10-T3722
5/1/06
11:16 AM
Page 108
108 U S E S O F V E R B S
With regard to the degree of compliance with the “norm”, a comment made more than seventy years ago is equally valid today: . . . the spoken language shows much fluctuation, the tendency to leave the participle invariable being counteracted by the influence of the schoolmaster and of the written word.6
An eminent French historian of the language observed at about the same time: Elle n’est point douteuse: la langue tend à l’invariabilité du participe construit avec avoir . . . La règle actuelle, toute artificielle, est fondée sur un usage que d’aucuns peuvent trouver respectable, mais qui est complètement illogique et par là même singulièrement fragile.7 There can be no doubt: the language tends towards the invariability of the (past) participle constructed with avoir . . .The current rule, completely artificial, is based on a usage which some may find respectable, but which is completely illogical and for that reason particularly fragile.
The overall situation can be summarized as follows:
(1) (2) (3)
category
auxiliary
accord of past participle
certain intransitive verbs other verbs verbs used pronominally
être avoir être
with subject with preceding direct object, if any generally with subject
The basic features of these categories are described below, while the appendix to this chapter attempts to shed light on why such differences exist. (1) Intransitive verbs of motion or transformation These verbs are conjugated using être as auxiliary. The past participle accords with the subject (i.e., agrees in number and gender). The most common are listed below:
6 7
infinitive
past participle
aller arriver venir revenir
allé arrivé venu revenu
go arrive come come back
Ewert (1969: 231; first published in 1933). Brunot and Bruneau (1937: 693). Note that d’aucuns means “some”, aucun normally “not any”.