French Grammar
and Usage
French Grammar
and Usage
Second edition
Roger Hawkins
Senior Lecturer in Language and Linguistics,
University of Essex
Richard Towell
Professor of French Applied Linguistics, University of Salford
NATIVE SPEAKER CONSULTANT
Marie-Noëlle Lamy
Senior Lecturer, Open University
A member of the Hodder Headline Group
LONDON
Contents
Guide for the user xi
Glossary of key grammatical terms xiv
Acknowledgements xx
Acknowledgements for the second edition xxi
1 Nouns 1
1.1 Types of noun 1
1.2 Gender 5
1.3 Number 17
2 Determiners 23
2.1 Articles 23
2.2 Typical use of the definite article 24
2.3 Typical use of the indefinite article 29
2.4 The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des 32
2.5 Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative
forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère 33

5.3 Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment 101
5.4 Phrases used as adverbs 102
5.5 English and French adverb formation 104
5.6 Types of adverbs 104
5.7 Location of adverbs 122
6 Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers 126
6.1 Cardinal numbers 126
6.2 Ordinal numbers 133
6.3 Fractions 134
6.4 Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers
in French and English 135
6.5 Measurements and comparisons 138
6.6 Dates, days, years 140
6.7 Clock time 142
6.8 Money 143
6.9 Quantifiers 143
7 Verb forms 147
7.1 Introduction 147
7.2 Conjugations 148
7.3 Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms 149
7.4 Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs 152
7.5 Verbs whose stems end in c- or g- 153
7.6 Verb paradigms 154
8 Verb constructions 186
8.1 Relations between verbs and their complements 186
8.2 Intransitive constructions 186
8.3 Directly transitive verbs 188
8.4 Indirectly transitive verbs 190
8.5 Ditransitive verbs 192
8.6 The passive 194

Introduction
The present
The past
The future
Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur
relative to other events
Combining tenses
Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
Tenses with si
subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives
The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would',
'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
Exclamatives
Imperatives
12 The infinitive
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
12.5
12.6
12.7
12.8
12.9
12.10
12.11
Introduction: what are infinitives?
Infinitives as complements to other verbs

235
238
240
241
241
258
262
267
269
273
273
274
274
277
282
288
289
291
293
294
294
301
301
301
325
viii Contents
14 Question formation 332
14.1 Introduction 332
14.2 Yes/no questions 332
14.3 Information questions 336

16.11 ne... guère 376
16.12 ne... rien 377
16.13 ne... personne 378
16.14 ne... ni... ni 379
16.15 sans used with other negators 380
16.16 ne used alone 380
17 Conjunctions and other linking constructions 382
17.1 Introduction 382
17.2 Coordinating conjunctions 382
17.3 Subordinating conjunctions 384
Contents ix
17.4 Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers 394
17.5 Repeated subordinating conjunctions 395
17.6 Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses 396
17.7 après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause
to a main clause 397
17.8 Past participle phrases used as linkers 397
17.9 Present participles and gerunds 398
Appendix 402
Bibliography 405
Index 407
Glossary of key grammatical terms
Items in bold in the definitions are also defined in the glossary.
adjective - a class of words which modify nouns. Adjectives appear adjacent
to nouns or separated from them by verbs like être, devenir, rester: e.g. un
PETIT
problème 'a small problem'; une boîte CARRÉE 'a square box'; Cette
robe
est
CHÈRE 'This dress is expensive'.

cardinal number - a number in the series un (1), deux (2), trois (3), etc.
clause - a string of words which contains just one verb phrase and a subject
(whether overt or implied): e.g. ELLE PART 'She's leaving' - one clause; DEPUIS
JANVIER LES
PRIX
ONT AUGMENTÉ 'Since January, prices have gone up' - one
clause; IL EST HEUREUX/PARCE
QU'IL
EST
RICHE
'He is happy because he is rich'
- two clauses; ELLE EST PRÊTE/A PARTIR 'She is ready to leave' - two clauses
Glossary of key grammatical terms xv
(in à partir the subject is implied: She is ready, and she will leave); LES CIR-
CONSTANCES AIDANT/LE PARTI GAGNERA CES ÉLECTIONS 'If the conditions are right,
the party will win this election' - two clauses; II DIT/QU'ON CROIT/QU'ELLE VA
PARTIR 'He says that they think that she will leave' - three clauses. Also see
coordinate clause, relative clause, subordinate clause.
comparative - a way of modifying adjectives and adverbs to draw a com-
parison between one entity and another: // veut acheter une
PLUS
GRANDE/une
MOINS
GRANDE/une
AUSSI GRANDE voiture 'He wants to buy a bigger car/a car
which is not as big/a car which is just as big'; Cette voiture-ci roule
PLUS
VITE/MOINS VITE/AUSSI
VITE
QUE l'autre 'This car goes faster/slower/as quickly

...'),
reten-
tion of ne in ne . . . pas.
gender - a division of nouns into two classes: masculine and feminine. The
distinction shows up mainly in determiners (le versus la, ce versus cette, mon
versus ma, etc.), in pronouns (il versus elle) and in the agreement of adjec-
tives with nouns (beau versus belle). Gender distinctions are grammatical and
need not correspond to sex distinctions in the real world (although they
mostly do): e.g. médecin 'doctor' is masculine, but can refer to men or
women; personne 'person' is feminine but can refer to men or women.
gerund - see participle.
xvi Glossary of key grammatical terms
imperative - a form of the verb used to give orders, express encouragement
or
give advice:
e.g.
ASSEYEZ-VOUS!
'Sit
down!'; ALLEZ! 'Come on!';
FAIS
atten-
tion^. 'Watch out!'
impersonal - refers to a pronoun (usually a subject pronoun) which does not
refer to any person, place, thing, idea etc. il, ce, cela, ça can be impersonal
pronouns in French: e.g. IL est temps de partir 'It's time to leave'; ÇA me fait
peur d'y aller la nuit 'It scares me to go there at night'.
indicative - the set of forms of the verb which are not subjunctive, impera-
tive, infinitive or participial.
indirect object - see object.
indirectly transitive verb - see transitive verb.

manteau, UN manteau,
UN
manteau GRIS;
oiseau,
UN
oiseau,
UN
oiseau QUI CHANTE; parle, IL parle, IL parle LENTEMENT;
grand,
si grand,
ELLE
EST
SI grande.
negator - one of the elements aucun, jamais, ni, nul, pas, personne, plus, rien which
can create negative expressions (see Chapter 16).
noun - a class of words which refers to people, places, things, ideas, and so
on; it is
usually preceded
by a
determiner: e.g.
un AMI; la
FRANCE;
une
BIÈRE;
le BONHEUR.
noun phrase - the phrase consisting of a noun alone, or a noun and the ele-
ments which modify
it.
Each
of the

e.g. Il a
pris LE
TRAIN
'He
took
the
train';
17
L'a
pris 'He took it'. An indirect object is the noun phrase or pronoun affected
indirectly by the action described by the verb. In French, indirect object noun
phrases are always introduced by à: e.g. 17 a envoyé un cadeau À SA MÈRE 'He
sent a present to his mother'. An object of a preposition is any noun phrase
Glossary of key grammatical terms xvii
which follows a preposition, including indirect objects introduced by à: e.g.
dans LE HALL 'in the hall', à côté DU RESTAURANT 'beside the restaurant', à SA
MÈRE 'to his mother'.
object of a preposition - see object.
ordinal number - a number in the series premier (1er), deuxième (2e), troisième
(3e), etc.
parenthetical expression - an aside made by a speaker to indicate a reserva-
tion he/she has about what is being said. It is the equivalent of putting
something in brackets ('parentheses'): e.g. Pierre, SEMBLE-T-IL, a gagné le prix
'Pierre, it seems, won the prize'. Parentheticals are kinds of adverbial.
participle - past participles are forms of the verb which occur with avoir or
être:
e.g. J'ai MANGÉ 'I've eaten'; Elle est PARTIE 'She has left'. Present partici-
ples end in -ant and correspond to English verbs ending in -ing: e.g. dis-
paraissant 'disappearing', attendant 'waiting'. Gerunds are present participles
preceded by en: en disparaissant 'while disappearing; by disappearing', en

ment. The following are all prepositional phrases: À MIDI 'at noon'; À CHAQUE
VIRAGE 'at every bend'; AU CHEVET DE MA MÈRE 'at my mother's bedside'.
xviii Glossary of key grammatical terms
present participle - see participle.
pronoun - a form which is used in place of a noun phrase when that phrase
is already known from the context: e.g. je, tu, nous, le, la, leur, etc. Pronouns
have different forms depending on whether they are subjects, direct objects,
indirect objects or objects of a preposition.
proper noun - names like Marie-Paule, le Canada, are proper nouns.
quantifier - a determiner-like expression which measures or quantifies a noun
or noun phrase: e.g. BEAUCOUP D'argent 'a lot of money'; LA PLUPART DES spec-
tateurs 'most of the spectators'; TOUS les jours 'every day'.
question (direct versus indirect) - a direct question is addressed directly to the
hearer or reader: e.g. VIENS-TU? 'Are you coming?'. An indirect question
reports the asking of a question: e.g. Il a demandé si TU VENAIS 'He asked if
you were coming').
reciprocal - a type of sentence where either the direct object, the indirect object
or the object of a preposition refers to the same person, thing, idea, etc., as
a plural subject, and the sentence is intepreted so that the subjects are doing
things to each other: e.g. Les boxeurs SE sont blessés 'The boxers injured each
other'; Les participants SE sont posé des questions 'The participants asked each
other questions'; Les manifestants ont lutté LES UNS CONTRE LES AUTRES 'The
demonstrators fought with each other'.
reflexive - a type of sentence where either the direct object, the indirect object
or the object of a preposition refers to the same person, thing, idea, etc., as
the subject: e.g. Je ME lave T am washing (myself)'; Elle SE cache la vérité 'She
hides the truth from
herself;
Elle parle CONTRE
ELLE-MÊME

subordinate clause - a clause which is part of a larger sentence, and whose
meaning is secondary to that of the main clause: e.g. PARCE
QU'IL
EST RICHE,
Pierre est heureux 'Because he is rich, Pierre is happy' - parce qu'il est riche is
subordinate to Pierre est heureux; Jean a complètement rénové le grenier DEPUIS
QU'IL
EST CHEZ
NOUS
'Jean has completely renovated the loft since he has been
at our house' - depuis qu'il est chez nous is subordinate to jean a complètement
rénové le grenier.
Glossary of key grammatical terms xix
superlative - a way of modifying adjectives and adverbs to single out an entity
as the best or the worst of its kind: e.g.
C'est
la route LA PLUS DANGEREUSE/LA
MOINS
DANGEREUSE de la région 'It's the most dangerous road/least dangerous
road in the region'; Cette voiture-là est LA
PLUS
VITE/LA
MOINS
VITE
'That car is
the fastest/the least fast'.
tense - a form of the verb which indicates the time at which an event took
place relative to other events being talked about: e.g. Je PRENDS [present
tense] la route par où nous SOMMES
VENUS

bonbon (m)
cadeau (m)
carte (f)
disque (m)
église (f)
livre (m)
mannequin (m)
nouns
beer
sweet
present
card
record
church
book
(fashion) model
Typical abstract
beauté (f)
bonheur(m)
bonté (f)
patience (f)
mœurs (f pi)
savoir (m)
silence (m)
soif (f)
nouns
beauty
happiness
goodness
patience

des chiens
une personne
des personnes
a bottle
bottles
a dog
dogs
a person
people
de l'air
du beurre
de l'eau
du gâteau
des gens
du sable
air
butter
water
cake
people
sand
Mass nouns in French are usually accompanied by the partitive article (see
Chapter 2.4) - du, de V, de la or des - in those cases where English has 'some'
or no article at all:
Je voudrais du lait, s'il vous plaît
I would like some milk, please
II y a du vin dans le placard
There's wine in the cupboard
Personnes and gens
personnes and gens, both of which mean 'people', differ in their uses because personne

équipe (f) team
foule (f) crowd
gouvernement (m) government
linge (m) de maison household linen
main-d'œuvre (f) workforce
peuple (m) people
vaisselle (f) dishes, crockery
When a collective noun is the subject of a clause, the verb is usually singular.
This contrasts with English, where the verb can be either singular or plural:
Le gouvernement a (NOT *ont) décidé d'interdire la publicité pour les cigarettes
The government has/have decided to ban cigarette advertizing
L'équipe s'entraîne (NOT *s'entraînent) le jeudi soir
The team trains/train on Thursday evenings
(For more on subject-verb agreement see Chapter 9.1.)
1.1.4 Proper nouns
Proper nouns are names like Marie-Paule, Paris, Toulouse, Le Havre, La Seine, La
France, Le Canada.
With persons there is usually no article:
Marie-Paule viendra demain
Marie-Paule will come tomorrow
In some cases an article is inserted in informal speech:
Dis donc, elle était pas fière, la Marie-Paule!
So Marie-Paule must have felt a bit of a fool!
T'aurais vu la tête qu'il faisait, le Jérôme!
You should have seen Jerome's face!
This conveys a familiar, affectionate attitude towards the individual concerned.
When reference is made to a family, as in 'the Jones family', a plural article is
used, but the name itself is not pluralized:
J'ai invité les Martin à venir manger dimanche
I have invited the Martins for Sunday lunch

au début de la matinée/la soirée/la journée
at the start of the morning/the evening/the day
en fin de matinée/ at the end of the morning/
soirée/journée the evening/the day
par une belle matinée on a beautiful morning
tôt le matin early in the morning
Un beau matin il est parti One fine morning he up and left
tous les jours/matins/ans every day/morning/year
l'an 2000 the year 2000
le jour de l'an New Year's Day
le nouvel an the New Year
souhaiter la bonne année à qn to wish so a Happy New Year
les années 70 the 70s
l'année précédente/suivante the previous/following year
With preceding numbers the forms without -ée are normally used:
II a cinq ans He is five
trois fois par jour three times a day
But if an adjective modifies the noun as well this seems to highlight the
activity:
trois bonnes années three good years
six longues journées six long days
Gender 5
1.2 Gender
Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately there are no
simple rules which non-native speakers can use to predict with complete accu-
racy the gender of a given noun. However, there are some patterns, either in
the form or meaning of nouns, which can normally be used to predict the cor-
rect gender with greater than chance accuracy. The reader should remember,
however, that these patterns are not comprehensive, and that there are excep-
tions.

une décision a decision
la tension tension, blood pressure
une vision a vision
une émission a broadcast
une connexion a connection
Exception: un bastion a bastion
Nouns ending in -eur are usually masculine {un ordinateur 'a computer', le bon-
heur 'happiness', etc.), but the following frequently-used nouns are feminine:
6 Nouns
la chaleur
une couleur
une erreur
une fleur
la largeur
la longueur
la peur
la profondeur
the heat
a colour
a mistake
a flower
the width
the length
fear
the depth
Many nouns whose singular written form ends in a vowel (but excluding -e
without an acute accent) are masculine, although there are a significant num-
ber of exceptions:
-ai,
un délai

l'abri shelter
un cri a shout
un pari a bet
un pli a fold
un raccourci a short-cut
-ou
un bijou a jewel
un caillou a pebble
un clou a nail
un genou a knee
le hibou the owl
Feminine
Many nouns whose singular written form ends in -e without an acute accent
are feminine:
l'audace daring, la façade the front, the outside, une salade a salad
une baie a bay, la haie the hedge
Gender 7
une douzaine a dozen, une fontaine a fountain
une ambulance an ambulance, une flèche an arrow
une thèse a thesis, une grève a strike, etc.
une araignée a spider, une bougie a candie, etc.
But there are a large number of exceptions to this rule:
-isme
Nouns ending in -isme are masculine: le romantisme 'romanticism', le tourisme
'tourism', un idiotisme 'an idiom (linguistic)', etc.
-ède, -ege,
-eme
Nouns with these endings are usually masculine:
un intermède an interlude
un cortège a procession

un lycée
un trophée
un génie
un incendie
un cimetière
le derrière
un magazine
le platine
un pare-brise
un intervalle
le rebelle
le chèvrefeuille
a group
the world
the captain
the area
silence
a museum
a (sixth-form) college
a trophy
a genius
a fire
a cemetery
the backside
a magazine
platinum
a windscreen
an interval
the rebel
honeysuckle

an umbrella
NB: Most words with the prefix para- are masculine: un parachute 'a parachute',
un paratonnerre 'a lightning conductor', le parapente 'paragliding', un paravent
'wind-shield, screen'.
1.2.2 Nouns which refer both to males and to females
Some nouns can refer either to males or to females simply by changing the
determiner from masculine to feminine:
un /une adulte
un /une adversaire
un/une artiste
un/une bibliothécaire
un/une camarade
un /une célibataire
un/une chimiste
un/une collègue
un/une compatriote
un/une complice
un/une concierge
un/une convive
un/une dentiste
un/une élève
un/une enfant
un/une esclave
un/une fonctionnaire
un/une gosse
un/une interprète
un/une journaliste
un/une libraire
un/une locataire
un/une malade

a tenant
a person who is ill
a partner
a patriot
a boarder (as in boarding school)
a philosopher
a photographer
a pianist
a sponger
a secretary
a tourist
Gender 9
NB: pupille meaning 'pupil of the eye' is feminine only. In set expressions such
as pupille de la Nation, pupille de l'Etat the noun refers to a child whose educa-
tion is paid for by the state. With this meaning pupille may be masculine or
feminine according to the sex of the child.
1.2.3 Nouns which change form when they refer to males or to
females
Regular patterns
For words ending in -i, -é, -u, -l an -e is added in the written form and the
pronunciation remains the same:
un ami
un employé
un rival
une amie
une employée
une rivale
a friend
an employee (worker)
a rival

the final vowel, previously pronounced as a nasal vowel, is pronounced as an
oral vowel plus -n:
un chien
un lion
un paysan
un gitan
un voisin
un Africain
Some nouns add -esse.
un âne
un chanoine
un comte
un diable
un drôle
un hôte
un ivrogne
un maître
un ogre
un pauvre
un prêtre
un prince
un Suisse
un tigre
une chienne
une lionne
une paysanne
une gitane
une voisine
une Africaine
une anesse

a priest/priestess
a prince/princess
a Swiss person
a tiger/tigress
10 Nouns
Nouns ending in -eur which are not derived from a French verb, change -eur
to -rice:
un ambassadeur
un directeur
un empereur
une ambassadrice
une directrice
une impératrice
an ambassador
a director
an emperor/empress
Those ending in -eur which are derived from a French verb change to
-euse:
un chanteur
un menteur
un voleur
une chanteuse
une menteuse
une voleuse
a singer
a liar
a thief
Irregular patterns
In addition to these regular patterns there are a number of masculine/feminine
forms where the words are quite different:

un manœuvre
un mémoire
un merci
un mode
(un mode de vie)
un moule
un pendule
le physique
un poêle
un poste
le solde
un somme
un tour
a helper
a goat's cheese
a white coffee
crêpe (cloth)
a critic
a space
artwork
a book
a handle
an unskilled worker
a dissertation
a thank you
a way of. . .
(a way of life)
a mould
a pendulum
appearance

cream
a pancake
a criticism
a space (in printing)
a hair lacquer or
gloss paint
a pound (money or
weight)
a sleeve
the English Channel
a manoeuvre
memory (faculty of)
mercy
a fashion
a mussel
a clock
physics
a frying pan
the Post Office
pay (usually with
reference to soldier's
pay)
a sum (of money)
a tower
Gender I I
le Tour de France
un vase
un voile
bicycle race
a vase

written forms, with different genders and different meanings
There are some words which, in spoken French, are pronounced in the same
way but which have different meanings and different genders:
un cal
un faîte
le foie
le maire
un pet
le poids
un rai
le sel
le sol
un tic
le vice
a callus
a summit
the liver
the mayor
a fart
weight
a ray of light
salt
earth
a tic (nervous)
vice (crime)
une cale
une fête
la foi
la mer
la paie

le Canada
le Danemark
le Japon
le Koweït
le Liban
le Maroc
Canada
Denmark
Japan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Morocco
la Chine
la Finlande
la Libye
la Norvège
la Mauritanie
la Roumanie
China
Finland
Libya
Norway
Mauritania
Romania
12 Nouns
le Nigeria Nigeria la Suisse Switzerland
le Portugal Portugal la Syrie Syria
NB: Les Etats-Unis (m pi).
Exceptions: le Cambodge 'Cambodia', le Mexique 'Mexico', le Mozambique
'Mozambique', le Zaïre 'Zaire', le Zimbabwe 'Zimbabwe'.

Rivers
le Rhin the Rhine la Sâone the Sâone
le Tarn the Tarn la Seine the Seine
le Cher the Cher la Tamise the Thames
Exception: le Rhône 'the Rhône'.