This textbook teaches the basics of French grammar, reinforcing its lessons with exercises and key practice translations. A systematic guide, the volume is a critical companion for university-level students learning to read and translate written French into English; for graduate scholars learning to do research in French or prepping for proficiency exams; and for any interested readers who want to improve their facility with the French language. In addition, A Short Course in Reading French exposes readers to a broad range of French texts from the humanities and social sciences, including writings by distinguished francophone authors from around the world.
The book begins with French pronunciation and cognates and moves through nouns, articles, and prepositions; verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; a graduated presentation of all the indicative and subjunctive tenses; object, relative, and other pronouns; the passive voice; common idiomatic constructions; and other fundamental building blocks of the French language. Chapters contain translation passages from such authors as Pascal, Montesquieu, Proust, Sartre, Bourdieu, Senghor, Césaire, de Certeau, de Beauvoir, Barthes, and Kristeva. Drawn from more than two decades of experience teaching French to students from academic and nonacademic backgrounds, Celia Brickman's clear, accessible, and time-tested format enables even beginners to develop a sophisticated grasp of the language and become adept readers of French.
There is an answer key for translation exercises and for non-copyrighted translation passages available to professors and teachers who have assigned this title in a class. Please provide your name, title, institution, and number of students in the course in an email to coursematerials@columbiauniversitypress.com.
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Nouns, Articles, and Prepositions, and the Principle of Agreement
- 1.1. Nouns, Gender, and the Principle of Agreement
- 1.2. Articles
- 1.3. Gendered Nouns
- 1.4. The Plural of Nouns
- 1.5. Prepositions
- 1.6. Contraction of Prepositions with Definite Articles
- 1.7. The Partitive and Negative Uses of DE
- 1.8. The Multiple Meanings of DES
- 2. Verbs, Subject Pronouns, and the Present Tense/Present De L'Indicatif
- 2.1. Infinitives and Verb Families
- 2.2. Subject Pronouns
- 2.3. The Present Tense/Présent de l’Indicatif of -ER Verbs
- 2.4. Translation of the Present Tense/Présent de l’Indicatif
- 2.5. The Negative Form of the Present Tense
- 2.6. T wo Important Irregular Verbs: AVOIR, to Have, and ÊTRE, to Be
- 2.7. A Third Irregular Verb: ALLER, to Go
- 2.8. Formation of Simple Questions
- 2.9. Present Tense/Présent de l’Indicatif of –RE and –IR Verbs
- 2.10. Another Important Irregular Verb: FA IRE, to Do, to Make
- 3. Adjectives and Adverbs
- 3.1. Adjectives
- 3.2. Adverbs
- 3.3. Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs
- 3.4. Translation Passage
- 4. Reflexive Verbs
- 4.1. Reflexive Pronouns and the Formation of Reflexive Verbs
- 4.2. The Negative Form of Reflexive Verbs
- 4.3. Various Ways in Which to Translate Reflexive Verbs
- 5. The Imperfect / L'Imparfait
- 5.1. Explanation of the Tense
- 5.2. Formation of the Imparfait
- 5.3. Translations of the Imparfait
- 5.4. AVOIR and ÊTRE in the Imparfait
- 5.5. The Negative Form of the Imparfait
- 5.6. Reflexive Verbs in the Imparfait
- 5.7. Translation Passage
- 6. Past Participles / Les Participes Passes
- 6.1. Formation of Past Participles
- 6.2. Past Participles as Adjectives
- 6.3. Past Participles as Predicate Adjectives
- 7. Le Passe Compose / The Compound Past
- 7.1. Explanation of the Tense
- 7.2. Rules Governing the Formation and Translation of the Passe Compose
- 7.3. The Passé Composé in the Negative Form
- 7.4. AVOIR and ÊTRE in the Passé Composé
- 7.5. The Passé Co mpos é Used Together with the Imparfait
- 7.6. The Passé Co mpos é with Adverbs
- 7.7. Past Participles Used As Predicate Adjectives in the Present Tense Compared with Past Participles Used in the Passé Composé to Form the Past Tense
- 7.8. Translation Passage
- 8. Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns
- 8.1. Recognizing Objects in Transitive Sentences
- 8.2. Direct Object Pronouns: Meaning and Placement
- 8.3. LE, LA, and LES As Direct Object Pronouns
- 8.4. Direct Object Pronouns in the Passé Composé: Placement and Agreement
- 8.5. Indirect Object Pronouns: Meaning and Placement
- 8.6. The Partitive Pronoun EN
- 8.7. The Pronoun Y
- 8.8. The Order of Object Pronouns When There Are More Than One of Them
- 8.9. Translation Passage
- 9. Additional Forms of the Negative
- 9.1. General Pattern
- 9.2. Irregularities in Various Forms of the Negative
- 9.3. Translation Passage
- 10. More Irregular Yet Common Verbs
- 10.1. Venir (to come) and Tenir (to hold)
- 10.2. -OIR Verbs
- 11. Impersonal Pronouns, Demonstrative Pronouns, Impersonal Verbs, and an Introduction to the Word Que
- 11.1. Demonstrative Pronoun CE
- 11.2. Demonstrative Pronouns CECI and CELA
- 11.3. Demonstrative Pronoun CELUI
- 11.4. The Impersonal Pronoun IL
- 11.5. Impersonal Verbs
- 11.6. The Various Uses of QUE
- 11.7. Translation Passage
- 12. The Future and Conditional Tenses / Le Futur Simple et Le Conditionnel
- 12.1. The Future and Conditional Stem
- 12.2. The Future Tense/Le Futur Simple: Endings
- 12.3. The Near Future/Le Futur Proche
- 12.4. The Conditional Tense/Le Conditionnel
- 12.5. Translation Passage
- 13. Present Participles and Imperatives
- 13.1. Present Participles
- 13.2. Imperatives
- 13.3. Negative Imperatives
- 13.4. Imperatives with Disjunctive Pronouns and Object Pronouns; and Reflexive Imperatives
- 13.5. Translation Passage
- 14. The Passive Voice
- 14.1. T he Passive Voice Formed by the Past Participle as a Predicate Adjective
- 14.2. Use of Reflexive Verbs to Form the Passive Voice
- 14.3. T he Translation of the Subject Pronoun ON and Its Use to Form the Passive Voice
- 14.4. Translation Passage
- 15. Le Passe Simple / The Simple Past, or the Past Historic
- 15.1. The Passé Simple of -ER Verbs
- 15.2. The Passé Simple of -RE and -IR Verbs
- 15.3. Translation Passage
- 16. Relative and Interrogative Pronouns and Adjectives
- 16.1. Relative Pronouns QUI and QUE
- 16.2. Uses of the Adjective QUEL
- 16.3. T he Relative and Prepositional Pronoun LEQUEL; the Prepositional Pronoun QUI
- 16.4. The Relative Pronoun DONT
- 16.5. The Interrogative Pronouns LEQUEL, QUI, and QUE
- 16.6. Questions Formed with Both Interrogative and Relative Pronouns QUI and QUE
- 16.7. Translation Exercise
- 17. More Compound Tenses
- 17.1. Le Plus-que-parfait/The Pluperfect
- 17.2. Le Futur Antérieur/The Future Perfect
- 17.3. Le Conditionnel Passé / The Conditional Perfect
- 17.4. Le Passé Antérieur
- 17.5. Translation Passage
- 18. The Causative Faire
- 18.1. The Causative FAIRE, an Idiomatic Construction
- 18.2. Translation Passage
- 18.3. Translation Passage
- 19. Le Subjonctif / the Subjunctive
- 19.1. When Is the Subjunctive Used in French?
- 19.2. The Four Tenses of the Subjunctive
- 19.3. Translation Passage
- 19.4. Translation Passage
- 20. Modal Verbs and Other Common Idiomatic Verbal Constructions
- 20.1. Modal Verbs
- 20.2. Other Idiomatic Verbal Constructions
- 20.3. Translation Passage
- 20.4. Translation Passage
- 21. Changes of Tense with Idioms of Time
- 21.1. DEPUIS
- 21.2. IL Y A . . . QUE, ÇA FA IT . . . QUE, VOILÀ . . . QUE
- 21.3. Translation Passage
- 21.4. Translation Passage
- 22. Common Idiomatic Expressions
- 22.1. TOUT—Grammatical Functions and Meanings
- 22.2. Idioms with TOUT
- 22.3. AUSSI; AUSSI BIEN QUE
- 22.4. Combinative Conjunctions ET . . . ET; OU . . . OU; SOIT . . .SOIT; NI . . . NI
- 22.5. Idioms with METTRE/MIS
- 22.6. The Several Meanings of MÊME
- 22.7. The Several Meanings of SI
- 22.8. The Several Meanings of ENCORE
- 22.9. Translation Passage
- 22.10. Translation Passage
- 23. Configurations of the Infinitive
- 23.1. Verbs Followed by the Infinitive
- 23.2. The Infinitive After Prepositions
- 23.3. The Infinitive After the Preposition APRÈS
- 23.4. The Infinitive After Adjectives
- 23.5. The Infinitive After Nouns
- 23.6. Translation Passage
- 24. Some Verb Families
- 24.1. -OIR Verbs
- 24.2. Families of Verbs Whose Members Are All Conjugated in the Same Way
- 25. Further Translation Passages
- 25.1. Victor Hugo
- 25.2. Gustave Flaubert
- 25.3. Gabrielle Roy
- 25.4. Jean-Paul Sartre
- 25.5. Simone de Beauvoir
- 25.6. Albert Camus
- 25.7. Paul Ricoeur
- 25.8. Édouard Glissant
- 25.9. Roger-Pol Droit
- 25.10. Julia Kristeva
- 25.11. Nicolas Bourriaud
- 25.12. Michel Tremblay
- 25.13. Patrick Chamoiseau
- 25.14. Abdourahman A. Waberi
- Appendix
- Index
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