Re: French transitivity etc.

>    When I was doing French in highschool, my teacher
>taught us that all of the French intransitives fit
>into the acronym "Mrs. Vandertramp".  They were:
>M - monter
>R - rester
>S - sortier
>V - venir
>A - arriver
>N - naitre (i circumflex)
>D - descendre
>E - entre
>R - returner
>T - tomber
>R - rentre
>A - aller
>M - mourir
>P - partir
In my own personal French fiefdom of malleable minds, I teach it as
"Dr&MrsVandertramp"

D - descendre
R - rester
M - monter
R - retourner
S - sortir
V - venir
A - arriver
N - naître
D - devenir
E - entrer
R - retourner
T - tomber
R - rentrer
A - aller
M - mourir
P - partir

The sixteen verbs that take "être" as the auxiliary in the passé
composé (I've also heard these called "house" verbs by some).
Certainly not all intransitives in French (lots o' which take "avoir"
as the auxiliary). And the formula doesn't take pronominal verbs into
account (some people call these "reflexive", and they take "être" as
their auxiliary). Too, "descendre", "sortir", and "monter" can take
"avoir" when they're used transitively.

avoir descendu les escaliers vs. être descendu
avoir sorti l'argent du portefeuille vs. être sorti
avoir monté les escaliers être monté

Kou