Chapitre 6 Structures:

Chapitre 6 Structures: Negative Expressions: Ne… Pas: -­‐ex. Je n’aime pas ce film. -­‐ex. Elle n’a pas vu le film. -­‐Ne vas-­‐tu pas au cinema? N’es-­‐tu pas allé au cinema? -­‐N’allez pas au cinema. -­‐Il préfere ne pas aller au cinema. -­‐Je n’ai pas du tout envie de regarder ce jeu télévisé. -­‐Pas du tout can also be used alone as a negative answer to a question. -­‐A negative statement, question, etc. can be qualified or made more precise by adding encore to ne… pas. -­‐ex. Je n’ai pas vu ce film. (I have not seen this film.) -­‐ex. Je n’ai pas encore vu ce film. (I have ot yet seen this film.) -­‐*NOTE: Indefinite articles (un/une/des) that follow negative expressions are replaced by de. -­‐ex. Ma famille a une television. -­‐ex. Ma famille n’a pas de television. -­‐ex. Il y a des cinemas dans ce petit village. -­‐ex. Il n’y a pas de cinemas dans ce petit village. Other Negative Expressions: -­‐ne… jamais (never) -­‐ne… plus (no longer, not… anymore) -­‐ne… personne (no one) -­‐ne… rien (nothing) -­‐ne… ni… ni (neither… nor) -­‐ne… aucun(e) (not any) -­‐*NOTE: The expression ne… que, which means only, is often included with negative expressions, although technically it only limits the verb, rather than negates it. The second part of this expression (que) always directly precedes the word it modifies. -­‐ex. Dans ma famille, il n’y a que ma soeur qui aime regarder les feuilletons. (In my family, only my sister likes to watch the soaps.) -­‐ex. Il n’a vu que deux films fançais dans sa vie. (He has seen only two French films in is life. (He has seen only two French films in his life.) 1. Ne… jamais -­‐Ne… jamais negates the adverbs souvent (often), quelquefois (sometimes), parfois (occasionally), toujours (always), and de temps en temps (from time to time.) -­‐Jamais can also be used alone in a positive context to mean ever. -­‐Avez-­‐vous jamais rencontré une vedette de cinema? (Have you ever met a movie star?) 2. Ne… plus -­‐Ne… plus is used to indicate a negative change in a situation, and it is sometimes used to negate the adverbs encore and toujours when they mean still. 3. Ne… personne/ne… rien -­‐When used as a subject, both parts of the negative expression recede the verb and the verb is always in the singular. -­‐ex. Personne n’aime la télé-­‐réalité. (No one likes reality television.) -­‐ex. Rien n’est credible dans ce film. (Nothing is believable in this movie.) -­‐When used as a direct object, ne precedes the verb and personne/rien follows it. -­‐ex. Je ne connais personne qui aime ce film. (I know no one who likes this movie.) -­‐ex. Il n’y a rien à la télé ce soir. (There is nothing on TV tonight.) -­‐If the verb is in a compound tense, the placement of personne and rien used as direct objects is not the same. Rien precedes the past participle, whereas personne follows it. -­‐ex. Elle n’a rien vu. -­‐ex. Elle n’a vu personne. -­‐When used as the object of a preposition, both personne and rien follow the preposition. -­‐ex. Ele n’est alée au cinema avec personne. -­‐ex. Cet acteur ne parle de rien d’intéressant dans son interview. -­‐*NOTE: AS in the above example, if personne or rien is modified by an adjective, the adjective is always masculine and must be preceded by de (d’). 4. Ne… ni… ni -­‐Ne… ni… ni is used to oppose two people, things, or ideas. Ne precedes the verb as usual, but ni… ni directly preced the words they modify. Partitive and indefinite articles are dropped in tis construction, but definite articles remain. -­‐ex. Elle n’aime regarder ni la télé ni les films. -­‐ex. Nous navons ni television ni lecteur DVD -­‐*NOTE: When ne… ni… ni is negating the subject rather than the object in a sentence, the verb is generally plural. -­‐ex. Ni ma mère ni mon père n’aiment les films d’horreur. (Neither my mother nor my father like horror movies.) 5. Ne… aucun(e) -­‐As a subject pronoun, aucun takes the gender of the noun it replaces and is followed by a singular verb. -­‐ex. Aucune de ces trois series n’est bonne. (None of these three television series is good.) -­‐As an adjective, aucun agrees in gender with the noun it modifies. The adjective and noun are always singular. -­‐Cet acteur n’a aucun talent. (This actor doesn’t have any talent.) Si: -­‐The affirmative response to a negative question or statement is si, not oui. Relative Pronouns: 1. Qui and que are the most commonly used relative pronouns in French. -­‐Qui functions as a subject. Its antecedent can be either a person or a thing. The verb in the relative clause agrees in number (singular/plural) with that of the antecedent. -­‐ex. L’actrice qui joue le role principal du film n’est past très bonne. -­‐When qui is followed by a vowel, there is no elision (combining the I of qui with the vowel that follows). -­‐ex. Quel est le nom de l’ateur qui a joué le role principal dans le film Titanic? -­‐Que functions as a direct object. Its antecedent can be either a person or a thing. -­‐Que takes the gender and number of its antecedent, so a past participle in the relative clause might agree with the gender and number of the antecedent. -­‐ex. Le film que nous avons vu est très bon. -­‐ex. L’actrice que nous avons vue est très connue. -­‐When the relative pronoun que is followed by a vowel, the e of que is elided with that vowel. -­‐ex. L’actrice française qu’elle aime s’appelle Marion Cotillard. -­‐*NOTE: The relative pronoun que cannot be omitted in French, as it can in English. -­‐ex. Quel est le nom du film que tu as vu? (What is the name of the movie (that) you saw?) 2. Ce qui or ce que is used instead of qui or que when the antecedent is not clearly stated. Both of these pronouns are translated as what. -­‐ex. Je ne comprends pas ce qui se passe dans ce film. -­‐ex. Dites-­‐moi ce que vous voulez regarder à la télé. 3. Dont is the relative pronoun used to replace de + its object in a relative clause. The object of the preposition can be either a person or a thing. -­‐Dont is the relative pronoun to use with the following common expressions: -­‐avoir besion de, avoir envie de, avoir peur de, être contnt(e) de, être satisfait(e) de, être fier(-­‐ère) de, se souvenir de, se servir de, se moquer de, parler de -­‐ex. Le grand classique dont il se souvient le mieux est Casablanca. (The classic film he remembers best is Casablanca.) -­‐ex. La vedette française dont nous parlons est Daniel Auteuil. (The star we are talking about is Daniel Auteuil.) -­‐*NOTE: The relative pronouns in the sentence above cannot be omitted in French, as they can in English. -­‐Dont is the relative pronoun that sometimes translates into English as whose. -­‐ex. Dans le film Titanic, les hero tombe amoureux d’une jeune femme dont le fiancé est très riche. (In the movie Titanic, the hero falls in love with a young woman whose fiancé is very rich.) -­‐Ce don’t is used instead of dont when the antecedent is not clearly stated. -­‐ex. Je ne comprends pas ce don’t vous avez peur dans ce film d’horreur. (I don’t understand what you are afraid of in this horror film.) 4. If the relative clause has a preposition other than de, use the pronoun qui when referring to people, and a form of lequel (laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles) when referring to things. -­‐ex. Je ne sais plus à qui j’ai prêté le DVD. (I no longer know to whom I lent the DVD.) -­‐ex. Explique-­‐moi les raisons pourlesquelles tu préfères cette chaîne. (Explain to me (the reasons) why you prefer this channel. 5. Où is the relative pronoun to use to express time or place. -­‐ex. Jacques n’a jamais oublié le jour où se grand-­‐mère a quitté le cinema avant la fin du film. (Jaques never forgot the day (when) his grandmother left the cinema before the end of the movie.) -­‐ex. Quel est le nom du restaurant où tu as vu Brad Pitt? (What is the name of the restaurant where you saw Brad Pitt?)