Editing French language (section)

== Grammar ==
{{Main|French grammar}}
French is a moderately [[Inflection|inflected]] language. [[Noun]]s and most [[pronoun]]s are inflected for [[grammatical number|number]] (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently); [[adjective]]s, for number and [[grammatical gender|gender]] (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; [[personal pronoun]]s and a few other pronouns, for [[grammatical person|person]], number, gender, and [[grammatical case|case]]; and [[verb]]s, for [[grammatical tense|tense]], [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]], [[grammatical mood|mood]], and the person and number of their [[subject (grammar)|subjects]]. Case is primarily marked using [[word order]] and [[preposition]]s, while certain verb features are marked using [[auxiliary verb]]s. According to the French lexicogrammatical system, French has a rank-scale hierarchy with clause as the top rank, which is followed by group rank, word rank, and morpheme rank. A French clause is made up of groups, groups are made up of words, and lastly, words are made up of morphemes.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Caffarel |first1=Alice |title=Language Typology: A Functional Perspective |last2=Martin |first2=J.R. |last3=Matthiessen |first3=Christian M.I.M |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |location=Amsterdam/Philadelphia}}</ref>

French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including
* the loss of [[Latin declension]]s
* the loss of the neuter gender
* the development of grammatical [[article (grammar)|articles]] from Latin [[demonstrative]]s
* the loss of certain Latin [[Grammatical tense|tenses]] and the creation of new tenses from auxiliaries.

=== Nouns ===
Every French [[noun]] is either masculine or feminine. Because French nouns are not inflected for gender, a noun's form cannot specify its gender. For nouns regarding the living, their [[grammatical genders]] often correspond to that which they refer to. For example, a male teacher is an ''enseignant'' while a female teacher is an ''enseignante''. However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. So a group of two male teachers would be ''enseignants''. A group of two male teachers and two female teachers would still be ''enseignants''. However, a group of two female teachers would be ''enseignantes''. In many situations, including in the case of ''enseignant'', both the singular and plural form of a noun are pronounced identically. The article used for singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. For example, the singular ''le professeur'' or ''la professeure'' (the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural ''les professeur(e)s'' because ''le'' /lə/, ''la'' /la/, and ''les'' /le(s)/ are all pronounced differently. With ''enseignant'', however, for both singular forms the ''le/la'' becomes ''l''', and so the only difference in pronunciation is that the ⟨t⟩ on the end of masculine form is silent, whereas it is pronounced in the feminine. If the word was to be followed by a word starting with a vowel, then liaison would cause the ⟨t⟩ to be pronounced in both forms, resulting in identical pronunciation. There are also some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. For example, ''le dentiste'' refers to a male dentist while ''la dentiste'' refers to a female dentist. Furthermore, a few nouns' meanings depend on their gender. For example, ''un livre'' (masculine) refers to a book, while ''une livre'' a (feminine) is a pound.

=== Verbs ===
{{Main|French verbs}}

==== Moods and tense-aspect forms ====
The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. The finite moods include the [[indicative mood]] (indicatif), the [[subjunctive mood]] (subjonctif), the [[imperative mood]] (impératif), and the [[conditional mood]] (conditionnel). The non-finite moods include the [[infinitive]] mood (infinitif), the [[present participle]] (participe présent), and the [[past participle]] (participe passé).

===== Finite moods =====

====== Indicative (<span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">indicatif</i></span>) ======
The indicative mood makes use of eight tense-aspect forms. These include the [[Present tense|present]] ({{lang|fr|présent}}), the [[simple past]] ({{lang|fr|[[passé composé]]}} and {{lang|fr|[[passé simple]]}}), the [[past imperfective]] ({{lang|fr|[[imparfait]]}}), the [[pluperfect]] ({{lang|fr|[[plus-que-parfait]]}}), the [[simple future]] ({{lang|fr|[[futur simple]]}}), the [[future perfect]] ({{lang|fr|[[futur antérieur]]}}), and the [[past perfect]] ({{lang|fr|passé antérieur}}). Some forms are less commonly used today. In today's spoken French, the {{lang|fr|passé composé}} is used while the {{lang|fr|passé simple}} is reserved for formal situations or for literary purposes. Similarly, the {{lang|fr|plus-que-parfait}} is used for speaking rather than the older {{lang|fr|passé antérieur}} seen in literary works.

Within the indicative mood, the {{lang|fr|passé composé}}, {{lang|fr|plus-que-parfait}}, {{lang|fr|futur antérieur}}, and {{lang|fr|passé antérieur}} all use auxiliary verbs in their forms.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Indicatif
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| Présent
!colspan="2"| Imparfait
!colspan="2"| Passé composé
!colspan="2"| Passé simple
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! 1st person
| j'aime
| nous aimons
| j'aimais
| nous aimions
| j'ai aimé
| nous avons aimé
| j'aimai
| nous aimâmes
|-
! 2nd person
| tu aimes
| vous aimez
| tu aimais
| vous aimiez
| tu as aimé
| vous avez aimé
| tu aimas
| vous aimâtes
|-
! 3rd person
| il/elle aime
| ils/elles aiment
| il/elle aimait
| ils/elles aimaient
| il/elle a aimé
| ils/elles ont aimé
| il/elle aima
| ils/elles aimèrent
|-
| colspan="9" |
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| Futur simple
!colspan="2"| Futur antérieur
!colspan="2"| Plus-que-parfait
!colspan="2"| Passé antérieur
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! 1st person
| j'aimerai
| nous aimerons
| j'aurai aimé
| nous aurons aimé
| j'avais aimé
| nous avions aimé
| j'eus aimé
| nous eûmes aimé
|-
! 2nd person
| tu aimeras
| vous aimerez
| tu auras aimé
| vous aurez aimé
| tu avais aimé
| vous aviez aimé
| tu eus aimé
| vous eûtes aimé
|-
! 3rd person
| il/elle aimera
| ils/elles aimeront
| il/elle aura aimé
| ils/elles auront aimé
| il/elle avait aimé
| ils/elles avaient aimé
| il/elle eut aimé
| ils/elles eurent aimé
|}

====== Subjunctive (subjonctif) ======
The subjunctive mood only includes four of the tense-aspect forms found in the indicative: present (présent), simple past (passé composé), past imperfective (imparfait), and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait).

Within the subjunctive mood, the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in their forms.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Subjonctif
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| Présent
!colspan="2"| Imparfait
!colspan="2"| Passé composé
!colspan="2"| Plus-que-parfait
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! 1st person
| j'aime
| nous aimions
| j'aimasse
| nous aimassions
| j'aie aimé
| nous ayons aimé
| j'eusse aimé
| nous eussions aimé
|-
! 2nd person
| tu aimes
| vous aimiez
| tu aimasses
| vous aimassiez
| tu aies aimé
| vous ayez aimé
| tu eusses aimé
| vous eussiez aimé
|-
! 3rd person
| il/elle aime
| ils/elles aiment
| il/elle aimât
| ils/elles aimassent
| il/elle ait aimé
| ils/elles aient aimé
| il/elle eût aimé
| ils/elles eussent aimé
|}

====== Imperative (imperatif) ======
The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances where it is used in the perfect tense). The imperative is used to give commands to you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous).
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Imperatif
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| Présent
|-
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! 1st person
|
| aimons
|-
! 2nd person
| aime
| aimez
|}

====== Conditional (conditionnel) ======
The conditional makes use of the present (présent) and the past (passé).

The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Conditionnel
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"| Présent
!colspan="2"| Passé
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! 1st person
| j'aimerais
| nous aimerions
| j'aurais aimé
| nous aurions aimé
|-
! 2nd person
| tu aimerais
| vous aimeriez
| tu aurais aimé
| vous auriez aimé
|-
! 3rd person
| il/elle aimerait
| ils/elles aimeraient
| il/elle aurait aimé
| ils/elles auraient aimé
|}

==== Voice ====
French uses both the [[active voice]] and the [[passive voice]]. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb ''{{lang|fr|être}}'' ("to be") and the past participle.

Example of the active voice:
* "{{lang|fr|Elle aime le chien.}}" She loves the dog.
* "{{lang|fr|Marc a conduit la voiture.}}" Marc drove the car.
Example of the passive voice:
* "{{lang|fr|Le chien est aimé par elle.}}" The dog is loved by her.
* "{{lang|fr|La voiture a été conduite par Marc.}}" The car was driven by Marc.
However, unless the subject of the sentence is specified, generally the pronoun ''on'' "one" is used:
* "{{lang|fr|On aime le chien.}}" The dog is loved. (Literally "one loves the dog.")
* "{{lang|fr|On conduit la voiture.}}" The car is (being) driven. (Literally "one drives the car.")

Word order is [[subject–verb–object]] although a pronoun object precedes the verb. Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular [[inversion (linguistics)|inversion]] of the subject and verb, as in "{{lang|fr|Parlez-vous français&nbsp;?}}" when asking a question rather than "{{lang|fr|Vous parlez français&nbsp;?}}" Both formulations are used, and carry a rising inflection on the last word. The literal English translations are "Do you speak French?" and "You speak French?", respectively. To avoid inversion while asking a question, "{{lang|fr|Est-ce que}}" (literally "is it that") may be placed at the beginning of the sentence. "{{lang|fr|Parlez-vous français&nbsp;?}}" may become "{{lang|fr|Est-ce que vous parlez français&nbsp;?}}" French also uses [[verb–object–subject]] (VOS) and [[object–subject–verb]] (OSV) word order. OSV word order is not used often and VOS is reserved for formal writings.<ref name="Lahousse_2012" />