| 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. | |
| faut |
| 1. v. singular present indicative of falloir | |
| 2. v. third-person singular present indicative of falloir | |
| 3. v. third-person singular present indicative of faillir | |
| faillir |
| 1. v. to almost do something | |
| J'ai failli aller en Allemagne, mais j'ai annulé au dernier moment - I almost went to Germany, but cancelled at the last minute | |
| 2. v. to fail | |
| Tu as failli à ta mission. - You failed your mission. | |
| 3. v. to go bankrupt | |
| falloir |
| 1. v. (impersonal) to need, have to, to be necessary (that) | |
| Il faut que j'y aille - I need to go. | |
| Faut que j'y aille. - Got to go. | |
| Il ne faut pas que tu dises ça. - You don’t have to say that. | |
| Il a tout ce qu'il te faut. - He has everything that you need. | |
| 2. v. to take (time) | |
| 3. v. to be missing | |
| pas |
| 1. n-m. step, pace, footstep | |
| 2. n-m. (geography) strait, pass | |
| Pas de Calais - Strait of Dover | |
| 3. n-m. thread, pitch (of a screw or nut) | |
| 4. adv. The most common adverb of negation in French, typically translating into English as not, don't, doesn't, etc. | |
| Je ne sais pas. - I don't know | |
| Ma grande sœur n'habite pas avec nous. - My big sister doesn't live with us. | |
| J’veux pas travailler. - I don't wanna work. | |
| pousser |
| 1. v. to push | |
| 2. v. to urge on, encourage | |
| pousser quelqu'un à faire quelque chose | |
| pousser à | |
| 3. v. to grow | |
| L'arbre pousse vite. - The tree is growing quickly. | |
| 4. v. to spring up, to sprout | |
| Les Starbucks poussent comme des champignons ici. - The Starbucks are springing up like mushrooms here. | |
| 5. v. to utter (a cry) | |
| 6. v. to move aside | |
| 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 | |
| fond |
| 1. n-m. back | |
| 2. n-m. bottom | |
| 3. n-m. fund; funding | |
| 4. n-m. foundation | |
| 5. n-m. (figuratively) basics, essence | |
| 6. n-m. background | |
| 7. n-m. (cooking) base | |
| 8. n-m. (music) foundation stop on a pipe organ | |
| 9. v. third-person singular present indicative of fondre | |
| fondre |
| 1. v. to melt, melt down, smelt | |
| 2. v. to melt | |
| 3. v. to melt away, waste away | |
| 4. v. to dwindle; to diminish | |
| 5. v. to blend in, blend into | |
| à fond |
| 1. adv. right to the bottom | |
| 2. adv. (figuratively, often informal) all the way: totally; completely; entirely, throughout | |
| Le |
| 1. Proper noun. surname, from=Vietnamese | |
| 2. art. the (definite article) | |
| Le lait du matin. - The milk of the morning. | |
| 3. art. Used before abstract nouns; not translated in English. | |
| L'amour est aveugle. - Love is blind. | |
| 4. art. (before parts of the body) the; my, your, etc. | |
| Il s’est cassé la jambe. - He has broken his leg. | |
| 5. art. (before units) a, an | |
| Cinquante kilomètres à l’heure. - fifty kilometres an hour | |
| 6. 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. | |
| 7. 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 | |
| moteur |
| 1. n-m. motor, engine (datedef, from 1744) | |
| moteur Diesel - Diesel motor | |
| 2. n-m. (computing) engine | |
| moteur de recherche - search engine | |
| 3. n-m. (philosophy) mover; one who causes a movement datedef, from 1377 | |
| Selon Aristote, Dieu est le moteur non mû. - According to Aristotle, God is the unmoved mover. | |
| 4. n-m. (figuratively) driving force | |
| 5. adj. motive, driving (datedef, from 1558) | |
