| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| y |
| 1. pron. there (at a place) | |
| Il est dans la maison. Il y est. - He is in the house. He is there. | |
| 2. pron. there, thither (to there) | |
| Nous allons au Mexique. Nous y allons. - We are going to Mexico. We are going there. | |
| 3. pron. Used as a pronoun to replace an adverbial phrase starting with à. | |
| Je pense à mon pays. J'y pense. - I think about my country. I think about it. | |
| 4. pron. With verbs: see for verbs which use this structure. | |
| 5. pron. With adjectives. Only used with a handful of adjectives (the most common combination being y compris, which is a special case), mainly in legal terminology. | |
| personnes y nommées - Persons named there(in) | |
| procédures y afférentes - Related procedures | |
| documents y relatifs - Related documents | |
| eaux y affluentes - Tributary waters | |
| 6. pron. (Quebec, France, colloquial) he: Alternative form of il | |
| 7. pron. (Quebec, France, colloquial) they: Alternative form of ils | |
| 8. pron. (Quebec, colloquial) they: Alternative form of elles | |
| a |
| 1. n. a, the name of the Latin-script letter A | |
| 2. pron. (Quebec, colloquial) alt form-lite, elle, , she | |
| C'te fille-là, a'a l'air cute. - This girl, she looks cute. | |
| 3. v. third-person singular present indicative of avoir | |
| Elle a un chat. - She has a cat. | |
| avoir |
| 1. n-m. asset, possession | |
| 2. v. to have (to own; to possess) | |
| J'aimerais avoir 20 dollars. - I would like to have 20 dollars. | |
| 3. v. (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs) | |
| J'ai parlé. - I have spoken, I spoke. | |
| Qu'est-ce que vous m'avez fait ? - What have you done to me? | |
| 4. v. to have (a condition) | |
| J'ai faim. - I have hunger. | |
| J'ai soif. - I have thirst. | |
| J'ai froid. - I have cold. | |
| J'ai chaud. - I have hot. | |
| J'ai la chiasse. - I have the shits. | |
| J'ai le rhume. - I have a cold. | |
| J'ai le SIDA. - I have AIDS. | |
| J'ai de la fièvre. - I've got a fever. | |
| 5. v. to have (a measure or age) | |
| Elle a 19 ans. - She has 19 years. | |
| 6. v. to have (to trick) | |
| Tu t'es fait avoir. - You've been had. | |
| 7. v. to have (to participate in an experience) | |
| avoir des relations sexuelles - to have sexual relations | |
| 8. v. (indtr, à) to have (to), must +preo, à, infinitive | |
| J'ai à vous parler. - I have to talk to you. | |
| il y a |
| 1. v. singular present indicative of y avoir: there is, there are | |
| Il y a un problème. - There is a problem. | |
| Il y a deux personnes ici. - There are two people here. | |
| 2. prep. ago | |
| Je l'ai vu il y a longtemps. - I saw it a long time ago. | |
| Elle est allée en France il y a deux ans. - She went to France two years ago. | |
| C'est il y a dix ans que je suis allé aux États-Unis. - It was ten years ago that I went to the United States. | |
| y a |
| 1. v. (colloquial)contraction of il y a | |
| Heureusement, y a l'amour. - Fortunately, there's love. Lyric by Michelle Daniel (1968) | |
| y avoir |
| 1. v. (impersonal, transitive) there be | |
| Il y a deux raisons. - There are two reasons. | |
| aucun |
| 1. det. (with ne) no, none, not any | |
| Il n'a aucun désir de construire des temples. - He has no desire to build temples. | |
| 2. pron. (with ne) none, no-one | |
| Aucun d'entre eux n'a été capable de répondre. - No one among them could give an answer. | |
| Aucun de ses amis ne sait où il est. - None of his friends knows where he is. | |
| animal |
| 1. n-m. animal | |
| 2. adj. animal | |
| vivant |
| 1. adj. alive | |
| Je croyais qu'il était mort, mais il est encore vivant. - I thought he was dead, but he is still alive. | |
| 2. adj. living | |
| une langue vivante - a living language | |
| un fossile vivant - a living fossil | |
| un tableau vivant | |
| 3. Participle. present participle of vivre | |
| 4. n-m. living person | |
| un bon vivant - a person who enjoys the good things in life | |
| 5. n-m. lifetime | |
| du vivant de - during the lifetime of | |
| 6. n-m. all living things | |
| le domaine du vivant | |
| vivre |
| 1. v. to live | |
| vivre comme un roi - live like a king | |
| 2. v. to experience | |
| au |
| 1. contraction. contraction of à le | |
| Il étudie la musique au conservatoire. - He studies music at the conservatory. | |
| 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 | |
| le |
| 1. art. the (definite article) | |
| Le lait du matin. - The milk of the morning. | |
| 2. art. Used before abstract nouns; not translated in English. | |
| L'amour est aveugle. - Love is blind. | |
| 3. art. (before parts of the body) the; my, your, etc. | |
| Il s’est cassé la jambe. - He has broken his leg. | |
| 4. art. (before units) a, an | |
| Cinquante kilomètres à l’heure. - fifty kilometres an hour | |
| 5. pron. (direct object) him, it | |
| Où est Malik ? Je ne le vois pas. - Where is Malik? I don't see him. | |
| Mon sac ? Je vais le mettre dans la voiture. - My bag? I'm going to put it in the car. | |
| 6. pron. used to refer to something previously mentioned or implied; not translated in English | |
| Je suis petit et lui, il l’est aussi. - ... and he is it too | |
| musée |
| 1. n-m. museum | |
