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Old French

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Old French ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; Template:Langx) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th<ref name="French first attested">Template:Cite book [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it was deemed no longer make to think of the varieties spoken in Gaul as Latin. Although a precise date can't be given, there is a general consensus (see Wright 1982, 1991, Lodge 1993) that an awareness of a vernacular, distinct from Latin, emerged at the end of the eighth century.]</ref> and mid-14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a group of Romance dialects, mutually intelligible yet diverse. These dialects came to be collectively known as the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, contrasting with the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the emerging Occitano-Romance languages of Occitania, now the south of France.

The mid-14th century witnessed the emergence of Middle French, the language of the French Renaissance in the Île-de-France region; this dialect was a predecessor to Modern French. Other dialects of Old French evolved themselves into modern forms ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Gallo, Norman, Picard, Walloon, etc.), each with its linguistic features and history.

The region where Old French was spoken natively roughly extended to the northern half of the Kingdom of France and its vassals (including parts of the Angevin Empire), and the duchies of Upper and Lower Lorraine to the east (corresponding to modern north-eastern France and Belgian Wallonia), but the influence of Old French was much wider, as it was carried to England and the Crusader states as the language of a feudal elite and commerce.Template:Sfn

Areal and dialectal divisionsEdit

Template:Further

File:Map France 1180-fr.svg
Map of France in 1180, at the height of the feudal system. The crown lands of France are in light blue, vassals to the French king in green, Angevin possessions in red. Shown in white is the Holy Roman Empire to the east, the western fringes of which, including Upper Burgundy and Lorraine, were also part of the Old French area.

The area of Old French in contemporary terms corresponded to the northern parts of the Kingdom of France (including Anjou and Normandy, which in the 12th century were ruled by the Plantagenet kings of England), Upper Burgundy and the Duchy of Lorraine. The Norman dialect was also spread to England and Ireland, and during the Crusades, Old French was also spoken in the Kingdom of Sicily, and in the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Levant.

As part of the emerging Gallo-Romance dialect continuum, the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} were contrasted with the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, at the time also called "Provençal", adjacent to the Old French area in the southwest, and with the Gallo-Italic group to the southeast. The Franco-Provençal group developed in Upper Burgundy, sharing features with both French and Provençal; it may have begun to diverge from the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} as early as the late 8th century and is attested as a distinct Gallo-Romance variety by the 12th century.

Dialects or variants of Old French include:

Some modern languages are derived from Old French dialects other than Classical French, which is based on the Île-de-France dialect. They include Angevin, Berrichon, Bourguignon-Morvandiau, Champenois, Franc-Comtois, Gallo, Lorrain, Norman, Picard, Poitevin, Saintongeais, and Walloon.

HistoryEdit

Evolution and separation from Vulgar LatinEdit

Beginning with Plautus' time (254–184 Template:Smallcaps), one can see phonological changes between Classical Latin and what is called Vulgar Latin, the common spoken language of the Western Roman Empire. Vulgar Latin differed from Classical Latin in phonology and morphology as well as exhibiting lexical differences; however, they were mutually intelligible until the 7th century when Classical Latin "died" as a daily spoken language, and had to be learned as a second language (though it was long thought of as the formal version of the spoken language).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Vulgar Latin was the ancestor of the Romance languages, including Old French.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

By the late 8th century, when the Carolingian Renaissance began, native speakers of Romance idioms continued to use Romance orthoepy rules while speaking and reading Latin. When the most prominent scholar of Western Europe at the time, English deacon Alcuin, was tasked by Charlemagne with improving the standards of Latin writing in France, not being a native Romance speaker himself, he prescribed a pronunciation based on a fairly literal interpretation of Latin spelling. For example, in a radical break from the traditional system, a word such as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} Template:Gloss now had to be read aloud precisely as it was spelled rather than {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (later spelled as Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>Wright (1982), pp. 104–7</ref>

Such a radical change had the effect of rendering Latin sermons completely unintelligible to the general Romance-speaking public, which prompted officials a few years later, at the Third Council of Tours, to instruct priests to read sermons aloud in the old way, in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or 'plain Roman[ce] speech'.<ref>Wright (1982), pp. 118–20</ref>

As there was now no unambiguous way to indicate whether a given text was to be read aloud as Latin or Romance, various attempts were made in France to devise a new orthography for the latter; among the earliest examples are parts of the Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.

Non-Latin influencesEdit

GaulishEdit

Template:Further

Some Gaulish words influenced Vulgar Latin and, through this, other Romance languages. For example, classical Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was uniformly replaced in Vulgar Latin by {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'nag, work horse', derived from Gaulish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (cf. Welsh {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Breton {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp yielding Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Occitan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Catalan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Portuguese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Romanian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and, by extension, English cavalry and chivalry (both via different forms of [Old] French: Old Norman and Francien). An estimated 200 words of Gaulish etymology survive in Modern French, for example {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss.<ref>Delamarre (2003, pp. 389–90) lists 167</ref>

Within historical phonology and studies of language contact, various phonological changes have been posited as caused by a Gaulish substrate, although there is some debate. One of these is considered certain, because this fact is clearly attested in the Gaulish-language epigraphy on the pottery found at la Graufesenque (Template:Small 1st century). There, the Greek word Template:Transliteration (written in Latin)Template:Clarify appears as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name="Lambert">Template:Cite book</ref> The consonant clusters /ps/ and /pt/ shifted to /xs/ and /xt/, e.g. Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > *kaxsa > caisse (Template:Abbr Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or captīvus > *kaxtivus > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref name=Lambert/> (mod. chétif; cf. Irish cacht Template:Gloss; ≠ Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Portuguese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). This phonetic evolution is common in its later stages with the shift of the Latin cluster /kt/ in Old French (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > fait, ≠ Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Portuguese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; or lactem* > lait, ≠ Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Portuguese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). This means that both /pt/ and /kt/ must have first merged into /kt/ in the history of Old French, after which this /kt/ shifted to /xt/. In parallel, /ps/ and /ks/ merged into /ks/ before shifting to /xs/, apparently under Gaulish influence.

The Celtic Gaulish language is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable cultural Romanization.<ref name="Helix">Template:Cite book</ref> Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French, with effects including loanwords and calques (including {{#invoke:Lang|lang}},<ref>Peter Schrijver, Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles, Maynooth, 1997, 15.</ref> the word for "yes"),<ref name=Savignac/> sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,<ref>Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", in Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii, eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.</ref><ref>Eugeen Roegiest, Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.</ref> and influences in conjugation and word order.<ref name="Savignac">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Matas">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Adams">Template:Cite book</ref> A computational study from 2003 suggests that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

FrankishEdit

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The pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Roman Gaul in late antiquity were modified by the Old Frankish language, spoken by the Franks who settled in Gaul from the 5th century and conquered the future Old French-speaking area by the 530s. The word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} itself is derived from the Late Latin name for the Franks.

The Old Frankish language had a definitive influence on the development of Old French, which partly explains why the earliest attested Old French documents are older than the earliest attestations in other Romance languages (e.g. Strasbourg Oaths, Sequence of Saint Eulalia).<ref>Bernard Cerquiglini, La naissance du français, Presses Universitaires de France, 2nd edn., chap. 3, 1993, p. 53.</ref> It is the result of an earlier gap created between Classical Latin and its evolved forms, which slowly reduced and eventually severed the mutual intelligibility between the two. The Old Low Franconian influence is also believed to be responsible for the differences between the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Occitan), being that various parts of Northern France remained bilingual between Latin and Germanic for some time,<ref>Cerquiglini 53</ref> and these areas correspond precisely to where the first documents in Old French were written.

This Germanic language shaped the popular Latin spoken here and gave it a very distinctive identity compared to the other future Romance languages. The first noticeable influence is the substitution of the Latin melodic accentTemplate:Clarify with a Germanic stress<ref>Cerquiglini 26.</ref> and its result was diphthongization, differentiation between long and short vowels, the fall of the unaccented syllable and of the final vowels:

  • Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, -a Template:Gloss > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (> English dime; Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
  • Template:Abbr dignitate > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (> English dainty; Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Romanian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
  • Template:Abbr catena > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (> English chain; Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Occitan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Portuguese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})

Additionally, two phonemes that had long since died out in Vulgar Latin were reintroduced: {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (> Template:Abbr g(u)-, Template:Abbr w- cf. Picard w-):

In contrast, the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish words of Germanic origin borrowed from French or directly from Germanic retain {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, e.g. Italian, Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss, alongside {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). These examples show a clear consequence of bilingualism, that sometimes even changed the first syllable of the Latin words. One example of a Latin word influencing an Template:Abbr loan is framboise Template:Gloss, from Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, from Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (cf. Dutch braambes, braambezie; akin to German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, English dial. bramberry) blended with Template:Abbr fraga or Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss, which explains the replacement {{#invoke:IPA|main}} > {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and in turn the final -se of framboise added to Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to make freise, modern {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (≠ Walloon {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Occitan {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Romanian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, fravola Template:Gloss).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn

Mildred Pope estimated that perhaps still 15% of the vocabulary of Modern French derives from Germanic sources. This proportion was larger in Old French, because Middle French borrowed heavily from Latin and Italian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Earliest written Old FrenchEdit

The earliest documents said to be written in the Gallo-Romance that prefigures French – after the Reichenau and Kassel glosses (8th and 9th centuries) – are the Oaths of Strasbourg (treaties and charters into which King Charles the Bald entered in 842):

Template:Poem quote

The second-oldest document in Old French is the Eulalia sequence, which is important for linguistic reconstruction of Old French pronunciation due to its consistent spelling.

The royal House of Capet, founded by Hugh Capet in 987, inaugurated the development of northern French culture in and around Île-de-France, which slowly but firmly asserted its ascendency over the more southerly areas of Aquitaine and Tolosa (Toulouse); however, the Capetians' {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the forerunner of modern standard French, did not begin to become the common speech of all of France until after the French Revolution.

Transition to Middle FrenchEdit

Template:Further

In the Late Middle Ages, the Old French dialects diverged into a number of distinct {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, among which Middle French proper was the dialect of the Île-de-France region. During the Early Modern period, French was established as the official language of the Kingdom of France throughout the realm, including the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}–speaking territories in the south. It was only in the 17th to 18th centuries – with the development especially of popular literature of the Bibliothèque bleue – that a standardized Classical French spread throughout France alongside the regional dialects.

LiteratureEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

The material and cultural conditions in France and associated territories around the year 1100 triggered what Charles Homer Haskins termed the "Renaissance of the 12th century", resulting in a profusion of creative works in a variety of genres. Old French gave way to Middle French in the mid-14th century, paving the way for early French Renaissance literature of the 15th century.

The earliest extant French literary texts date from the ninth century, but very few texts before the 11th century have survived. The first literary works written in Old French were saints' lives. The Canticle of Saint Eulalie, written in the second half of the 9th century, is generally accepted as the first such text. Further, some of the earliest medieval music has lyrics in Old French, composed by the earliest composers known by name.

At the beginning of the 13th century, Jean Bodel, in his Chanson de Saisnes, divided medieval French narrative literature into three subject areas: the Matter of France or Matter of Charlemagne; the Matter of Rome (romances in an ancient setting); and the Matter of Britain (Arthurian romances and Breton lais). The first of these is the subject area of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("songs of exploits" or "songs of (heroic) deeds"), epic poems typically composed in ten-syllable assonanced (occasionally rhymed) laisses. More than one hundred {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} have survived in around three hundred manuscripts.<ref>La Chanson de Roland. Edited and Translated into Modern French by Ian Short. Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990. p. 12. Template:ISBN</ref> The oldest and most celebrated of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is The Song of Roland (earliest version composed in the late 11th century).

Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube in his Girart de Vienne set out a grouping of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} into three cycles: the Geste du roi centering on Charlemagne, the Geste de Garin de Monglane (whose central character was William of Orange), and the Geste de Doon de Mayence or the "rebel vassal cycle", the most famous characters of which were Renaud de Montauban and Girart de Roussillon.

A fourth grouping, not listed by Bertrand, is the Crusade cycle, dealing with the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath.

Jean Bodel's other two categories—the "Matter of Rome" and the "Matter of Britain"—concern the French romance or roman. Around a hundred verse romances survive from the period 1150–1220.<ref>Template:In lang Antoine Adam, Georges Lerminier, and Édouard Morot-Sir, eds. Littérature française. "Tome 1: Des origines à la fin du XVIIIe siècle", Paris: Larousse, 1967, p. 16.</ref> From around 1200 on, the tendency was increasingly to write the romances in prose (many of the earlier verse romances were adapted into prose versions), although new verse romances continued to be written to the end of the 14th century.<ref>Template:In lang Antoine Adam, Georges Lerminier, and Édouard Morot-Sir, eds. Littérature française. "Tome 1: Des origines à la fin du XVIIIe siècle", Paris: Larousse, 1967, p. 36–37.</ref>

The most important romance of the 13th century is the Romance of the Rose, which breaks considerably from the conventions of the chivalric adventure story.

Medieval French lyric poetry began in the late 11th century, arising from the poetic and cultural traditions in Southern France and Provence—including Toulouse and the Aquitaine region, and flourished until the end of the 13th century. These first lyric poets composed and performed in Old Provençal (Old Occitan) and were called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} from the verb {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "to compose, to discuss, to invent". The French word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is borrowed from this Occitan word. Inspired by the Provençal poets, lyric poetry spread to their Northern French counterparts, who instead spoke {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and were known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. It is thought that the Provençal troubadours were originally influenced by music and poetry from the Hispano-Arab world.Template:Citation needed

By the late 13th century, the poetic tradition in France had begun to develop in ways that differed significantly from the troubadour poets, both in content and in the use of certain fixed forms. The new poetic (and musical) tendencies are apparent in the Roman de Fauvel in 1310 and 1314, a satire on abuses in the medieval church, filled with medieval motets, lais, rondeaux and other new secular forms of poetry and music (mostly anonymous, but with several pieces by Philippe de Vitry, who would coin the expression ars nova to distinguish the new musical practice from the music of the immediately preceding age). The best-known poet and composer of ars nova secular music and chansons of the incipient Middle French period was Guillaume de Machaut.

Discussions about the origins of non-religious theater ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})—both drama and farce—in the Middle Ages remain controversial, but the idea of a continuous popular tradition stemming from Latin comedy and tragedy to the 9th century seems unlikely.

Most historians place the origin of medieval drama in the church's liturgical dialogues and "tropes". Mystery plays were eventually transferred from the monastery church to the chapter house or refectory hall and finally to the open air, and the vernacular was substituted for Latin. In the 12th century one finds the earliest extant passages in French appearing as refrains inserted into liturgical dramas in Latin, such as a Saint Nicholas (patron saint of the student clerics) play and a Saint Stephen play. An early French dramatic play is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Circa) written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets with Latin stage directions (implying that it was written by Latin-speaking clerics for a lay public).

A large body of fables survive in Old French; these include (mostly anonymous) literature dealing with the recurring trickster character of Reynard the Fox. Marie de France was also active in this genre, producing the Ysopet (Little Aesop) series of fables in verse. Related to the fable was the more bawdy {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which covered topics such as cuckolding and corrupt clergy. These {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} would be an important source for Chaucer and for the Renaissance short story ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

Among the earliest works of rhetoric and logic to appear in Old French were the translations of Rhetorica ad Herennium and Boethius' De topicis differentiis by John of Antioch in 1282.

In northern Italy, authors developed Franco-Italian, a mixed language of Old French and Venetian or Lombard used in literary works in the 13th and 14th centuries.

PhonologyEdit

Template:See also Old French was constantly changing and evolving; however, the form in the late 12th century, as attested in a great deal of mostly poetic writings, can be considered standard. The writing system at this time was more phonetic than that used in most subsequent centuries. In particular, all written consonants (including final ones) were pronounced, except for s preceding non-stop consonants and t in et, and final e was pronounced Template:IPAblink. The phonological system can be summarised as follows:<ref>Rickard 1989: 47–8, Laborderie 1994: § 2.2</ref>

ConsonantsEdit

Old French consonants
Type Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Affricate Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Lateral Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Trill Template:IPA link

Notes:

  • All obstruents (plosives, fricatives and affricates) were subject to word-final devoicing, which was usually indicated in the orthography.
  • The affricates {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} became fricatives ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) in Middle French.
    • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} had three spellings – c before e or i, ç before other vowels, or z at the end of a word – as seen in cent, chançon, priz ("a hundred, song, price").
    • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} was written as z, as in doze Template:Gloss, and occurred only in the middle of the word.
  • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (l mouillé), as in conseil, travaillier ("advice, to work"), became {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Modern French.
  • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} appeared not only in the middle of a word but also at the end, as in poing Template:Gloss. At the end of a word, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} was later lost, leaving a nasalized vowel.
  • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} was found only in Germanic loanwords or words influenced by Germanic (cf. haut, hurler). It was later lost as a consonant, though it was transphonologized as the so-called aspirated h that blocks liaison. In native Latin words, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} had been lost early on, as in om, uem, from Template:Abbr homō.
  • Intervocalic {{#invoke:IPA|main}} from both Latin {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} was lenited to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the early period (cf. contemporary Spanish: amado {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). At the end of words, it was also devoiced to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. In some texts it was sometimes written as dh or th (aiudha, cadhuna, Ludher, vithe). By 1100 it disappeared altogether.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

VowelsEdit

In Old French, the nasal vowels were not separate phonemes but only allophones of the oral vowels before a nasal consonant. The nasal consonant was fully pronounced; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). Nasal vowels were present even in open syllables before nasals where Modern French has oral vowels, as in bone {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}).

MonophthongsEdit

Old French vowels
Type Front Central Back
Close oral Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link
nasal Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link  
Close-mid oral Template:IPA link Template:IPA link  
nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open-mid Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link
Open oral Template:IPA link
nasal Template:IPA link

Notes:

  • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} had formerly existed but then closed to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; the original Western Romance {{#invoke:IPA|main}} having previously been fronted to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} across most of what is now France and northern Italy.
    • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} would later appear again when {{#invoke:IPA|main}} monophthongized and also when {{#invoke:IPA|main}} closed in certain positions (such as when it was followed by original {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} but not by {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which later became {{#invoke:IPA|main}}).
    • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} may have similarly become closed to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, in at least in some dialects, since it was borrowed into Middle English as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} > {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > English count; Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > English round; Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > English bounty). In any case, traces of such a change were erased in later stages of French, when the close nasal vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}} were opened to become {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
  • {{#invoke:IPA|main}} may have existed in the unstressed third-person plural verb ending -ent, but it may have already passed to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which is known to have happened no later than the Middle French period.

Diphthongs and triphthongsEdit

Late Old French diphthongs and triphthongs
Type IPA Example Meaning
falling
Oral {{#invoke:IPA|main}} chevaus horse
main}} toit roof
main}} coup blow, hit
main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} cieus heavens
main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} tiule tile
Nasal main}} plein full
main}} loing far
rising
Oral main}} pié foot
main}} fruit fruit
main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} cuer heart
Nasal main}} bien well
main}} juin June
main}} cuens count Template:Small
triphthongs
stress always falls on middle vowel
Oral main}} beaus beautiful
main}} Dieu God
main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} jueu Jew

Notes:

  • In Early Old French (up to about the mid-12th century), the spelling Template:Angle bracket represented a diphthong {{#invoke:IPA|main}} instead of the later monophthong {{#invoke:IPA|main}},<ref>Zink (1999), p. 132</ref> and Template:Angle bracket represented the diphthong {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which merged with {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Late Old French (except when it was nasalized).
  • In Early Old French, the diphthongs described above as "rising" may have been falling diphthongs ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). In earlier works with vowel assonance, the diphthong written Template:Angle bracket did not assonate with any pure vowels, which suggests that it cannot have simply been {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
  • The pronunciation of the vowels written Template:Angle bracket and Template:Angle bracket is debated. In the first records of Early Old French, they represented and were written as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, and by Middle French, they had both merged as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but the transitional pronunciations are unclear.
  • Early Old French had additional triphthongs {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (equivalent to diphthongs followed by {{#invoke:IPA|main}}); these soon merged into {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} respectively.
  • The diphthong Template:Angle bracket was rare and had merged into Template:Angle bracket by Middle French (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss; Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} > Late Template:Abbr suire > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss).

HiatusEdit

In addition to diphthongs, Old French had many instances of hiatus between adjacent vowels because of the loss of an intervening consonant. Manuscripts generally do not distinguish hiatus from true diphthongs, but modern scholarly transcription indicates it with a diaeresis, as in Modern French:

Sample textEdit

Presented below is the first laisse of The Song of Roland along with a broad transcription reflecting reconstructed pronunciation Template:Circa.<ref>Per Hall (1946), converted from Americanist notation to IPA and with corrected word order at the beginning of line four.</ref>

Text Transcription Translation
<poem>

Charles li reis, nostre emperedre magnes, Set anz toz pleins at estét en Espaigne. Tres qu'en la mer conquist la tere altaigne, Chastel n'i at ki devant lui remaignet. Murs ne citét n'i est remés a fraindre, Fors Sarragoce qu'est en une montaigne; Li reis Marsilies la tient, ki Deu nen aimet, Mahomet sert ed Apolin reclaimet: Ne·s poet guarder que mals ne l'i ataignet!<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> </poem>

<poem>

{{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} </poem>

<poem>Charles the king, our great emperor,

Has been in Spain for seven full years. He has conquered the lofty land up to the sea, No castle remains standing before him. No wall or city is left to destroy, Other than Saragossa, which lies atop a mountain; King Marsilie is its master, he who loves not God, He serves Mohammed and worships Apollo: [Still] he cannot prevent harm from reaching him! </poem>

GrammarEdit

NounsEdit

Old French maintained a two-case system, with a nominative case and an oblique case, for longer than some other Romance languages as Spanish and Italian did. Case distinctions, at least in the masculine gender, were marked on both the definite article and the noun itself. Thus, the masculine noun {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:GlossTemplate:Efn was declined as follows:

Evolution of the nominal masculine inflection from Classical Latin to Old French
Number Latin Early Proto-GR Old French
Singular nominative lang}} main}} lang}}
oblique
(Latin accusative) 		lang}} main}} lang}}
Plural nominative lang}} main}} lang}}
oblique
(Latin accusative) 		lang}} main}} lang}}

In later Old French, the distinctions had become moribund. As in most other Romance languages, it was the oblique case form that usually survived to become the Modern French form: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss represents the old oblique (Latin accusative īnfantem); the Template:Abbr nominative was {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Abbr īnfāns). There are some cases with significant differences between nominative and oblique forms (derived from Latin nouns with a stress shift between the nominative and other cases) in which either it is the nominative form that survives or both forms survive with different meanings:

  • Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (reflecting respectively *seiior, *seiiore) as well as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (nom. †{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}),Template:Efn originally Template:Abbr senior, seniōrem, survive in the vocabulary of later French ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) as different ways to refer to a feudal lord.
  • Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss is the nominative form (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} < Latin nominative soror); the Template:Abbr oblique form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< Latin accusative sorōrem) no longer survives.
  • Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss is the nominative form (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} < presbyter); the Template:Abbr oblique form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, later {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< presbyterem) survives only in the Paris street name Rue des Prouvaires.
  • Template:Abbr indefinite pronoun {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss continues Old French nominative {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (< homō); {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss continues the oblique form (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} < hominem).

In a few cases in which the only distinction between forms was the nominative -s ending, the -s was preserved. An example is fils Template:Gloss (< Latin nominative fīlius). It is irregular that the -s in the word is still pronounced today; but this has to do with later developments — namely the Middle French and Early Modern French system of pausal pronunciations.

As in Spanish and Italian, the neuter gender was eliminated, and most old neuter nouns became masculine. Some Latin neuter plurals, which ended in -a, were reanalysed as feminine singulars: Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was more widely used in the plural form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which was taken for a singular in Vulgar Latin and ultimately led to Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (feminine singular).

Nouns were declined in the following declensions:

Number Class I (feminine) Class II (masculine)
Class I normal Class Ia Class II normal Class IIa
meaning "woman" "thing" "city" "neighbor" "servant" "father"
sg. nominative la fame la riens la citez li veisins li sergenz li pere
oblique la rien la cité le veisin le sergent le pere
pl. nominative les fames les riens les citez li veisin li sergent li pere
oblique les veisins les sergenz les peres
Numbers Class III (both)
Class IIIa Class IIIb Class IIIc Class IIId
meaning "singer" "baron" "nun" "sister" "child" "priest" "lord" "count"
sg. nominative li chantere li ber la none la suer li enfes li prestre li sire li cuens
oblique le chanteor le baron la nonain la seror l'enfant le prevoire le sieur le conte
pl. nominative li chanteor li baron les nones les serors li enfant li prevoire li sieur li conte
oblique les chanteors les barons les nonains les enfanz les prevoires les sieurs les contes

Class I is derived from the Latin first declension. Class Ia mostly comes from Latin feminine nouns in the third declension. Class II is derived from the Latin second declension. Class IIa generally stems from second-declension nouns ending in -er and from third-declension masculine nouns; in both cases, the Latin nominative singular did not end in -s, which is preserved in Old French.

The classes show various analogical developments: Class I nominative plural -es from the accusative instead of -∅ (-e after a consonant cluster) in Class I nominative plural (Template:Abbr -ae, although there is evidence to suggest this analogy had already occurred in VL), li pere instead of *li peres (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Class IIa nominative plural, modelled on Class II, etc.

Class III nouns show a separate stem in the nominative singular that does not occur in any of the other forms:

  • IIIa nouns are agent nouns that ended in -ātor, -ātōrem in Latin and preserve the stress shift.
  • IIIb nouns also had a stress shift, from -ō to -ōnem although several IIIb nouns actually continue Frankish weak nouns with a similar inflection: Frankish *barō ~ *baran becomes Template:Abbr ber ~ baron.
  • IIIc nouns are an Old French creation and have no clear Latin antecedent.
  • IIId nouns represent various other third-declension Latin nouns with stress shift or a change of consonant (soror, sorōrem; īnfāns, īnfāntem; presbyter, presbyterem; seiior, seiiōrem; comes, comitem).

Regular feminine forms of masculine nouns are formed by adding an -e to the masculine stem unless the masculine stem already ends in -e. For example, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss becomes {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

AdjectivesEdit

Adjectives agree in terms of number, gender and case with the noun that they are qualifying. Thus, a feminine plural noun in the nominative case requires any qualifying adjectives to be feminine, plural and nominative. For example, in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} has to be in the feminine plural form.

Adjectives can be divided into three declensional classes:<ref>Moignet (1988, p. 26–31), Zink (1992, p. 39–48), de La Chaussée (1977, p. 39–44)</ref>

Class I adjectives have a feminine singular form (nominative and oblique) ending in -e. They can be further subdivided into two subclasses, based on the masculine nominative singular form. Class Ia adjectives have a masculine nominative singular ending in -s:

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Nominative bons bon bone bones bon
Oblique bon bons —

For Class Ib adjectives, the masculine nominative singular ends in -e, like the feminine. There are descendants of Latin second- and third-declension adjectives ending in -er in the nominative singular:

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Nominative aspre aspre aspre aspres aspre
Oblique aspres —

For Class II adjectives, the feminine singular is not marked by the ending -e:

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Nominative granz grant granz/grant granz grant
Oblique grant granz grant —

An important subgroup of Class II adjectives is the present participial forms in -ant.

Class III adjectives have a stem alternation, resulting from stress shift in the Latin third declension and a distinct neuter form:

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, > Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Nominative mieudre(s) meillor mieudre meillors mieuz
Oblique meillor meillors meillor —

In later Old French, Classes II and III tended to be moved across to Class I, which was complete by Middle French. Modern French thus has only a single adjective declension, unlike most other Romance languages, which have two or more.

VerbsEdit

Verbs in Old French show the same extreme phonological deformations as other Old French words; however, morphologically, Old French verbs are extremely conservative in preserving intact most of the Latin alternations and irregularities that had been inherited in Proto-Romance. Old French has much less analogical reformation than Modern French has and significantly less than the oldest stages of other languages (such as Old Spanish) despite that the various phonological developments in Gallo-Romance and Proto-French led to complex alternations in the majority of commonly-used verbs.

For example, the Template:Abbr verb {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (Template:Abbr lavāre) is conjugated {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the present indicative and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the present subjunctive, in both cases regular phonological developments from Latin indicative lavō, lavās, lavat and subjunctive lavem, lavēs, lavet. The following paradigm is typical in showing the phonologically regular but morphologically irregular alternations of most paradigms:

  • The alternation {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a regular result of the final devoicing triggered by loss of final /o/ but not /a/.
  • The alternation {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a regular result of the diphthongization of a stressed open syllable /a/ into /ae/ > {{#invoke:IPA|main}} > {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
  • The alternation {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ~ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the subjunctive is a regular result of the simplification of the final clusters /fs/ and /ft/, resulting from loss of /e/ in final syllables.

Modern French, on the other hand, has {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in both indicative and subjunctive, reflecting significant analogical developments: analogical borrowing of unstressed vowel /a/, analogical -e in the first singular (from verbs like {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, with a regular -e ) and wholesale replacement of the subjunctive with forms modelled on -ir/-oir/-re verbs. All serve to eliminate the various alternations in the Template:Abbr verb paradigm. Even modern "irregular" verbs are not immune from analogy: For example, Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (vivre Template:Gloss) has yielded to modern {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, eliminating the unpredictable -f in the first-person singular.

The simple past also shows extensive analogical reformation and simplification in Modern French, as compared with Old French.

The Latin pluperfect was preserved in very early Old French as a past tense with a value similar to a preterite or imperfect. For example, the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (878 AD) has past-tense forms such as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), alternating with past-tense forms from the Latin perfect (continued as the modern "simple past"). Old Occitan also preserved this tense, with a conditional value; Spanish still preserves this tense (the -ra imperfect subjunctive), as does Portuguese (in its original value as a pluperfect indicative).

Verb alternationsEdit

In Latin, stress was determined automatically by the number of syllables in a word and the weight (length) of the syllables. That resulted in certain automatic stress shifts between related forms in a paradigm, depending on the nature of the suffixes added. For example, in pensō Template:Gloss, the first syllable was stressed, but in pensāmus Template:Gloss, the second syllable was stressed. In many Romance languages, vowels diphthongized in stressed syllables under certain circumstances but not in unstressed syllables, resulting in alternations in verb paradigms: Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss vs. {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss), or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss vs. {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss).

In the development of French, at least five vowels diphthongized in stressed, open syllables. Combined with other stress-dependent developments, that yielded 15 or so types of alternations in so-called strong verbs in Old French. For example, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} diphthongized to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before nasal stops in stressed, open syllables but not in unstressed syllables, yielding {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (Template:Abbr amō) but {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss (Template:Abbr amāmus).

The different types are as follows:

Vowel alternations in Old French verbs
Vowel alternation Environment Example (-er conjugation) Example (other conjugation)
Stressed Unstressed Latin etymon 3rd singular
pres. ind.		 Infinitive meaning Latin etymon 3rd singular
pres. ind.		 Infinitive
/ Other form		 meaning
main}} main}} main}} lavāre leve laver "to wash" parere >
*parīre		 pert parir "to give birth"
main}} main}} main}} + nasal amāre aime amer "to love" manēre maint maneir, manoir "to remain"
main}} main}} main}} *accapāre achieve achever "to achieve"
main}} main}} main}} + palatal *concacāre conchie concheer "to expel" iacēre gist gesir "to lie (down)"
main}} main}} main}} *accapitāre achate acheter "to buy" cadere >
*cadēre		 chiet cheoir "to fall"
main}} main}} main}} + palatal? *tripaliāre travaille traveillier "to torment, make suffer"
main}} main}} main}} levāre lieve lever "to raise" sedēre siet seeir, seoir "to sit; suit, be fitting"
main}} main}} main}} + nasal tremere >
*cremere		 crient creindre (var. cremir, -oir) "to fear"
main}} main}} main}} + palatal pretiāre prise preiser "to value" exīre ist eissir "to exit, go out"
main}} main}} main}} + double cons. appellāre apele apeler "to call"
main}} main}} main}} adhaerāre >
*adēsāre		 adoise adeser "to touch"
main}} main}} main}} + nasal mināre meine mener "to lead"
main}} main}} main}}
main}} main}} main}} + palatal – charroie charrier "to cart around"
main}} main}} main}} *tropāre trueve truver "to invent, discover" morī >
*morīre		 muert mourir "to die"
main}} main}} main}} + palatal *appodiāre apuie apoiier "to lean"
main}} main}} main}} dēmōrārī demeure demo(u)rer "to stay" cōnsuere >
*cōsere		 queust co(u)sdre "to sew"
main}} main}} main}} *corruptiāre courouce courecier "to get angry"
main}} main}} main}} + nasal calumniārī chalonge chalengier "to challenge"

In Modern French, the verbs in the -er class have been systematically [[wikt:level#Adjective|Template:Tooltip]]. Generally, the "weak" (unstressed) form predominates, but there are some exceptions (such as modern {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). The only remaining alternations are in verbs like {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, with unstressed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} alternating with stressed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and in (largely-learned) verbs like {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, with unstressed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} alternating with stressed {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Many of the non-er verbs have become obsolete, and many of the remaining verbs have been levelled; however, a few alternations remain in what are now known as irregular verbs, such as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.

Some verbs had a more irregular alternation between different-length stems, with a longer, stressed stem alternating with a shorter, unstressed stem. That was a regular development stemming from the loss of unstressed intertonic vowels, which remained when they were stressed:

The alternation of je desjun, disner is particularly complicated; it appears that:

Template:Smallcaps Template:Smallcaps
Latin disiēiūnāre {{#invoke:IPA|main}} disiēiūnō {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Western Romance Triphthong reduction disīūnāre {{#invoke:IPA|main}} disīūnō {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Loss of phonemic length disjunare {{#invoke:IPA|main}} disjuno {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Syncopation disinare {{#invoke:IPA|main}} –
Change in quality and metaphony disinare {{#invoke:IPA|main}} desjuno {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Gallo-Romance Lenition dizinare {{#invoke:IPA|main}} –
Further syncopation diznare {{#invoke:IPA|main}} –
Old French Further syncopation disnar {{#invoke:IPA|main}} desjun {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Diphthongization (→ fronting) disner {{#invoke:IPA|main}} –
Fortition – desjun {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Devoicing disner {{#invoke:IPA|main}} –
Allophonic nasalization – desjun {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Fronting – desjun {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Compensatory lengthening disner {{#invoke:IPA|main}} desjun {{#invoke:IPA|main}}

Both stems have become full verbs in Modern French: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss. Furthermore, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} does not derive directly from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, with total loss of unstressed -ēi-). Instead, it comes from Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, based on the alternative form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (< {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, with loss of only -i-, likely influenced by {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Gloss < Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} < {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}} Template:Gloss < {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: iē- is an initial rather than intertonic so the vowel -ē- does not disappear).

Example of regular -er verb: durer (to last)Edit

 
Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
Present Simple past Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present
je dur durai duroie durerai dur durasse dureroie —
tu dures duras durois dureras durs durasses durerois dure
il dure dura duroit durera durt durast dureroit —
nos durons durames duriiens/-ïons durerons durons durissons/-issiens dureriions/-ïons durons
vos durez durastes duriiez dureroiz/-ez durez durissoiz/-issez/-issiez dureriiez/-ïez durez
ils durent durerent duroient dureront durent durassent dureroient —

Non-finite forms:

  • Infinitive: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Present participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Past Participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Auxiliary verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Example of regular -ir verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (to end)Edit

 
Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
Present Simple past Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present
je fenis feni fenissoie fenirai fenisse fenisse feniroie —
tu fenis fenis fenissoies feniras fenisses fenisses fenirois fenis
il fenist feni(t) fenissoit fenira fenisse(t) fenist feniroit —
nos fenissons fenimes fenissiiens fenirons fenissons fenissons/-iens feniriiens fenissons
vos fenissez fenistes fenissiiez feniroiz/-ez fenissez fenissoiz/-ez/-iez feniriiez fenissez
ils fenissent fenirent fenissoient feniront fenissent fenissent feniroient —

Non-finite forms:

  • Infinitive: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Present participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Past participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Auxiliary verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Example of regular -re verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (to run)Edit

 
Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
Present Simple past Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present
je cor corui coroie corrai core corusse corroie —
tu cors corus coroies corras cores corusses corroies cor
il cort coru(t) coroit corra core(t) corust corroit —
nos corons corumes coriiens corrons corons corussons/-iens corriiens corons
vos corez corustes coriiez corroiz/-ez corez corussoiz/-ez/-iez corriiez corez
ils corent corurent coroient corront corent corussent corroient —

Non-finite forms:

  • Infinitive: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Present participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Past participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Auxiliary verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Examples of auxiliary verbsEdit

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (to have)Edit
 
Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
Present Simple past Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present
je ai eüi, oi avoie aurai ai eüsse auroie —
tu ais
(later as)		 eüs avois auras ais eüsses aurois ave
il ai
(later a)		 eü(t), ot avoit aura ai eüst auroit —
nos avons eümes aviiens/-ïons aurons aions eüssons/-issiens auravons/-ïons avons
vos avez eüstes aviiez auroiz/-ez aiez eüssoiz/-issez/-issiez auravez/-ïez avez
ils ont eürent avoient auront ont eüssent auroient —

Non-finite forms:

  • Infinitive: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (earlier {{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
  • Present participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Past participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Auxiliary verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (to be)Edit
 
Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
Present Simple past Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present
je suis fui (i)ere
esteie > estoie		 (i)er
serai
estrai		 seie > soie fusse sereie > seroie
estreie > estroie		 —
tu (i)es fus (i)eres
esteies > estoies		 (i)ers
seras
estras		 seies > soies fusses sereies > seroies
estreies > estroies		 seies > soies
il est fu(t) (i)ere(t), (i)ert
esteit > estoit		 (i)ert
sera(t)
estra(t)		 seit > soit fust sereit > seroit
estreit > estroit		 —
nos somes, esmes fumes eriiens, erions
estiiens, estions		 (i)ermes
serons
estrons		 seiiens, seions > soiiens, soions fussons/-iens seriiens, serions
estriiens, estrions		 seiiens > soiiens, seions > soions
vos estes fustes eriiez
estiiez		 —
sere(i)z
estre(i)z		 seiiez > soiiez fusseiz/-ez/-iez seriiez
estriiez		 seiiez > soiiez
ils sont furent (i)erent
esteient > estoient		 (i)erent
seront
estront		 seient > soient fussent sereient > seroient
estreient > estroient		 —

Non-finite forms:

  • Infinitive: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Present participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
  • Past participle: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Auxiliary verb: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Other parts of speechEdit

Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are generally invariable. Pronouns are usually declinable.

See alsoEdit

Explanatory notesEdit

Template:Notelist-lr

ReferencesEdit

CitationsEdit

Template:Reflist

General sourcesEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:Sister project

Template:Gallo-Romance languages and dialects Template:Romance languages Template:Authority control

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