Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Symbols and abbreviations
- Technical terms
- Introduction: sounds and spelling
- 1 Articles and nouns
- 2 Contracted and modified forms
- 3 Adjectives and participles
- 4 Possessives and demonstratives
- 5 Verbs: basic patterns
- 6 Verbs: standard modifications
- 7 Personal pronouns
- 8 Relatives and interrogatives
- 9 Indefinite pronouns and adjectives
- 10 Adverbs
- 11 Conjunctions
- 12 Prepositions
- 13 Numerals
- 14 Verb usage
- 15 Word order and versification
- 16 Old French dialects
- APPENDICES
- Key to exercises
- Old French texts
- Authors and works quoted
- Select bibliography
- Glossary
3 - Adjectives and participles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Symbols and abbreviations
- Technical terms
- Introduction: sounds and spelling
- 1 Articles and nouns
- 2 Contracted and modified forms
- 3 Adjectives and participles
- 4 Possessives and demonstratives
- 5 Verbs: basic patterns
- 6 Verbs: standard modifications
- 7 Personal pronouns
- 8 Relatives and interrogatives
- 9 Indefinite pronouns and adjectives
- 10 Adverbs
- 11 Conjunctions
- 12 Prepositions
- 13 Numerals
- 14 Verb usage
- 15 Word order and versification
- 16 Old French dialects
- APPENDICES
- Key to exercises
- Old French texts
- Authors and works quoted
- Select bibliography
- Glossary
Summary
General
There are four declension classes for adjectives and participles used as adjectives (see Table 2). The flexions should be compared with those for nouns (Table 1).
The uninflected neuter is used in the singular only, to qualify neuter pronouns, phrases or clauses:
Ce est bel. This is fine.
(Yv.507)Il est escrit en la geste francor.
(Rol.1443)It is written in the chronicle of the Franks.
The stressed -e in past participles in -ez, -éṭ > é and -eḍe > ee was pronounced [é:], while the corresponding stressed diphthong -ie = [ié]. An accent is nowadays placed on -(i)é and -(i)éṭ to avoid confusion with forms ending in a weak e (see § 11.2a and note; §12.1). Later final -z became -s (§39.3), e.g. chantez > chantés, and this stressed ending -(i)és is accented nowadays as well.
The Class 1 adjective tot (all) has an irregular masculine NP tuit. Since this adjective is frequently used, it has been added in Table 2.
Examples of adjectives belonging to Classes 11, m and iv are listed in Appendix A.
See the vocabulary on p. 32 for the meaning of OFr words in this chapter.
Class I
Most adjectives and all past participles belong to this class. The inflexions are those of Class 1 (M) or (F) nouns.
The feminine form adds a weak e (bon / bone, chante / chantee) except in a few cases where the masculine already ends in a weak e, as in malade (see also §49 below). The modified (F) form chanteḍe is explained in §48.
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- Information
- Old FrenchA Concise Handbook, pp. 26 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1975