Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 53 



monsch is undergoing now. Their analytic tendency caused 

 them to substitute for se alone the different pronouns vie, te, 

 sc, nos, vos. 



After these considerations let us review the history of the 

 reflexive conjugation in -the different Romance languages. 

 This history has been extensively treated by Gessner and 

 others in the works quoted above, for French especially ; 

 and as far as the last language is concerned, we have but 

 very little to add. 



I. Auxiliaries witJi Reflexive Verbs in French, zvitliout Direct 



Object. 



It has been already stated in the foregoing part of this 

 article, that French, making no difference whether the pro- 

 noun was in the accusative or in the dative case, used the 

 auxiliary etre in conjugating its reflexive verbs. As an excep- 

 tion to the above rule is found a certain number of compound 

 tenses of reflexive verbs conjugated with the auxiliary avoir. 

 A list of such instances is found in Chabanneau's and Gess- 

 ner' s works, and in some others. Two instances nowhere 

 found quoted are given here, since it is desirable that such a. 

 list should be as complete as possible : 



S'ai moi dedens Varchiere mis (Roman de la Rose, 22. 6l6); 



E qiiand chascim s'ot a sa terre assene (Villeh. Conq. de C. lOo). 



It is very probable that avoir has not been used in compound' 

 tenses of French reflexive verbs since the beginning of the 

 fourteenth century. 



II. Auxiliaries ivith Reflexive Verbs in French, with Direct 



Object. 



M. Littre, in his Histoire de la langne franqaise, p. 321, says 

 that 'je me suis conpe Ic doigt'' ought to be considered as a 

 solecism, and that the correct expression would h&''j'e viai 

 coupe le doigt." But since we have considered the reflexive 

 pronoun in such cases as je me snis coupe as being the direct 

 object of the verb, we shall easily understand that here the 



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