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 | |
pleines |
1. adj. feminine plural of plein | |
plein |
1. adj. full, full up | |
La voiture est pleine. - The car is full. | |
C'est plein de légendes. - It's full of stories | |
2. adj. plenty | |
Il y a plein de choses à faire. - There are plenty of things to do. | |
3. adj. solid | |
4. adj. (astronomy, of a moon) full | |
5. adj. (preceded by en) mid-; middle | |
en plein match - (right) in the middle of a match | |
en plein concert - mid-concert | |
en plein essor - on the rise | |
en pleine attaque - mid-attack | |
6. adj. (biology, of an animal) pregnant | |
7. adv. (of the four cardinal points) due | |
Aller plein sud - To go due north | |
8. adv. (colloquial) a lot, lots of, many | |
J'en ai plein du monde ici - I have lots of people here | |
9. n-m. full tank (of gas) | |
10. n-m. downstroke (of a letter) | |
11. prep. (somewhat colloquial) in; all over; filling | |
Avoir du vin plein sa cave. | |
J'ai de l’argent plein mes poches. - I have money filling up my pockets. | |
dents |
1. n. plural of dent | |
dent |
1. n-f. tooth | |
2. n-f. cog (tooth on a gear) | |
à pleines dents |
1. adv. voraciously | |
manger à pleines dents - to eat voraciously | |
déchirer à pleines dents - to tear voraciously | |
2. adv. (figuratively) readily, enthusiastically, to the full, with both hands | |
mordre à pleines dents - to bite enthusiastically | |
croquer la vie à pleines dents - to live life to the full, to grab life with both hands | |
que |
1. conj. that (introduces a subordinate noun clause and connects it to its parent clause) | |
Je vois que tu parles bien français. - I see that you speak French well. | |
2. conj. Substitutes for another, previously stated conjunction. | |
Si le temps est beau et que tout le monde est d'accord, nous mangerons en plein air. - If the weather is nice and if everyone likes the idea, we'll eat outside. | |
3. conj. when, no sooner | |
Il était à peine parti qu’elle a téléphoné à la police. - No sooner had he left when she called the police. | |
4. conj. (Links two noun phrases in apposition forming a clause without a (finite) verb, such that the complement acts as predicate.) | |
5. conj. introduces a comparison | |
6. conj. (comparisons of superiority or inferiority) than | |
Il est plus grand que son père. - He is taller than his father. | |
7. conj. (comparisons of equality) as | |
Elle est aussi intelligente que toi. - She is as smart as you. | |
8. conj. (used with ne) only, just; but, nothing but | |
Je ne mange que des fruits. - I eat nothing but fruit. | |
9. conj. how (in rhetorical interjections) | |
Que c'est beau! - How beautiful it is! | |
Mais que t'es drôle, quoi. - Oh, how funny you are. | |
10. pron. (tlb, interrogative) | |
11. pron. (slightly formal, accusative) (The inanimate direct-object interrogative pronoun.) | |
Que pensez-vous de cette peinture ? - What do you think of that painting? | |
Qu'auriez-vous fait d'autre ? - What else would you have done? | |
12. pron. (slightly formal, nominative) (The inanimate subject or predicative interrogative pronoun.) | |
Qu'est-il arrivé ? - What happened? | |
Que me vaut cette visite ? - To what do I owe this visit? | |
Que sommes-nous ? - What are we? | |
13. pron. (accusative, relative) (The direct object relative pronoun.) | |
C'est un homme que je connais très bien. - He's a man whom I know very well. | |
Je viens de lire la lettre que vous m'avez envoyée. - I've just read the letter that you sent me. | |
il |
1. pron. he (third-person singular masculine subject pronoun for human subject) | |
Il est parti. - He left. | |
2. pron. it (third-person singular subject pronoun for grammatically masculine objects) | |
Je cherche mon livre. Où est-il ? - I'm looking for my book. Where is it? | |
3. pron. (impersonal pronoun) Impersonal subject; it | |
Il pleut. - It’s raining. | |
pouvait |
1. v. third-person singular 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 | |
croquer |
1. v. to crunch | |
2. v. (colloquial) to waste, squander (money etc.) | |
3. v. to sketch, outline | |
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' | |
vie |
1. n-f. life, the state of organisms (organic beings) prior to death | |
2. n-f. life, period in which one is alive, between birth and death | |
3. n-f. biography, life | |
4. n-f. life, lifeforms | |
L’apparition de la vie sur Terre - The appearance of life on Earth | |
5. n-f. cost of living | |
La vie a drôlement augmenté depuis quelque temps : il ne me reste plus grand-chose quand j’ai payé tous les impôts. | |
6. n-f. attn, frWikt has even more senses than this | |
7. n-f. (Switzerland, Jura) way, path (road, railway, etc) | |