut," dit-il, "
j'ai observ^,
Que de pres il semblait te parler.''

" Oui il m'a uverti," lui dit-il,

" Que celui, qui deserte son ami
Dans le temps (28) du peril, (29)
!

N'est digne que de mepris.''

20

GENDERS OF

NOTES TO THE Sl^COND MASCULINE

FABLE.
1.

Flls.

There are 6 nouns

in ils, all

mascu-

line.

Mars. 7 in cirs, all masculine.

Depart. Of 24 in art, hart, a halter,
part, a part, and its compounds quotepart and
2.
[\.

plupart are the only feminines.

4. Marchc. The learner must take particular
notice, that nouns ending in e with the acute
accent, are to be divided into tico classes: viz.
1st, those which end in t^, as bonte, beaut^,

&c. ; and 2d, those where the final ^ is preceded

by some other letter than t, as marche, cure,
abbe, c&U, &c.
It is only -with the latter class
we have to do in this place, as t^ is a feminine
ending-, and is noticed in note 20 of the first feminine fable, at the word beaute.
Remember, therefore, that every one of the
354 words ending in ^ with the acute accent,
not immediately preceded by t, is masculine, except these four feminines, piti^, pity, moiti^,
moiety, amiti6, friendship, and inimitie, hatred;
which may be fixed in this sentence c'est grand
pitie quand un horame
change Vamitie qu'il
avait pour sa moitie en inimitie.
5.
Of 28 in o?<r and 6 in nr, all are
Jour.
masculine except cour, a court, and its compounds, and tour, a tower, a castle at chess

tour, a turn,
line:

a trick,

vide page 54.

a turner's tool, is

mascu-


FRENCH NOUNS.

21

6.
Bruit.
Of 15 in itit, miit, night, is the
only feminine: 7H/;n<?7, midnight, is masculine.
There are 11 in ours, all mascu7Ours.
line.
S sounds in un ours.
8.
Bois.
Of 20 in ois, the only feminine is
fois, a time
as three times, four times, &c.
:

Militaire.
There are 198 words in aire.
They are all masculine, except 11 names of
plants, as zedoaire, &c. and affaire, husiness,
9.

white of an egg, paire,

gramraaire, grammar, chaire, a pulpit,
jugulaire, the jugular vein, haire, and statuaire.
10.
Compagnon. As ahout one-ninth part of
the French substantives end in on, the learner
They
must be very exact in their genders.
are subdivided into four classes, nouns in ion
and aison, Avhich belong to the feminines, and
illon and on, which belong to the masculines.
For illon, see note 18 of this fable. Of those
aire, a floor, glaire, the

a pair,

which end

in

oi {^without being in ion, aison, and

405. These are all masculine,

illon), there are

except four designations of women, as laideron,

&c. and the following 14, which I have formed
into a sentence, to help the memory. Cet homme,
e\\ pamoisnn, qu'on entraine en ;j/v'50 avec des
mandissons, a commis une trahison : car on I'envoya pour acheter du ble dans la inoisson, pour
en fournir lifoison toute la garnison; mais suivant sa^rt^oM, il d^pensa tout en hoisson et chansons.
II a vendu sa toison pour sa ran^ou.
The excepCette le<,on doit Ctre sa guirison.
tions in

071

are in italics.

11.

Saut.

12.

Tilleul.

14 in ant, all masculine.

10 in etd, all masculine.

GENDERS OF

22

The French also

Roast-beef.
13.
Roshif.
say un rosbif d'agneau, a roasted quarter of
There are 47 in if, all masculine.
lamb.
9 in ar, all masculine.
Czar.
14.
Bacha. The 65 nouns in a are all words
15.
adopted from other languages : they are all masculine, except, s^pia, bandora, talpa, falaca,
vinula, ara, and ])olenta.
Mohie. Of 12 in oine, all are masculine,
16.
except the names of plants and stones.

Of 43 in 0, mostly borrowed
Popido.
17.
from the Italian, the only exception is virago,
which is feminine, of course, as denoting a female.
18.

Sillon.

19.

20.
death,

in

Won,

all

masculine without

La mort,
3fo7t here means a dead man.
the only feminine of 21 in ort.
Of 9 in ou.v, toux, a cough,
Courromv.

is

21
the only feminine.
Coup. 5 in oup, all masculines.
22.
2 in orps, both masculine.
Corps.
23.
2 in owre, both masculine.
Cadavres.
24.
Dogue. Of26inoo-Ke, the only femi25.
.

is

44

vide page 21, note 10.

2 in otig, both masculine.
Lo7ig,

exception

nines are drogue, ^glogue, vogue, synagogue,

and pirogue, a canoe.
Mutamore. Of 19 in arc, mandragore,
26.
m^'taphore, aurore, and pdcore, are feminine.
Arhre. 3 in arbre, all masculine.
27.
Temps. 8 in emps, all masculine.
28.
Phil. 52 in tV, all masculine without
29.

exception.

FRENCH NOrXS.

23

THIRD MASCULINE FABLE:

IVIilch

gives the Cender of 694 Noiois.

L'AviDE (1) tromp^

A un Arahe,

(2) esclave (3)

ll

et puni.

Rome, (4) on

avait

dit

Que, dans un chiotaphe, (5)

(6)
Vers le minuit,

il

il

y avait un tresor:

s'y introduit,

Croyant y gagner un kilogramme (7) d'or.

Uu

sac de cuir (8) pesant il y trouva.

tout joyeux il emporta:

Que

Mais

il

trouva du mecompte (9) quand

il

I'exa-

rainait

Car, au lieu de
II

I'or qu'il attendait,

nomhre (10) de Lares (11) de

plomh (12)

n\v trouve que

Et de cuivre, (13) auxquels

Des dieux des

I je.s

les prfitres

de

Rome

\cnom. (15)
(17) iniornu's du sa-

atres (14) donnaient

parens (16) du di'fnnt,

crilege,

Entrainorent

Ic

coupahle (]S) devant

le

siege (19)

GENDERS OP

24

Du

consul (20)
prodig-e

de

Rome,

un

des juges (21)

(22)
Qui dit, " \ebien-itre (23) dn public (24) exige
Que ce vol (25) d'iconoclaste (2G) soit puni
;

Et que

iJingt (27)

(28)
D'avoir m^prise
^

coups de baton soient

le

prLv

I'asile

(29) des morts,

Et les emblemes (30) des dieux que Rome

Par le travail (31) du ministre (32) et du
(33) du droit,

adore.''

Le

(35)

hclitre

(/34) souffre

avec stoicisme

disciple

le

chatiment de son exploit: (36)

Et a ses compagnons
"i]/<?.'?s/r<?.'?/(3S)avant

dit de sangfroid, (37)

de couriraucun risque^{3d)

sacliez pourquoi I"

FRENCH NOUNS.

25

NOTES TO THE THIRD MASCULINE

FABLE.

1.
Avide. There are 38 nouns in j(^<? : the
feminines are ride, a wrinkle, bride, a bridle,
i^uide, a rein, with egide, pyraniide, cantharide,
heraorroides, and cycloide.
2.
Of 12 in abn, all are masculine
Arube.
but Souabe, Suabia, and syllabe, a syllable:
by a singularity, the compounds of syllabe, as
monosyllabe. &c. are masculine.
3.
Esclave.
Of 19 in rtue, the feminines are
cave, a cellar, rave, a radish, with octave, bave,
entraves, and (^'paves, strayed animals.
4.
Rome. 27 in ome, all masculine.
5.
Chiotaphe, Of 31 in aphe, all are masculine except ^pigraphe, epitaphe, orthographe.
6.
Tresor.
12 in o;*, all masculine.
Kilogramme, there are 19 nouns in
7.
(iinme : of v.hich all that do not end in gramme
are feminine, as are anagramme, and epigramrae.
8.
Ciiir.
1 in nir, masculine.
9.
Mecnmpte. 7 in ompte, 2 in omtc, all
masculine.
10.
Nombre. 9 in ombre, all masculine except ombre, shade.
11.
Lares. The Lares were, among the Homans, household gods, or gods of the fireside;
whfM-f! small metal images of them, a few ii\ches

GENDERS OF

26

They were so called from

Of 19 nouns in arc, the feniinines

long, were placed.

Lar, home.

are cithare, tare, fanfare, and tiare.

Plornh.
4 in omb, all masculine.
Of 8 in iiu-e, livre, a pound
Cuivre.
weight, also a piece of money, is the only feminine: livre, a book, is masculine: vide page 50.
14.
yltre.
20 in aire, and G in artre, all
masculine, but finatre, bad silk, chartre, martre,
12.
12.

and dartre,
15.

Nom.

16.

Parens.
Defunt.

17-

om,

ill

all

masculine.

11 in ens, all masculine.

in nnt, all

masculine.

20 in able, all masculine ex18.

Coiipahle.
cept fable, table, and etable.
Siege.
19.
12 in ege, all masc. but allege.
20.
Consul.
8 in 7il, all masculine.
21.
Juge.
10 in uge, all masculine.
Of 15 in ige, tige, the body
22.
Prodige.
of a tree, and volige, a thin board, are feminine.
Of 36 in ctre, gu6tre, a
23.
Bien-ctre.
gaiter, and fenfetre, a window, are the only feniinines.

10
19 in

masculine.
masculine.
Iconoclaste, from two Greek words, signifies a breaker and despiser of sacred imag-es.
Of 10 in aste, and 6 in astre, all are masculine,
except caste, a tribe, and haste, a dart, which
follows the Latin hasta, a javelin.
Le vingt de se mois.
I in int.
Vingt.
27.
in ?>,perdrix, a partridge,
28. Pria?. Of
is the only feminine.
29.
I have taken a license to call a
Jsilc.
24.
25.
26.

Public.

in ic, all

I^ol.

nl, all

FRENCH NOUNS.

2/

cenotaph '^ asilc nes mm'ts :" but it means an

empty tomb. Of 26 in He, the feminines are
pile, vigile, ilc, bile, file, huile, tuile, and their

compounds.
The learner must distinguish He
from ille, which belongs to the feminines.
Of 36 in em^, br6me, cr6me,
30.
Emblhnt^.
and trirfime are feminine, and a sequence at
AVhen part or share is
piquet, as la septifeme.
spoken of, the numerals become nouns masculine,
as, un douzit-me, a twelfth part.
31.
24 in ail, all masculine.
Travail.
32.
5 in istrc, all masculine, as
Ministrc.
are 6 in astre, 4 in nstre, and 7 i" estre, except
orchestra.
Bistre, a paint, is doubtful.
4 in iple, all masculine.
33.
Disciple.
34.
Bi'Utre.
Of 19 in itre, vitre, a window,
dpitre, mitre, litre, and huitre, are feminine.
110 in ?, all masculine.
35.
Stoicisme.
E.vploit.
10 in oi7, all masculine.
36.

37 Sangfroid. 2 in oid, and 2 in oids, all

masculine.
38. Messires. 20 in ire, all masculine except cire, satire, mire, ire, and H(?gire.
Risque.
6 in isque, all masculine ex39.
cept bisque, an advantage, and brisque, a game
at cards.

The

i)upil, having learned the three preceding

by heart, and read the notes with attention, will know the genders of 7904 masculine
nouns.
I will add two easy rules, which give
3/7 more, and there will then remain only a few
masculines in e mnte, which, by those who wish

fables

to be very exact,

may

be learnt separately.

c2

28

GENDERS OF

RULE

I.

There are 310 nouns which end with a

CONSONANT, and are of terminations different
from all those given in the six fables. These
310 nouns are all masculine, except faim, hunger,

paix, peace,
mceurs, manners,

chaux,
soif,

lime, clef, a key,

croix, a cross,
voix, the voice, and

thirst,

noix, a nut, poix, pitch,

La Toussaint, All Saints' day.
therefore, that the guide to this rule

Remember,
is

tlie final

letter being a consonant.

RULE
There are

Qi^

that sounds

is

II.

nouns of which the

last

vowel

masculine,
except a few words seldom used, viz. hydre,
clepsydre, idylle, sibylle, hymne,* a Christian
hymn, lymphe, lymph, crypte, lyre, martyre,
a female martyr, analyse, and amethyste.
Add
to these exceptions myrrhe, myrrh, which is also
feminine.
a

these

are

all

* Note that hymne, a hymn, when used in speaking of

a religions song of the ancients is masculine but when
it is used to designate a religious song of Christians, it is
feminine.
:

29

FRENCH NOUNS,

Masculine Words in e Mttte, not comprehended

in the preceding Rules.

Un
Un
Le

Un
Un
Un

sabre, a sabre
candclabre, a chandelier
sacre, the consecration

Un acte, an act
Un pacte, a compact

Le

vestibule, a ball
scrupule, a doubt
pendule, a pendulum
crepuscule, twilight

Un

globule, a small globe

Lediaphragme,thediaphragm Le Sucre, sugar

Un

Un microscope, a microscope

Le

Un

aigle, an eagle
vinaigre, vinegar
Un glaive, a sword

Un

Un
Un orme, an elm
Un poste, a post
Un pouce, a thumb
Un tube, a tube

L'ambre, amber
Le blame, reproof

Un

drame, a play

Le camphre, camphor

Un

cancre, a crab

Le coude, the elbow

Le rouge, rouge
Lc comble, the height

Le change, change
L^n melange, a medley

Un

angle, an angle

Un
Un
Un

Le manque, want
Le chanvre, hemp

Un vacarme, an uproar
Vn charme, a charm
Un cigarre, a cigar
Un masque, a mask
Un casque, a helmet
Un asthme, an asthma
Un saule, a willow
Un aune, an aider-tree
Un royaume, a kingdom

Un

Un
Un
Un

ongle, a nail or claw

insecte, an insect
dialecte, a dialect
spectre, a spectre
remede, a remedy
cedre, a cedar
siecle,

an age

Le r^gne,

Un
Un
Un
Un
Un
Un

Le baume, balm

Un psaumc, a psalm
L'axe, the axis
Le luxe, luxury
Un buste, a bust
Un muscle, a muscle
Vn volume, a volume
Un

telescope, a telescope
soliloque, a soliloquy
divorce, a divorce

Le

the reign
signe, a sign
labyrinthe, a labyrinth
philtre, a potion
chitrrc, a cipher
trone, a throne

code, a code
pcriode, the height
carosse, a carriage

Un
Un poeme, a poem
Un cofFre, a trunk
Le linge, linen
Le bronze, bronze

rliume, a cold

Le rostumc, dress
Lc cuke, worship
Un turaulte, a tumult

Un
Un
3

vignoble, a vineyard
cloitre, a

monastery

GENDERS OF

30

all those (31) ending in

asme, tiple, oxe, and ordre, complete the
enumeration of the masculines, which amount to
8415, including 182 designations of men, ending
in e mute, as apotre, an apostle, oncle, an uncle,
and the like, which it was entirely unnecessary
to mention, as respecting their gender there can
he no doubt.

These 78 nouns, with

aclc,

END OF THE MASCULINE.

FRENCH NOUNS.

FIKST FEMININE FABLE

Wkich gives

the

31

Gender of 4059 Nouns.

L'Attente de^ue.

Une jeune^//e

De

(1) avait une donzaine (2)

belles tasses (3) de porcelaine,

Avec des coupes, (4) etdes petites cruches, (5)

Des ventouses (6) et d'autres franfreluclies,

Que sur sa tete (7) ^ la ventc, (8)

Portaitla jolie debitante. (9)
" Je les vendrai," dit-elle en reverie,
(10)
"Et une chance (II)

?i

la loterie

Puis j'acheterais

Avec

la monnoie. (12)
Et de certitude {\3) certaine, grande/or/H/i6'(14)

je gagnerai

Parceque la dernifere lune je

Et riche alors, et bien raise,

I'ai rfiv^:

J'aurai une mo7it)'e{\5)comme une marquise. (\6)

Done j'irai a la danse ; (17)

Ettous

nie feront la reverence.

(18)

'Quelle <at7^e/'(19)dira.t-on. 'quelle heaute r{2Q)

Et puis on me priera si danser."'
Pleine de la vanite

Dp

octte fau6Be id<e, (21)

32

eBNDERS OF

Elle secoua la tete; et tout h, Vheure (22)

Arriva une terrible mesuventure: (23)
Cette sccousse (24) detruisit la b^elle creation (25)
I)e son imagination
:

Sa marcliandise est cassee il sa vue ; (26^

Et, dans une minute, (27) voilii sa richesse (28)
perdue.

33

FRENCH NOUNS.

NOTES TO THE FIRST FEMININE

FABLE.
1.
There are 102 nouns m ille, all
Fille.
feminine except vaudeville, codille, calville,niille,
codicille, quadrille, spadille, and trille.
2.
Donzaine. 47 in able, all feminine excej)t Le Maine, a province of France, domaine,
a domain, and capitaine, a masculine absolute.
3.
Tasse.
48 in asse, all feminine but Par-

nasse.

13

4.
Coupes.
groupe.

in

oupe,

all

feminine except

ii.
IG in uche, and 10 in ondie, all
Criichc.
feminine except baudruche, a technical word,
j)iedouche, a pedestal, and two nouns denoting

men.
0.

Ventouse.
Tite.

15 in onsc,

Of 30 nouns

all

feminine.

all are feminine, except 6 comi)ounds, coupe-tfite, &c. and

the names of men, as prophete.

7.

in e^e,

8.
Vente.
35 in elite, all feminine except le
trente, the 30tli day of the month.

Dihitante.
9.
49 in ante, all feminine except 3 names of men, rossinante, a mean horse,
and adiante.
10.
Reverie.
There are 715 nouns in ie, all
feminine, except g^nie, genius,two names of men,
one word from the Greek, perihelie, parapluie,
])avie,
is

and Le Messie, the

doubtful.

Messiah: incendle

34

GFNDERS OF

164
ance, all feminine but
qui sent le ranee, bacon that

Chance.

11.

ranee

Du

lard

smells rusty.
12.
Monnnie.
14 in oie, all feminine except
le foie, the liver,
13.
Certitude.
47 in ude, all feminine exMost of these follow the gender
cept prelude.
of the Latin, being derived from nouns in ndo.
14.
Fortune.
23 in nne, all feminine.
15.
Montre. 8 in outre, all feminine except
le pour et le contre, pro and con.
16.
Marquise. 49 in ise, all feminine.
Danse. T \n anse n\\ itunmnQ
17.
18.
Reverence. 134 in encc, all feminine but
,

le silence, silence.

19.

Taille,

'/O'ln aille,

all

feminine

Reaute, There are 512 nouns ending

in ie : they occur very frequently, and are all
feminine except a few, viz. 6t^, the summer,
20.

traite, a treaty velout^, velvet lace, pfitd, a pie,

cote, a side, le benedicit^, a prayer,

number

of

names

and a small

of men derived from participles,

as d^put(5, revoke, 8cc.

There are 271 nouns in ^<?, all

21.
Idee.
feminine except musee, a museum, troph^e, and
a few words derived from the Greek, as Hymen^e, coryphee, scarabde, &c., which are very
rarely used.
Hi^ure.
22.

11 in e?T, all feminine.

23.
Mesaventure. Of 305 nouns in iire, all
are feminine except augure, parjure, and murmure, with Tellure, a kind of metal first made

in

France about 1760.

24.

Secousse.

12 in onsse,

all

feminine.

FREXCn NOUNS.

35

25.
Creatio}i.
Particular attention must be
paid to nouns in ?o, which amount to 1173.
They are all feminine except eight designations of
males, and pion, a pawn at chess, sepfentrion,
the north, croupion, the rump, scorpion, a scorpion, withfanion, camion, scion, bastion, gabion,
gallon, talion, million, billion, trillion, lampion,
and brimborions.
26.
Vue. 44 in iie, all feminine.
27.
Minute.
13 in nte, and )4 in ovtc, all
feminine but parachute, and doute, doubt.
28.
Richesse.
90 in esse, all feminine without exception.

36

GENDERS OF

SECOND FEMININE FABLE,

Which gives

the Ocndcr of 1452 Nonna.

La Jolie Julienne,

la TuLirE,

ET LA Rose.
Julienne, (1) la rosirre, (2) reine, (3)
Avec sa conrotine (4) siir la tSte,

De

tie laffite,

sa conduits (5) sans tacke, (6) digne ricotn-

pense, {7)

Courait dans les allies s't^chappaiit de

la

danse.

D'une nnde (8) pure elle arrose

Sa favorite, (9) sa chfere I'ose. (10)

La

tuUpe, (11) de la rose voisine,

A lajawiisse

(12) de jalousie faisant Isimine, (13)

dit fl notre heroine,

Var pique (14)

" Fourquo], 3fademoiselle, (15) de grace,

Faut il que je cfede la place (16)

cette roHg-eaude, (17) cette idole, (18)

Dont tu sembles
Pourquoi, sans

^tre foUe ? (19)

7'ime,

(20) ni raison, (21)

Perdrais-je a la comparaison

Dans

Ou

ta robe (22) en guirlunde (23) tu la places

dans tes houcles (24) tu I'enlaces.

une e.vcuse (25) d'etre en colere, (26)
te voir avec ma rivaJe, (27) cette nabote; (28)

N'ai-je pas

De

Et qu'a moi toujours on

preffere

Cette pimbcche, (29) cette sotte?" (30)

FRBKtH NOUKS.
'

Ne

sois point

en peine,"

Reprit la vierge (31

" Ne

le

reine

prends pas en grippe, (32)

Jalouse tulipe

Dans la gelee, je te couvris de tiatte ; (33)

Mais tu I'oublies, ingrate ! (34)
Neanmoins, sans adulation,

Tu

merites notre admiration:

Mais souviens-toi que la beaute exterieure

Cedera toujours aux beautes interieures."

37

GENDEKS Of

S8

NOTES TO THE
SECOND FEMININE FABLE.
There are 12 nouns in enne,
Jidienne.
feminine.
Of 297 nouns ending in iere,
Rosiere.
2.
all are feminine, except cimetifere. Words endings
At Salenci, in
in fere are classed separately.
France, a young woman is annually chosen
1.

all

"queen of the

rose,''

La Rosiere.

This honour

conferred for supereminent virtue and correctThe queen is crowned with

ness of demeanour.
Madame
a garland of roses on the 8th of June.
de Genlis has written a little play, in which this
pleasing and honourable ceremony is admirably
described; it is called La Rosiere de Salenci.
12 in eiue, all feminine.
3.
Reine.
4.
Couronne. 30 in onne, all feminine, expersonne, a person, is
cept personne, nobody

is

feminine.
12 in uite, all feminine.
Conduite.
5.
Of 30 nouns in ache, the only
Tache.
6.
masculines are gamaches, gaiters, panache, a
plume, relache, relaxation, and three or four
names of men, as bravache, a bully, &c.
Recompense. 8 in eiise, all feminine.
7.
Of 14 in onde, the only masculine
8.
Onde.
is

monde, the world.

9.

Of 48

Favorite.

in ite, all are feminine,

except the names of men, as satellite, Areopagite, &c., and merite, demerite, gite, site, and
rite.

10.

Rose.

15

in ose, all feminine.

3d

FRKNCIl NOUNS.
11.

Of

Tulipe.

lines are participe

12.

Jaimisse.

13.

Mine.

12 in

j/je,

the only mascu-

and principe.
14 in

feminine.
feminine, except

isse, all

157 in ine,

all

le platine, platina.

14.

Pique.

There are 116 nouns \n ique.

are 26 designations

The masculine exceptions

of

men,

as ecclesiastique, laique,

Sec, with por-

cards, topique, tropique, cantique, distique, eraetique, narcotique,

tique, a portico, pique,

at

and viatique.

Of 123 in elle, the only

15.
Mademoiselle.
masculines are libelle, a libel, vermicelle, vermicelli, isabelle, a colour, and violoucelle, a violoncello.
Les fiddles, true believers, is masc.
16.
Place.
27 in ace, all feminine, except
espace, a space.
19 in aiide, all feminine.
Roiigeaiale.
1718.
Idole.
Of 70 in olc, all are feminine,
except symbole, mole, a dyke, monopole, a monopoly, pole, role, protocole, and capitole.
19.
Folic.
12 in olle, all feminine.
20.
Rime. 28 in ime, all feminine, except
regime, crime, centime, and dime, a tithable
district; but dime, tithe, is feminine.
Raison.
21.
41 in aison, all feminine, without exception.
22.
Robe.
7 i" ohe and ohbe, all feminine,
but lobe and globe.
Guirlande.
23.
Of 37 in ande, the only
masculine is le multiplicande.
24.
Boiccle. 3 in oncle, all feminine.
E.vcusc.
in use, all feminine.
25.
1 1
26.

('olere.

Of

73 nouns

the
i>

in

ere,

the

6BNDBRS OF

40

masculine exceptions are 7 designations of men,

with visceres, mystere, ministere, cautere, adultere, ulcere, cratere, caractere, hemisphere,
monastere, and a few words of very rare occurrence.
27.

Of 50

Rivale.

in

ale,

and 12

in

idle,

are feminine but scandale, intervalle, ovale,

petale, and the compounds of balle.
all

28.
the

47 in ote, all feminine except

men, antidote, and vote.
Pimheche. 47 in ecAe, all feminine, but
Nabote.

names

of

29.
pr6che, a sermon.
30.
Sottc. 37 in otte,

all

feminine but tire-

botte, a boot-jack.

31.

11

Vierge.

in

erge,

all

feminine but

cierg'e, a taper.

4 in ippe, all feminine.

Grippe.
32.
11 in atte, all feminine.
Natte.
33.
35 in ate, all feminine, except
Ingrate
34.
the names of men, with automate, an automaton,
Euphrate, the Euphrates, and stigmate, which
is used only when speaking of the marks of our
,

Saviour's wounds.

FRENCH NOUNS

41

THIRD FEMININE FABLE,

Which gives

La
Une

of 1406 Nouns.

ViLliAGEOISE ET LA BeLETTE.

villugeoise, (I)

Trouva

Une

the Geiider

ii,

force (2) d'attrcipes, (3)

enfin dans sa trappe, (4)

irapudente belette, (5)

Qui mangeait en goinfrade (6)

ses poulettes.

En phrase (7) adroite, la caj^tive (8) dit,

" O heWe pay sarnie ! (9) epargne ma vie:

Me

tuei' serait

grande injustice; (10)

Car des vermines je suis la destructrice,

Et de tes ;;(y/(^s (11) la sanvcgarde (12)

et

la

protectrice."

"Quelle

t;er'^o^e.'''

(13)

dit lafille:

"quelle his-

toire! (14)

Je mourrais de horde (15)

me

d'etre

si

niaise,

Que

de

De

(16)
poules confiees a ma charge (17) tu

Aux

laisser croire

telles fadaises!

fais la

guerre, (18)
Aussi sur que pleines de scve, (19)
Nourries de la bone (20) de la terre,

Les branches (21) d'une

citrouille (22) tu d'une

gadele (23) s'el^vent.

I)

SENDERS OF

42

Si tu n'eusses pas use defeitites, (24)

Je ne t'aurais point punie

Mais je n'ecoute plus tes

A
Tu

plaintes, (25)

cause (26) de ton hypocrisie.

n'apportes dans ma cabane (27) que plaies

(28) et bosses; (29)

mes noces, (30)

Trompeuse ,{3\)tu raourras !" et puis, sur la tfite,
Notre hegueule, (32) avec une w.aiUoche, (33)
Et, aussi sur que j'espfere aller h

assomma

la b6te.

FRENCH NOUNS.

43

NOTES TO THE
THIRD FEMININE FABLE.
1.

and 2

There are 17 nouns

yUlageoise.

in oise,

in olsse, all feminine.

2.
Force.
vorce.

i"

orce,

all

feminine

but

3.
Attrape.
14 in ape, all feminine
Pape, and satrape, masculines absolute.
4.
Truppe.
8 in appe, all feminine.

di-

but

Belefte.
5.
Of 276 in ette, the only masculines are amulette, sqnelette, and three compound

words, as porte-mouchettes, a snuffer-tray.

The

learner will observe, that words compounded of

a verb and a substantive, are masculine, even
though the noun be feminine, as porte-Iettre,
tire-balle, casse-noisette. &c.
6.
Goinfrade.
Of 139 nouns in ade, stade,
jade, and grade, are the only masculines.
Phrase.
Of 23 in use, vase, a vase, gym7.
nase, Pegase, and Caucase, are the only masc.
8.
Captive.
Of 43 in ivc, all are feminine
but convive, a male guest but we say, II faut 6tre
sur le qui vive, we must be on the alert.
9.
Pai/sanne.
13 in anne, all feminine.
10.
Injustice.
There are 142 in ice. The
masculine exceptions are rather numerous, but
may be easily fixed. Remember that, except
1 1
all the feminines in ice designate women.
These 1 1 feminines are malice, niilice, dtiices,
:

notice, police, lice, avarice, ^pice, justice, injus-

D 4

GENDERS OF

44

and premices.

Therefore, except these

learner meets with a noun in ice,
that does not name a female, he will know it to

tice,
1

when the

be masculine.
11.
Poule.
moule, a model.
12.

13

in

Saiwegarde.

oide,

37

all

arde,

in

feminine
all

but

feminine

but pericarde.
14 in ogne, all feminine but
Vergogne.
13.
Bourgogne, Burgundy, where vin is ixnderstood.
There are 80 words in oire.
Hlstolre.
14.
This is the most diflBcult ending in the language,

many masculines as femilearner must remember, that all

places in which any persons assemble, are masculine ; as refectoire, a refectory ; all law and
church terras are masculine ; as offertoire, the
oflFertory, petitoire, an action at law; and the
as there are nearly as

nines.

The

remaining masculines in oire must be committed

memory; boire, ivoire, vomitoire, deboire,

genitoires, purgatoire, territoire, and machica-

to

toire.

12 in onte, all feminine, but

Honte.
15.
conte, a story.
Fadaise. 15 in wis/?, all feminine, except
16.
malaise, mesaise.
8 in arge, all feminine: but
Charge.
17.
we say, le large, the offing.
Of 12 in erre, the masculines
Guerre.
18.
are cimeterre, verre, parterre, and tonnerre.
12 in eve, all feminine, but rfeve
Seve.
19.

and

elfeve.

Elfeve is both

Boue. 23
Branches
21.

20

in

masculine and feminine.

one,

14

in

feminine.
nnche, all feminine,

all

FRENCH NOUNS.

45

but Dinianche and mancbe, a handle: manche is

feminine when it means a sleeve.
22.
Citrouille.
18 in oui/lc, all feminine.
23.
Gadl'le.
Of 19 in cle, the masculines
are zfele, modfele, parallele, a comparison, and
infidfele.

24.
Fcintes.
12 in ehite, all feminine.
25. Pluhites.
6 in a'mte, all feminine.
26.
Cause. 3 in mtse, 3 in ausse, all feminine.
Cahane.
Of 50 nouns in ane, .all are
27.
feminine, but ane, an ass, crane, the skull, manes,
ghosts, organe, filigrane, arcane, and plane, a
plane-tree.
28.
Plaie.
49 in aie, all feminine, without
exception.
29.
Bosse.
Of 12 in osse, the only masculines are carosse and colosse.
30. Noces. 7 ill oce, all feminine but negoce
and sacerdoce.
31.
Trompeuse. There are 263 nouns in
euse, all feminine, without exception : they almost all designate females.
32.
Begueide.
10 in eide, all feminine.
33.
MaiUoche. I'here are 30 nouns in oche,
all feminine, but proche, reproche, coche, medianoche, and loche, a loach.

The

pupil, having

fixed in the

nine

memory

nouns.
1 could

learned thus far, f/ill have

the genders of 6917 femi-

There remain about 210 more,

not introduce
many of these are
designations of females; as une dagorne, a shrew,

which

d5


6BNDERS OF

46

veuve, a widow, ferame, a woman, sage-femme,

a midwife, and the like, the gender of which is
instantly obvious.
The rest are added in the
following

list:

Feminine Words in

mute, not comprehended in

the jireceding Rules.

Une bague, a ring

Une lieue, a league
Uue eclipse, an eclipse
Une queue, a tail
Une meute, a pack of hounds Une toufFe, a tuft
Une huppe, a tuft
Une preuve, a proof
Une perruque, a peruke
Une ceuvre, a deed
Une manoeuvre, a manoeuvre La lutte, wrestling
Une liutte, a hut
Une fievre, a fever
Une fugue, a fugue
Une levre, a lip
Une couple, a couple
Une bible, a bible
Une source, a source
Une fibre, a fibre
Une bourse, a purse
Une affiche, a placard
La bourbe, mud
Une corniche, a cornice
La fourbe, deceit
Une miche, a roll
Les annonces, the banns
Une niche, a niche
La provende, provender
Des bribes, scraps
Une
legende, a legend
spectacles
besides,
Des
Une amende, a fine
Une ferme, a farm
La tempe, a temple
Une citerne, a cistern
Une larme, a tear
Une lanterne, a lantern
Une alarnie, an alarm
Une caserne, barracks
Les amies, weapons
La gouverne, direction
Une giljerne, a cartridge-box Une harpe, a harp
Une carpe, a carp
Une serpe, a bill-book
Unecontroverse,acontroversyUne remarque, a remark
Une barque, a bark
La perte, loss
L'ainc, the soul
L'alei te, alarm

Une cellule, a cell

La cuticule, the cuticle
La mule, the Pope's slipper
Une pilule, a pill
Une virgule, a comma
Une cataracte, a cataract
Une peninsule, a peninsula
L'epacte, the epact
Une montagne, a mountain Une pendule, a clock
Le campagne, the country La Sauge, sage
Une ch&taigne, a chestnut L'ebenc, ebony
Une

decouverte, a discovery

Des conserves, preserves

Des verves, whims
Une drachme, a dram

FRENCH NOUNS.
La vergne, a sliip's yard
Unc vague, a wave
Une aile, a wing
Une (lefaitc, a defeat
Une retraite, a retreat

Une
Une
Une

Les Alpes, the Alps

Une guepe, a wasp

Une goutte, a drop
Une boite, a box
La pointe, the point
Une bonibe, a bomb
Une colouibe, a dove
Une tombe, a monument
La peste, a plague
Une veste, a waistcoat

Une jupe, a petticoat

La fresqiie, fresco
Une horloge, a clock
Une loge, a lodge
La ponipe, pomp
La moelle, marrow
Une tourte, a fruit pie
La fange, dirt
La frange, fringe
Une grange, a barn
Une orange, an crangc

47

sc^ne, a scene
bibliotbeque, a library
valve, a valve
La leprc, leprosy
Les v^pres, vespers

Les cendres, ashes

Une reponse, an answer

Une

farce, a farce

Les louanges, praises

These nouns, with all those \n (se, arte, ourde,

and ampe, 28 in number, added to some female
designations, and a few words seldom used, com])lete the feminine list, which amounts to 7133.
This number, added to the masculines, 8415,
will give the total amount of the French nouns,
l.>,,')48;
a calculation which, I believe, agrees
as nearly as possible witli those made by the
French grammarians.
As soon as tlie learner has committed the six
fables to memory, he ought to exercise himself
This may be done
in the nppUcation of them.
by liis teacher taking a dictionary, and calling the
nouns, while the pupil, as each word is called,
refers it in his memory to the guiding word in the
A very
fable, and answers as to the gender.
practice will enable him to refer in a moment to a word in the fables that ends like the
word he wants to know the gender of. For in-

little

GENDERS OF

48

Stance, suppose the word asked be haleiiie, the

breath, his memory will refer it to reine, or
peine, and, as these words occur in the fable
about the qaeen of the rose, a female, he will
know a1, once that haleine is feminine.
Gibier, game, he would refer to sangUer

enfance and esperance, to

to cheval;
chance; gravite to beaute ; fente to attente
carquois, to bois ; and so of the rest.

metal,

The following list comprehends all those nouns

which the French make masculine in one signiI should refication, and feminine in the other.
commend students who have made some progress
in the language, to copy them all three or four
times, as the surest method of impressing them
on the memory

IJne aide, help

aide, an assistant, as aide-de-camp
aigle, an eagle
L'aigle Imperiale, a standard, /em.
L'aise, comfort, eascj/f^m.
Le malaise, discomfort
Un aune, an alder-tree
Une aune, an ell measure
Un barbe, a Barbary horse
Une barbe, a beard
Un barde, a bard, a poet
La barde, a slice of bacon roasted with a fowl

Un
Un

Un

Basque, a Biscayan

Une

basque, a skirt
berce, a bird
Une berce, a plant
Un braque, a setting dog

Un

FRENCH NOUNb.
l^es braques, /6'/u. the

49

claws of shell-fish

Uii c^pre, a privateer

line capre, a caper

Le caraque, cocoa
Une caraque, a carrack, a kind of ship
Le carpe, the wrist
Une carpe, a carp
Un cartouche, an ornament in designings
Une cartouche, a cartridge

Le Champagne,
La Champagne,

a French wine
a province of France
Un coche, a waggon, a passage-boat
Une coche, an old sow, a notch

Le conretable,the Lord High Constable of Francs

La connetable, his lady

Un
Une

couple, a man and his wife

couple, a pair, a brace

Le clir^me, or cr6me, consecrated

Le cr^me de tarte, a drug
La cr^me, cream

Un

critique,

oil

a critic

Une critique, a criticism

Une dame, a lady
Le dame dame,
Le,

La

a sort of cheese

double, a duplicate, twice the value

double, the second stomach of a ruminatinjf

animal
enseigne, an ensign, an officer
Une enseigne, a flag, a token
Un exemple, an example, a precedent
Une exemple, a writing copy, apattern
Le faux, falsehood
La faux, a scythe
Le fin, the main point

Un

La

fin,

the end

6ENDBRS OF

50

Le

follicule, the gall bladder

LafoUicule, the seed-vessel in plants
Un forfet, a gimlet

Une

for^t, a forest

Un foudre,
Un foudre

a tun-vessel, a wine-butt
de guerre, a thunderbolt of

great warrior
Une foudre, a thunderbolt
La foudre de Dieu, the wrath of
Un fourbe, a swindler

war, a

God

La

fourbe, knavery, deceit

garde, a guardsman
Une garde, a defence
Le grefFe, a register

Un

La

a graft

greflfe,

in heraldry, mas.
gueule, the jaws of a beast
Un guide, a guide
Une guide, a rein
Le haute-paye, a soldier in extra pay
La haute-paye, extra pay
Un heliotrope, a sun-flower
Une heliotrope, a spotted precious stone
Un hymne, a chant of the ancients
Une hymne, a Christian hymn

Les gueules, gules,

La

Un

iris,

Une

iris,

a rainbow
the circle round the pupil of the eye

Les larves, mas.

Jia larve, a

Une

worm

evil spirits

or grub

ligne, a line

Un
Un

litre, a

Un

livre, a

interligne, a space between lines

measure for liquids
Une litre, mourning hangings used in churches

Une

book
pound weight,

livre, a

a piece of

money

FRENCH SOVNS.

Un manche, a lumdle
Une manche, a sleeve,

51

the straits of Dover

Un

manoeuvre, a bricklayers m^n

Une manoeuvre, a manoeuvre
Un martyre, a martyrdom
Une martyre, a female martyr

Un

matamore, a boaster

Une matamore,

Un memoire,

a slave-prison
a memoir, a

bill,

La memoire, the memory

Un mire, a boar five years old
Une mire, an aim, the button at

memorandum

tlie

muzzle of a

gun to take aim by

Un mode, a mood, accident
La mode, fashion, custom

Un

mole, a pier, a mole, a dyke

Une mole, a tympany,

La mort, death

a false idea

Un
Un

mort, a corpse, a dead man

moufle, a pulley, a set of pulleys
Une moufle, a mitten
Un moule, a model, a pattern, an example
Une moule, a muscle, a shell fish
L^n mousse, a ship hoy

La mousse, moss,

froth

Un

novice, a novice, a cabin-boy

Une novice, a female preparing to take the veil,
a

Une
Une

nun expectant

nuit, a night

malenuit, a restless night

]je

midnight
grand ouivre, the philosopher's stone

I'll

rpiivre,

liC

niinuit,

a literary

work

hors dVpuvre, vuis. small ragouts, side disliei

Uiip oMivre, an action, a work, a deed

Ii's

52

GENDERS OF

Un ombre, a sort of fish like the salmon

L'ombre, mas., a game at cards
Une ombre, a shadow, a ghost
Les ombres, mas., is applied to uninvited

visitors

introduced to a feast in ancient Home, by

the invited guests
Un orgue, an organ
Les org\ies,fem., a pair of organs
L'orge,/(?m., barley
L'orgemonde, peeled barley
Un page, a page, an attendant, a shij) boy
Une page, a page in a book

Un

paillasse, a theatrical

Une

clown

paillasse, a mattress

Un

palme, a measure of length

an advantage
Un panache, a plume
Une panache, a pea-hen

Une palme,

Un pantomime,

Une pantomime,

Un

parallele, a

pantomime player
pantomime

comparison

Une parallele, a parallel line

Le passe passe, juggling
Une passe, a pass in fencing,

Un

a hen-sparrow

pendule, a pendulum
Une pendule, a clock
Le periode, the height
La periode, an epoch, a period
Personne, mas., nobody
Une personne, a person
Un pique, a spade, at cards
Un pique nique, a pic nic, a party where each
contributes prvisions
Une pique, a spear, a quarrel

FRENCH NOUNS.

53

Un

pivoine, a kind of snipe, a gnat-snapper

pivoine, peony, a plant
Un plane, a plane-tree
Une plane, a plane, a carpenter's tool

La

Le
La

platine, platina, a metal

which a watch movement

fastened, a copper-plate
Un plinthe, a squared body of soldiers
Une plinthe, a plinth, in architecture
U'^n pocle, a stove, a coffin pall
Une poele, a frying-pan
Un Polacre, a Polish gentleman
Une polacre, a polacca, a vessel in common use
platina, the plate to
is

in the

Mediterranean

Le ponte punto, one who gambles

La

ponte, the laying of eggs

Un

poste, a station, a situation, office

La jioste, the post-office, tlie mail, travelling post

Le pourpre, purple, the purples, or spotted fever
La pourpre, used figuratively for the power and
dignity of a king, pope, cardinal, &c.
pretexte, a j)retence, a pretext
La pretexte, an ancient Roman dress
Un piipille, a male pupil
Une pupille, the apple of the eye, a female pupil
Un regale, an organ pipe
La regale, the holding a vacant bishopric
Le relache, relaxation
Une relaclie, tlie touching at a sea-port
Un remise, a glass coach
Une remise, a coaeh-house
Le serpentaire, a coni-tellation
La serpentaire, draggon-wort
Le sinoplo, vert in heraldry, a chalk
La sinople, anemone, a flower

Un

FRENCH

54

Le
La

NOUN'S,

solde, payment, balance of an account

solde, the pay of a soldier

Un somme,
Une somme,

Un

a sleep, a nap

sum

of

money,

a load

souris, a smile

Une souris, a mouse

Une syllabe, a syllable
Un monosyllabe, a monosyllable

Un

poly syllabe, a polysyllable

La
La
Le
La

terre, the earth

terre a terre, short leaps of a horse

rezterre, a surface even with the ground
tete, the

head

Un
Un

tete-a-t6te, a tete-a-tete
torse, a torso, a mutilated statue
Une torse, a turner's tool
Un tour, a turn, trick, lathe

Une

tour, a tower, rook at chess

triomphe, a triumph, victory
Une triomphe, a trump card, a game
Un trompette, a trumpeter
Une trompette, a trumpet
Le vague, empty space
La vague, a wave

Un

Un
La

Un

at

vase, a vase
vase, slime, mud
vis-Jl-vis, a carriage

Une vis, a screw

Un voile, a veil, a
Une voile, a sail

cover

R. Richards, Printer, 39, Clement'i Laae.

cards

ih^
4<'^

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