Summary Chapters 11 & 20 (§129)
Chapter 11
Imperfect tense:
a. meaning/use: to represent incomplete or habitual actions in the past
b. conjugation: stem (present 'nous' form, minus 'ons') + endings (-ais, -ais, -ait; -ions, -iez, -aient)
je parlais, tu parlais, il/elle parlait; nous parlions, vous parliez, ils/elles parlent
NB: être is virtually the only verb with an irregular stem: j'étais, tu étais, on était...
[For verbs with no 'nous' form -- e.g. neiger ('to snow'), pleuvoir ('to rain') -- the infinitive is used, dropping the 'infinitive ending' -er or -oir. Il pleuvait. Ilneigeait.]
Pluperfect (or 'past perfect') tense:
a. meaning/use: to represent an action completed prior to another past action/event. ('had eaten, had gone')
b. conjugation: the pluperfect is a compound tense:
auxiliary (être or avoir) in the imperfect + past participle
j'avais mangé; ils étaient déjà partis (déjà = 'already')
J'avais déjà fini mon dîner quand elle m'a invité au restaurant.
[Past anterior tense: roughly the same meaning as the pluperfect, using the passé simple form of the auxiliary verb. Very rarely used today: Dès qu'il fut parti, la lettre arriva dans sa boîte.]
Causative structure: faire + infinitive
a. meaning/use: to represent actions (in any tense) that are not performed directly by the subject of the sentence but are caused to occur by that subject: 'to make… do/ to have… done'
in English: I had the oil changed. I made the class stay. (Someone else changed the oil. It was the class that stayed.)
b. structure: unlike in English, the appropriate form of faire is followed directly by an infinitive-- never a past participle. Any other noun -- object or agent (logical subject) of the action -- follows.
J'ai fait réparer la voiture. J'ai fait chanter la classe.
NB: The English uses a passive [past participle] structure for the first case: I had the car repaired.
If the French sentence identifies both the agent and the object of the action, the agent is introduced by 'à' (or sometimes 'par' to avoid ambiguity).
J'ai fait répéter le poème à la classe. ('I had the class repeat the poem.)
Chapter 20, §129
prepositional phrases as modifiers
a. à + infinitive (use)
machine à écrire
machine à laver
salle à manger
b. à + noun (means, material, use)
moulin à vent (moulin ='mill'; vent ='wind')
moulin à poivre (poivre= 'pepper')
bateau à vapeur
tasse à thé (tasse ='cup'; thé ='tea')
c. de + noun (purpose, function, etc.)
salle de bain
voiture de sport
d. en + noun (composition)
maison en bois
assiette en papier
NB: The English equivalents most frequently drop the preposition and reverse the remaining terms:
washing machine
dining room
windmill
pepper mill
steam boat
tea cup (etc.)