A condition de, on condition of, à condition que, De manière à, Il travaille pour instead of― s'enrichir, Il travaille pour qu'il s'en But, the subject of the dependent Clause not being the same: Je le dis afin que vous le sachiez. Il parla de manière à convaincre les juges de son in nocence. I say it in order that you may know it. He spoke so as to convince his judges of his innocence. Il a été chassé pour avoir trop He was turned out for having (beparlé. Il est bien grand pour être si jeune. Il a reçu cette somme à condition de partir demain. cause he had) spoken indiscreetly. He is very tall for one so young. He has received this sum on condition of leaving to-morrow. VI. Thus the INFINITIVE (pure, or with de) is also used instead of the INDICATIVE, CONDITIONAL, or SUBJUNCTIVE, in Substantive Clauses, whenever the Subject-Pronoun of the latter stands for the same person as the Subject or Object of the Principal Sentence; consequently in French Votre père vous permet de Votre père (vous) permet que sortir. Your father allows you to go out. vous sortiez. Your father allows that you go out. THE PARTICIPLE PRESENT. RÉSUMÉ. INTRODUCTORY :-Three Verbal forms in -ant: SPECIAL RULES: I. The Verbal Adjective, used (a) attributively, (b) predicatively. II. The Present Participle proper, used— (a) with an Object, (b) qualified by an Adverb, (c) for an Adverbial Clause, (d) for an Adjective Clause, (e) absolutely. III. The Gerundival Participle with en, used (a) with an Object, (b) qualified by an Adverb, (c) for an Adverbial Clause. 145 INTRODUCTORY:-There are three Verbal forms in -ant: (I.) The VERBAL ADJECTIVE:-(II.) The PRES. PART. proper :— (III.) The GERONDIF with en :— Une ressemblance frappante. In comparing the French Verbal form in -ant with the English Verbal form in -ing, it must first of all be borne in mind that the latter does duty for (1) the Old Infinitive in -an; (2) the Old Imperfect Participle in -end, -ende, -and, -ande; and (3) a Verbal Noun in -ing. Hence arises great confusion. (Abbott's Shakspearian Grammar, § 372.) As only the second of these English forms in -ing really corresponds to the French form in -ant, great care must be taken in rendering the first and third in accordance with their primitive meaning, viz. either by an Infinitive (see §§ 139-143), or by a Substantive: as, (1) He succeeded in convincing Il réussit à le convaincre. him. (2) Being ill, he could not come. The singing birds. (3) The singing of birds. Lying is shameful. The art of building. Étant malade, il ne put venir. Les oiseaux chantants. Le chant des oiseaux. Mentir est honteux. Il est honteux de mentir. L'art de bâtir. As compared with Latin, the Verbal form in -ant represents (1) the Participial forms in -ans, -ens, (Acc. -antem, -entem): as, Gallus, escam quærens, margaritam Un coq, cherchant de la nourriture, reperit. trouva une perle. (2) the Gerunds in -ando, -endo: as, Discit legendo. Il s'instruit en lisant. 146 SPECIAL RULES: I. THE VERBAL ADJECTIVE, which is used to express a Permanent State, Quality, or Manner of Being, agrees in Gender and Number with the Noun it qualifies. It may stand (a) as an Attribute, generally placed after the Noun it qualifies (see § 124, a, 2): as, L'homme est la seule créature Une carrière brillante. Quels brillants exploits ! Une personne bien pensante. Man is the only speaking creature. A brilliant career. What brilliant exploits! A well-meaning person. (but— Une personne pensant bien; see below 2 (b). (b) as a Predicative Complement : Sa figure était rayonnante de His face was beaming with delight. joie. Elle paraît souffrante. Elles sont trop exigeantes. She looks poorly. They are too exacting. Observation.-Like other qualifying Adjectives, the Verbal Adjective in -ant may, as far as usage admits, be used substantively:— Les combattants, vivants, étudiants, mendiants, passants, protestants, etc. II. THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE PROPER, which denotes a Transitory Action, remains unchanged. As such, it may be distinguished from the Verbal Adjective by the following characteristic features: (a) the Pres. Part. may govern an Object: as, Les ennemis se retiraient en bon ordre, brûlant leurs bagages The enemies were retreating in good order, burning their baggage and devastating the country. (b) the Pres. Part. may be qualified by an Adverb following,* or by a Negation: as, Une personne pensant bien. Une ambition ne tremblant devant aucun péril. A person of sound judgment. An ambition shrinking before no peril. *The seemingly arbitrary Rule that the Verbal form in -ant agrees or not, according as it is preceded or followed by an Adverb, is founded on the fact that Adverbs generally stand before Adjectives, but after Verbs. (c) the Pres. Part. may stand instead of an Adverbial Clause introduced by comme, si, puisque, quoique, etc., to denote a Cause, Motive, Condition, or Concession: as, (d) the Pres. Part. may stand instead of an Adjective Clause introduced by qui: as, == qui Fabius, listening to his prudence only, checked the courage of his soldiers. Fabius, n'écoutant ( n'écoutait) que sa prudence, contint le courage de ses soldats. (e) the Pres. Part. may stand absolutely: as, Il n'entrera pas ici, moi vivant. He shall not enter here, if I live. Observation.-From the above Rules it follows that Present Participles of Reflexive and Auxiliary Verbs remain always unchanged. III. THE GERUNDIVAL PARTICIPLE (GÉRONDIF), preceded by en, always remains unchanged. Like the Pres. Part. without en, it may be used 147 On apprend bien des choses en voyageant. Tout en riant, il lui dit ses One learns many things while travelling. Though laughing he told him his mind. But, unlike the Pres. Part., it may not stand for an Adj. Clause, nor can it be used absolutely. Compare II., c and d. Observation 1.-The Gérondif with en expresses a manner, condition, or instrument, rather than cause or motive; the latter are better expressed by the Present Participle without en. Compare Mangeant peu, je n'ai jamais d'indiges- L'appétit vient en mangeant (Prov.) Eating moderately as I do, I never suffer from indigestion. The appetite grows with what it feeds on. Observation 2.-The Gérondif with en expresses more emphatically than the Participle without en that an action extends over a longer space of time than the action expressed by the Principal Clause; whilst the Participle without en is used without reference to the duration of the action: as, En disant ces mots, Mentor prit une lyre. Disant ces mots, il se mit à rire. Whilst he thus spake, Mentor took a lyre. Observation 3.-With aller, the Verbal form in -ant may be used with or without en to express the progress of an action: I. Part. Perf. agreeing with the Subject: (a) Part. Perf. conjugated with avoir, and Part. Perf. of Reflexive Verbs. (a) Participle Perf. followed by an Infinitive. (b) Participle Perf. of faire, followed by an Infinitive. Participle Perf. followed by a Substantive Clause. Participle Perf. followed by a complement denoting time, how long? or at what price? INTRODUCTORY : I. AGREEMENT WITH THE SUBJECT. * Les maisons de Paris sont bien Les villes de l'Asie Mineure sont (b) But the Part. Perf. conjugated with avoir never agrees with its Subject: as, Ils ont bien bâti leurs maisons. Elles ont bien étudié. Les habitants du pays ont bien reçu Reflective Verbs excepted, see § 149. |