ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. BY F. SCHÖPWINKEL. LONDON: D. NUTT, 270, STRAND. MDCCCLIX. 303. a. 70. PREFACE. THIS work is mainly an adaptation of the first part of Dr. C. Ploetz's* celebrated "Cœurs gradué de Langue Française." The peculiar merits of that popular work consist in its truly elementary character. It relies not so much upon mere repetition as upon gradation, avoiding the difficulties occasioned by special rules and numerous exceptions, and carefully laying down only broad landmarks for experience has proved that it is worse than useless to burden the memory with the niceties of a language until its leading principles have been thoroughly mastered. Great care has been taken, throughout the work, that the examples, reading lessons, etc. should be so arranged as to make the application of grammatical rules both easy and pleasant. Numerous remarks that may be useful, especially to the teacher, have been added in an Appendix. * Professor at the Royal French College, Berlin. FIRST SECTION. Pronunciation,* Principal Tenses of Avoir and Être. A, b, c, d, LESSON 1. The French Alphabet. e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, y, Z. r, Vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y. Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, S t, v X, Z. A is generally sounded like a in father, but shorter.** e at the end of words of more than one syllable, is, as in English, mute. e at the end of monosyllables, has a guttural sound, somewhat like the e in father. i is sounded like i in ill. o is generally sounded like o in not. *** y is sounded like i. The sound of the French u is not to be found in English. *See No. 1 Appendix. **See No. 2 Appendix. *** See No. 3 Appendix. l'ami the friend. l'amie the friend (fem.) le livre the book. la dame the lady. The r in French, is always sounded as in the English word: very. |