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§ 2.-POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.

Possessive pronouns take the place of the name of a person who possesses something. There are two sorts:-1. Some are always joined to the noun of the object possessed, and are called possessive adjectives by some grammarians, others represent the noun of the thing possessed.

1.-POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES.

2. The

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REMARKS.-1. The possessive adjectives agree with the object pos.. sessed, and must be repeated before every noun, as: son père et sa mère, his or her father and mother.

2. For the sake of euphony, mon, ton, son are used instead of ma, ta, sa before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel or h mute, as:mon amitié, instead of ma amitié, my friendship; son histoire, instead of sa histoire, his or her history.

3. Leur is possessive when placed before a noun: leur cheval, their horse; leurs chevaux, their horses;-and personal when joined to a verb, as: Je leur parle, I speak to them; donnez-leur, give to them.

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REMARK.-Notre and votre, preceded by the article, take a circumflex, and are pronounced long, as: notre maison et la vôtre, our house and yours.

§ 3.-DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

Demonstrative pronouns represent the objects which are

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REMARK.-Ci for ici here, and là there, denote the nearer or the farther object, as: celui-ci est bon, mais celui-là est utile, This one is good, but that one is useful. The same particles are added to nouns, when we wish to indicate more particularly the objects, as:-ce livre-ci; cet homme-là; ces jours-ci.

§ 4.-RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

Relative pronouns relate to a noun or pronoun placed before, which is hence called the antecedent.

The relative pronouns are the following:

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où is used instead of lequel, etc., when preceded by a preposition. y-to it, and to him, to her, to them, therein, &c.

en-of it, or from it, and of him, of her, of them, some, any, &c.

EXAMPLES.

L'homme dont vous parlez est mon cousin.

La maison où je demeure est à vendre.

Vous venez du jardin, et j'y vais.

Je vais au jardin, et vous en venez.

Je parle de vous, et j'y pense encore davantage.

Je reçois votre lettre, et j'y réponds.

Vous avez des protecteurs, et je n'en ai aucun.

Il n'y a rien sur quoi les hommes aient tant disputé.

§ 5.-INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.

Relative pronouns are called interrogative, when used for interrogating, and they are then without an antecedent.

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Indefinite pronouns represent persons or things in a vague, indefinite manner. They are the following:

ON, from the Latin homo, homme, man, successively altered in hom, om, on, one, they, we, people, &c.

quelqu'un, quelqu'une, quelques-uns, quelques-unes, somebody, some one. chacun, chacune, each, every one.

quiconque, whoever, whosoever, any person, whatever.

qui que ce soit, or fût, whoever, any one.

quoi que ce soit, or fût, whatever.

l'un, l'une, les uns, les unes, the one.

l'autre, les autres, the other.

l'un l'autre, l'une l'autre, les uns les autres, les unes les autres, one another,

each other.

l'un et l'autre, l'une et l'autre, les uns et les autres, les unes et les autres, both, all.

autrui, others.

tel, telle, such, some.

tout, tous, all.

plusieurs, several.

aucun, aucune, (with ne) none, no one, not one;

any one.

nul, nulle, none, no one, nobody.

(without ne) any,

(without ne) any body,

any one.

rien, (with ne) nothing;

(without ne) any thing.

personne, (with ne) nobody, no one, not one;

EXAMPLES.

On forme le pluriel en ajoutant s au singulier. Quiconque se plaint cherche des consolations. Où l'un voit des chardons, l'autre aperçoit des roses. Faites à autrui ce que vous voulez qu'on vous fasse. Tel qui rit vendredi, dimanche pleurera. Nul, or aucun, or personne n'est prophète en son pays. Je doute que personne vienne. Je n'ai rien Avez-vous rien vu de plus beau ?

vu.

CHAPTER V.

VERBS.

A VERB is a word which expresses an action, as:-parler, to speak; courir, to run; recevoir, to receive; écrire, to write.

In order to facilitate the conjugating of a French verb, we divide it into two parts, called root or radical, and termination or final. Thus, in the above verbs the syllables parl, cour, recev, écri, are the roots; er, ir, oir, re, are the terminations.

The root remains generally the same throughout the whole conjugation of the verb, whilst the terminations vary according to the person, number, tense, and mood.

Verbs ending in er in the infinitive take the same terminations in all the tenses, and form one conjugation.

Nearly all verbs ending in ir, oir, re, in the infinitive, take the same terminations in all the tenses, and form the other conjugation.

If the pupil learns by heart the terminations of a single verb in each conjugation, he will know the terminations of all the other verbs.

First Conjugation.

VERBS IN er.

I.-INFINITIVE.-Chant-er, to sing.

II.—PARTICIPLE. { PRESENT-chant-ant, singing.

III.-INDICATIVE.

PAST

-chant-é, ée-sung.

IV.-IMPERATIVE.

PRESENT.

1. PRESENT.

I sing.

sing.

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chant-e.

il chant-e.

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