French Grammar Related to 'PLATS À EMPORTER' (Dishes to Go)

choi

(1) French orthography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_orthography

section 1 Alphabet: "The French alphabet is based on the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, uppercase and lowercase, with five diacritics and two orthographic ligatures [one of which is Æ (uoppercase) and æ (lowercase).

section 2 Diacritics: "The diacritics used in French orthography are the acute accent (◌́), the grave accent (◌̀), the circumflex (◌̂), the diaeresis (◌̈), and the cedilla (◌̧) [used only under letter c to make ç]. * * * A grave accent over ⟨a⟩ or ⟨u⟩ is primarily used to distinguish homophones: à ([meaning in English:] 'to') vs a ('has'); ou ('or') vs où ('where'; note that ⟨ù⟩ is only used in this word [in the entire French]). A grave accent over ⟨e⟩ indicates /ɛ/ in positions where a plain ⟨e [letter e without grav accent]⟩ would be pronounced /ə/ (schwa).
(a) found online: "Only three French vowels can take the grave accent: à, è, and ù, and the purpose of the accent depends on the letter in question."
(b) English dictionary:
* schwa (nl etymology: "German, from Hebrew"): "an unstressed mid-central vowel (such as the usual sound of the first and last vowels of the English word America)"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schwa


(2) French verbs hve three endings: -er (for most of French verbs), -ir, -re.

(3)
(a)
(i) English has "present perfect" (have + past participle).
(ii)
(A) again in English:
present perfect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_perfect
(section 1 Etymology: "The word perfect in the tense name comes from a Latin root referring to completion, rather than to perfection in the sense of 'having no flaws.' (In fact this 'flawless' sense of perfect evolved by extension from the former sense, because something being created is finished when it no longer has any flaws.)" )
(B) perfect (adj; etymology: "ME perfit < OFr parfit < L perfectus, pp. of [verb] perficere "to finis1111111h" < [prefix] per-, through + [verb] facere "to make, do": mod. sp. is Latinized")
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/perfect

key: ME = Middle English.  OFr = Old French.   "mod. sp. is Latinized" = modern English spelling is Latinized [from perfit to perfect] by lexicographers (meaning dictionary makers) in England.

(b) French has something that looks similar to English's present perfect which is NOW used (in France) as past tense.
(i) passé simple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passé_simple
("simple past [which is English translation] * * * is the literary equivalent of the passé composé in the French language, used predominantly in formal writing (including history and literature) and formal speech")
. where the emphasis is on "literary."
(ii) passé composé
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passé_composé
("compound past pwhichis English translation] is a past tense in the modern French language. * * * It originally corresponded in function to the English present perfect, but now there is a tendency to use it for all completed actions in the past as the [colloquial] equivalent of the simple past. * * * The passé composé is formed by the auxiliary verb, usually the avoir auxiliary, followed by the past participle."
(iii) French-English dictionary:
* passé (noun or adjective masculine; [from passé passed, past participle of verb passer to pass]):
"1: past tense
2: past (opposite of future)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/passé
* The English adjective simple comes, via French, from Latin adjective masculine/feminine/neuter simplex ("simple," literally "onefold") (as opposed to adjective masculine/feminine/neuter duplex ("double," literally "twofold")), from [adverb] semel ("once, a single time") + plicāre ("to fold").
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple
* passé composé
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pass%C3%A9_compos%C3%A9


(4) French-English dictionary:
* à (preposition):
"1: to (destination)  <aller au [au is contraction of à + le] bout ― go to the end / go all the way>  <Je vais à Paris. ― I am going to Paris.>
* * *
12: (before an infinitive) to (used to express something not completed)  <'équipe à battre ― the team to beat>  <Il n'y a jamais grand-chose à faire par ici. ― There's never much to do around here.>"

* avoir (verb):
" * * *
2: (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs)
* * *
4: (transitive) to have   <Elle a 19 ans. ― She is 19 years old. (literally, 'She has 19 years.')"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avoir
In this page below the definitions, click "Conjugation of avoid" to learn that the verb "a" follows third person singular as subject.