Page images
PDF
EPUB

(2) POURTANT, however, yet, affirms more positively, and against more decided opposition, as:—

He has been blained, however he was innocent

Il a été blâmé, pourtant il était innocent

(3) NÉANMOINS, however, yet, contrasts two things
which seem somewhat irreconcilable, as :-

The style of that writer is pithless, yet it is clear
Le style de cet écrivain est mou, néanmoins il est clair

(4) TOUTEFOIS, however, yet, is said when the state-
ment seems like an exception, and applicable
only for the occasion referred to, as :—

I am not pleased with you, however you may rely upon me
Je ne suis pas content de vous, toutefois vous pouvez compter sur moi

§ 39. If a sentence in English begins with THOUGH, the corresponding word YET is often used, as: THOUGH we like him much, YET we do not spoil him. In French we must in such a case leave YET untranslated, and therefore say, QUOIQUE nous l'aimions beaucoup, nous ne le gâtons pas.

§ 40. WHEN can be translated by LORSQUE and by QUAND; the first means "at the particular hour and time when," the second, "at any hour or time when;" LORSQUE is never used interrogatively. A few examples will illustrate this :

1. When (at that particular time when) people speak to you, you must listen

Lorsqu'on vous parle vous devez écouter

2. When (at any time when) you are young, you should work Quand vous êtes jeune vous devez travailler

3. When will you start?

Quand partirez-vous ?

§ 41. QUE, in the body of a sentence, or in coordinate sentences, may represent any conjunction or conjunctival phrase, if the context is so clear that no misunderstanding can arise, as :—

1. Do not pay him that sum before he goes
Ne lui payez pas cette somme qu'il ne parte

2. Since you wish it and since he consents to it
Puisque vous le voulez et qu'il y consente

Some verbs, such as "to wait," attendre, are nearly always followed by QUE, as :

Let us wait till he comes

Attendons qu'il vienne

Avant de is used in a negative sentence instead of jusqu'à ce que, till, until, as: do not believe that man UNTIL you have seen the proofs of what he says; ne croyez pas cet homme AVANT D'avoir vu les preuves de ce qu'il dit. It would be wrong to use here JUSQU'À CE QUE. But if till, until, is a preposition, Jusqu'à must be employed, as: NEVER put off TILL to-morrow what you can do to-day; ne remettez jamais JUSQU'À demain ce que vous pouvez faire aujourd'hui.

§ 42. When the verb after aussitôt que, dès que, as soon as, lorsque, quand, when, and such verbal phrases as faites comme, do as, ce sera comme, it will be as, denotes a future action, the future tense must be used, although the English may have the present or imperfect, as :—

1. He will let me know when you come
Il me fera savoir quand vous viendrez

2. Go with me as soon as you like

Allez avec moi aussitôt que vous voudrez

ADVERBS.

§ 43. MUCH in French is translated by beaucoup and bien, though bien is always connected with some specification, some collateral idea of surprise or admiration, as: il a BEAUCOUP de richesses, but il a gagné BIEN des richesses en Californie. BEAUCOUP may precede a comparative, or follow the adjective, as: il est beaucoup plus grand, or il est plus grand de beaucoup, but BIEN can only come before the comparison, as: il est BIEN plus grand, he is much taller.

§ 44. BIEN also means VERY, which can likewise be translated by TRÈS, denoting great extent in a certain and positive manner, and by fort, which chiefly marks intensity, as :

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

1. This picture is very beautiful

Ce tableau est bien beau

2. That law is very severe
Cette loi est très-sévère

3. That book is very amusing
Ce livre-là est fort amusant

[ocr errors]

TRÈS, FORT, and BIEN are never used absolutely like very; nor do they ever modify beaucoup; very much," &c., being rendered by beaucoup alone, or by another stronger adverb or adverbial phrase, or by repeating the whole sentence, as :

1. Is he rich ?—Yes, very

Est-il riche ?-Oui, il est très-riche

2. You are pleased, are you not ?—Yes, very much
Vous êtes contents, n'est-ce pas ?-Oui, très-contents

3. Do you care much for music ?-Yes, very much
Aimez-vous beaucoup la musique ?—Oui, beaucoup

§ 45. We cannot translate NEARLY and ALMOST indifferently by PRESQUE and PRÈS DE; the first modifies an adjective, another adverb, or a participle, as: nous sommes PRESQUE rouges de colère, we are nearly red with anger; le palais est PRESQUE brûlé, the palace is ALMOST burnt; mon frère lisait PRESQUE élégamment, my brother read ALMOST elegantly; the second is only used before a numeral, as: nous avons acheté PRÈS DE deux cents chevaux, we have bought NEARLY two hundred horses.

§ 46. MAINTENANT, now, is only employed in French with the present tense, but when used in English with a past tense we must employ ALORS, or À PRÉSENT, as: He had been walking a long time, and NOW began to feel very tired, must be translated Il s'était promené longtemps et ALORS commençait à se sentir très-fatigué.

V.-OF CLEARNESS.

847. In writing in any language we must pay particular attention to express clearly and distinctly what we wish to state, and to avoid ambiguity. Without entering into minute details, let us simply state that the shorter the sentence the more chance there is that the pupil may express what he wishes to say.

§ 48. As the relative pronouns qui and que, who, which (see THIRD FRENCH BOOK, §§ 161–166), refer to persons as well as to things, and have neither gender or number, the meaning of the English WHICH, WHO, may sometimes present some difficulty in rendering it in French. If we translate the sentence, There are many facts mentioned in our chronicles WHICH are beyond all likelihood, and if we write, Il y a beaucoup de faits dans nos

chroniques QUI sont hors de toute vraisemblance, the phrase would be obscure, because qui may refer to chronique as well as to faits. It is therefore better to change the order of the words, and to place the pronoun nearer to its antecedent, thus: Il y a dans nos chroniques beaucoup de FAITS QUI Sont hors de toute vraisemblance.

§ 49. When the use of quI, QUE, DONT, can give rise to ambiguity, we must sometimes employ LEQUEL, LAQUELLE, in order to make the meaning clearer, as: la femme de votre oncle, QUI est très-charitable, a adopté cet orphelin. Qui may relate here to femme and to oncle; it is therefore much clearer to write la femme de votre oncle, LAQUELLE est très-charitable, &c. Sometimes we have to repeat the antecedent substantive itself in order to be distinct, as: le Prétendant ne songea qu'à profiter de cette première ARDEUR de sa faction, ARDEUR qu'il ne fallait pas laisser ralentir; the Pretender only thought to profit of this first ardour of his party, which ought not to have been slackened.

VI.-OF EUPHONY.

§ 50. Euphony is, according to Webster, "an easy, smooth enunciation of sounds, or a pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear." In order to avoid discordant sounds it is above all things necessary to use either a circumlocution or sometimes a synonym, for in French the greatest attention is paid to euphony. If, for example, we wish to translate the simple phrase, I have eaten last Christmas a slice of a plump turkey, we cannot render this literally j'ai mangé Noël dernier une tranche d'une DINDE DODUE. The sound d'une dinde dodue is very disagreeable; we therefore

« PreviousContinue »