This syntactic study of French emphasizes analysis of the theory underlying the actual description of the language and techniques used in the derivation of the theory. The work, containing four major sections, includes: (1) a guide to base components, (2) symbolic notation, (3) grammar, and (4) transformations. Grammatical rules for "syntagmes," subcategorization, and transformational components precede extensive material on the specific rules of subcategorization. These rules pertain to subcategorization of "P", the verb, the preposition, modifiers, nouns, adverbs, articles, and the noun group. The fourth section deals with precyclical, cyclical, and postcyclical transformations. Appendixes contain: (1) the Chomskian concept of language, (2) analysts and synthesizers, (3) recursiveness in the base components, (4) prenominal determiners, and (5) the definite article and the referential indice. Frequent use of diagrams illustrates syntactic theory. (RL)