Auxiliary Verbs, auf französisch, part trois

Now that we’ve got a fairly good sense of the two main auxiliary verbs in French, avoir and être, let’s examine some of the more complicated stuff that inevitably comes along. Earlier posts on French auxiliaries are here and here.

The passive voice

As in English, the auxiliary used to form the passive voice is the form “to be”, which is être, colored dark red here as in an earlier post to distinguish it from both the regular verb être and the auxiliary être. In a way, it’s actually false to distinguish between the passive auxiliary être and the full verb être because both really behave the same way, including the question of requiring gender and number agreement of the adjective. The only reason, perhaps, to make this artificial distinction is to be clear that the passive auxiliary être takes as its adjective a past participle of the main verb.

That’s right: the structure of the passive voice is identical to the structure of the compound tenses using the non-modal auxiliary être. Talk about a recipe for confusion!

Except not really. Because the verbs we’ve seen so far that take être as their auxiliary are all intransitive verbs—they lack a direct object, and so there is simply no way they can form a passive at all. What this means is that it’s only really verbs taking avoir as their auxiliary that will form the passive with être.

And of course, once the passive is formed, it can form its own compound tenses. Since the conjugated verb in the passive voice is être, this means the auxiliary constructions will be formed with avoir + été + past participle (inflected).

So let’s take the sentence “I read a book” and look at every single possible verbal construction. This list will look slightly different from the list above because there I classified the verbs into seven groups based on the TAM in which the conjugated verb was conjugated. Here, though, I will be classifying them into the fourteen possibilities that we get by including the various compound tenses.

Auxiliary Verbs, auf französisch, part deux

Last time, we took a very brief look at the general structure of the French verbal system. Let’s now take a gander at the auxiliaries! (For that was the whole point of this, n’est-ce pas?) 

Instead of getting bogged down in hypothetical forms, let’s start by looking at the compound tenses of the verb parler. Paralleling English, the structure of this construction is avoir + past participle (with the word avoir colored dark green to show that it is the auxiliary verb and not the usual verb avoir that means “to have”). We can conjugate the verb avoir in every tense and mood that we can conjugate parler in; these compound tenses have different names. To keep things simple, let’s just look at the first person singular I speak in all its various forms in French.

Engineering and science

This is a fascinating quote from Eugene Ferguson’s Engineering and the Mind’s Eye (p. 13):

“The philosopher Carl Mitcham gives design and invention their proper places in the scheme of things by observing that ‘invention causes things to come into existence from ideas, makes world conform to thought; whereas science, by deriving ideas from observation, makes thought conform to existence.’ ”

While a lot can be said about it, including a somewhat artificial distinction, I think, between science and invention, what struck me immediately was the similarity between this verse and the famous verse of Bhavabhūti from the Uttararāmacarita, which I've already written about. I cite the Sanskrit here again:


laukikānāṃ hi sādhūnām arthān vāg anuvartate |
ṛṣīṇāṃ punar ādyānāṃ vācam artho ’nuvartate ||


A loose English translation: “For the good people of this world, speech conforms to reality; for the seers of old, reality conforms to speech.”

“Desiderata”

It was quite intriguing to learn that Cap’n Jack Sparrow bears upon his back a tattoo of a famous poem, now used as a devotional on occasion: Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann. Here is the poem (now ruled to be out of copyright even though its author only passed away in the 1940s), thanks to Wikipedia:

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,

and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.