Lecture 7: Introduction to Old French Grammar Flashcards
Cas Sujet (Nominative)
The noun is the subject of the verb/sentence
Cas Régime (Oblique)
The noun is the object, or follows a preposition
or
Any other noun that isn’t the subject of the verb
What is case?
The use of different forms of nouns or pronouns to show their function in a sentence.
It identifies syntactic relationships, the role of nouns in terms of other parts of the sentence
Case makes syntax more moveable
Case affects inflection (verb endings- number, gender, tense, subject, object)
Modern French DOES NOT have a case system
Masculine nouns: first declension
-s in Cas Sujet singular form
-Cas régime definite articles have survived (le and les), but cas sujet definite articles have died out (li)
-No difference in the cas sujet definite articles (li and li), doesn’t decipher between the number like le or les
Masculine nouns: second declension
Usually no -s in cas sujet singular
(s) is an irregular pattern which has become regular overtime –> analogy
This is the case mainly for nouns that end in -re
(s) is invariable
Masculine nouns: third declension
About 50 words designating living beings/people have a different stem in cas sujet singular
CS Li ber Li baron
CR Le baron Les barons
Feminine nouns
Look much more regular- Cas sujet and Cas régime are exactly the same
CS la fille les filles
CR la fille les filles
Articles
A + le –> al –> au
De + le –> del –> dou –> du
Enclitic- combining of words
CS uns/un une/unes
CR un/uns unes/unes
Adjectives
-They work similarly to nouns
-CS has the ‘s’ or ‘z’ in the singular form
-CR is quite regular
Demonstrative adjectives
-Evident in CR how it has developed into how we know it to be
C’est > cet, ce (this)
Ceus > ceux (that)
Some verb conjugations: Être
Estre –> Être
-The ‘s’ has become an ‘e’ with a circumflex
Imperfect tense- Estoie (I form) –> était
-The ‘s’ has become a ‘t’
Some verb conjugations: Avoir
-Fairly similar
