MTTC French (023) key terms

A verb mood used after expressions of doubt, desire, emotion, necessity, or after certain conjunctions like bien que and pour que. It marks the action as subjective or non-asserted rather than factual.

The compound form of the subjunctive, built with avoir or être in the subjunctive plus a past participle. It expresses a subjective action completed before the moment of speaking.

The set of verb forms used to state facts, events, and beliefs as real. It contrasts with the subjunctive and includes present, imperfect, future, and compound tenses.

A past tense describing ongoing, habitual, or background situations without a clear endpoint. It often sets the scene while the passé composé reports the completed events within it.

A compound past tense formed with a present-tense auxiliary (avoir or être) and a past participle. It presents an action as a completed whole, often a single event.

A compound past tense using an imperfect auxiliary plus a past participle. It expresses an action completed before another past action or reference point.

A compound future tense formed with a future auxiliary and past participle. It marks an action completed before a future moment, or expresses a past supposition.

A compound form using a conditional auxiliary plus past participle. It expresses unrealized past possibilities, regrets, or reported future events viewed from the past.

The rules governing how the tense of a subordinate clause adjusts to the tense of the main clause, especially in reported speech and conditional sentences.

The agreement rules for past participles: with être as auxiliary the participle agrees with the subject; with avoir it agrees only with a preceding direct object.

A pronoun such as le, la, les, or me replacing a direct object noun. Its position before the verb affects past participle agreement in compound tenses.

A pronoun replacing a noun or clause introduced by à, or a place. It stands before the verb and can refer to things, ideas, or locations, but rarely to people.

A pronoun replacing a noun introduced by de or a quantity expression, including partitive articles. It also replaces a place introduced by de and precedes the verb.

A determiner (du, de la, de l', des) used before a mass noun to indicate an unspecified quantity. It changes to de in negative sentences and after quantity expressions.

The determiner le, la, les (and elided l') marking a specific or already known noun. It also expresses general categories, as in les chats sont des mammifères.

The determiner un, une, or des introducing a non-specific countable noun. In the plural it becomes de before an adjective preceding the noun in formal usage.

The technique of reporting someone's words, either directly with quotation marks or indirectly by shifting pronouns, tenses, and time expressions.

A construction where the grammatical subject receives the action, formed with être plus a past participle, optionally followed by par plus the agent.

The phrase introduced by par or de in a passive sentence that names who or what performs the action. It is absent when the agent is unknown or unimportant.

The construction en plus a present participle, expressing simultaneity, manner, or condition. Its subject must match the subject of the main clause.

A verb form ending in -ant that functions as a verb or adjective, often expressing a cause or accompanying circumstance. Unlike the gérondif, it is not preceded by en.

A clause embedded within a larger sentence that depends on a main clause. It may be relative, introduced by a relative pronoun, or conjunctive, introduced by a conjunction.

A pronoun such as qui, que, dont, or où that links a relative clause to its antecedent and stands for that antecedent within the clause.

Forms like lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles, often with a preposition (auquel, duquel). They clarify the antecedent's gender and number, especially after prepositions.

The construction of negative sentences, typically with ne plus a second element such as pas, jamais, rien, or personne. In informal speech ne is often dropped.

Emphatic structures that foreground a sentence element, such as c'est... qui/que, ce qui... c'est, or dislocation of a pronoun to the sentence edge.

A stressed pronoun form (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) used after prepositions, in emphasis, and in dislocated constructions.

The level of formality in language use, ranging from soutenu through courant to familier. Register governs vocabulary choice, syntax, and pronunciation in a given context.

The informal register of everyday speech, marked by dropped ne, deleted vowels, simplified syntax, and colloquial vocabulary. It is appropriate among close acquaintances but not in formal writing.

The pronunciation of a normally silent final consonant before a word beginning with a vowel or mute h. It is obligatory in some contexts, optional in others, and forbidden in still others.

The dropping of a final vowel before a word beginning with a vowel or mute h, marked by an apostrophe, as in l'ami or qu'il. It is obligatory for certain short words.

The linking of a pronounced final consonant to a following initial vowel within the same rhythmic group, as in elle_est. Unlike liaison, the consonant is already pronounced.

The unstressed schwa sound written e, which may be pronounced, weakened, or dropped depending on position and register. Its deletion affects syllable counts in poetry.

A twelve-syllable line of French verse, the classic meter of tragedy and epic. Its internal structure includes a caesura dividing it into two hemistiches.

A pause within a line of verse, most notably the medial break in an alexandrin that divides it into two six-syllable halves called hemistiches.

One of the two halves of a line of verse separated by a caesura, especially in the alexandrin, where each half typically contains six syllables.

The repetition of final sounds at the ends of verse lines. Rimes are classified as plates, croisées, or embrassées by their arrangement, and as féminines or masculines by ending.

A single line of poetry measured in syllables. French verse is counted by pronounced syllables, with rules for e caduc, liaison, and diérèse affecting the count.

The pronunciation of two adjacent vowels as separate syllables rather than a single glide, often used to fit a metrical line, as in li-on for lion.

The pronunciation of two adjacent vowels as a single syllable or glide, the opposite of diérèse. Poets exploit the choice to adjust syllable counts.