French grammar

French grammar is the set of rules by which the French language creates statements, questions and commands. In many respects, it is quite similar to that of the other Romance languages.

French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently); adjectives, for number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood, and the person and number of their subjects. Case is primarily marked using word order and prepositions, while certain verb features are marked using auxiliary verbs.

Verbs

Verbs in French are conjugated to reflect the following information:

• a mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, or conditional)
• a tense (past, present, or future, though not all tenses can be combined with all moods)
• an aspect (perfective or imperfective)
• a voice (active, passive,Template:Efn or reflexiveTemplate:Efn)
• Nonfinite forms (e.g., participles, gerunds, infinitives)

Some of these features are combined into seven tense–aspect–mood combinations. The simple (one-word) forms are commonly referred to as the present, the simple past or preteriteTemplate:Efn (past tense, perfective aspect), the imperfectTemplate:Efn (past tense, imperfective aspect), the future, the conditional,Template:Efn the present subjunctive, and the imperfect subjunctive. However, the simple past is rarely used in informal French, and the imperfect subjunctive is rarely used in modern French.

Verbs in the finite moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and conditional) are also conjugated to agree with their subjects in person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural). As in English, the subject must be included (except in the imperative mood); in other words, unlike other Romance languages, French is neither a null-subject nor a pro-drop language.

Auxiliary verbs are combined with past participles of main verbs to produce compound tenses, including the compound past (Template:Lang). For most main verbs the auxiliary is (the appropriate form of) Template:Lang ("to have"), but for reflexive verbs and certain intransitive verbs the auxiliary is a form of Template:Lang ("to be"). The participle agrees with the subject when the auxiliary is Template:Lang, and with a preceding direct object (if any) when the auxiliary is Template:Lang. Forms of Template:Lang are also used with the past participles of transitive verbs to form the passive voice.

The imperative mood, which only has first-person plural and second-person singular and plural forms, usually has forms similar or identical to the corresponding ones in the present indicative.

Nouns

Gender

Every French noun has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. The grammatical gender of a noun referring to a human usually corresponds to the noun's natural gender (i.e., its referent's sex or gender). For such nouns, there will very often be one noun of each gender, with the choice of noun being determined by the natural gender of the person described; for example, a male singer is Template:Lang, while a female singer is either Template:Lang (a pop singer) or Template:Lang (an opera singer). A plural noun that refers to both males and females is masculine. In some cases, the two nouns are identical in form, with the difference only being marked in neighbouring words (due to gender agreement; see below); a Catholic man is Template:Lang, while a Catholic woman is Template:Lang. Nonetheless, there are some such nouns that retain their grammatical gender regardless of natural gender; Template:Lang 'person' is always feminine, while (at least in "standard" French) Template:Lang 'teacher' is always masculine. In Canadian French, Template:Lang is the standard feminine form, which is becoming more and more common in European French.

A noun's gender is not perfectly predictable from its form, but there are some trends. As a very broad trend, nouns ending in Template:Lang tend to be feminine (e.g., Template:Lang 'a star', Template:Lang 'a car'), while the rest tend to be masculine (e.g., Template:Lang 'a balloon', Template:Lang 'a pen'), but it sometimes can be the opposite. More consistently, some endings, such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang occur almost exclusively with feminine nouns, while others, such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang occur almost exclusively with masculine ones. Many nouns ending in Template:Lang preceded by double consonants are also masculine (e.g. Template:Lang). Nonetheless, a noun that seems masculine judging by its ending might actually be feminine e.g., Template:Lang 'the skin', Template:Lang 'a tooth' or vice versa e.g., Template:Lang 'the elbow', Template:Lang 'a skeleton' are masculine. Noun clauses are masculine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A very small number of nouns can be used either in masculine or feminine gender with the same meaning (e.g., Template:Lang 'afternoon'). Often one gender is preferred over the other. Some (very rare) nouns change gender according to the way they are used: the words Template:Lang 'love' and Template:Lang 'pleasure' are masculine in singular and feminine in plural; the word Template:Lang 'organ' is masculine, but when used emphatically in plural to refer to a church organ it becomes feminine (Template:Lang); the plural noun Template:Lang 'people' changes gender in a very unusual way, being usually masculine but triggering feminine agreement when certain adjectives precede the word.

Other nouns change meaning depending on which grammatical gender they are used in. For example, Template:Lang (masculine) refers to a critic, while Template:Lang (feminine) means criticism; Template:Lang refers to a book, while Template:Lang means the pound (in the sense of both weight and currency). Similarly, Template:Lang means "veil", whereas Template:Lang means "sail".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The vocabulary of French includes many homophones, i.e., pairs of words with different spellings but the same pronunciation. Grammatical gender, however, may serve to distinguish some of these. For example, Template:Lang 'the pot' and Template:Lang 'the skin' are both pronounced Template:IPA but disagree in gender.

Number

As in English, nouns inflect for number.

Orthographically, the plural is usually formed from the singular by adding the letter Template:Lang (cf. Template:Lang 'houses'). Nouns ending in Template:Lang and Template:Lang often take the ending Template:Lang instead (cf. Template:Lang 'games'). However, the endings Template:Lang and Template:Lang are in most cases not pronounced, meaning that in speech the plural form of a noun generally has the same pronunciation as the singular. Nouns that end in Template:Lang or Template:Lang in the singular are left unchanged in the plural in both pronunciation and spelling (cf. Template:Lang 'crosses', both pronounced Template:IPA).

Liaison between a plural noun and a following adjective is one case where the plural ending Template:Lang or Template:Lang may be pronounced: Template:Lang Template:IPA ("open windows"). However, this form of liaison usually only appears in careful formal speech (for example by newsreaders). In most everyday speech singular and plural forms of most nouns are therefore homophonous in all contexts.

In spoken French, the plurality of most nouns is marked not on the form of the noun itself but by a preceding article or determiner (cf. Template:Lang [la mɛzɔ̃] 'the house' > Template:Lang [le mɛzɔ̃] 'the houses'; Template:Lang [mɔ̃ fʁɛːʁ] 'my brother' > Template:Lang [me fʁɛːʁ] 'my brothers').

French nouns whose spoken plural forms are distinguished from the singular include most of those ending in Template:Lang, whose plural form is Template:Lang (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'horses'), as well as a few nouns ending in Template:Lang that also follow this pattern (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'works'). Three nouns form completely irregular plurals: Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'ancestors' (but Template:Lang Template:IPA 'grandfathers'); Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'heavens' (but Template:Lang 'bed canopies'); and Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'eyes' (but Template:Lang 'oculi' (round windows), Template:Lang 'calluses' (on the feet)). Three other nouns have regular plurals in spelling but have irregular pronunciations: Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'oxen, cattle'; Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'eggs'; and Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'bones'.

As with English, most uncountable nouns are grammatically treated as singular, though some are plural, such as Template:Lang 'mathematics'; some nouns that are uncountable in English are countable in French, such as Template:Lang 'a piece of information'.

Case

Nouns in French are not inflected for any other grammatical categories. (However, personal pronouns are inflected for case and person; see below.)

Articles and determiners

Articles and determiners agree in gender and number with the noun they determine; unlike with nouns, this inflection is made in speech as well as in writing.

French has three articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive. The difference between the definite and indefinite articles is similar to that in English (definite: the; indefinite: a, an), except that the indefinite article has a plural form (similar to some, though English normally does not use an article before indefinite plural nouns). The partitive article is similar to the indefinite article but used for uncountable singular nouns.

Adjectives

An adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. French adjectives therefore have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. A few adjectives have a fifth form, viz. an additional masculine singular form for use in liaison before a noun beginning with a vowel or a "mute h", e.g. Template:Lang (a beautiful garden, a handsome man, a beautiful woman, beautiful children, beautiful houses). This fifth form, which is older, is sometimes used elsewhere in set phrases, e.g. Template:Lang (Philip the Fair or the Handsome of France, 1268–1314) vs. Template:Lang (Philip the Handsome or the Fair of Castile, 1478–1506).

The masculine singular, an adjective's basic form, is listed in dictionaries. The feminine singular is normally formed by adding Template:Lang to the basic form. This Template:Lang is silent, which makes many masculine and feminine forms homophonous (cf. Template:Lang 'civil', both pronounced Template:IPA). However, the ending causes "mute" final sounds to be pronounced, whereby masculine-feminine pairs become distinguishable in pronunciation if the masculine form ends in a mute consonant, which is the case with a great deal of adjectives (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'heavy'). Under certain circumstances, other minor changes occur in the formation of feminine forms, such as the placement of an accent, the doubling of a consonant, or its replacement with another, changes that often reflect the pronunciation of such endings (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'good'; Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'happy'). Irregular feminine forms include Template:Lang 'beautiful', Template:Lang 'white', and a limited number of others. If an adjective's basic form ends in Template:Lang, it is left unchanged in the feminine (cf. Template:Lang 'rich').

The plural is normally formed by adding Template:Lang to the singular (masculine and feminine). This Template:Lang is usually mute, but pronounced Template:IPA in liaison with a following noun that begins with a vowel. Unlike liaison after plural nouns, liaison after plural adjectives is common and even obligatory in standard usage. If the basic form ends in Template:Lang, or Template:Lang, an adjective is left unchanged in the masculine plural (cf. Template:Lang 'soft, gentle'). A few adjectives take the (also mute) ending Template:Lang in the masculine plural (cf. Template:Lang 'new'). Plural forms that are distinguishable from the singular outside of liaison environments occur only with adjectives ending in Template:Lang. These normally have Template:Lang in the masculine plural (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'central'). By contrast, the feminine plural is formed according to the general rule: Template:Lang.

Due to the aforementioned rules, French adjectives might have four distinguished written forms which are all pronounced the same. This is the case if an adjective's masculine and feminine forms are homophonous and if there is no liaison between the adjective and a following noun.

	Written form	Pronunciation	Translation
masc. sg.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	a Turkish prince
fem. sg.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	a Turkish princess
masc. pl.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Turkish princes
fem. pl.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Turkish princesses

On the other hand, if the masculine and feminine forms have different pronunciations and liaison does occur, all four forms can be distinguishable in pronunciation. Adjective declension is therefore important in spoken French, though to a lesser extent than in writing. (All forms distinguished in pronunciation are also distinguished in writing, but not vice versa.)

	Written form	Pronunciation	Translation
masc. sg.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	a great emperor
fem. sg.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	a great empress
masc. pl.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	great emperors
fem. pl.	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	great empresses

Due to the peculiar orthography of French, which denotes mute final consonants, most feminine forms seem regular in terms of their spelling because they are formed by adding Template:Lang to the masculine form, e.g., Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang. However, if we put this etymologic orthography aside and consider only current pronunciation, the formation of French female forms becomes quite irregular with several possible "endings": Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Template:IPA > Template:IPA.

Most adjectives, when used attributively, appear after their nouns: Template:Lang ("the red wine"). A number of adjectives (often having to do with beauty, age, goodness, or size, a tendency summarized by the acronym "BAGS"), come before their nouns: Template:Lang ("a beautiful woman"). With a few adjectives of the latter type, there are two masculine singular forms: one used before consonants (the basic form), and one used before vowels. For example, the adjective Template:Lang ("beautiful") changes form from Template:Lang ("a handsome boy") to Template:Lang ("a handsome man"). Some adjectives change position depending on their meaning, sometimes preceding their nouns and sometimes following them. For example, Template:Lang means "former" when it precedes its noun, but "ancient" when it follows it. To give another example, Template:Lang means "a tall man", whereas Template:Lang means "a great man".

Many compound words contain an adjective, such as Template:Lang "a mother-in-law", which is distinct from Template:Lang "a beautiful mother". Some of them use an archaic form of the feminine adjective that lacks the final Template:Lang. These used to be written with an apostrophe, but a hyphen is now (at least since 1960) considered more correct: Template:Lang (formerly, Template:Lang) "a main country road", which is distinct from Template:Lang "a long way", and Template:Lang (formerly, Template:Lang) "a grandmother", which is distinct from Template:Lang "a tall mother".

Adverbs

As in English, adverbs in French are used to modify adjectives, other adverbs, verbs, or clauses. Most adverbs are derived from an adjective by adding the suffix Template:Lang, usually to its feminine form (Template:Lang is analogous to the English suffix -ly): e.g. Template:Lang "anciently", "of old", "in olden times"; Template:Lang "greatly"; Template:Lang "slowly"; though there are some systematic deviations (e.g. Template:Lang → Template:Lang "patiently", Template:Lang → Template:Lang "uneasily"), some adverbs are derived irregularly (Template:Lang "good" → Template:Lang "well") and others do not derive from adjectives at all.

Adverbs themselves are generally invariable. An exception to this is the adverb Template:Lang "wholly, very" which agrees in gender and number with the adjective it modifies when it is in the feminine and begins with a consonant (e.g. Template:Lang "very small, m.s.", Template:Lang "very small, m.pl." but Template:Lang "very small, f.s.", Template:Lang "very small, f.pl." — when beginning with a vowel however: Template:Lang "completely, as a whole" (with liaison)).

Prepositions

French prepositions link two related parts of a sentence. In word order, they are placed in front of a noun in order to specify the relationship between the noun and the verb, adjective, or other noun that precedes it. Some common French prepositions are: Template:Lang (to, at, in), Template:Lang (next to, beside), Template:Lang (after), Template:Lang (about, on the subject of), Template:Lang (before), Template:Lang (with), Template:Lang (at the home/office of, among), Template:Lang (against), Template:Lang (in), Template:Lang (according to), Template:Lang (from, of, about), Template:Lang (since, for), Template:Lang (in back of, behind), Template:Lang (in front of), Template:Lang (during, while), Template:Lang (in, on, to), Template:Lang (outside of), Template:Lang (facing, across from), Template:Lang (between), Template:Lang (toward), Template:Lang (approximately), Template:Lang (outside of), Template:Lang (until, up to, even), Template:Lang (far from), Template:Lang (despite), Template:Lang (by, through), Template:Lang (among), Template:Lang (during), Template:Lang (for), Template:Lang (near), Template:Lang (as for, regarding), Template:Lang (without), Template:Lang (according to), Template:Lang (under), Template:Lang (according to), Template:Lang (on), Template:Lang (toward).

Pronouns

In French, pronouns can be inflected to indicate their role in a clause (subject, direct object, etc.), as well as the person, gender, and number of their referent. Not all of these inflections may be present at once; for example, the relative pronoun Template:Lang (that, which, whom) may have any referent, while the possessive pronoun Template:Lang (Template:Lang) may have any role in a clause.

As noted above, French (like English) is a non-pro-drop ("pronoun-dropping") language; therefore, pronouns feature prominently in the language. Impersonal verbs (e.g., Template:Lang 'to rain') use the impersonal pronoun Template:Lang (analogous to English 'it').

French object pronouns are all clitics. Some appear so consistently – especially in everyday speech — that some have commented that French could almost be considered to demonstrate polypersonal agreement.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Negation

French usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle Template:Lang attached to the verb, and one or more negative words (connegatives) that modify the verb or one of its arguments. Negation encircles a conjugated verb with Template:Lang after the subject and the connegative after the verb, if the verb is finite or a gerund. However, both parts of the negation come before the targeted verb when it is in its infinitive form. For example:

• Template:Lang 'I took them' → Template:Lang 'I did not take them'
• Template:Lang 'I would like to watch a movie and fall asleep' → Template:Lang 'I would like to watch a movie and not fall asleep'

Other negative words used in combination with Template:Lang are:

• negative adverbs

Template:Lang — not anymore, no longer

Template:Lang — never

Template:Lang – nowhere

Template:Lang — not much, hardly (literary)

Template:Lang — not, not at all (literary)

• negative pronouns

Template:Lang — nothing

Template:Lang — nobody

• others

(determiner) Template:Lang — no/not any (also Template:Lang, literary)

(restrictive particle) Template:Lang — only

Examples:

• Template:Lang — I do not know.
• Template:Lang — He does not smoke anymore.
• Template:Lang — We did not see anybody.
• Template:Lang — She didn't drink anything.
• Template:Lang — I have no idea.
• Template:Lang — You only eat vegetables?

The negative adverbs (and Template:Lang) follow finite verbs but precede infinitives (along with Template:Lang):

• Template:Lang — He claims not to smoke/to never smoke/to smoke nothing.

Moreover, it is possible for Template:Lang and Template:Lang to be used as the subject of a sentence, which moves them to the beginning of the sentence (before the Template:Lang):

• Template:Lang — Nothing is certain.
• Template:Lang — Nobody came.

Several negative words (other than Template:Lang) can appear in the same sentence, but the sentence is still usually interpreted as a simple negation. When another negative word occurs with Template:Lang, a double negation interpretation usually arises, but this construction is criticised.

• Template:Lang — She never said anything else to anybody.
• Template:Lang — She did not see nobody (i.e., she saw somebody).

Colloquial usage

In colloquial French, it is common to drop the Template:Lang, although this can create some ambiguity with the Template:Lang construction when written down, as Template:Lang could mean either 'more' or 'not anymore'. Generally when Template:Lang is used to mean Template:Lang, the final Template:Vr is pronounced (Template:IPA), whereas it is never pronounced when used to mean 'not anymore' (Template:IPA).

As an example, the informal sentence Template:Lang could be pronounced with the final Template:IPA (Template:IPA) to mean "there is more", or it could be pronounced without it (Template:IPA) to mean "there is none left".

Independent ne

In certain, mostly literary constructions, Template:Lang can express negation by itself (without Template:Lang or another negative word). The four verbs that can use this construction are Template:Lang ("to be able to"), Template:Lang ("to know"), Template:Lang ("to dare"), and Template:Lang ("to cease").

• (standard, Template:Lang + Template:Lang) Template:Lang — "I was not able to come."
• (casual, pas only) Template:Lang [same]
• (literary, ne only) Template:Lang [same];
  cf. phrase Template:Lang — "I do not know what [it is]" remaining in colloquial speech as a fossilized phrase

Expletive ne

In certain cases in formal French, the word Template:Lang can be used without signifying negation; the Template:Lang in such instances is known as expletive Template:Lang (French: Template:Lang):

Template:Lang — "I am afraid that it might happen again."

Template:Lang — "He arrived before we started."

Template:Lang — "There are more of them than you think."

Expletive Template:Lang is found in finite subordinate clauses (never before an infinitive). It is characteristic of literary rather than colloquial style.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In other registers French tends to not use any negation at all in such clauses, e.g., Template:Lang.

The following contexts allow expletive Template:Lang

• the complement clause of verbs expressing fear or avoidance: Template:Lang (to fear), Template:Lang (to be afraid), Template:Lang (to prevent), Template:Lang (to avoid)
• the complement clause of verbs expressing doubt or denial: Template:Lang (to doubt), Template:Lang (to deny)
• adverbial clauses introduced by the following expressions: Template:Lang (before), Template:Lang (unless), Template:Lang (for fear that)
• comparative constructions expressing inequality: Template:Lang (other), Template:Lang (better), Template:Lang (stronger), Template:Lang (less intelligent), etc.

Existential clauses

In French, the equivalent of the English existential clause "there is/are" is expressed with Template:Lang (infinitive: Template:Lang), literally, "it there has" or "it has to it". As an impersonal verb, the verb may be conjugated to indicate tense, but always remains in the third person singular. For example

• Template:Lang – "There are two shepherds and fifteen sheep in the meadow."
• Template:Lang – "There will be a lot to eat."
• Template:Lang – "There appears to have been (lit. would have) two dead and five injured in the accident." (as in news reporting)
• Template:Lang – "There was nobody at the Martins' home."

This construction is also used to express the passage of time since an event occurred, like the English ago or it has been:

• Template:Lang – "I saw him two days ago."
• Template:Lang – "It had been a long time since I had seen him."
• Template:Lang – "The language/usage of one hundred years ago is very different from that of today."

In informal speech, Template:Lang is typically reduced to Template:IPA, as in:

• Template:Lang
• Template:Lang
• Template:Lang
• Template:Lang

Word order

The components of a declarative clause are typically arranged in the following order (though not all components are always present):<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Adverbial(s)
• Subject
• Template:Lang (usually a marker for negation, though it has some other uses)
• First- and second-person object pronoun (Template:Lang) or the third-person reflexive pronoun (Template:Lang)
• Third-person direct-object pronoun (Template:Lang)
• Third-person indirect-object pronoun (Template:Lang or Template:Lang)
• The pronoun Template:Lang
• The pronoun Template:Lang
• Finite verb (may be an auxiliary)
• Adverbial(s)
• (second marker for negation) The pronouns Template:Lang (if not subject)
• Main verb (if the finite verb is an auxiliary)
• Adverbial(s)
• Direct object
• Indirect object
• Adverbial(s)

What is called in English (and above) an indirect object is in many cases called Template:Lang according to French grammar conventions (e.g., in Template:Lang 'to give sth. to s.o.' or 'to give s.o. sth.'). What the French call Template:Lang is a complement introduced by an essentially void Template:Lang or Template:Lang (at least in the case of a noun) required by some particular, otherwise intransitive, verbs: e.g. Template:Lang 'the robbers took advantage of my absence' — but the essentially synonymous Template:Lang has a direct object instead. Unlike in English, in French neither an indirect object nor a circumstantial can become the subject of the passive voice: Template:Lang has no direct equivalent in French.

The most common word order in French is subject-verb-object (SVO).

• Template:Lang (I love chocolate).

French also allows for verb-object-subject (VOS) though the usage is relatively rare and various constraints apply. The most common instance of this word order is in more formal texts or in response to questions with a focus on the subject, as opposed to more broad questions such as, Template:Lang (what happened?). Below are examples of each circumstance.

• Formal or administrative text – Template:Lang (students as well as academic staff will receive a ballot paper).
• Response to questions with a focus on the subject – Template:Lang (who ate the cakes?)
  • Template:Lang (Marie, Pierre and Stephanie are those who ate the cakes).

Finally, in a comparatively limited number of instances French allows for object-subject-verb (OSV) word order, such as when adding emphasis

• Template:Lang (chocolate I LOVE).

In regard to word order, French is more restrictive than other Romance languages. For example, Spanish allows for all six possible word orders, compared to French’s three. Additionally, unlike other Romance languages, specifically Spanish and Italian, French does not have free inversion, which is often explained by French not being a pro-drop language (while Spanish and Italian are).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Negation

As mentioned above, French expresses negation in two parts, the first with the particle ne attached to the verb and one or more negative words, which modify either the verb or one of its arguments. The participle ne comes before the verb in the sentence that is marked for tense and before any unstressed object pronouns that come before the verb. The location of the second part of the negation varies, however.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

Modern French allows for fewer word orders than Latin or Old French, both of which Modern French has evolved from. In both Latin and Old French, all six potential word orders are possible:

• Subject-verb-object (SVO)
• Verb-object-subject (VOS)
• Object-subject-verb (OSV)
• Subject-object-verb (SOV)
• Object-verb-subject (OVS)
• Verb-subject-object (VSO)

While linguistic evolution occurs on a continuum, the major shift towards increased grammaticalization occurred in French most distinctly between the mid 12th century and end of the 15th century. It is believed that the progressive move towards SVO as the dominant French word order occurred during this time, as a result of a "progressive fixation of the subject in preverbal position from the fourteenth century on".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Question formation

Broadly speaking, there are two types of questions; yes/no questions and information questions.

Yes/no questions

In French there are four ways to form yes/no questions, each of which is typically associated with a different degree of formality.

1. Raising intonation

The simplest and most informal way to ask a yes/no question is by raising intonation at the end of a declarative sentence. This question formation structure is common in informal spoken French, but relatively uncommon in more formal spoken French or written French. Examples include:

• Template:Lang (Is she going to stay here?)
• Template:Lang (Can I put my photos on the wall?)

2. Est-ce que

Yes/no questions may also be formed by adding est-ce que to the beginning of a declarative sentence. This structure may be used in any style of French; formal, informal, spoken, or written.

• Template:Lang (Is she going to stay here?)
• Template:Lang (Can I put my photos on the wall?)

3. ..., n'est-ce pas?

Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

This is like adding "is it not?" to the end and it is pronounced Template:IPA.

• Template:Lang
• Template:Lang

4. Inversion of verb and subject

Finally, yes/no questions may be formed by inverting the verb and the subject. This sentence structure is typically used in formal and written French. These questions may be formed in one of two ways, depending on whether the pronoun is stressed or unstressed. If the pronoun is unstressed, it changes places with the verb that it agrees with.

• Template:Lang (Are you happy?)

This subject-verb inversion is similar to question formation in English, though in English the inversion may only occur with auxiliary verbs, while in French it may occur with all verbs.

If the subject is anything other than an unstressed pronoun, an unstressed subject pronoun that agrees with the subject is added to the right of the verb.

• Template:Lang (Is Pierre happy?)

Two additional notes on subject verb inversion in French. First, when the inversion results in the adjacency of two vowels Template:Vr is inserted between them.

• T-insertion: Template:Lang (Is he 17?)

Secondly, only the most formal French inverts the verb with 'Template:Lang'. It has become more common, both in spoken and written French, to replace je with est-ce-que. For example, the following two sentences are ungrammatical in French.

• Template:LangTemplate:Efn (Am I lying?)
• Template:Lang (Am I taking the bus?)

Information questions

There are four ways to form information questions in French. Like yes/no questions, each form is associated with a different degree of formality.

1. Addition of question word or phrase

The simplest and generally most informal way to form an information question in French is by replacing a word in a declarative sentence with a question word or phrase and adding rising intonation to the end of the sentence. The question word or phrase may occur at the beginning or end of the sentence, depending on which word is being replaced, unlike in English, where the question word typically occurs at the start of the sentence.

• Declarative sentence – Template:Lang (The student will telephone his/her MP tomorrow.)
• Template:Lang (When will the student telephone his/her MP?)
• Template:Lang (Who will telephone his/her MP tomorrow?)

2. Moving question word or phrase

Another common and informal way of forming information questions is by replacing an item in a declarative sentence by a question word or phrase then moving the question word or phrase to the front of the sentence.

• Template:Lang (Who did you see?)
• Template:Lang (Who did Marcel write to?)

3. Addition of "est-ce que"

Another way to form a question in French is by following the steps outlined above in one and two, and in addition inserting est-ce que after the question word. This style of question formation may be used in all styles of French.

• Template:Lang (Who did you see?)
• Template:Lang (Who did Marcel write to?)

4. Inversion of verb and subject

Finally, information questions in French may be formed by following the steps outlined above in one and two and additionally, inverting the subject and verb. This is typically the most formal form of question formation and is found in written and formal spoken French. As in yes/no question formation, if the subject is an unstressed pronoun, it switches places with the verb:

• Template:Lang (Who did you see?)

If the subject is anything other than an unstressed pronoun, an unstressed subject pronoun is added after the verb.

• Template:Lang (Who did Robert meet?)<ref name=":0" />

Cleft sentences

Cleft sentences are sentences that consist of two clauses, one of which is a copular clause and one of which is a relative clause, also known as a cleft clause. The copular clause consists of a copula followed by the cleft constituent. Cleft sentences are found in many European languages, including French. In the sentence, Template:Lang ('It's Stella who reads Kant') "Template:Lang" is the copular clause, "Template:Lang" is the cleft constituent, and "Template:Lang" is the cleft clause.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Types of clefts

While cleft sentences are common in European languages, the types of possible cleft sentences vary dramatically by language. Subject clefts, in which the cleft constituent acts as the subject of both the main verb and the cleft clause, are the most common clefts and are found in all languages that have clefts. Template:Lang ('It's Stella who reads Kant') is an example of a subject cleft. In complement clefts the cleft constituent is a complement of both the main verb of the cleft clause and the non-cleft clause. For example, Template:Lang ('it's Kant that Stella reads'). The final type of clefts are adverbial clefts, which are the most common clefts in French, but are not found in all languages with clefts, such as German. In adverbial cleft sentences, the cleft constituent has an adverbial syntactic function. Therefore, the cleft constituent is not subcategorized by the cleft clause's main verb and it is not required in corresponding non-cleft clauses.

• Adverbial cleft sentence: Template:Lang ('It is with ease that Stella reads Kant')
• Corresponding non-cleft clause: Template:Lang ('Stella reads Kant [with ease]')<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

• Le Bon Usage, a reference by Maurice Grevisse, and later editions by André Goosse

Further reading

Grammar

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Special studies

• Jean-Pierre Gabilan. L'Imparfait français et ses traductions en anglais: Approche méta-opérationnelle. Chambéry: Presses universitaires de Savoie, 2011.
• Jean-Marie Merle. Étude du conditionnel français et ses traductions en anglais. Paris: Ophrys, 2002.
• Christine Tellier & Daniel Valois. Constructions méconnues du français. Montreal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2006.

Comparison with English

• Paul Boucher. A linguistic handbook of French for translators and language students. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2018.
• Robert Breuil. Syntaxe comparée français-anglais, anglais-français. L'Hay-les-Roses: Éditions du Lombarteix, 1974.
• Hélène Chuquet & Michel Paillard. Approche linguistique des problèmes de traduction anglais <-> français, rev'd edn. Paris: Ophrys, 1989.
• Jacqueline Guillemin-Flescher. Syntaxe comparée du français et de l'anglais. Paris: Ophrys, 1981.
• Morris Salkoff. A French-English grammar: A contrastive grammar on translational principles. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999.
• Jean-Paul Tremblay. Grammaire comparative du français et de l'anglais. Quebec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 1972
• Egan Valentine & Marie-Christine Aubin. Stylistique différentielle, textologie et traduction, 2nd edn. Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2017.
• Alain Vercollier, Claudine Vercollier, & Kay Bourlier. Difficultés expliquées du français for English speakers. Paris: CLE International, 2004.
• Jean-Paul Vinay & Jean Darbelnet. Comparative stylistics of French and English: A methodology for translation. Trans. Juan C. Sager & M.-J. Hamel. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.