ADJECTIVES Which placed before the SUBSTANTIVES have a meaning different from that which they have when placed after them. L'air grand, is a noble physiognomy or countenance. Voila un jeune homme qui a l'air grand. Here is a young man who looks grand Le grand air, means the ways or manners of a man of quality. Ale voir, on le prendrait pour un | By seeing him, one would take him homme du grand air. for a man of quality, (or who carries himself like a lord). L'air mauvais, is a wicked countenance. EXAMPLE. Je ne veux point de ce petit garçon- | I will not have this little boy, he has là, il a l'air trop mauvais. too wicked a countenance. Mauvais air, is a mean or ill appearance. EXAMPLE. Comment pouviez-vous vous prome- | How could you walk with a woman ner avec une femme d'un aussi of such ill appearance ? mauvais air? Un homme grand, means a tall man; and EXAMPLE. Comme un acteur marchait sur le bout des pieds pour représenter le grand Agamemnon, on lui cria du parterre, qu'il le fesait un homme grand & non pas un grand homme. As a play actor was walking on tiptoe to represent the great Agamemnon, they cried to him from the pit, that he was making of him a tall man and not a great man. Observe, that if after grand homme one adds several qualities of the body, as, c'est un grand homme brun & d'une belle physionomie, he is a tall brown man, and of a handsome countenance, then grand homme means a man of a high stature. In the same manner, if after homme grand we add a medification which relates to morality, then grand refers no longer to the stature. EXAMPLE. Alexandre était un homme grand dans | Alexander was a man great in bis ses projets. projects. Note, that in speaking of a woman, the adjective grand only relates to the stature, and that one does not say, une grande femme, but, instead of it, c'est une femme d'un grand mérite. Un bon homme, une bonne femme, mean generally a man and a woman of little understanding; while, on the contrary, un homme bon, une femme bonne, is always an eulogium; however bon preceded by fort, très, bien, is also an eulogium; as, un fort bon homme, une très-bonne ou bien bonne femme, a very good man, a very good woman. Un homme brave, signifies a brave man ; des gens braves, brave people. Un brave homme, means a man of honor; de braves gens, people of probity. Un enfant cruel, means a cruel child; un peuple cruel a cruel people; une femme cruelle, a cruel woman. Un cruel enfant, a child of intolerable caprice. We say in the proper sense, tirer, tracer, décrire une ligne droite, to draw, to trace, to describe a straight line....and in the figurative sense, La maison de Bourbon descend en The house of Bourbon descends in a droite ligne de St. Louis. direct line from St. Louis. Du bois mort, means dead wood, and du mort bois, means wood of no great value; such as, des ronces, des épines, &c. briars, thorns, &c. Une chose certaine, une nouvelle certaine, une marque certaine &c. is a sure thing, news, mark, &c. EXAMPLE. C'est un fait certain que personne ne révoque en doute. It is a sure fact which no body questions. Une certaine chose, une certaine nouvelle, une certaine marque; it is an indeterminate thing, it is some news, some mark. EXAMPLE. On m'a conté certaine aventure que je | They have related to me a certain adcrois fausse. venture, which I take to be false. Tout le monde d'une commune voix | The whole people unanimously forbid defendit à Thémistocle de passer Themistocles to go beyond. outre. Une fausse corde, is a cord which is not raised to the tone it should have. Une corde fausse, is a cord that can never be in tune with another. Une fausse clef, is a key which is secretly kept in order to make an unlawful use of it. Une clef fausse, is that which is not fit for the lock for which one wishes to use it. Une fausse porte, is a secret door. Une eau morte, is a stagnant water. La morte eau, is the sea water, when it is in its lowest ebb and ebbing. La dernière année de la guerre, is the year after which there is no longer any war. L'année dernière, is the year which precedes immediately that in which one speaks. Un homme malin, is a wicked man. Le malin esprit, ou l'esprit malin, is the devil. Le Saint-Esprit, is the Holy Ghost. L'Esprit-Saint, is the Divine spirit common to the three persons of the Holy Ghost. Une femme sage, is a virtuous and prudent woman. Une femme grosse, is a pregnant woman. Une grosse femme, is a fat woman. Un homme galant, is a man who endeavours to please the ladies by his polite attention to them. Un galant homme, is a man who joins to probity the polish of a complete gentleman. Un gentilhomme, is a nobleman. Un homme gentil, is a lively, brisk, pretty man. Un habit neuf, is a new coat or one that has been but seldom worn. Un habit nouveau, is a coat of a new fashion. Un nouvel habit, is a coat different from that which one has just pulled off. Le vin nouveau, is new made wine. Le nouveau vin, is wine lately tapt, or wine different from that one had drank before. C'est un pauvre homme-c'est un pauvre auteur; he is a man of mean principles and an author of very little merit. Un homme pauvre-un auteur pauvre, signify a man, an author without property. EXAMPLE. Linière voyant, un jour, passer ensemble Chapelain & Patru, dit du premier, c'est un pauvre auteur; & du second, c'est un auteur pauvre. Liniere seeing, one day, Chapelain and Patru pass together, said of the first, he is a wretched author; and of the second, he is a needy author. In general, the tone used determines the sense of the word pauvre: so, donner l'aumône à une pauvre femme, ou à un pauvre vieillard, means, (though pauvre be placed before the substantive) to give alms to a needy woman, or, to an old man. Un homme plaisant, is a gay, lively man, who provokes laughter. Un plaisant homme, is a ridiculous, whimsical, impertinent man. Un honnête homme, is a man of good morals and probity. Un homme honnéte, is a polite man who pleases by his refined manners. Un bonnête homme n'est pas toujours | An honest man is not always a civil un homme bonnête; comme aussi un homme bonnéte n'est pas toujours un bonnête homme. man: as also a civil man is not always an honest man. Furieux placed after the substantive, signifies furious, in wrath. EXAMPLE. Il a été mis en pièces par un taureau He was torn to pieces by a furious bull. furieux. Furieux, placed before the substantive, signifies, in familiar discourse, the same thing as large, big, monstrous, enormous, excessive, terrible, violent, &c. |