4 – La ville
Grammaire: 4.3 – Les déterminants démonstratifs
Demonstrative determiners
Rappel (reminder):
A determiner is a word that determines or qualifies the meaning of a noun by expressing such concepts as quantity or definiteness.
There is never more than one determiner per noun and it is always placed before the noun.
Determiners always agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
So far, we have learned 3 types of determiners:
Forms
Demonstrative determiners are also sometimes called demonstrative adjectives (in French ‘adjectifs démonstratifs’).
They agree in number and gender with the noun they introduce.
| Masculine singular:
(Masculine singular before a vowel sound:) |
ce
(cet) |
this that |
ce tatou
cet écureuil |
this armadillo
this squirrel |
| Feminine singular: | cette | cette chatte | this cat (female) | |
| Plural (masculine or feminine): | ces |
these those |
ces tatous ces écureuils |
these armadillos these squirrels |
Usage
In general, these determiners are used to point out things or people. They designate something one can see or show:
| Tex explique: Ce bassin, c’est Barton Springs. Cette piscine s’appelle Deep Eddy. | Tex explains: This pool is Barton Springs. This swimming pool is Deep Eddy. |
Liaison
Note that liaison is compulsory between ces and words starting with a vowel or a silent h:
- t liaison: cet écureuil
- z liaison: ces écureuils
-ci and -là
Demonstrative determiners can designate something close or far away: in order to distinguish between two or more elements, you can add the suffixes -ci or -là to the noun introduces by a demonstrative determiners.
- The suffix -ci indicates that the item is relatively near to the speaker. In English, -ci is generally translated by ‘this… here‘.
- The suffix -là suggests that something is farther away. In English, -là is generally translated by ‘that… there‘.
Listen to the dialogue:
| Tammy et Tex décident où ils mangent en ville.
Tammy: Tu aimes ce restaurant-ci? C’est un restaurant italien. Tex: Non… Je préfère le restaurant français. Tu aimes à ce restaurant-là? |
Tex and Tammy are deciding where to eat in town.
Tammy: Do you like this restaurant here? It’s an Italian restaurant. Tex: No… I préfère the French restaurant. Do you like that restaurant there? |
