Elision_(french)

This article is part of the series on: French language

Dialects Francophonie History Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts Grammar Adverbs Articles and determiners Pronouns Personal Pronouns Verbs Conjugation Verb morphology Orthography Alphabet Reforms Use of the circumflex Phonology Elision Liaison

This box: view • talk • edit

In French, elision refers to the suppression of a final unstressed vowel (usually [ə]) immediately before another word beginning with a vowel. The term also refers to the orthographic convention by which the deletion of a vowel is reflected in writing, and indicated with an apostrophe.

In written French, elision (both phonetic and orthographic) is obligatory for the following words:

• the definite articles le and la
  • le garçon ("the boy"), la fille ("the girl")
  • le + arbre → l\'arbre ("the tree"), la + église → l\'église ("the church")
• the subject pronouns je and ce (when they occur before the verb)
  • Je dors. ("I sleep") Ce serait génial. ("That would be great.")
  • J\'ai dormi. ("I slept.") C\'était génial. ("It was great.")
  • but: Ai-je imaginé? ("Did I imagine?"), Est-ce utile? ("Is that useful?")
• the object pronouns me, te, se, le, and la (when they occur before the verb)
  • Jean se rase, la voit, me téléphone. ("Jean shaves himself, sees her, phones me.")
  • Jean s\'est rasé, l\'a vue, m\'a téléphoné. ("Jean shaved himself, saw her, phoned me.")
  • but: Regarde-le encore une fois. ("Look at him one more time.")
  • (rare case of elision after the verb): Sortez-l\'en. ("Take it out of there.")
• the negative marker ne
  • Elle ne parle plus. ("She isn\'t talking anymore.")
  • Elle n\'arrête pas de parler. ("She won\'t stop talking.")
• the preposition de
  • Le père de Jean vient de partir. ("Jean\'s father just left.")
  • Le père d\'Albert vient d\'arriver. ("Albert\'s father just arrived.")
• que (which has many different functions)
  • Que dis-tu ? Que Jean ne fait que manger. ("What are you saying? That Jean does nothing but eat.")
  • Qu\'as-tu dit ? Qu\'il ne nous restait plus qu\'une semaine. ("What did you say? That we only had one more week left.")

Elision is indicated in the spelling of some compound words: entr\'acte (intermission), presqu\'île (peninsula), aujourd\'hui (today).

See also

• Liaison (French)
• Elision — broader discussion of elision in other languages

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia