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1 tense
tense [tens]1. nountemps m2. adjectivetendu ; [time, period] de tension• to become tense [person] se crisper• they were tense with anticipation ils attendaient, crispés[+ muscles] contracter[muscles, person, animal] se contracter* * *[tens] 1.noun Linguistics temps m2. 3.the present tense — le présent (of de)
transitive verb tendre [muscle]; raidir [body]Phrasal Verbs:- tense up -
2 present
cadeau ⇒ 1 (a) présent ⇒ 1 (b), 1 (c), 2 (a) actuel ⇒ 2 (b) donner ⇒ 3 (a), 3 (c) remettre ⇒ 3 (a) présenter ⇒ 3 (b), 3 (c)-(h), 3 (j)∎ to give sb a present faire un cadeau à qn;∎ we gave her a pony as a present nous lui avons offert un ou fait cadeau d'un poney;∎ to make sb a present of sth faire cadeau de qch à qn;∎ it's for a present (in shop) c'est pour offrir∎ at present actuellement, à présent;∎ that's all I can tell you at present c'est tout ce que je peux vous dire pour l'instant ou pour le moment;∎ as things are at present (at this stage) au point où en sont les choses; (nowadays) par les temps qui courent;∎ up to the present jusqu'à présent, jusqu'à maintenant;∎ that's enough for the present ça suffit pour le moment ou pour l'instant;∎ to live only in or for the present vivre pour l'instant présent ou au présent∎ in the present au présent∎ by these presents par les présentes(a) (in attendance) présent;∎ to be present at a meeting être présent à ou assister à une réunion;∎ how many were present? combien de personnes étaient là ou étaient présentes?;∎ those present were very moved les personnes présentes étaient très émues, l'assistance était très émue;∎ he cannot be interviewed without a lawyer being present on ne peut pas l'interroger sans la présence d'un avocat;∎ present company excepted à l'exception des personnes présentes(b) (current → job, government, price) actuel;∎ in the present case dans le cas présent;∎ at the present time actuellement, à l'époque actuelle;∎ up to the present day jusqu'à présent, jusqu'à aujourd'hui;∎ the present year l'année f en cours; Finance l'année f courante;∎ given the present circumstances étant donné les circonstances actuelles, dans l'état actuel des choses;∎ in the present writer's opinion de l'avis de l'auteur de ces lignes∎ to present sth to sb or sb with sth donner ou offrir qch à qn;∎ they presented him with a clock ils lui ont offert une ou fait cadeau d'une pendule;∎ he presented his collection to the museum il a fait cadeau de sa collection au musée;∎ the singer was presented with a bunch of flowers la chanteuse s'est vu offrir ou remettre un bouquet de fleurs;∎ who is going to present the prizes? qui va procéder à la remise des prix?;∎ she was presented with first prize on lui a décerné le premier prix;∎ the project presents us with a formidable challenge le projet constitue pour nous un formidable défi;∎ he presented us with a fait accompli il nous a mis devant le fait accompli;∎ they were presented with an empty goalmouth ils se trouvèrent devant un but vide;∎ this presented her with no option but to agree ceci ne lui a pas laissé d'autre alternative que d'accepter;∎ figurative to present sb with an easy target offrir une bonne cible à qn;∎ she presented him with a daughter elle lui a donné une fille∎ to present sb to sb présenter qn à qn;∎ allow me to present Mr Jones permettez-moi de vous présenter M. Jones;∎ to be presented at Court être présenté à la Cour∎ the programme was presented by Ian King l'émission était présentée par Ian King(e) (offer → entertainment) présenter;∎ we proudly present Donna Stewart nous avons le plaisir ou nous sommes heureux de vous présenter Donna Stewart;∎ presenting Vanessa Brown in the title role avec Vanessa Brown dans le rôle principal;∎ the opera company is presenting a varied programme la troupe de l'opéra présente un programme varié∎ the essay is well presented la dissertation est bien présentée;∎ I wish to present my complaint in person je tiens à déposer plainte moi-même;∎ to present a bill in Parliament présenter ou introduire un projet de loi au Parlement;∎ Law to present a plea introduire une instance∎ the house presented a sorry sight la maison offrait un triste spectacle;∎ if the opportunity presents itself si l'occasion se présente;∎ a strange idea presented itself to her une idée étrange lui est venue;∎ the case presents all the appearances of murder tout semble indiquer qu'il s'agit d'un meurtre;∎ to present sb/sth in a good/bad light présenter qn/qch sous un jour favorable/défavorable(h) (show → passport, ticket) présenter;∎ you must present proof of ownership vous devez présenter un certificat de propriété ou prouver que cela vous appartient;∎ Military present arms! présentez armes!(i) (arrive, go)∎ to present oneself se présenter;∎ she presented herself at 9 o'clock as instructed elle se présenta, comme convenu, à 9 heures;∎ to present oneself at or for an examination se présenter à ou pour un examen∎ to present a cheque for payment présenter un chèque à l'encaissement;∎ to present a bill for acceptance présenter une traite à l'acceptation∎ the foetus presented itself normally la présentation (fœtale) était normale∎ the patient presented with bruises and multiple fractures cette patiente présentait des contusions et des fractures multiples►► Finance present capital capital m appelé;Grammar present indicative présent m de l'indicatif;Grammar present participle participe m présent;Grammar present perfect passé m composé;∎ in the present perfect au passé composé;Grammar present subjunctive présent m du subjonctif;Grammar present tense présent m;∎ in the present tense au présent;Accountancy present value valeur f actuelle ou actualisée -
3 tense
B adj1 ( strained) [atmosphere, conversation, person, relationship, silence] tendu ; [moment, hours] de tension ; I get tense easily un rien me rend nerveux ; it makes me tense ça me rend nerveux ; tense with fear paralysé par la peur ;2 ( exciting) tendu ;3 ( taut) tendu.D vi se raidir.■ tense up:▶ -
4 present
I ['preznt] adjective1) (being here, or at the place, occasion etc mentioned: My father was present on that occasion; Who else was present at the wedding?; Now that the whole class is present, we can begin the lesson.) présent2) (existing now: the present moment; the present prime minister.) actuel3) ((of the tense of a verb) indicating action now: In the sentence `She wants a chocolate', the verb is in the present tense.) présent•- the present - at present - for the present II [pri'zent] verb1) (to give, especially formally or ceremonially: The child presented a bunch of flowers to the Queen; He was presented with a gold watch when he retired.) offrir (à)2) (to introduce: May I present my wife (to you)?) présenter (à)3) (to arrange the production of (a play, film etc): The Elizabethan Theatre Company presents `Hamlet', by William Shakespeare.) présenter4) (to offer (ideas etc) for consideration, or (a problem etc) for solving: She presents (=expresses) her ideas very clearly; The situation presents a problem.) présenter5) (to bring (oneself); to appear: He presented himself at the dinner table half an hour late.) se présenter•- presentable - presentation - present arms III ['preznt] noun(a gift: a wedding present; birthday presents.) cadeau -
5 present
1. adjectivea. ( = in attendance) présent (at à)• who was present? qui était là ?b. ( = existing now) actuel2. nouna. ( = present time) présent m• there's no time like the present! il ne faut jamais remettre au lendemain ce que l'on peut faire le jour même !b. ( = gift) cadeau m• to present sth to sb [+ prize, medal] remettre qch à qnb. [+ tickets, documents] présenter ; [+ plan, account, proposal] soumettre ; [+ report] remettre ; [+ complaint] déposer ; [+ proof, evidence] apporter• to present o.s. se présenter• how you present yourself is very important la manière dont vous vous présentez est très importantec. ( = constitute) [+ problem, difficulties, features] présenter ; [+ opportunity] donner ; [+ challenge] constituerd. [+ play, film, programme] passer ; ( = act as presenter of) présenter• we are proud to present... nous sommes heureux de vous présenter...4. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━✦ Lorsque present est un adjectif ou un nom, l'accent tombe sur la première syllabe: ˈpreznt, lorsque c'est un verbe, sur la seconde: prɪˈzent.* * *1. ['preznt]1) ( gift) cadeau m2)the present — ( now) le présent
for the present — pour le moment, pour l'instant
3) Linguistics (also present tense) présent m2. ['preznt]1) ( attending) présent2) ( current) actuel/-elleat the present time ou moment — actuellement
3) Linguistics présent3. 4. [prɪ'zent]transitive verb1) ( raise) présenter [problem, challenge, risk]; offrir [chance, opportunity]2) (proffer, show) présenter3) ( submit for consideration) présenter [plan, figures, petition]; fournir [evidence]4) ( formally give) remettre [prize, certificate]; présenter [apologies, respects, compliments]5) ( portray) présenter [person, situation] (as comme étant)6) Television, Radio, Theatre présenter [programme, show]; donner [production, play, concert]7) Military présenter [arms]5.intransitive verb Medicine [patient, baby] se présenter; [symptom, condition] apparaître6.1)2)to present itself — [opportunity, thought] se présenter
••there is no time like the present — il ne faut jamais remettre au lendemain ce que l'on peut faire le jour même
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6 present
A n1 ( gift) cadeau m ; to give sb a present offrir un cadeau à qn ; to give sb sth as a present offrir qch à qn ;2 the present ( now) le présent ; the past and the present le passé et le présent ; to live in the present vivre dans le présent or l'instant ; for the present pour le moment, pour l'instant ;C adj1 ( attending) [person] présent ; all those present, everybody present toutes les personnes présentes, tous les présents ; half of those present la moitié des personnes présentes or des présents ; to be present at assister à ; to be present in [substance, virus] être présent dans [blood, wine, population] ; there are ladies present† il y a des dames dans l'assistance† ; present company excepted à l'exception des personnes ici présentes ; all present and correct! tous présents à l'appel! ;2 ( current) [address, arrangement, circumstance, government, leadership, situation] actuel/-elle ; in the present climate fig dans le climat actuel ; up to the present day jusqu'à ce jour ; at the present time ou moment actuellement ; during the present year/decade pendant cette année/décennie ;3 ( under consideration) [case, argument, issue] présent ; the present writer feels that l'auteur (de cet article) pense que ;4 Ling [tense, participle] présent.E vtr2 (proffer, show) présenter [tickets, documents, sight, picture] ; to present a cheque for payment présenter un chèque à l'encaissement ; to be presented with a choice/dilemma se trouver face à un choix/dilemme ; to be presented with a huge bill/with a splendid view se retrouver avec une énorme facture/devant un panorama splendide ;3 ( submit for consideration) présenter [plan, report, figures, views, bill, case] ; présenter, soumettre [petition] ; fournir [evidence] ; to present sth to sb, to present sb with sth présenter qch à qn ;4 ( formally give) remettre [bouquet, prize, award, certificate, cheque] ; présenter [apologies, respects, compliments] ; to present sth to sb, to present sb with sth remettre qch à qn ;5 ( portray) présenter, représenter [person, situation] (as comme étant) ; to present sth in a good/different light présenter qch sous un jour favorable/différent ;7 (put on, produce) donner [production, play, concert] ; présenter [exhibition, actor, star] ; we are proud to present Don Wilson nous sommes fiers de vous présenter Don Wilson ;8 sout ( introduce) présenter ; may I present my son Piers? permettez-moi de vous présenter mon fils Piers ; to be presented at court être présenté à la Cour ;G v refl1 to present oneself se présenter (as comme étant ; at à ; for pour) ; to learn how to present oneself apprendre à mettre en avant ses qualités ;2 to present itself [opportunity, thought] se présenter.there is no time like the present il ne faut jamais remettre au lendemain ce que l'on peut faire le jour même. -
7 tense
[tens] I noun(a form of a verb that shows the time of its action in relation to the time of speaking: a verb in the past/future/present tense.) tempsII 1. adjective1) (strained; nervous: The crowd was tense with excitement; a tense situation.) crispé, tendu2) (tight; tightly stretched.) tendu2. verb(to make or become tense: He tensed his muscles.) (se) tendre- tensely- tenseness - tension -
8 Usage note : be
I am tired= je suis fatiguéCaroline is French= Caroline est françaisethe children are in the garden= les enfants sont dans le jardinIt functions in very much the same way as to be does in English and it is safe to assume it will work as a translation in the great majority of cases.Note, however, that when you are specifying a person’s profession or trade, a/an is not translated:she’s a doctor= elle est médecinClaudie is still a student= Claudie est toujours étudianteThis is true of any noun used in apposition when the subject is a person:he’s a widower= il est veufButLyons is a beautiful city= Lyon est une belle villeFor more information or expressions involving professions and trades consult the usage note Shops, Trades and Professions.For the conjugation of the verb être see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsThe passiveêtre is used to form the passive in French just as to be is used in English. Note, however, that the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject:the rabbit was killed by a fox= le lapin a été tué par un renardthe window had been broken= la fenêtre avait été casséetheir books will be sold= leurs livres seront vendusour doors have been repainted red= nos portes ont été repeintes en rougeIn spoken language, French native speakers find the passive cumbersome and will avoid it where possible by using the impersonal on where a person or people are clearly involved : on a repeint nos portes en rouge.Progressive tensesIn French the idea of something happening over a period of time cannot be expressed using the verb être in the way that to be is used as an auxiliary verb in English.The presentFrench uses simply the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:I am working= je travailleBen is reading a book= Ben lit un livreIn order to accentuate duration être en train de is used: je suis en train de travailler ; Ben est en train de lire un livre.The futureFrench also uses the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:we are going to London tomorrow= nous allons à Londres demainI’m (just) coming!= j’arrive!I’m (just) going!= j’y vais!The pastTo express the distinction between she read a newspaper and she was reading a newspaper French uses the perfect and the imperfect tenses: elle a lu un journal/elle lisait un journal:he wrote to his mother= il a écrit à sa mèrehe was writing to his mother= il écrivait à sa mèreHowever, in order to accentuate the notion of describing an activity which went on over a period of time, the phrase être en train de (= to be in the process of) is often used:‘what was he doing when you arrived?’‘he was cooking the dinner’= ‘qu’est-ce qu’il faisait quand tu es arrivé?’ ‘il était en train de préparer le dîner’she was just finishing her essay when …= elle était juste en train de finir sa dissertation quand …The compound pastCompound past tenses in the progressive form in English are generally translated by the imperfect in French:I’ve been looking for you= je te cherchaisFor progressive forms + for and since (I’ve been waiting for an hour, I had been waiting for an hour, I’ve been waiting since Monday etc.) see the entries for and since.ObligationWhen to be is used as an auxiliary verb with another verb in the infinitive ( to be to do) expressing obligation, a fixed arrangement or destiny, devoir is used:she’s to do it at once= elle doit le faire tout de suitewhat am I to do?= qu’est-ce que je dois faire?he was to arrive last Monday= il devait arriver lundi derniershe was never to see him again= elle ne devait plus le revoir.In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like isn’t he? or wasn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:their house is lovely, isn’t it?= leur maison est très belle, n’est-ce pas?he’s a doctor, isn’t he?= il est médecin, n’est-ce pas?it was a very good meal, wasn’t it?= c’était un très bon repas, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the extra meaning contained in the tag: par hasard ( by any chance) can be very useful as a translation:‘I can’t find my glasses’ ‘they’re not in the kitchen, are they?’= ‘je ne trouve pas mes lunettes’ ‘elles ne sont pas dans la cuisine, par hasard?’you haven’t seen Gaby, have you?= tu n’as pas vu Gaby, par hasard?In cases where an opinion is being sought, si? meaning more or less or is it? or was it? etc. can be useful:it’s not broken, is it?= ce n’est pas cassé, si?he wasn’t serious, was he?= il n’était pas sérieux, si?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.In short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like yes I am, no he’s not etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘you’re not going out tonight’ ‘yes I am’= ‘tu ne sors pas ce soir’ ‘si’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘are you a doctor?’ ‘yes I am’= ‘êtes-vous médecin?’ ‘oui’‘was it raining?’ ‘yes it was’= ‘est-ce qu’il pleuvait?’ ‘oui’ProbabilityFor expressions of probability and supposition ( if I were you etc.) see the entry be.Other functionsExpressing sensations and feelingsIn expressing physical and mental sensations, the verb used in French is avoir:to be cold= avoir froidto be hot= avoir chaudI’m cold= j’ai froidto be thirsty= avoir soifto be hungry= avoir faimto be ashamed= avoir hontemy hands are cold= j’ai froid aux mainsIf, however, you are in doubt as to which verb to use in such expressions, you should consult the entry for the appropriate adjective.Discussing health and how people areIn expressions of health and polite enquiries about how people are, aller is used:how are you?= comment allez-vous?( more informally) comment vas-tu?( very informally as a greeting) ça va?are you well?= vous allez bien?how is your daughter?= comment va votre fille?my father is better today= mon père va mieux aujourd’huiDiscussing weather and temperatureIn expressions of weather and temperature faire is generally used:it’s cold= il fait froidit’s windy= il fait du ventIf in doubt, consult the appropriate adjective entry.Visiting somewhereWhen to be is used in the present perfect tense to mean go, visit etc., French will generally use the verbs venir, aller etc. rather than être:I’ve never been to Sweden= je ne suis jamais allé en Suèdehave you been to the Louvre?= est-ce que tu es déjà allé au Louvre?or est-ce que tu as déjà visité le Louvre?Paul has been to see us three times= Paul est venu nous voir trois foisNote too:has the postman been?= est-ce que le facteur est passé?The translation for an expression or idiom containing the verb to be will be found in the dictionary at the entry for another word in the expression: for to be in danger see danger, for it would be best to … see best etc.This dictionary contains usage notes on topics such as the clock, time units, age, weight measurement, days of the week, and shops, trades and professions, many of which include translations of particular uses of to be. -
9 Usage note : will
When will is used to express the future in French, the future tense of the French verb is generally used:he’ll come= il viendraIn spoken and more informal French or when the very near future is implied, the present tense of aller + infinitive can be used:I’ll do it now= je vais le faire tout de suiteIf the subject of the modal auxiliary will is I or we, shall is sometimes used instead of will to talk about the future. For further information, consult the entry shall in the dictionary.Tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like won’t he? or will they? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? which will work in many cases:you’ll do it tomorrow, won’t you?= tu le feras demain, n’est-ce pas?In cases where an opinion is being sought, non? meaning is that not so? can be useful:that will be easier, won’t it?= ce sera plus facile, non?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.Short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like no she won’t, yes they will etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘they won’t forget’ ‘yes they will’= ‘ils n’oublieront pas’ ‘si’ or (for more emphasis) bien sûr que siWhere the answer no is given to contradict a positive question or statement, the most useful translation is bien sûr que non:‘she’ll post the letter, won’t she?’ ‘no she won’t’= ‘elle va poster la lettre?’ ‘bien sûr que non’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘you’ll be ready at midday then?’ ‘yes I will’= ‘tu seras prêt à midi?’ ‘oui’For more examples and other uses, see the entry will. -
10 Usage note : for
for my sister= pour ma sœurfor the garden= pour le jardinfor me= pour moiFor particular usages see the entry for.When for is used as a preposition indicating purpose followed by a verb it is translated by pour + infinitive:for cleaning windows= pour nettoyer les vitresWhen for is used in the construction to be + adjective + for + pronoun + infinitive the translation in French is être + indirect pronoun + adjective + de + infinitive:it’s impossible for me to stay= il m’est impossible de resterit was hard for him to understand that…= il lui était difficile de comprendre que…it will be difficult for her to accept the changes= il lui sera difficile d’accepter les changementsFor the construction to be waiting for sb to do see the entry wait.For particular usages see the entry for.In time expressionsfor is used in English after a verb in the progressive present perfect tense to express the time period of something that started in the past and is still going on. To express this French uses a verb in the present tense + depuis:I have been waiting for three hours (and I am still waiting)= j’attends depuis trois heureswe’ve been together for two years (and we’re still together)= nous sommes ensemble depuis deux ansWhen for is used in English after a verb in the past perfect tense, French uses the imperfect + depuis:I had been waiting for two hours (and was still waiting)= j’attendais depuis deux heuresfor is used in English negative sentences with the present perfect tense to express the time that has elapsed since something has happened. To express this, French uses the same tense as English (the perfect) + depuis:I haven’t seen him for ten years (and I still haven’t seen him)= je ne l’ai pas vu depuis dix ansIn spoken French, there is another way of expressing this: ça fait or il y a dix ans que je ne l’ai pas vu.When for is used in English in negative sentences after a verb in the past perfect tense, French uses the past perfect + depuis:I hadn’t seen him for ten years= je ne l’avais pas vu depuis dix ans, or (in spoken French) ça faisait or il y avait dix ans que je ne l’avais pas vufor is used in English after the preterite to express the time period of something that happened in the past and is no longer going on. Here French uses the present perfect + pendant:last Sunday I gardened for two hours= dimanche dernier, j’ai jardiné pendant deux heuresfor is used in English after the present progressive tense or the future tense to express an anticipated time period in the future. Here French uses the present or the future tense + pour:I’m going to Rome for six weeks= je vais à Rome pour six semainesI will go to Rome for six weeks= j’irai à Rome pour six semainesNote, however, that when the verb to be is used in the future with for to emphasize the period of time, French uses the future + pendant:I will be in Rome for six weeks= je serai à Rome pendant six semaineshe will be away for three days= il sera absent pendant trois joursFor particular usages see A13, 14, 15 and 16 in the entry for.for is often used in English to form a structure with nouns, adjectives and verbs (weakness for, eager for, apply for, fend for etc.). For translations, consult the appropriate noun, adjective or verb entry (weakness, eager, apply, fend etc.). -
11 will
will [wɪl]1. modal verba. (future)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► In the following examples the main verb is future, the other is present: in French both verbs must be in the future tense.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• what will he do when he finds out? qu'est-ce qu'il fera lorsqu'il s'en apercevra ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• will he come too? -- yes he will est-ce qu'il viendra aussi ? -- oui• I'll go with you -- oh no you won't! je vais vous accompagner -- non, certainement pas !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When won't is used in question tags, eg won't it, won't you the translation is often n'est-ce pas.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you will come to see us, won't you? vous viendrez nous voir, n'est-ce pas ?• that'll be okay, won't it? ça ira, n'est-ce pas ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When future meaning is made clear by words like tomorrow, or next week, the present tense can also be used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he'll be here tomorrow il arrive or il arrivera demain• I'll phone you tonight je t'appelle or je t'appellerai ce soir► will have + past participle━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When will indicates that something commonly happens, the present is used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• the car will do 150km/h cette voiture fait du 150 km/h• thieves will often keep a stolen picture for years les voleurs gardent souvent un tableau volé pendant des annéesd. (requests, orders)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The present tense of vouloir is often used.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• will you be quiet! veux-tu (bien) te taire !• will you please sit down! voulez-vous vous asseoir, s'il vous plaît !• will you help me? -- yes I will tu veux m'aider ? -- oui, je veux bien• will you promise to be careful? tu me promets de faire attention ?► won't ( = refuse(s) to)• will you promise? -- no I won't tu me le promets ? -- none. (invitations, offers) will you have a cup of coffee? voulez-vous prendre un café ?• will you join us for a drink? voulez-vous prendre un verre avec nous ?• won't you come with us? vous ne voulez pas venir (avec nous) ?f. ( = must) that will be the taxi ça doit être le taxipreterite, past participlea. ( = urge by willpower) he was willing her to look at him il l'adjurait intérieurement de le regarderb. ( = bequeath) to will sth to sb léguer qch à qn3. nouna. ( = determination) volonté f• to do sth against sb's will faire qch contre la volonté de qn (PROV) where there's a will there's a way(PROV) vouloir c'est pouvoir► at willb. ( = document) testament m• the last will and testament of... les dernières volontés de...* * *I 1. [wɪl, əl]modal auxiliary1) ( to express the future)she'll help you — elle t'aidera; ( in the near future) elle va t'aider
2) (expressing consent, willingness)‘will you help me?’ - ‘yes, I will’ — ‘est-ce que tu m'aideras?’ - ‘oui, bien sûr’
‘have a chocolate’ - ‘thank you, I will’ — ‘prends un chocolat’ - ‘volontiers, merci’
do what ou as you will — fais ce que tu veux
will do! — (colloq) d'accord!
3) (in commands, requests)will you pass the salt, please? — est-ce que tu peux me passer le sel, s'il te plaît?
‘I can give the speech’ - ‘you will not!’ — ‘je peux faire le discours’ - ‘pas question!’
‘I'll do it’ - ‘no you won't’ — ‘je vais le faire’ - ‘il n'en est pas question’
4) (in offers, invitations)you'll have another cake, won't you? — vous prendrez bien un autre gâteau?
any teacher will tell you that... — n'importe quel professeur te dira que...
2.these things will happen — ce sont des choses qui arrivent; ( in exasperation)
transitive verb1) ( urge)2) (wish, desire) vouloir3) Law léguer3. II 1. [wɪl]to have a strong/weak will — avoir beaucoup/peu de volonté
2) Law testament m2.at will adverbial phrase [select, take] à volonté••where there's a will there's a way — Prov quand on veut on peut Prov
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12 Usage note : since
In time expressionssince is used in English after a verb in the present perfect or progressive present perfect tense to indicate when something that is still going on started. To express this French uses a verb in the present tense + depuis:I’ve been waiting since Saturday= j’attends depuis samediI’ve lived in Rome since 1988= j’habite à Rome depuis 1988I had been waiting since nine o’clock= j’attendais depuis neuf heuresIn negative time expressionsAgain since is translated by depuis, but in negative sentences the verb tenses used in French are the same as those used in English:I haven’t seen him since Saturday= je ne l’ai pas vu depuis samediI hadn’t seen him since 1978= je ne l’avais pas vu depuis 1978As a conjunctionIn time expressionsWhen since is used as a conjunction, it is translated by depuis que and the tenses used in French parallel exactly those used with the preposition depuis (see above):since she’s been living in Oxford= depuis qu’elle habite à Oxfordsince he’d been in Paris= depuis qu’il était à ParisNote that in time expressions with since French native speakers will generally prefer to use a noun where possible when English uses a verb:I haven’t seen him since he left= je ne l’ai pas vu depuis son départshe’s been living in Nice since she got married= elle habite à Nice depuis son mariageFor particular usages see the entry since.Meaning becausesince she was ill, she couldn’t go= comme elle était malade or étant donné qu’elle était malade, elle ne pouvait pas y allerAs an adverbhe hasn’t been seen since= on ne l’a pas vu depuisFor particular usages see C in the entry since. -
13 could
could [kʊd]a. (past)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to ability in the past, it is translated by the perfect of pouvoir, or by the imperfect if the time is continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I couldn't phone because I had no change je n'ai pas pu téléphoner parce que je n'avais pas de monnaie━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When used with a verb of perception, could is not usually translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► could have is usually translated by the conditional of avoir + pu.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. (present)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to the present, the present tense is generally used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could indicates future possibility, it is translated by the conditional.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you could at least apologize! tu pourrais au moins t'excuser !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• could you pass me the salt, please? pourriez-vous me passer le sel, s'il vous plaît ?• could I have a word with you? est-ce que je pourrais vous parler un instant (s'il vous plaît) ?* * *[kʊd]can I -
14 Usage note : can
can and could are usually translated by the verb pouvoir. For the conjugation of pouvoir, see the French verb tables.he can wait until tomorrow= il peut attendre jusqu’à demainyou can go out now= vous pouvez sortir maintenantThe two notable exceptions to this are as follows:she can speak French= elle sait parler françaishe could read at the age of four= à l’âge de quatre ans il savait lireWhen can or could is used with a verb of perception such as see, hear or feel it is not translated at all:I can’t see her= je ne la vois passhe couldn’t feel anything= elle ne sentait rienIn requests can is translated by the present tense of pouvoir and the more polite could by the conditional tense of pouvoir:can you help me?= peux-tu m’aider?could you help me?= pourrais-tu m’aider?For particular usages of could when it is not simply the preterite or conditional of can see 13, 15, 16 in the entry can1.See also the entry able. -
15 should
should [∫ʊd]a. ( = ought to)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• shouldn't you go and see her? est-ce que vous ne devriez pas aller la voir ?what should I do? qu'est-ce que je dois faire ?• should I go too? -- yes you should est-ce que je dois y aller aussi ? -- oui tu devraisb. (past time)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he thought I should tell her, so I'm going to il pensait que je devais lui dire, alors je vais le faire━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When should have implies that something did not happen, it is translated by the conditional of avoir + dû.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When should have means that something probably has happened, it is translated by the present tense of devoir.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he should have finished by now ( = probably has) il doit avoir terminé à l'heure qu'il est ; ( = but he hasn't) il aurait dû terminer à l'heure qu'il estc. ( = would)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When should has conditional meaning, it is translated by the conditional of the French verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I should go if he invited me s'il m'invitait, j'irais• we should have come if we had known si nous avions su, nous serions venus• will you come? -- I should like to est-ce que vous viendrez ? -- j'aimerais bien• why should he suspect me? pourquoi me soupçonnerait-il ?• how should I know? comment voulez-vous que je le sache ?• he's coming to apologize -- I should think so too! il vient présenter ses excuses -- j'espère bien !• and who should come in but Paul! et devinez qui est entré ? Paul bien sûr !* * *[ʃʊd, ʃəd]1) ( ought to)as it should be — ( in order) en ordre
...which is only as it should be —...ce qui est parfaitement normal
2) ( in conditional sentences)had he asked me, I should have accepted — s'il me l'avait demandé, j'aurais accepté
I don't think it will happen, but if it should... — je ne pense pas que cela arrive, mais si toutefois cela arrivait...
if you should change your mind,... — si vous changez d'avis,...
3) ( expressing purpose)4) ( in polite formulas)5) (expressing opinion, surprise)‘how long?’ - ‘an hour, I should think’ — ‘combien de temps?’ - ‘une heure, je suppose’
I should think she must be about 40 — à mon avis, elle doit avoir 40 ans environ
and then what should happen, but it began to rain! — et devine quoi - il s'est mis à pleuvoir!
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16 be
present tense am [ʌm], are [a:], is [ɪz]; past tense was [woz], were [w†:]; present participle 'being; past participle been [bi:n, (·meriцan) bɪn]; subjunctive were [w†:]; short forms I'm [aim] (I am), you're [ju†] (you are), he's [hi:z] (he is), she's [ʃi:z] (she is), it's [ɪ ] (it is), we're [wi†] (we are), they're [Ɵe†] (they are); negative short forms isn't (is not), aren't [a:nt] (are not), wasn't (was not), weren't [w†:nt] (were not)1) (used with a present participle to form the progressive or continuous tenses: I'm reading; I am being followed; What were you saying?.) être2) (used with a present participle to form a type of future tense: I'm going to London.)3) (used with a past participle to form the passive voice: He was shot.) être4) (used with an infinitive to express several ideas, eg necessity (When am I to leave?), purpose (The letter is to tell us he's coming), a possible future happening (If he were to lose, I'd win) etc.) devoir; aller5) (used in giving or asking for information about something or someone: I am Mr Smith; Is he alive?; She wants to be an actress; The money will be ours; They are being silly.) être•- being- the be-all and end-all -
17 now
now [naʊ]1. adverba. ( = at this time) maintenant ; ( = these days, at the moment) actuellement ; ( = at that time) alors• the couple, who now have three children... ce couple, qui a maintenant trois enfants...• what are you doing now? qu'est-ce que tu fais en ce moment ?• it's now or never! c'est le moment ou jamais !• before now people thought that... auparavant on pensait que...• long before now it was realized that... il y a longtemps déjà, on comprenait que...► by now• by now it was clear that... dès lors, il était évident que...► even now• people do that even now les gens font ça encore aujourd'hui► (every) now and again, (every) now and then de temps en temps► for now• from now until then d'ici là► from now on (with present and future tense) à partir de maintenant ; (with past tense) dès lors► till or until or up to now ( = till this moment) jusqu'à présent ; ( = till that moment) jusque-làb. (without reference to time) now! bon !• now, now! allons, allons !• now, Simon! (warning) allons, Simon !• come now! allons !• well, now! eh bien !• now then, let's start! bon, commençons !• now then, what's all this? alors, qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?• now, they had been looking for him all morning or ils avaient passé toute la matinée à sa recherche• now do be quiet for a minute bon, ça suffit !2. conjunction* * *[naʊ] 1. 2.1) ( at the present moment) maintenantany time ou moment now — d'un moment à l'autre
now fast, now slowly — tantôt vite, tantôt lentement
(every) now and then ou again — de temps en temps
2) ( with preposition)before ou until now — jusqu'à présent
3) ( in the past)by now it was too late — à ce moment-là, il était trop tard
4) ( without temporal force)now Paul would never do a thing like that — Paul, lui, ne ferait jamais une chose pareille
now! now! —
there now, what did I tell you? — eh bien, qu'est-ce que je t'avais dit?
now then, let's get down to work — bon, reprenons le travail
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18 Usage note : let
When let is used in English with another verb in order to make a suggestion (let’s do it at once), the first person plural - ons of the appropriate verb can generally be used to express this in French: faisons-le tout de suite. (Note that the verb alone translates let us do and no pronoun appears in French.)In the spoken language, however, which is the usual context for such suggestions, French speakers will use the much more colloquial on + present tense or si on + imperfect tense:let’s do it at once= on le fait tout de suite? or si on le faisait tout de suite?let’s go to the cinema tonight= si on allait au cinéma ce soir?let’s go!= allons-y! or on y va!These translations can also be used for negative suggestions:let’s not take or don’t let’s take the bus - let’s walk= on ne prend pas le bus, on y va à pied or ne prenons pas le bus, allons-y à piedFor more examples and particular usages see A1 in the entry let1.When let is used in English with another verb to express defiance or a command (just let him try!) French uses the structure que + present subjunctive:just let him try!= qu’il essaie!don’t let me see you here again!= que je ne te revoie plus ici!For more examples and particular usages see A2 in the entry let1.When let is used to mean allow, it is generally translated by the verb laisser. For examples and particular usages see A3 in the entry let1.For translations of expressions such as let fly, let loose, let slip etc., consult the entry for the second word (fly, loose, slip etc.). -
19 since
since [sɪns]1. conjunction━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note the use of the French present tense to translate the English perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. ( = because) puisque• why don't you buy it, since you are so rich! achète-le donc, puisque tu es si riche !2. adverb3. preposition━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note the use of the French present tense to translate the English perfect and perfect continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• since when has he had a car? depuis quand a-t-il une voiture ?• ever since 1900 France has attempted to... depuis 1900 la France tente de...• how long is it since the accident? l'accident remonte à quand ?* * *[sɪns] 1.preposition depuis2.since arriving ou since his arrival he... — depuis son arrivée or depuis qu'il est arrivé, il...
1) ( from the time when) depuis queever since I married him — depuis que nous nous sommes mariés, depuis notre mariage
2) ( because) comme, étant donné que3.since you're so clever, why don't you do it yourself? — puisque tu es tellement malin, pourquoi ne le fais-tu pas toi-même?
adverb depuis -
20 past
1. adjective1) (just finished: the past year.) passé2) (over, finished or ended, of an earlier time than the present: The time for discussion is past.) écoulé3) ((of the tense of a verb) indicating action in the past: In `He did it', the verb is in the past tense.) passé2. preposition1) (up to and beyond; by: He ran past me.) devant2) (after: It's past six o'clock.) passé3. adverb(up to and beyond (a particular place, person etc): The soldiers marched past.) au delà de, plus loin que4. noun1) (a person's earlier life or career, especially if secret or not respectable: He never spoke about his past.) passé2) (the past tense: a verb in the past.) passé•- the past
См. также в других словарях:
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