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This is a question Old stuff I still know

Our Ginger Fuhrer says that he could still code up a simple game idea in Amstrad Basic, while I'm your man if you ever need to rebuild the suspension on an Austin Allegro (1750 Equipe version). This stuff doesn't leave your mind - tell us about obsolete talents you still have.

(, Thu 30 Jun 2011, 17:04)
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French
We were taught a little song during French lessons at school in 1978 to remember a rule about French grammar. I still remember the words:

"when the verb is conjugated with avoir
the past participle agrees
when the direct object
the direct object
when the direct object goes before the verb
the verb
the verb
when the direct object goes before the verb"

Haven't a clue what it means in practice. May not have done at the time either as I failed French O level.
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 17:12, 6 replies)
Je ne comprende pas?
I thibk the song formatting made it harder to understand, but it's too long since I did French myself to work out which bits should be excluded and why it's important anyhow.
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 17:30, closed)
i say johnny foreniger
HAVE YOU BEEN TO SAN JOSE ?
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 18:00, closed)
internet knows
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_verbs#Past_participle_agreement
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 18:49, closed)

Well, if you were to say:

"J'ai vu la femme" (I saw the woman), you don't need to add an -e to "vu" (the past participle) - The woman being the direct object (ie the thing the verb is being done to)

But if you said:

"Je l'ai vue" (I saw her), you do add an -e, because 'her' (still the direct object) comes before the verb ("ai" in this case).

Gets more complicated with verbs like donner (to give)

"J'ai donné la carte au monsieur" (I gave the map to the man) - the map (la carte) is the direct object, the man is the indirect object, so

"Je lui ai donné la carte" (I gave him the map) - no agreement, the direct object comes after the verb
"Je l'ai donnée au monsieur" (I gave it (a feminine noun) to the man) - the past participle takes an -e

Same rules apply with plurals, only you add an -s

Simple really
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 19:16, closed)
This is why ...
The English are bad at languages
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 21:24, closed)
Yes, this is all very well
but if everyone spoke English like they're supposed to, we wouldn't have to speak loudly and slowly to make bloody forriners understand.
(, Tue 5 Jul 2011, 22:21, closed)

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