Language/French/Grammar/How-to-recognize-when-the-start-of-a-relative-clause-is-a-direct-object
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Definitions[edit | edit source]
Subject-verb agreement[edit | edit source]
The subject-verb agreement in French is the way to choose the correct ending for verbs in terms of grammatical persons, gender and number, depending on their subject.
The Direct Object Complement[edit | edit source]
The direct object complement (French: le complément d'objet direct, COD) directly completes the verb without any preposition. The verb used with a COD is a direct transitive verb.
To find the COD of a verb, it is most often enough to ask questions:
- Quoi ? (What?)
- Qui ? (Who?)
Relative Clause[edit | edit source]
A relative clause (in French, “une proposition subordonnée relative”) provides more information about a noun or pronoun from the previous clause without having to begin a new sentence.
Examples[edit | edit source]
The underlined text in the examples below and the related clause:
- Ce sont les amis avec lesquels je suis des cours de français.
These are the friends with whom I take French lessons.
- Vincent, que je connais depuis 1 an, est très intelligent.
Vincent, whom I have known for 1 year, is very intelligent.
- Antony, qui porte des lunettes, est le plus grand du collège.
Antony, who wears glasses, is the tallest in the college.
How to recognize when the start of a relative clause is a direct object[edit | edit source]
Sometimes it is not easy to know whether the beginning of a relative clause is a direct object or not. Verbs like:
- coûter
to cost
- courir
to run
- dormir
to sleep
- mesurer
to measure
- marcher
to walk
- peser
to weigh
- payer
to pay
- vivre
to live
- valoir
to be worth
can take supplements that look like to direct objects, but which are in fact adverbs of measure:
- Cet objet m'a coûté trente euros
This object cost me thirty euros
- La boite pèse cinquante kilos
The box weighs fifty kilos
- Il a marché une trentaine de kilomètres
He walked thirty kilometers or so
- Il a dormi quatre heures
He slept for four hours
In each of these examples, the phrase in bold is an adverb of measure, not a direct object. You can do the following test to find out if the complement of a verb is a direct object or not: try to make it the subject of a passive sentence: most direct objects can be transformed into passive subjects. None of the above examples can be: you cannot say "Cinquante francs ont été coûté par ce livre", nor "Une dizaine de kilomètres ont été marché", etc. If the start of a relative clause is an adverb, there is no agreement between it and the past participle:
- Les trente euros que cet objet m'a coûté...
The thirty euros that this object cost me...
- Les quatre heures qu'il a dormi...
The four hours he slept...
But to make things more confusing, some of these verbs can also take direct objects. When the direct objects are the heads of relative clauses, there is agreement with the past participle:
- J'ai pesé la boite (direct object)
I weighed the box
- La boite a pesé trente kilos (adverb)
The box weighed 30 kilos
- La boite que j'ai pesée...
The box I weighed ...
- Les trente kilos que la boite a pesé...
The 30 kilos that the box weighed ...
Other Chapters[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Pronominal verbs used reciprocally
- "de" when an adjective precedes the noun
- Adjective—adjective compounds
- Omission of plural indefinite des after the preposition de
- Auxiliary
- Use of en
- Use of stressed pronouns for emphasis
- Non specific use of y
- Omission of the article in set phrases and verbal constructions
- Unstressed and Stressed Pronouns
- subjects objects pronouns
- Position of object pronouns with infinitives
- Adjectives
- se as an alternative to an English passive
- The irregular verb avoir