| 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. | |
| 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 | |
| avait |
| 1. v. third-person singular imperfect indicative of avoir | |
| 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. | |
| y avoir |
| 1. v. (impersonal, transitive) there be | |
| Il y a deux raisons. - There are two reasons. | |
| trop |
| 1. adv. too; too much | |
| La soupe est trop chaude. - The soup is too hot. | |
| J'ai trop mangé. - I have eaten too much. | |
| 2. adv. (colloquial intensifier) very, really, so | |
| Elle est trop belle ! - She is so beautiful! | |
| de |
| 1. prep. of (expresses belonging) | |
| Paris est la capitale de la France. - Paris is the capital of France. | |
| 2. prep. of (used to express property or association) | |
| Œuvres de Fermat - Fermat’s Works | |
| Elle est la femme de mon ami. - She is my friend’s wife. | |
| le voisin de Gabriel - Gabriel's neighbor | |
| 3. prep. from (used to indicate origin) | |
| Elle vient de France. - She comes from France. | |
| Êtes-vous de Suisse ? - Are you from Switzerland? | |
| Ce fromage vient d’Espagne. - This cheese is from Spain. | |
| C’est de l’ouest de la France. - It’s from the west of France. | |
| Le train va de Paris à Bordeaux. - The train goes from Paris to Bordeaux. | |
| 4. prep. of (indicates an amount) | |
| 5 kilos de pommes. - 5 kilograms of apples. | |
| Un verre de vin - A glass of wine | |
| Une portion de frites - A portion of fries | |
| 5. prep. used attributively, often translated into English as a compound word | |
| Un jus de pomme - Apple juice | |
| Un verre de vin - A glass of wine | |
| Une boîte de nuit - A nightclub | |
| Un chien de garde - A guarddog | |
| Une voiture de sport - A sportscar | |
| Un stade de football - A football stadium | |
| 6. prep. from (used to indicate the start of a time or range) | |
| De 9:00 à 11:00 je ne serai pas libre. - From 9 to 11 I won’t be free. | |
| Je travaille de huit heures à midi. - I work from 8 o'clock to noon. | |
| un groupe de cinq à huit personnes - a group of from five to eight people | |
| 7. prep. used after certain verbs before an infinitive, often translated into English as a gerund or an infinitive | |
| J’ai arrêté de fumer. - I stopped smoking. | |
| Il continue de m’embêter. - He keeps annoying me. | |
| Elle m’a dit de venir. - She told me to come. | |
| Nous vous exhortons de venir. - We urge you to come. | |
| 8. prep. by (indicates the amount of change) | |
| Boire trois tasses par jour réduirait de 20 % les risques de contracter une maladie. - Drinking three cups a day would reduce the risks of catching an illness by 20%. | |
| 9. art. Used in the plural with prepositioned adjectives. | |
| Ce sont de bons enfants. - They are good children. | |
| Il y a d’autres exemples. - There are other examples. | |
| 10. art. Used in negated sentences with the grammatical object. | |
| Elle n’a pas de mère. - She doesn’t have a mother. | |
| Il ne mange pas de viande. - He doesn’t eat meat. | |
| Il n’y a pas de problèmes. - There are no problems. | |
| 11. n-f. abbreviation of dame | |
| trop de |
| 1. adj. excessive, (an excess of) | |
| Il y en a trop. - There is too much of it — or — There are too many of them. | |
| 2. adj. (with singulars and unnouns) too much | |
| On est passé beaucoup trop de temps en compagnie de menteurs. - Too much time is spent in the company of liars. | |
| 3. adj. (with nouns) too many | |
| Il a lis trop d'histoires effrayantes et ne sait plus s'endormir.histoires effrayantes et ne sait plus s'endormir. | |
| 4. adj. , He read too many scary stories and can't sleep any more. | |
| monde |
| 1. n-m. world | |
| C'est la plus belle fille du monde. - She is the most beautiful girl in the world. | |
| 2. n-m. people | |
| Le monde m'agace quelquefois. - People annoy me sometimes. | |
| La salle était noire de monde. - The room was full of people. | |
| 3. interj. (Louisiana French) good heavens | |
| 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 | |
| café |
| 1. n-m. coffee (drink) | |
| 2. n-m. coffee colour | |
| 3. n-m. public house | |
| 4. n-m. cafe, coffee shop | |
| 5. adj. of the colour of coffee | |
