28.3: Part 1: 2 NP: COMMON NOUN PHRASE (GROUPE NOMINAL)

2 NP: COMMON NOUN PHRASE (GROUPE NOMINAL)

A "common" noun, as opposed to a "proper" noun is one that refers to a member (or members) or some part of a set of objects—whether persons, objects or abstract concepts—without naming it/them. We say "common noun phrases" because common nouns most often occur in full noun phrases, containing at least a determiner.

The typical common noun phrase is made up of an obligatory Determiner, one or more optional Modifiers (Adjectives and any accompanying Adverbs), and the head Noun.

Examples

(Underlined word is the head noun; word in caps is the OBLIGATORY DETERMINER; the remaining words are optional adjectives/adverbs.)

UN très petit chat	a very little cat
LA voiture bleue	the blue car
CE grand garçon	that big boy
MON meilleur ami	my best friend
LA vérité	the truth OR truth (in general)
DU pain	bread OR some bread

2.1 Common NP: Common Nouns

2.1.1 Common Nouns: Gender

French has "grammatical" gender, that is, all nouns, whether or not they refer to living beings that have natural gender (male or female) are marked as either "masculine" or "feminine". There is no apparent logical system for determining the classes of words that are masculine as opposed to those that are feminine: you simply have to learn the gender of a noun as you learn to use that word.

However, with nouns that refer to persons, you can depend on your knowledge of natural gender: words that unambiguously refer to males are masculine (un frère, un homme; un garçon), those that unambiguously refer to females are feminine (une sœur, une femme, une jeune fille): On the other hand, words that refer to individuals in their professional capacity or vocation are not always easy to handle. Some have two forms, with fairly obvious endings that you'll get used to: acteur/actrice, prince/princesse, chanteur/chanteuse, directeur/directrice. Others have only one form, usually the masculine, and current usage of those words is not consistent. For example, it's un professeur, whether the professor is a male or a female person. That is true also for un médecin (doctor), but one hears and sees: une femme médecin, Madame le professeur, etc. Students at this level should be aware of the situation, but we do not expect you to handle the problem: just get the gender of the words we ask you to produce; that will be quite sufficient. (Remember, if you learn nouns with the indefinite article you will much more easily remember the gender.)

2.1.2 Common Nouns: Number

In French, count nouns (those that refer to countable objects) are marked for number: they're either singular or plural. Again, they are most clearly marked by the determiner that goes with them (sure, an -s is usually added to the noun for the plural, but you can't hear it, so the change in the determiner—which involves a distinct difference in both spelling and pronunciation—is more noticeable): un garçon/des garçons, la jeune fille/les jeunes filles, ce stylo/ces stylos, cette porte/ces portes.

The great majority of nouns add -s to the singular form to give the written plural: hommes, nations, professeurs, livres.

For reasons that involve the history of orthography as well as sound changes in the language, there are some common exceptions to the -s final. A few of these are:

Nouns that already have a "plural" ending (-s, -x, -z) do not add an additional -s. (un fils, trois fils; le nez, les nez)

Most nouns that end in -al in the singular take -aux in the plural. One we'll use often is journal/journaux.

A few special cases: ciel/cieux, œil/yeux.

2.2 Common NP: Determiners

"Determiners" is a cover name for such things as definite (the) and indefinite (a) articles, possessive (my), demonstrative (this), and interrogative (which) adjectives, and certain quantifiers (like some, many, four)

NB: One determiner is regularly required in each noun phrase, but never more than one.

2.2.1 Determiners: The Indefinite Article (L'Article indéfini)

The forms of the indefinite article are:

un	masculine singular	un garçon	a boy/waiter
une	feminine singular	une table	a table
des	masc. or fem. plural	des garçons	(some) boys
		des tables	(some) tables

Function and Use of the Indefinite Article

The indefinite article is just that, indefinite. As the first element in a common noun phrase, it simply indicates that the speaker is talking about "a" member of some set of countable objects, or some members of such a set: no particular one or ones. In its usual uses, it is very similar to the indefinite article in English.

Just a few examples of the indefinite article:

Avez-vous un livre?	Do you have a book?
Il y a des stylos sur la table.	There are some pens on the table.
Je regarde un monsieur et une femme qui montent dans le train.	I'm looking at a man and a woman who are getting on the train.

Obviously, as in English, as soon as the speaker and hearer have identified the person or object, we switch to the definite article or some other more specific determiner. For example, a follow-up to the last sentence might be:

Le monsieur s'arrête...

The man is stopping...

2.2.2 Determiners: The Definite Article (L'Article défini)

The forms of the definite article are:

le	masculine singular	le garçon	the boy/waiter
la	feminine singular	la table	the table
l'	masc. or fem. singular, next word begins with a vowel sound	l'ami (m.) l'amie (f.)	the friend the friend
les	masc. or fem. plural	les hommes les femmes	(the) men (the) women

Note: Remember that the masculine singular (le) and the plural form (les) contract with the prepositions à and de: au, aux, du, des. (See Section 21.1.)

Function and Use of the Definite Article

As in English, the definite article is used very often to refer to something that the speaker or hearer has already noted (something previously mentioned or pointed at).

(Speaker is asking for a particular book: one that has been mentioned earlier, or to which he/she is pointing):

Donnez-moi le livre.

Give me the book.

(Speaker is showing the listener a pen that has already been mentioned.):

Voici le stylo que vous cherchiez.

Here's the pen you were looking for.

Unlike English, French uses the definite article to refer to something in general or in the abstract:

La vie est dure.	Life is rough.
La patience est une vertu.	Patience is a virtue.
Les étudiants sont paresseux.	Students are lazy.

(The speaker we overheard making that last statement was talking about students in general, not a particular group of previously mentioned students. Obviously an erroneous statement, but the grammar is good.)

There are other uses of the definite article in French that differ from English usage. They will be exemplified in the text and very likely used by your instructor, and found in readings, but we will not expect you to have active control of them in this course.

Examples

Il sort le soir.	He goes out in the evening.
—C'est combien?	How much?
—Vingt francs le kilo.	Twenty francs a kilo.
Elle s'est cassé la cheville.	She broke her ankle.

2.2.3 Determiners: The Partitive Article (L'Article partitif)

The forms of the partitive article are:

du	masculine singular	du pain	bread
de la	feminine singular	de la viande	meat
de l'	masc. or fem. singular, next word begins with a vowel sound	de l'air (m.) de l'eau (f.)	air water
de, d'	replaces all of the above when they are negated	pas de pain, pas de viande pas d'air, pas d'eau

Function and Use of the Partitive Article

Like all articles, the partitive is a determiner, and thus fills the important role of introducing a noun phrase, in this case a common noun that is not countable—what is often called a "mass" noun.

The concept is quite simple and we use it also in English; we just don't happen to have a specific form, no "partitive article" that we have to use. In a sentence using the first example above, for example, we might say, "Did you buy some bread?" (As-tu acheté du pain?). Note that "some" is an equivalent, in this case, for "du," but is not a partitive article; it's an indefinite quantifier. The speaker could have said "Did you buy bread?", omitting the word "some," but the French speaker had to use the partitive article.

The point is that when we refer to a "mass" noun, it is something that cannot be counted or thought of easily in discrete units (things like air, bread, water, courage, patience, meat), so the indefinite article doesn't work (we don't normally say "a courage/un courage," "a water/une eau"), and the definite article only works for such words when we are speaking about some identifiable and previously mentioned unit (part) of the thing in question, ("the bread on the table/le pain sur la table," "the patience of my prof/la patience de mon prof") or about the quality/mass in general ("Water is necessary for Uie/L'eau est nécessaire pour la vie," "Patience is a virtue/La patience est une vertu"). Whenever we speak about some indefinite amount of one of the mass nouns, we must use a partitive construction in French.

It may help to think in terms of the kinds of sentences in which we often find partitive constructions, as in the following examples:

a. Sentences that assert (or negate, or question) the existence or presence of some quality or some non-count object. Note that such sentences often contain the "there is/il y a" construction.

Il y a du pain sur la table.	There's bread on the table.
Il n'y pas de pain ici.	There's no bread here.
Y a-t-il de la neige?	Is there any snow?

b. Sentences that contain transitive verbs like avoir, vouloir, acheter, and trouver. When the complement of those verbs (the direct object) is an indefinite amount of a non-countable quality/object, the article for that complement is the partitive.

Il a du courage.	He has courage.
Ils n'ont pas de patience.	They don't have any patience.
Veux-tu du vin?	Do you want any (some) wine?

Note:

1. No plural forms were used in the preceding examples. That is because the partitive refers to non-count nouns and therefore to things that have no number (neither plural nor singular, really). That may mask the fact that the plural of the indefinite article, des, also refers to indefinite quantities of things—but of countable things.

Il y a des pèches sur la table.	There are peaches on the table.
Je n'ai pas d'amis.	I don't have any friends.
As-tu trouvé des exemples?	Did you find any examples?

2. Since the indefinite article is just that, indefinite, you'll also often find countable indefinite items in sentences such as those that we've used to illustrate the partitive above. These are not partitive constructions, they're just indefinite.

Veux-tu une pomme?	Do you want an apple?
Il y a un stylo sur le plancher.	There's a pen on the floor.

3. As listed in the table, when a construction that would contain a full partitive (or an indefinite article) is negated, the determiner form is simply de. We repeat some of the examples already given.

Je n'ai pas d'amis.	indefinite article: not des, but de.
Ils n'ont pas de patience.	partitive: not de la, but de.
Il n'y a pas de pain ici.	partitive: not du, but de.

NB: The indefinite article and partitive article are not replaced by de after a negative with the verb être.

Ce sont des stylos →	Ce ne sont pas des stylos.
C'est une table. →	Ce n'est pas une table.
C'est du vin. →	Ce n'est pas du vin.

2.2.4 Determiners: The Possessive Adjective (L'Adjectif possessif)

The forms of the possessive adjective are:

The item possessed is:	The person who possesses the item is:
	SINGULAR			PLURAL
	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
masc. sing.	mon	ton	son	notre	votre	leur
fem. sing *	ma	ta	sa	notre	votre	leur
m. or f. pl.	mes	tes	ses	nos	vos	leurs

*When the following word begins with a vowel sound, the form is mon, ton, or son, whether the item possessed is masculine or feminine, for example: mon ami and mon amie. (The vowel, o, is nasalized and the n is pronounced, in liaison with the following vowel.) More examples follow.

Function and Use of the Possessive Adjective

The possessive adjective lets the speaker state who owns a designated object, just as it does in English. The one thing we have to be careful of is to remember that all the possessive adjectives indicate clearly whether the object possessed is singular or plural and that the first three indicate whether the possessed object is of masculine or feminine gender. English does neither. English, however, shows whether or not third person singular "possessors" are masculine or feminine (his vs her) whereas French does not: sa (like ma, ta) indicates that the item possessed is feminine, not that the owner is feminine.

We'll also note here, for your information only (we won't specifically ask you to produce the construction in this course), that French often uses the definite article, rather than the possessive adjective, in reference to parts of the body (see above, end of section 2.2.2).

Examples of the possessive adjective:

ma tante	my aunt	Possessor: 1st person Item possessed:     feminine singular
mes amis	my friends	Possessor: 1st person Item possessed:     masculine plural
ton ami	your friend	Possessor: 2nd person (tu-form) Item possessed:     masculine singular
ton amie	your friend	Possessor: 2nd person (tu-form) Item possessed:     feminine singular (ton ami and ton amie sound exactly the same: in speech you'd know the gender of the friend by context, fairly simply.)
son frère	his/her brother	Possessor: 3rd person, but we can't tell, without context, whether it's his or her. Item possessed:     masculine singular
notre ami	our friend	Possessor: 1st person plural Item possessed:     masculine singular (The e in notre is not pronounced, but we do not delete it in spelling.)
notre amie	our friend	Possessor: 1st person plural Item possessed:     feminine singular, same pronunciation as for masculine singular.
leurs enfants	their children	Possessor: 3rd person plural Item possessed:     plural (We can't tell in this case what the gender of either one is: context would tell us.)

2.2.5 Determiners: The Demonstrative Adjective (L'Adjectif démonstratif)

The forms of the demonstrative adjective are:

Masculine Singular	ce	ce garçon, ce stylo
Masculine Singular, next word begins with a vowel sound	cet	cet ami, cet homme
Feminine Singular	cette	cette femme, cette amie
Plural (masc. or fem)	ces	ces garçons, ces amis ces femmes, ces amies

Function and Use of the Demonstrative Adjective

The demonstrative adjective has much the same function as its equivalent (this or that/these or those) in English. Like all other determiners, it is the initial element in a noun phrase and agrees in gender and number with the noun of that noun phrase.

The "this" versus "that" contrast is not as important in French as it is in English and is only noted when the contrast is sharp. In such cases, "this" is signaled by adding -ci to the noun, "that" by adding -là to the noun.

Examples

Cet homme ne veut pas m'écouter.	This/That man does not want to listen to me.
Ce village est pittoresque.	This village is picturesque.
Cette histoire est incroyable.	That story is incredible.
Ces tableaux-ci sont plus intéressants que ces tableaux-là.	These paintings are more interesting than those paintings.

2.2.6 Determiners: The Interrogative Adjective (L'Adjectif interrogatif)

The forms of the interrogative adjective are:

Masculine Singular	quel	quel homme, quel stylo
Feminine Singular	quelle	quelle amie, quelle femme
Masculine Plural	quels	quels garçons, quels amis
Feminine Plural	quelles	quelles tables, quelles amies

Function and Use of the Interrogative Adjective

Like most interrogative words, the interrogative adjective has two functions: it signals a question, specifically an "information" or "WH-" question (not a "yes/no" question) and it has its basic syntactic function, like other determiners, of introducing a noun phrase. It not only comes first in the noun phrase (again, like other determiners) but that noun phrase regularly will be first in the sentence, since it is the element that marks it as a question. (Of course, it can be preceded by a preposition.)

Examples

De quel bâtiment parlez-vous?	What building are you talking about?
Quelles phrases regardez-vous?	What sentences are you looking at?
Quel ami est-ce qu'il a vu?	What (which) friend did he see?
Quelle clé ouvre cette porte?	What key opens this door?

Order of the Interrogative Adjective

As we stated, the interrogative adjective comes first in the noun phrase, and its noun phrase is first in the question-sentence. Note that we have to use inversion or est-ce que if the noun phrase of the interrogative adjective is not the subject of the sentence. If it is the subject, as in the last example, the word order is the same as for a straight statement (Cette clé ouvre la porte., "This key opens the door.").

2.3 Common Noun Phrase: Quantifiers

2.3.1 Quantifiers: The Numerals

Below, we provide a complete table of the cardinal numerals.

The Cardinal Numerals from 0-1 000 000

0. zéro	10. dix	20. vingt
1. un	11. onze	21. vingt et un
2. deux	12. douze	22. vingt-deux
3. trois	13. treize	23. vingt-trois
4. quatre	14. quatorze	24. vingt-quatre
5. cinq	15. quinze	25. vingt-cinq
6. six	16. seize	26. vingt-six
7. sept	17. dix-sept	27. vingt-sept
8. huit	18. dix-huit	28. vingt-huit
9. neuf	19. dix-neuf	29. vingt-neuf
30. trente	31. trente et un	32... trente-deux...
40. quarante	41. quarante et un	42... quarante-deux...
50. cinquante	51. cinquante et un	52... cinquante-deux...
60. soixante	61. soixante et un	62... soixante-deux...
70. soixante-dix	80. quatre-vingts	90. quatre-vingt-dix
71. soixante et onze	81. quatre-vingt-un	91. quatre-vingt-onze
72. soixante-douze	82. quatre-vingt-deux	92. quatre-vingt-douze
100. cent
101. cent un
200. deux cents
201. deux cent un	(Note: no -s on cent if another numeral follows)
1 000 mille	(mil for dates: 1630, mil six cent trente)^5
1 001 mille un	(Note: mille is invariable, no -s)
2 000 deux mille	(Note: million is a noun)

⁵ Dates may be given either as in the example (mil six cent trente) or, as we usually do in English, seize cent trente. It's just that when we use the first one, "one thousand" is spelled mil, not mille. A minor point.

2.3.2 Quantifiers: Indefinite

The indefinite quantifiers are:

beaucoup	many (with a count noun)	beaucoup de garçons
	much (with a non-count noun)	beaucoup d'air
assez	enough (same with both types)	assez d'étudiants assez d'eau
trop	too many (with a count noun)	trop d'exercices
	too much (with a non-count noun)	trop de pain
autant	as many (with a count noun)	autant de francs
	as much (with a non-count noun)	autant d'argent
plus	more (same with both types)	plus de garçons plus de pain
plusieurs	several (only occurs with count nouns)	plusieurs garçons plusieurs filles
quelques	some (only occurs with count nouns)	quelques garçons quelques filles

Note the difference in the constructions with plusieurs and quelques as opposed to the other quantifiers. These last two immediately precede the noun, whereas the others are followed by de plus the noun. It becomes a bit more complicated, but if you use the quantifiers following the examples in this table, you'll be generally safe at this stage in your study of French.

2.4 Common Noun Phrase: Descriptive Adjectives (L'adjectif qualificatif)

The descriptive (or quantifying) adjective is really a lexical item, not a grammatical construction: the main job you have is to become familiar with enough of these adjectives to use them when you want to describe something in a reasonably interesting and complete fashion. There are, however, some grammatical points to discuss, as follows.

2.4.1 Adjectives: Gender (L'adjectif: genre)

Adjectives agree in gender (and number) with the noun they modify. It is often best to learn an adjective in its feminine form because it's easier to work your way back to the masculine form, but there really is no serious problem here: frequent enough use will lead you to proper usage the great majority of the time.

As you've probably noticed already, French indicates feminine gender by adding an -e to the masculine form. In the spoken language, the -e itself is not heard, but the masculine and feminine forms usually sound quite different because the final consonant (if any) is pronounced when followed by e. Also, the addition of the -e often leads to a different spelling, as well as a different sound. If you'll just look at this list once in a while, you'll become familiar with all the changes that are important in a first-year course.

grande	grand	Drop the -e from the feminine form to obtain the masculine form; that form ends in consonant, and final consonants are usually not pronounced.
sportive	sportif	Drop the -e from the feminine form and change the v to f to derive the masculine form; this -f is pronounced.
rouge	rouge	Both forms end in -e. (That e is part of the word, not an indicator of gender.)
fatiguée	fatigué	Drop the -e from the feminine form to obtain the masculine form; there is no change in pronunciation.
bleue	bleu	Again, drop the -e to obtain the masculine form; no change in pronunciation.
heureuse	heureux	Drop the -e from the feminine form and change the remaining s to x. The final -x of the masculine form is not pronounced.

2.4.2 Adjectives: Number (L'adjectif: nombre)

Adjectives agree in number (and gender) with the noun they modify. An -s is added to form the written plural of most adjectives; exceptions are similar to those for nouns (see 2.1.2). The added -s is normally not heard, unless there is liaison with a vowel sound beginning the following word, as in the first two examples below. (For general discussion, see the Pronunciation Section.)

Examples

ma jolie amie	mes jolies amies
le petit enfant	les petits enfants
un grand bateau	trois grands bateaux
un professeur sympathique	des professeurs sympathiques
quel beau tableau!	quels beaux tableaux!
un homme heureux	des hommes heureux
une femme heureuse	des femmes heureuses
il est normal	ils sont normaux

2.4.3 Adjectives: Order

The large majority of adjectives follow the noun that they modify. (It sometimes seems to a beginning student that that is not true: the reason is that the adjectives that precede are easy, high-frequency words that the student sees and hears repeatedly.)

Examples

un professeur sympathique	an understanding (nice) professor
un orage épouvantable	a horrible storm
une pièce intéressante	an interesting play
un homme courageux	a courageous man
une femme mystérieuse	a mysterious woman
un repas délicieux	a delicious meal
des livres verts	green books

You will have noticed by now that many of these adjectives that follow the noun are long. That is a useful rule of thumb, but don't depend on it. The one rule you can depend on is that color adjectives (bleu, vert, rouge, and so on) regularly follow the noun.

There are about a dozen very common, high-frequency adjectives that regularly precede the noun.

Examples

une longue carrière	a long career
un petit enfant	a small child
une belle maison	a beautiful house
un grand garçon	a big (tall) boy
ces jolies fleurs	these pretty flowers
un bon stylo	a good pen

Here is a list, in alphabetical order, of adjectives that regularly precede the noun:

beau (bel), belle	mauvais, mauvaise
bon, bonne	nouveau, nouvelle
faux, fausse	petit, petite
grand, grande	vieux (vieil), vieille
gros, grosse	vilain, vilaine
haut, haute	vrai, vraie
joli, jolie	(and all ordinal numerals)
long, longue

Finally, there are some adjectives that may either precede or follow the noun, with a difference in meaning signalled by the contrasting position. We will not expect you to control that distinction as you speak or write, but it will be helpful to see an example and note the following comment: In general, when one of these adjectives precedes the noun it carries a more figurative meaning; when it follows the noun it carries a more literal meaning.

un homme pauvre	a poor man (= not rich)
un pauvre homme	an unfortunate man

2.4.4 Adjectives: Comparison

Since adjectives often denote a quality that comes in varying amounts, strengths or degrees (big, bigger; happy, happier), French, like English, has a way to indicate comparative values of an adjective. The system is as follows:

a. To indicate greater, more, better, use plus in front of the adjective:

Jean est grand.	John is big/tall.
Louise est plus grande (que Jean).	Louise is bigger/taller (than John).
Marie est heureuse.	Mary is happy.
Hélène est plus heureuse (que Marie).	Helen is happier (than Mary).
Mon prof de chimie est bizarre.	My Chemistry prof is odd.
Mon prof de français est plus bizarre (que mon prof de chimie).	My French prof is odder (than my Chem prof).

b. To indicate less, worse, use moins in front of the adjective:

Ce livre est cher.	This book is expensive.
Ce livre est moins cher que cet objet d'art.	This book is less expensive than that art object.

c. To indicate equality, use aussi in front of the adjective:

Jean est grand.	John is tall.
Paul est aussi grand que Jean.	Paul is as tall as John.
Le ciel est bleu.	The sky is blue.
Tes yeux sont aussi bleus que le ciel.	Your eyes are as blue as the sky.

The superlative. It is also possible to single out one person or thing as having a certain quality to the "nth degree"—the greatest. To do that in French, we simply put the definite article in front of the word plus (or, in the other direction, moins).

Jeanne est l'étudiante la plus ambitieuse de la classe.	Joan is the most ambitious student in the class.
Marc est le joueur le moins fatigué.	Mark is the least tired of the players.

We will not ask you to produce superlative forms in this course, but you should note, since it is common, that the superlative of bon is le meilleur (la meilleure).