How French works
As we saw in Unit 3 above, the verb is one of the five constituent elements of the clause . Now it will be clear from your knowledge of verb forms such as the perfect or the passive that very often the verb element within a clause is made up of more than one verb. It is thus necessary to differentiate between the idea of the verb and the verb phrase:
The difference can be shown by a tree diagram of the sentence She has been made headteacher:
The last element of a verb phrase is known as the head verb , as it is from this verb that we get information regarding the fundamental action or state expressed in the verb phrase, rather than that relating to secondary aspects such as tense , voice or mood . Take, for example, the sentence
Ils ont dû être retardés par la grève
They must have been delayed by the strike
Here the head verb expressing the main verbal idea is retardés, whilst the preceding three verbs ont, dû and être serve respectively to add information regarding tense, mood and voice.
Verbs preceding the head verb in a verb phrase are called auxiliary verbs, and they serve to modify the meaning of the head verb without affecting its dictionary meaning. In French auxiliary verbs are usually separated into two groups, main auxiliaries (often referred to as just auxiliaries) and semi-auxiliaries.
Main auxiliaries are always used with a past participle , and have two basic functions - indicating tense and indicating voice .
First, they can serve to indicate the tense of a verb. The two main auxiliaries indicating tense in French are avoir and être:
En rentrant, elle a mis le paquet dans le coffre-fort
When she got back, she put the package in the safe
Je suis passé te voir cet après-midi
I came to see you this afternoon
Second, they can serve to indicate the voice of a verb. The auxiliary indicating voice in French is être:
Elle a été informée aussitôt que possible
She was informed as soon as possible
In English the auxiliaries be, do and have can be used on their own to refer back to another verb. Auxiliaries cannot be used in this way in French. The most common ways of translating this structure are as follows:
Where this structure involves contrasting an affirmative or negative :
Paul is working today but Marie isn't
Paul travaille aujourd'hui mais Marie non
Marie hasn't been to Manchester before, but Paul has
Marie n'a pas déjà visité Manchester, mais Paul oui
Paul works in Manchester, but Marie doesn't
Paul travaille à Manchester, mais Marie non
When this structure involves so or neither, then aussi or non plus are used on their own:
Marie knows Manchester well, and so does Paul
Marie connaît bien Manchester, et Paul aussi
Paul has never been to Manchester, and neither has Marie
Paul n'a jamais visité Manchester, et Marie non plus
When this structure involves a comparative , the noun , pronoun or adverbial is used on its own:
Marie knows Manchester better than I do
Marie connaît Manchester mieux que moi
The situation isn't as serious as it was ten years ago
La situation n'est pas si grave qu'il y a dix ans
Semi-auxiliaries are always used with an infinitive , and indicate aspects of time or mood .
The verb aller and the verbal expression être sur le point de can be used to express the near future:
Il va lui en parler demain
He is going to speak to him / her about it tomorrow
Elle est sur le point de partir
She is about to leave
The verbal expression venir de can be used to express the recent past:
Ils viennent de partir en vacances
They have just gone on holiday
Semi-auxiliaries of mood are more commonly called modals.
The verbs pouvoir and devoir can be used to express probability or possibility:
Il doit avoir dix ans maintenant
He must be ten years old now
Il peut y avoir beaucoup de monde à la soirée
There may be a lot of people at the party
The verbs vouloir, souhaiter, désirer can be used to express a wish:
Je voudrais / souhaite / désire le voir
I would like to see him
The verbs devoir and falloir can be used to express necessity:
Il doit se présenter à quatorze heures
He should turn up at 2.00 pm
Il faut arriver une demi-heure en avance
You should arrive half an hour early
The verbs pouvoir and savoir can be used to express ability:
Vous pourrez le voir dans une demi-heure
You can see him in half an hour
Savez-vous nager ?
- Can you swim ?
Verbs and verb phrases can be used in a variety of ways within a main clause .
When it is used without an object or complement the head verb is said to be an intransitive verb . For example:
Il pleut
It's raining
Il est tombé par terre
He / it fell on the ground
When it is used with an object the verb is said to be transitive verb . If this object is not preceded by a preposition , the verb is a direct transitive verb:
Il écrit une lettre
He's writing a letter
If this object is preceded by the preposition à or de (or else replaced by an indirect object pronoun ) the verb is an indirect transitive verb:
Le tabac nuit à la santé
Smoking is bad for your health
Elle s'occupe du problème
She's dealing with the problem
If the verb phrase takes two objects, one will be preceded by the preposition à or de and the other will not. In this case the verb is said to be ditransitive.
Elle a donné un cadeau à sa mère
She gave her mother a present
Il lui a confié la mission
He entrusted him with the mission
Knowing these terms makes it easier to find the correct translation of English verbs. For example, if you were translating a sentence such as The situation is improving, the fact that the verb has no object enables you to go straight to the entry for intransitive use of the verb to improve (in most dictionaries introduced by vi), which is s'améliorer.
By contrast, if translating the sentence This improved the situation, the fact that the verb takes a direct object enables you to look direct in the entry for transitive use (usually introduced by vt), which is améliorer. Also, verbs such as descendre take être as an auxiliary when used intransitively but avoir when used transitively (see 12:5).
When it is used with a complement the verb is called an intensive verb (it can also be called a linking or copular verb). These include être, devenir and paraître:
Pierre est professeur d'université
Pierre's a university teacher
Elle devient de plus en plus capable
She's becoming more and more capable
Sometimes this infinitive takes no preposition :
Il espère venir demain
He's hoping to come tomorrow
Elle aime lire des romans policiers
She likes reading detective novels
And sometimes the infinitive is introduced by à or de:
Il a réussi à terminer le projet
He managed to finish the project
Elle refuse de le rencontrer
She refuses to meet him
Elle veut que tu lui dises la vérité
She wants you to tell her the truth
Il demande si tu vas venir ce soir
He's asking if you're coming this evening
Verbs must agree in number and in person with their subject :
Elle a reçu une lettre
She received a letter
Nous avons passé la soirée chez des amis
We spent the evening with friends
Note that the polite form of vous has the same conjugation as vous plural , but takes a singular participle where appropriate:
Si vous étiez venu(e) plus tôt, j'aurai pu vous le présenter
If you had come earlier, I could have introduced him to you
Similarly the informal use of on in place of nous has the same conjugation as on singular, but takes a plural participle where appropriate:
On ne s'est pas rendu(e)s compte de l'heure
We didn't realize the time
In a relative clause the verb must agree with the relative pronoun :
Ce sont eux qui sont venus les premiers
It was they / them who came first
Where there are more than one subject in the singular , the verb is in the plural :
Mon frère et son amie sont venus aussi
My brother and his friend came as well
Where there are two subjects with different grammatical persons the verb agrees according to the person the subjects amount to thematically. In effect this means that the first person takes precedent over the second and third persons, and that the second person takes precedent over the third person:
Marie / Toi et moi avons la même date d'anniversaire
Marie / you and I have the same birthday
Marie et toi avez la même date d'anniversaire
Marie and you have the same birthday