comme |
1. conj. as | |
Je travaille comme artiste. - I work as an artist. | |
2. conj. like | |
J'agis comme il faut. - I act like I must. | |
3. conj. how | |
Comme tu es belle ce soir ! - How beautiful you are tonight! | |
4. conj. because, as, since | |
Comme j'étais malade, il est venu me voir. - As I was ill, he came to see me. | |
5. part. (colloquial Canada) like | |
nous |
1. pron. the plural personal pronoun in the first person: | |
2. pron. (subject pronoun) we. | |
3. pron. (object pronoun) us, to us. | |
4. pron. (royal, obsolete) we (as the royal we) | |
5. n-m. the nous, (divine) reason in philosophy | |
ne |
1. part. (literary) not (used alone to negate a verb; now chiefly with only a few particular verbs: see usage notes) | |
2. part. not, no (used before a verb, with a coordinating negative element usually following; see Usage Notes, below) | |
3. part. (Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so- | |
4. part. In comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative | |
Apprendre le français est plus facile qu'on ne pense. - Learning French is easier than you (might) think. | |
voyions |
1. v. first-person plural imperfect indicative of voir | |
2. v. first-person plural present subjunctive of voir | |
voir |
1. v. to see (visually) | |
Je vois ma mère là-bas. - I see my mother over there. | |
On ne voit pas souvent de la neige par ici. - One doesn't often see snow around here. | |
2. v. to see (to understand) | |
Tu vois que tu avais tort ? - Do you see that you were wrong? | |
3. v. to see (to visit, to go and see) | |
4. adv. (Louisiana French) please (used to mark the imperative) | |
Viens voir ici. - Come here please. | |
point |
1. n-m. point (small mark) | |
2. n-m. (sports) point | |
3. n-m. full stop, period (punctuation mark) | |
4. n-m. (knitting) stitch pattern | |
5. n-m. dot (Morse code symbol) | |
6. adv. (literary, dialectal, usually with "ne") not | |
Ne craignez point - Fear not | |
7. Participle. past participle of poindre | |
8. v. third-person singular present indicative of poindre | |
poindre |
1. v. to prick, sting | |
2. v. to sting, afflict (of pain, love etc.) | |
3. v. to come up (of a plant), peep through | |
4. v. to break, dawn (of day); to break (of dawn) | |
5. v. to appear, spring up | |
la |
1. art. the (definite article) | |
2. pron. her, it (direct object) | |
Où est Judith ? Je ne la vois pas. - Where is Judith? I don't see her. | |
Prends cette boîte et mets-la dans le coin. - Take that box and put it in the corner. | |
3. n-m. (music) la, the note 'A' | |
Terre |
1. Proper noun. the Earth (planet) | |
2. n-f. earth; soil | |
3. n-f. land, property (delimited area) | |
4. v. first-person singular present of terrer | |
5. v. third-person singular present of terrer | |
6. v. second-person singular imperative of terrer | |
je |
1. pron. I | |
ignorais |
1. v. first-person singular imperfect indicative of ignorer | |
2. v. second-person singular imperfect indicative of ignorer | |
à |
1. Notes. In Canada, à and a are not homophones, à a, a ɑː. | |
2. prep. to (destination) | |
aller au bout - go to the end / go all the way | |
Je vais à Paris. - I am going to Paris. | |
3. prep. to (until) | |
Le spectacle sera de 18h à 21h. - The show will be from 6 pm to 9 pm. | |
4. prep. on the, to (some directions) | |
Tournez à gauche ! - Turn to the left! | |
Ne tournez pas encore à droite ! - Don't turn to the right yet! | |
Le vent vire au nord. - The wind turns north. | |
L'école est à gauche. - The school is on the left. | |
5. prep. at (said of a particular time) | |
à dix heures et quart - at quarter past ten | |
Je pars à cinq heures précises. - I am leaving at exactly five o'clock. | |
6. prep. at, in, on (said of a particular place) | |
à la maison - at home | |
à l'hôtel - at the hotel | |
au comptoir du bar - at the bar | |
au bois - in the woods | |
J'habite à un demi-kilomètre d'ici. - I live half a kilometer from here. | |
La maison qui a été détruite hier soir ne se trouvait qu'à trois kilomètres de chez nous. - The house that was destroyed last night was only three kilometers from our place.à trois kilomètres d | |
7. prep. Used in various interjections used as warnings or exhortations | |
au voleur ! - stop thief! | |
à l'assassin ! - murderer! | |
au meurtre ! - murder! murderer! | |
à moi ! - help! | |
à l'aide ! - help! | |
au secours ! - help! | |
au feu ! - fire! | |
aux armes ! - to arms! | |
à l'attaque ! - attack! forward! charge! up and at 'em! | |
à l'abordage ! - on board! | |
au boulot ! - get to work! let's get to work! | |
au travail ! - get to work! let's get to work! | |
8. prep. from (origin) | |
Nous prenons de l'eau au puits. - We get water from the well. | |
Je l'ai eu à la bibliothèque. - I got it from the library. | |
Voilà la femme à laquelle j'ai acheté mon chien - There's the woman I bought my dog from. | |
9. prep. of (belonging to) | |
C'est un ami à moi. - This is a friend of mine. | |
Cette voiture est à John. - This is John's car. | |
le chien à Marie - Mary's dog nonstandard: one normally would use de here | |
10. prep. till, until (used in farewells) | |
à plus tard - see you later | |
à bientôt - see you soon | |
Salut, donc. À demain. - Bye, then. 'Til tomorrow / see you tomorrow. | |
11. prep. (cuisine) cooked in or with | |
12. prep. Used to make compound nouns to state what something is used for | |
moulin à poivre - pepper mill | |
sac à dos - backpack | |
boite à musique - music box | |
13. prep. (before an infinitive) to (used to express something not completed) | |
l'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. | |
Là où tu ne vois pas grand-chose, je ne trouve qu'une grande abondance de choses qui restent à faire. - Where you see nothing great, I only see a great abundance of things that need doing. | |
Il reste deux tâches à finir. - There are two things left to finish. | |
Il y a de la bière à boire. - There's some beer to drink. | |
14. prep. Used to describe a part of something, often translated into English as a compound adjective | |
un animal à quatre pattes - a four-legged animal | |
une femme au visage pâle - a pale-faced woman | |
un homme à longue barbe - a long-bearded man — a man with a long beard | |
une chemise à manches courtes - a short-sleeved shirt | |
une maison aux murs de brique - a brick-walled house / a house with brick walls | |
15. prep. by | |
peu à peu - bit by bit | |
petit à petit - little by little | |
minute à minute - minute by minute | |
jour à jour - day by day | |
un à un - one by one | |
16. prep. or, to (used to express an approximate number) | |
six à sept personnes - six or seven people | |
de vingt à trente ans - from twenty to thirty years | |
tous les cinq à six ans - every five or six years | |
17. prep. Used to indicate the recipient of certain phrasal verb. | |
mettre le feu à - to set fire to | |
clouer le bec à - to shut (someone) up | |
donner la chasse à - to give chase to | |
18. prep. with | |
quelle |
1. adj. feminine singular of quel: | |
2. adj. which? | |
C'est quelle femme ? | |
: Which woman is it? | |
3. adj. (exclamation) What a ...! | |
4. pron. feminine singular of quel | |
distance |
1. n-f. distance (literal physical distance) | |
On se tient à distance de deux kilomètres l'un de l'autre. - We stand at a distance of two kilometers from each other. | |
2. n-f. distance (metaphoric or figurative) | |
Il convient de la tenir à une certaine distance. - It's suitable to maintain a certain distance. | |
3. v. first-person singular present of distancer | |
4. v. third-person singular present of distancer | |
5. v. second-person singular imperative of distancer | |
distancer |
1. v. to distance, outdistance | |
nous |
1. pron. the plural personal pronoun in the first person: | |
2. pron. (subject pronoun) we. | |
3. pron. (object pronoun) us, to us. | |
4. pron. (royal, obsolete) we (as the royal we) | |
5. n-m. the nous, (divine) reason in philosophy | |
pouvions |
1. v. first-person plural imperfect indicative of pouvoir | |
pouvoir |
1. v. can, to be able to | |
Je peux venir ce soir. - I can come this evening. | |
2. v. may | |
désastre qui peut nous frapper - disaster which may strike us | |
3. v. (impersonal, reflexive) to be possible; may, could be | |
Il se peut que je sois malade. - (literally) It could be that I'm ill / (more naturally) I may be ill. / I could be ill. | |
4. n-m. (or un) power | |
prendre le pouvoir - to take power, to seize power | |
5. n-m. authority | |
6. n-m. (legal) power of attorney | |
en |
1. prep. in (used to indicate space, also see usage notes) | |
J'habite en Angleterre. - I live in England. | |
2. prep. to (indicates direction towards certain very large locations, see usage notes) | |
Il est allé en France. - He went to France. | |
3. prep. by (used to indicate means) | |
aller en bus - go by bus | |
partir en voiture - leave by car | |
4. prep. as | |
Il me traite en ami. - He treats me as a friend. | |
habillé en père Noël - dressed as Father Christmas | |
5. prep. at (used to describe an ability) | |
fort en histoire - good at history | |
6. prep. of, made of (used to describe composition) | |
une chaise en hêtre - a chair made of beech/a beech chair | |
une fourchette en métal - a fork made of metal/a metal fork | |
7. prep. in (during the following time (used for months and years)) | |
en 1993 - in 1993 | |
en janvier - in January | |
en septembre 2001 - in September 2001 | |
8. prep. (followed by a gerund) while | |
9. prep. (followed by a gerund) by, in describing a way of getting something | |
C'est en trichant qu'il est devenu champion. - It was by cheating that he became champion. | |
10. prep. in (used to describe color) | |
une photo en noir et blanc - a photo in black and white | |
11. prep. in (used to describe feelings) | |
en détresse - in distress | |
12. prep. in (as part of something) | |
en équipe - on a team | |
13. pron. (Used as the object of a verb to indicate an indefinite quantity; of it, of them. Replaces the partitive article (du, de la, etc.)) | |
Essaies-en ! - Try some (of it / them)! | |
Tu as combien de livres ? J'en ai trois. - How many books do you have? I have three (of them). | |
Y a-t-il beaucoup de pièces ? Oui. Il y en a beaucoup. - Are there many rooms? Yes, there are many (of them). | |
Martin a trois sandwichs, mais j'en ai seulement deux. - Martin has three sandwiches, but I have only two (of them). | |
Il y en a combien ? - How many of them are there? | |
Je bois de l'alcool parce que j'en ai besoin - I drink alcohol because I need (of) it. | |
14. pron. Adverbial preposition indicating movement away from a place already mentioned; from there, from it. Replaces the phrase de là or d’ici. | |
Est-ce qu'elle vient de Barcelone ? Oui, elle en vient. - Does she come from Barcelona? Yes, she comes (from there). | |
être |
1. v. to be | |
Vous devez être plus clairs. - You must be clearer. | |
2. v. (auxiliary) Used to form the perfect and pluperfect tense of (including all reflexive verbs) | |
Après être allé au yoga, je suis rentré chez moi. - After having gone to yoga, I came back home. | |
3. v. (semi-auxiliary) to be (Used to form the passive voice) | |
Il peut être battu ce soir. - He can be beaten this evening. | |
4. n-m. being, creature | |
5. n-m. being, the state or fact of existence | |
en être |
1. v. to have arrived at something; to be somewhere; to be in a certain situation; to stand somewhere | |
C'est là où en est la question en ce moment. - That is where the issue now stands. | |
Il en a été de même pour de nombreux producteurs cette année. - The situation was the same for many producers this year. | |
J'en suis à me demander si je devrais changer d'emploi. - I'm starting to wonder if I should change jobs. | |
Nous trancherons la question quand nous en serons à ce stade. - We will decide the question when we get to that stage. | |
Voyons ce qu'il en est. - Let us consider that issue. | |
2. v. (informal) to be game, to be in | |
3. v. (informal, or derogatory) to be part of the LGBTQ community | |
J'ai l'impression qu'il en est. | |