Ents and Entwives

A final word about conjugating regular ER verbs in the present tense.

Remember this post about modal verbs and the boot? ER verbs are not boot verbs, but I often think of them that way because everything inside the boot is pronounced the same way.

Yes, even the ils/elles conjugation. Never pronounce the "-ent" ending in a conjugated verb. The "-ent" might affect how the letters before it are pronounced, but the "-ent" itself is never pronounced.

 

Je parle        Nous parlons
Tu parles    Vous parlez
Elle parle    Ils parlent

Yes, that's right. "Parle", "parles", and "parlent" are all pronounced exactly the same way. Fight the urge to say "parl-ant." You can beat this – I know you can.

That said, not every "-ent" is silent. Only the "-ent" ending of a conjugated verb. If the "ent" is part of the stem (or "radical") of the verb, or if you find "-ent" at the end of a word that is not a verb – it's fair game. Go ahead and pronounce that sucker. (For example: un accident, un élément, un tempérament.)

And I'm sorry, but just like in the Lord of the Rings, there are no Entwives here. Only -ents.

 

What’s a kinnamon?

I’ve talked a lot about patterns this week, and guess what? I’m not done.  Take a look at these groups of English words:

Do you see any patterns? Look again. “C” and “g” – how are they pronounced and why are they pronounced that way?

 Now look at these English words:

What is the difference between this group and the first group? Come up with a rule and write it down. Seriously – don’t look online, don’t ask someone else, don’t scroll to the rest of the post until you have a rule.

 …

                            …

                                                            …

Now I’ve got some clumps of French words for you. How do you think each of these sets of words is pronounced?

 

This is a rare instance where French and English have the same rule. (Of course, there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but it’s helpful nonetheless.)

Last chance! If you don’t have your own rule – come up with it now! The answer follows…

* * *

When ‘c’ or ‘g’ are followed by ‘a’, ‘o’, or ‘u’ they are hard. When they are followed by “e” or “i" they are soft.

* * *

Okay, now remember how we conjugate –ER verbs? What will happen when we conjugate "manger" – "to eat"? If we follow the rules for ER verbs without making any changes then the "nous" form will be "mangons". According to our new pronunciation rules, how will this word be pronounced? Does that sound good?

Nope.

This is fixed by simply adding an "e". "Nous mangeons."

Je mange             Nous mangeons

Tu manges          Vous mangez

Il mange               Elles mangent

 
Any regular –er verb with a 'g' at the end of the stem will follow this rule in the present tense (e.g.: nager = to swim, nous nageons.)

Commencer (to start) has the same problem, but it is not solved by adding an 'e'. Instead of adding an 'e', simply add une cedille. You've seen them plenty of times (ça, français).

Je commence                    Nous commençons

Tu commences                 Vous commencez

Il commence                      Ils commencent

 

Every regular -er verb with a stem that ends in "c" will work this way in the present tense (e.g. placer = to place, nous plaçons.)

What did I tell you? It's all about the patterns.

(Frustrated when you need to type a letter with an accent? To type a c with une cedille in Word, just hold down the Ctrl key while you hit the ' , ' key and then type ' c '. It will appear with the accent. Voilà !)

Compte vs. Conte

Winter is the season for curling up next to a warm fire with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. So I'll leave diving into grammar for January. For now, I'm just going to pull a few fun tidbits from some books I enjoy. I hope you enjoy them too!

L'Encyclopédie du savoir relatif et absolu is an interesting little book by Bernard Werber. It's not so much a book as a notebook – a collection of random thoughts, musings, commentaries, even jokes, and riddles. I'm sure I'll refer to this book again in the future, but for now – M. Werber's take on a couple French words:

Compte et Conte

Les mots « compte » et « conte » ont en français la même prononciation. Or on constate que cette correspondance existe pratiquement dans toutes les langues. En anglais, compter : to count, conter : to recount. En allemand, compter : zahlen, conter : erzählen. En hébreu, conter : le saper, compter : li saper. En chinois, compter : shu, conter : shu. Chiffres et lettres sont unis depuis les balbutiements du langage.

Bernard Werber – L' Encyclopedie du Savoir Relatif et Absolu

 

Compter [kɔ̃te] – Déterminer (une quantité) par le calcul.
Conter [kɔ̃te] – Exposer par un récit.

Compte [kɔ̃t] – n. m. – Détermination d'une quantité.
Conte [kɔ̃t] – n .m. – 1. Récit de faits réels. Histoire. 2. Court récit de faits, d'aventures imaginaires, destiné à distraire.

Le Petit Robert de la langue francaise

Oh, and in case you're interested – M. Werber's website: Bernard Werber Home
And he has a blog too! Bernard Werber Blog