has not even the formal distinction of the nouns
in _al_, which in French make their plural in _aux_. _Cheval_ in
Provencal is _chivau_, and the plural is like the singular. A curious
fact is the use of _uni_ or _unis_, the plural of the indefinite
article, as a sign of the dual number; and this is its exclusive use.

The subject pronoun, when unemphatic, is not expressed, but understood
from the termination of the verb. _Ieu_ (je), _tu_ (tu), and _eu_ (il)
are used as disjunctive forms, in contrast with the French. The
possessive adjective _leur_ is represented by _si_; and the reflective
_se_ is used for the first plural as well as for the third singular and
third plural.

The moods and tenses correspond exactly to those of the French, and the
famous rule of the past participle is identical with the one that
prevails in the sister language.

Aside from the omission of the pronoun subject, and the use of one or
two constructions not unknown to French, but not admitted to use in the
literary language, the syntax of the Provencal is identical with that of
the French. The inversions of poetry may disguise this fact a little,
but the lack of individuality in the sentence construction is obvious in
prose. Translation of Provencal prose into French prose is practically
mere word substitution.

Instances of the constructions just mentioned are the following. The
relative object pronoun is often repeated as a personal pronoun, so that
the verb has its _object_ expressed twice. The French continually offers
redundancy of subject or complement, but not with the relative.

"Estre, ieu, lou marran que touti L'estrangisson!
Estre, ieu, l'estrangie que touti LOU fugisson!"

"Etre, moi, le paria, que tous rebutent!
Etre, moi, l'etranger que tout le monde fuit!"

(_La Reino Jano_, Act I, Scene III.)

The particle _ti_ is added to a verb to make it interrogative.

E.g. soun-ti? sont-ils? Petrarco ignoro-ti?
ero-ti? etait-il? Petrarque ignore-t-il?

This is the regular form of interrogative in the third person. It is, of
course, entirely due to the influence of colloquial French.

The French indefinite statement with the pronoun _on_ may be represented
in Provencal by the third plural of the verb; _on m'a demande_ is
translated _m'an demanda_, or _on m'a demanda_.

The negative _ne_ is often suppressed, even with the correlative _que_.

The verb _estre_ is conjugated with itself, as in Italian.