| rendre |
| 1. v. to give back; to return, to restore | |
| 2. v. to render | |
| 3. v. to give | |
| rendre un avis favorable. - To give a favorable opinion. | |
| rendre sa décision. - To make a decision. | |
| 4. v. to make | |
| Tu me rends malade. - You make me ill. | |
| 5. v. to pay (a visit) | |
| L'amour vient rendre visite à mon âme. - Love comes to pay a visit to my soul. | |
| 6. v. to make one's way (to a place), to get oneself (into a place) (with dans) | |
| 7. v. (indtr, chez, .reflexive) to call on (someone) | |
| 8. v. to surrender, to give in, to give oneself up to | |
| Après trois longues heures d'attente, le voleur s'est finalement rendu. - After three long hours of waiting, the thief finally surrendered. | |
| confus |
| 1. adj. confused (chaotic, jumbled or muddled) | |
| 2. adj. confusing | |
| 3. adj. ashamed or embarrassed | |
| ou |
| 1. conj. or | |
| 2. conj. either...or | |
| Ou il est fou ou il est bête. - Either he's mad or he's stupid. | |
| difficile |
| 1. adj. difficult | |
| 2. adj. choosy, fussy, picky | |
| 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 | |
| comprendre |
| 1. v. to understand, comprehend | |
| J'ai compris maintenant. - I understand now. (lit. I have understood now.) | |
| Il est trop intelligent pour ne pas comprendre ce que vous lui avez dit. | |
| Est-ce que vous avez bien compris ? - Did you understand? | |
| „Est-ce que tu comprends ce qu'il dit ?” „Je ne comprends même pas ce que je dis moi.” - "Do you understand what he's saying?" "I don't even understand what I'm saying.". | |
| 2. v. to comprise, include | |
| 3. v. (takes a reflexive pronoun, reciprocal) to know each other well or intimately | |
| Quoique leurs goûts fussent différents, ces deux amis se comprenaient à merveille. | |
| 4. v. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to be comprehensible or conceivable | |
