French grammar and French grammar and grammatical analysisgrammatical analysis

Lecture 3Lecture 3

Words and sentence structureWords and sentence structure

Today’s lectureToday’s lecture

(1) Words: recap on:(1) Words: recap on: meaningmeaning parts of speechparts of speech functionfunction formform

(2) Structure of the sentence: (2) Structure of the sentence: the noun phrasethe noun phrase

What’s in a word?What’s in a word?

When you learn French, you must When you learn French, you must look at each word in four ways:look at each word in four ways:

MeaningMeaning Part of speechPart of speech FunctionFunction FormForm

(1)(1) MeaningMeaning

An English word may be connected An English word may be connected to a French word that has a similar to a French word that has a similar meaning:meaning:

boy, a young male child, has the same boy, a young male child, has the same meaning as the French word meaning as the French word garçongarçon

idiomatic expressionsidiomatic expressions

expressions in which the meaning of expressions in which the meaning of a group of words is different from the a group of words is different from the meaning of the words taken meaning of the words taken individually.individually.

e.g. to fall asleepe.g. to fall asleep to take a walkto take a walk

(2) Parts of speech(2) Parts of speech

In English and French words are In English and French words are grouped according to how they are used grouped according to how they are used in a sentence.in a sentence.

There are eight groups corresponding to There are eight groups corresponding to eight parts of speech:eight parts of speech:

nounsnouns articlesarticles verbsverbs adverbsadverbs pronounspronouns prepositionsprepositions adjectivesadjectives conjunctionsconjunctions

In order to choose the correct In order to choose the correct French equivalent of and English French equivalent of and English word, you will have to identify its word, you will have to identify its part of speech.part of speech.

e.g. ‘plays’ e.g. ‘plays’ John plays squashJohn plays squashverb =verb =

John likes playsJohn likes playsnoun =noun =

(3) Function(3) Function

In English and French the role a word In English and French the role a word plays in a sentence is called its plays in a sentence is called its function.function.

Nouns can have the following Nouns can have the following functions:functions:

subjectsubject direct objectdirect object indirect objectindirect object object of a prepositionobject of a preposition

Identify the function of Identify the function of ‘him’‘him’

John sees John sees himhim

John gives John gives himhim the book the book

(4) Form(4) Form

In English and French, a word can In English and French, a word can influence the form of another word, influence the form of another word, that is, its spelling and that is, its spelling and pronunciation.pronunciation.

This matching is called ‘agreement’ This matching is called ‘agreement’ and it is said that one word ‘agrees’ and it is said that one word ‘agrees’ with another.with another.

Sentence structureSentence structure

Syntactic rules Syntactic rules

Syntactic categoriesSyntactic categories

Syntactic rulesSyntactic rules

determine the order of words in a determine the order of words in a sentencesentence

Syntactic categories Syntactic categories (1) the Noun Phrase(1) the Noun Phrase NP’s always contain some form of a NP’s always contain some form of a

noun.noun. e.g. Noun phrase (NP) - may function as e.g. Noun phrase (NP) - may function as

‘subject’ or ‘object’ in a sentence, and ‘subject’ or ‘object’ in a sentence, and only NP's may do so.only NP's may do so.

NounsNouns

What is a noun?What is a noun? person, animal, place, thing, event, ideaperson, animal, place, thing, event, idea common noun/proper noun/pronouncommon noun/proper noun/pronoun

Terms used to talk about Terms used to talk about nouns:nouns:

gendergender numbernumber count or non-countcount or non-count function (subject, object)function (subject, object)

What is gender?What is gender?

In English, nouns themselves do not In English, nouns themselves do not have a gender, but sometimes their have a gender, but sometimes their meaning indicates a gender based meaning indicates a gender based on the biological sex of the person or on the biological sex of the person or animal the noun stands for.animal the noun stands for.

In French, all nouns have a In French, all nouns have a grammatical gendergrammatical gender; they are ; they are either masculine or feminineeither masculine or feminine

What is number?What is number?

When a word refers to one person or When a word refers to one person or thing it is singularthing it is singular

When a word refers to more than When a word refers to more than one it is pluralone it is plural

Collective nouns refer to a group of Collective nouns refer to a group of persons or things but they are persons or things but they are considered to be singular, e.g. considered to be singular, e.g. aa JF JF language class language class hashas 10-12 people in 10-12 people in it.it.

Count vs Non-count nounsCount vs Non-count nouns

(1)(1) Count nouns: nouns which designate objects Count nouns: nouns which designate objects which can be counted.which can be counted.

(2)(2) Non-count nouns: nouns which designate an Non-count nouns: nouns which designate an object which cannot be counted.object which cannot be counted.

French Articles:French Articles:Les articles françaisLes articles français

As a general rule, if you have a noun As a general rule, if you have a noun in French, there is virtually always in French, there is virtually always an article in front of it, unless you an article in front of it, unless you use a possessive (use a possessive (mon, tonmon, ton, etc.), , etc.), demonstrative (demonstrative (ce, cettece, cette, etc.), or , etc.), or some other determiner. some other determiner.

French Articles:French Articles:Les articles françaisLes articles français

There are three kinds of articles in There are three kinds of articles in French:French:

definite articles definite articles indefinite articles indefinite articles partitive articles partitive articles

French articlesFrench articles

DefiniteDefinite IndefiniteIndefinite PartitivePartitive

MascMasc lele un un dudu

FemFem

Before Before vowelvowel

PluralPlural

French articlesFrench articles

DefiniteDefinite IndefiniteIndefinite PartitivePartitive

MascMasc lele unun dudu

FemFem lala uneune de lade la

Before Before vowelvowel

l’l’ un’/uneun’/une de l’de l’

PluralPlural lesles desdes desdes

French Definite ArticlesFrench Definite ArticlesLes articles définisLes articles définis

The French The French definitedefinite article article corresponds to corresponds to thethe in English. in English.

There are four forms of the French There are four forms of the French definitedefinite article: article:

French Definite ArticlesFrench Definite ArticlesLes articles définisLes articles définis

SingularSingular

PluralPlural

mascmasc femfem before before vowelvowel

lele lala l’l’ lesles

le garle garçonçon

le ple pèreèrela fillela fille

la mla mèreèrel’amil’ami

l’hommel’hommeles les filles filles

Indefinite articles: Indefinite articles: singularsingular formsforms The singular The singular indefiniteindefinite articles in articles in

French correspond to French correspond to aa, , anan, or , or oneone in English. in English.

un un andand une une: the singular has a : the singular has a different form for masculine and different form for masculine and feminine. feminine.

Indefinite articles: plural formIndefinite articles: plural form

The plural indefinite article The plural indefinite article corresponds to corresponds to some some in English. in English.

desdes: the plural indefinite article is : the plural indefinite article is the same for masculine and feminine the same for masculine and feminine nouns.nouns.

French indefinite articlesFrench indefinite articles

SingularSingular PluralPlural

MascMasc FemFem

unun uneune desdes

un garun garçonçon une filleune fille des gardes garçonsçons

un amiun ami une amieune amie des fillesdes filles

Meaning and usage of the Meaning and usage of the French indefinite article: French indefinite article: singular formsingular form The The indefiniteindefinite article usually refers article usually refers

to an unspecified person or thing.to an unspecified person or thing. I found a book.I found a book.

He wants an apple.He wants an apple.

Plural Indefinite articlePlural Indefinite article

The plural The plural indefiniteindefinite article means article means somesome::

I bought some apples.I bought some apples.Do you want some books?Do you want some books?

Indefinite articleIndefinite article

When referring to a person's When referring to a person's profession or religion, the profession or religion, the indefiniteindefinite is not used in French, although it is is not used in French, although it is used in English:used in English:

Je suis professeurJe suis professeur - I am a teacher. - I am a teacher.Il va être médecinIl va être médecin - He's going to be - He's going to be a doctor.a doctor.

Indefinite articleIndefinite article

In a negative construction, the In a negative construction, the indefinite articleindefinite article changes to changes to dede, , meaning meaning anyany::

I have an apple ==> I don't have I have an apple ==> I don't have any apples.any apples.