A reference grammar of French

802 Pages·2011·3.769 MB·English

by  Chebli-Saadi, M., Batchelor, Ronald Ernest

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AReferenceGrammarofFrench
AReferenceGrammarofFrenchisalively,wide-rangingand
originalhandbookonthestructureoftheFrenchlanguage.It
includesnewinformationonregister,pronunciation,gender,
number,foreignwords(Latin,Arabic,English,Spanish,
Italian),adjectivesandpastparticiplesusedasnouns,texting,
wordorder,frequencyofoccurrenceofwords,andusagewith
allgeographicalnames.ExamplescomenotonlyfromFrance,
butalsofromQuebec,BelgiumandSwitzerland.Readerswill
appreciatetheinitialpassagesillustratingthegrammatical
featuresofagivenchapter.Alsoincludedisauser-friendly
introductiontotheFrenchlanguage,fromitsLatinoriginsto
moderntimes.Afullglossaryexplainsanytermsthatmight
confusethelessexperiencedreader,andtheindexleadsthe
studentthroughthedetailedlabyrinthofgrammatical
features.Thishandbookwillbeaninvaluableresourcefor
studentsandteacherswhowanttoperfecttheirknowledgeof
allaspectsofFrenchgrammar.
r. e. batchelor taughtFrenchandSpanishforfortyyears
intheDepartmentofModernLanguagesattheUniversityof
Nottingham.Hehaspublishedthirteenbooks,someonthe
Frenchlanguage,withsecondandthirdeditions.
m. chebli-saadi isaseniorlecturer-researcheratthe
Universit´eStendhalGrenoble3.Shehaspublishedmany
articles,booksanddictionaries,andhasalongexperiencein
teachingFrenchtoforeignstudents,notablyfromtheUSA.

A Reference Grammar of
French
R. E. BATCHELOR
UniversityofNottingham
M. CHEBLI-SAADI
Universit´eStendhalGrenoble3
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521145114
(cid:2)c R.E.BatchelorandM.Chebli-Saadi2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Batchelor,R.E.(RonaldErnest)
AreferencegrammarofFrench/R.E.Batchelor,M.Chebli-Saadi.
p. cm.–(Referencegrammars)
TextinEnglishandFrench.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-521-19673-4(hardback)
1.Frenchlanguage–Grammar. 2.Frenchlanguage–Textbooksforforeignspeakers.
I.Chebli-Saadi,M. II.Title.
PC2111.B35793 2011
448.2(cid:3)421–dc22 2011009498
ISBN978-0-521-19673-4Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-14511-4Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents / Table des mati`eres
Preface/Pr´eface pageix
Acknowledgments/Remerciements xiii
BriefintroductiontotheFrenchlanguage(withreferencetothe
Frenchoffrancophonecountries)/Br`eveintroductiona`la
languefran¸caise(avecr´ef´erenceaufran¸caisdespays
francophones) 1
PartI
1. Register/Leregistre 15
2. Alphabet,spelling,pronunciation/L’alphabet,l’orthographe,
laprononciation 25
3. Writtenaccents/Lesaccents´ecrits 71
4. Punctuation,font,upperandlowercase/Laponctuation,
lapolicedecaract`eres,lesmajusculesetminuscules 76
5. Agreement/L’accord 90
PartII
6. Thedefinitearticle/L’articled´efini 101
7. Theindefinitearticle/L’articleind´efini 110
8. Thepartitivearticle/L’articlepartitif 113
9. Gender/Legenre 119
10. Number(singularandplural)/Lenombre(singulieretpluriel) 156
PartIII
11. Verbsandmoodsofverbs/Lesverbesetlesmodesdesverbes 177
12. Infinitive,perfectinfinitive/L’infinitif,l’infinitifpass´e 183
13. Presenttense/Lepr´esent 190
14. Perfecttenseandagreementofthepastparticiple/Lepass´e
compos´eetl’accordduparticipepass´e 195
v
vi Contents
15. Irregularpastparticiples/Lesparticipespass´esirr´eguliers 209
16. Pastparticiplesusedasnouns/Lesparticipespass´esconsid´er´es
commenoms 214
17. Ablativeabsolute(absoluteuseofthepastparticiple)/L’ablatif
absolu(usageabsoluduparticipepass´e) 224
18. Verb+infinitivewhenverb+that+subordinateclauseisused
inEnglish/Verbe+infinitiflorsqu’unverbe+that+
propositionsubordonn´ees’emploieenanglais 229
19. Pluperfecttense/Leplus-que-parfait 233
20. Pastanteriortense/Lepass´eant´erieur 238
21. Imperfecttense/L’imparfait 239
22. Preterittense/Lepass´esimple 246
23. Contrastsbetweentheperfecttense,preterittenseandimperfect
tense/Lescontrastesentrelepass´ecompos´e,lepass´esimpleet
l’imparfait 250
24. Futuretense/Lefutur 255
25. Futureperfecttense/Lefuturant´erieur 260
26. Conditionaltense/Leconditionnel 262
27. Conditionalperfecttense/Leconditionnelpass´e 267
28. Progressivetense,presentparticiple,gerund/Letemps
progressif,leparticipepr´esent,leg´erondif 271
29. Imperativemood/Lemodeimp´eratif 278
30. Irregularverbs/Lesverbesirr´eguliers 289
31. Verbsofthe–ertypewithorthographicchanges/Lesverbesen
–eravecmodificationsorthographiques 303
32. Transitiveandintransitiveverbs/Lesverbestransitifset
intransitifs 308
33. Reflexiveverbs/Lesverbespronominaux 314
34. Passivevoice/Lavoixpassive 325
35. Defectiveverbs/Lesverbesd´efectifs 333
36. Modalverbs/Lesauxiliairesmodaux 339
37. Ellipsisofverbsinmainandsubordinateclauses/L’ellipse
duverbedanslapropositionprincipaleetlaproposition
subordonn´ee 350
38. Idiomaticusesofaller,avoir,ˆetre,faireandprendre/Les
expressionsidiomatiquesconcernantaller,avoir,eˆtre,faireet
prendre 356
Contents vii
39. Impersonalverbs/Lesverbesimpersonnels 376
40. Verbsofperception+infinitiveorasubordinateclause/Les
verbesdeperception+infinitifouuneproposition
subordonn´ee 383
41. Subordinateclausesoftime/Lapropositionsubordonn´ee
detemps 386
42. Complexverbalexpressions/Lesexpressionsverbalescomplexes 391
43. Verbsofmovement/Lesverbesdemouvement 402
PartIV
44. Subjunctivemood/Lemodedusubjonctif 409
PartV
45. Personalpronounsandpronounsasobjects/Lespronoms
personnels,lespronomscommeobjets 435
46. Thepronounsenandy/Lespronomsenety 452
47. Possessiveadjectivesandpossessivepronouns/Lesadjectifs
possessifsetlespronomspossessifs 460
48. Possessiveadjectives,definitearticlesandusagewithpartsofthe
bodyandwithclothes/Lesadjectifspossessifs,lesarticles
d´efinisetl’usageconcernantlespartiesducorpsetles
vˆetements 467
49. Relativepronouns/Lespronomsrelatifs 472
50. Interrogativepronouns,adjectivesandadverbs/Lespronoms,les
adjectifsetlesadverbesinterrogatifs 484
51. Inversion/L’inversion 494
PartVI
52. Adjectives/Lesadjectifs 505
53. Adverbs/Lesadverbes 522
54. Comparativeadjectives,adverbsandnouns/Lesadjectifs,les
adverbesetlesnomscomparatifs 540
55. Superlativeadjectives,adverbsandnouns/Lesadjectifs,les
adverbesetlesnomssuperlatifs 548
PartVII
56. Prepositions/Lespr´epositions 557
viii Contents
PartVIII
57. Demonstrativeadjectives/Lesadjectifsd´emonstratifs 609
58. Demonstrativepronouns/Lespronomsd´emonstratifs 613
59. Indefinitepronounsandadjectives,andtoutasanadverb/Les
pronomsetlesadjectifsind´efinis,ettoutcommeadverbe 618
PartIX
60. Conjunctions/Lesconjonctions 629
61. Negation/Lan´egation 635
62. Numbers,time,measurements/Lesnombres,letemps,les
mesures 644
63. Wordorder/L’ordredesmots 658
PartX
64. Namesofcontinents,countries,regions,states,provinces,rivers,
mountains,volcanoesandtheiruses/Lesnomsdecontinents,
pays,r´egions,´etats,provinces,fleuves,montagnes,volcanset
leurusage 675
65. Propernames/Lesnomspropres 686
66. Foreignwordsandborrowings/Lesmotsd’origine´etrang`ere
etlesmotsd’emprunt 692
67. Differencesinfrequencyofsimilarwordsinthetwolanguages/
Ladiff´erenceenfr´equenced’usagedanslesdeuxlangues 700
68. Miscellaneous:truncation,interjections,fillers,transitionwords,
formsofaddress,figuresofspeech,doublets,informal/
colloquiallanguageandslang,backslang/Divers:latroncation,
lesinterjections,lesformulesderemplissage,lesmotsde
transition,lesformulesdepolitesse,lesfiguresderh´etorique,
lesdoublets,lelangagefamilier/populaireetl’argot,leverlan 703
PartXI
Verbtables/Tableauxdesconjugaisons 719
Glossary/Glossaire 760
Bibliography/Bibliographie 773
Generalindex/Indexg´en´eral 776
Subjunctiveindex/Indexdumodesubjonctif 784