| 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 | |
| personnage |
| 1. n-m. character (in a play, program, film) | |
| dont |
| 1. pron. of/from whom/which, whose | |
| Vous rappelez-vous ce dont je vous ai parlé ? - Do you remember that of which we spoke? | |
| Il n’est rien dont je sois encore certain. - There is nothing of which I am still certain. | |
| Quel est le pays dont provient cette marchandise suspecte ? - What is the country from which the suspicious merchandise comes? | |
| J’ai décidé d’abandonner l’affaire dont je vous ai entretenu il y a quelques jours. - I decided to abandon the matter of which we have been speaking for a few days. | |
| La maladie dont il est mort porte un nom imprononçable. - The disease of which he died has an unpronounceable name. | |
| Les pays dont nous n’avons point de connaissance sont les destinations privilégiées des grands aventuriers. - The countries of which we have little knowledge are the privileged destinations of | |
| Ces étoiles — dont le nom m’échappe — sont les plus brillantes de la voûte céleste. - These stars, whose names escape me, are the brightest in the skies. | |
| Le Québec est une province du Canada dont les frontières correspondent au territoire de la nation québécoise. - Quebec is a province of Canada whose borders correspond to the Quebecois nation. | |
| 2. pron. (sometimes) by which | |
| Le coup dont il fut frappé. - The blow by which he was struck. | |
| 3. pron. Denotes a part of a set, may be translated as "including" or such as in some situations. | |
| Il a eu dix enfants, dont neuf filles. - He had ten children, nine of them girls. | |
| on |
| 1. pron. (indefinite) one, people, you, someone (an unspecified individual) | |
| On ne peut pas pêcher ici - You can’t fish here | |
| 2. pron. (personal, informal) we | |
| On s’est amusés. - We had fun. | |
| parlait |
| 1. v. third-person singular imperfect indicative of parler | |
| parler |
| 1. v. to speak, talk | |
| Il a commencé à parler à l’âge de quatre ans. - He began to speak at the age of four. | |
| Ils ont parlé plusieurs heures avant d’aller se coucher. - They spoke several hours before going to sleep. | |
| 2. v. to be able to communicate in a language; to speak | |
| Elle parle couramment français. - She speaks French fluently | |
| 3. v. (heraldry) to cant; (of a coat of arms) to make a pun of its bearer's name | |
| Armes parlantes. | |
| 4. v. takes a reflexive pronoun | |
| se parler à soi-même - to talk to oneself | |
| 5. n-m. parlance | |
| 6. n-m. vernacular, dialect | |
| 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. | |
| tarda |
| 1. v. third-person singular past historic of tarder | |
| tarder |
| 1. v. to tarry | |
| 2. v. to be slow to do something (tarder à faire quelque chose) | |
| 3. v. used as an impersonal verb with de or que to express impatience | |
| Il me tardait de vous voir. | |
| 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. | |
| 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 | |
| paraître |
| 1. v. to appear (become visible) | |
| L'acteur parut sur l'écran. - The actor appeared on screen. | |
| 2. v. to be published | |
| Ce texte est paru il y a longtemps. - This text was published long ago. | |
| Le livre paraîtra en août. - The book will be published in August. | |
| 3. v. to appear, to seem | |
| Il paraît avoir 40 ans. - He seems forty (years old). | |
| 4. v. (impersonal, with que) to be said that, to be rumored that | |
| Il paraît que le vaccin fonctionne très bien. - It is said that that the vaccine works very well. | |
| 5. n-m. appearance | |
| lui |
| 1. pron. him, he; the third-person masculine singular personal pronoun used after a preposition, or as the predicate of a linking verb, or when disjoined from a sentence, or as a stressed subject | |
| J'habitais avec lui. - I was living with him. | |
| C'est lui qui a dit cela. - It was him who said that. | |
| Lui, il n'en sait rien. - He doesn't know anything about it. | |
| 2. pron. him, her; the third-person singular personal pronoun used as an indirect object | |
| Je lui ai donné le livre. - I gave the book to him/her. | |
| 3. Participle. past participle of luire | |
| même |
| 1. adv. (used before the article) even | |
| Même les rois doivent mourir. - Even kings must die | |
| On ne peut même pas en faire une. - We cannot even make one | |
| J'veux même pas savoir. - I don't even want to know. | |
| 2. adj. (used before the noun) same | |
| Je l'ai acheté le même jour - I bought it the same day | |
| 3. adj. (used after the noun) very | |
| Ah, la personne même que je voulais voir! - Ah, the very person I wanted to see! | |
| apportant |
| 1. Participle. present participle of apporter | |
| apporter |
| 1. v. to bring (something) | |
| 2. v. to take | |
| 3. v. to give (support), to give, supply (explanation etc.) | |
| 4. v. to bring (improvement, freedom etc.) | |
| 5. v. to bring in (funding) | |
| 6. v. to bring about (change, revolution) | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
