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1 Musical instruments

Playing an instrument

Note the use of de with jouer:

to play the piano

= jouer du piano

to play the clarinet

= jouer de la clarinette

but

to learn the piano

= apprendre le piano

Players

English -ist is often French -iste ; the gender reflects the sex of the player.

a violinist

= un or une violoniste

a pianist

= un or une pianiste

A phrase with joueur/joueuse de X is usually safe.

a piccolo player

= un joueur or une joueuse de piccolo

a horn player

= un joueur or une joueuse de cor

But note the French when these words are used with good and bad like this:

he’s a good pianist

= il joue bien du piano

he’s not a good pianist

= il ne joue pas bien du piano

he’s a bad pianist

= il joue mal du piano

As in English, the name of the instrument is often used to refer to its player:

she’s a first violin

= elle est premier violon

Music

a piano piece

= un morceau pour piano

a piano arrangement

= un arrangement pour piano

a piano sonata

= une sonate pour piano

a concerto for piano and orchestra

= un concerto pour piano et orchestre

the piano part

= la partie pour piano

Use with another noun

De is usually correct:

to take piano lessons

= prendre des leçons de piano

a violin maker

= un fabricant de violons

a violin solo

= un solo de violon

a piano teacher

= un professeur de piano

but note the à here:

a violin case

= un étui à violon

Big English-French dictionary > Musical instruments
2 Forms of address

Only those forms of address in frequent use are included here ; titles of members of the nobility or of church dignitaries are not covered ; for the use of military ranks as titles ⇒ Military ranks and titles.

Speaking to someone

Where English puts the surname after the title, French normally uses the title alone (note that when speaking to someone, French does not use a capital letter for monsieur, madame and mademoiselle, unlike English Mr etc., nor for titles such as docteur).

good morning, Mr Johnson

= bonjour, monsieur

good evening, Mrs Jones

= bonsoir, madame

goodbye, Miss Smith

= au revoir, mademoiselle

The French monsieur and madame tend to be used more often than the English Mr X or Mrs Y. Also, in English, people often say simply Good morning or Excuse me ; in the equivalent situation in French, they might say Bonjour, monsieur or Pardon, madame. However, the French are slower than the British, and much slower than the Americans, to use someone’s first name, so hi there, Peter! to a colleague may well be simply bonjour!, or bonjour, monsieur ; bonjour, cher ami ; bonjour, mon vieux etc., depending on the degree of familiarity that exists.

In both languages, other titles are also used, e.g.:

hallo, Dr. Brown or hallo, Doctor

= bonjour, docteur

In some cases where titles are not used in English, they are used in French, e.g. bonjour, Monsieur le directeur or bonjour, Madame la directrice to a head teacher, or bonjour, maître to a lawyer of either sex. Other titles, such as professeur ( in the sense of professor), are used much less than their English equivalents in direct address. Where in English one might say Good morning, Professor, in French one would probably say Bonjour, monsieur or Bonjour, madame.

Titles of important positions are used in direct forms of address, preceded by Monsieur le or Madame le or Madame la, as in:

yes, Chair

= oui, Monsieur le président or (to a woman) oui, Madame la présidente

yes, Minister

= oui, Monsieur le ministre or (to a woman) oui, Madame le ministre

Note the use of Madame le when the noun in question, like ministre here, or professeur and other titles, has no feminine form, or no acceptable feminine. A woman Member of Parliament is addressed as Madame le député, a woman Senator Madame le sénateur, a woman judge Madame le juge and a woman mayor Madame le maire. Women often prefer the masculine word even when a feminine form does exist, as in Madame l’ambassadeur to a woman ambassador, Madame l’ambassadrice being reserved for the wife of an ambassador.

Speaking about someone

Mr Smith is here

= monsieur Smith est là

Mrs Jones phoned

= madame Jones a téléphoné

Miss Black has arrived

= mademoiselle Black est arrivée

Ms Brown has left

= madame Brown or (as appropriate) mademoiselle Brown est partie

(French has no equivalent of Ms.)

When the title accompanies someone’s name, the definite article must be used in French:

Dr Blake has arrived

= le docteur Blake est arrivé

Professor Jones spoke

= le professeur Jones a parlé

This is true of all titles:

Prince Charles

= le prince Charles

Princess Marie

= la princesse Marie

Note that with royal etc. titles, only 1er is spoken as an ordinal number (premier) in French ; unlike English, all the others are spoken as cardinal numbers (deux, trois, and so on).

King Richard I

= le roi Richard 1er ( say Richard premier)

Queen Elizabeth II

= la reine Elizabeth II ( say Elizabeth deux)

Pope John XXIII

= le pape Jean XXIII ( say Jean vingt-trois)

Big English-French dictionary > Forms of address
3 will

will [wɪl]

1. modal verb

   a. (future)

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► When will or 'll is used to form the future, it is often translated by the future tense.

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• he will speak il parlera

• you'll regret it some day tu le regretteras un jour

• we will come too nous viendrons (nous) aussi

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► In the following examples the main verb is future, the other is present: in French both verbs must be in the future tense.

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• what will he do when he finds out? qu'est-ce qu'il fera lorsqu'il s'en apercevra ?

• we'll do all we can nous ferons tout ce que nous pourrons

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► When will or 'll indicates the more immediate future, aller + verb is used.

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• I'll give you a hand with that je vais te donner un coup de main avec ça

• he will be here shortly il va bientôt arriver

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► When will or won't is used in short replies, no verb is used in French.

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• 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 !

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► When won't is used in question tags, eg won't it, won't you the translation is often n'est-ce pas.

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• 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 ?

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► When future meaning is made clear by words like tomorrow, or next week, the present tense can also be used in French.

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• 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

   b. (future perfect)

► will have + past participle

• the holiday will have done him good les vacances lui auront fait du bien

• he will have left by now il sera déjà parti à l'heure qu'il est

   c. (habitual actions)

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► When will indicates that something commonly happens, the present is used in French.

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• he will sit for hours doing nothing il reste assis pendant des heures à ne rien faire

• 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 années

   d. (requests, orders)

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► The present tense of vouloir is often used.

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• 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)

the window won't open la fenêtre ne veut pas s'ouvrir

• she won't let me drive the car elle ne veut pas me laisser conduire la voiture

• will you promise? -- no I won't tu me le promets ? -- non

   e. (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) ?

• I'll help you if you like je vais vous aider si vous voulez

   f. ( = must) that will be the taxi ça doit être le taxi

• she'll be about forty elle doit avoir quarante ans environ

• you'll be thinking I'm crazy tu dois penser que je suis fou

2. willed transitive verb

preterite, past participle

   a. ( = urge by willpower) he was willing her to look at him il l'adjurait intérieurement de le regarder

   b. ( = bequeath) to will sth to sb léguer qch à qn

3. noun

   a. ( = determination) volonté f

• he has a will of his own il sait ce qu'il veut

• he has a strong will il a beaucoup de volonté

• the will to live la volonté de survivre

• 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 will

• an employer who can sack you at will un employeur qui peut vous licencier comme il le veut

• I can speed up and slow down at will je peux accélérer et ralentir comme je veux

   b. ( = document) testament m

• to make a will faire son testament

• he left it to me in his will il me l'a légué par testament

• the last will and testament of... les dernières volontés de...

* * *
I 1. [wɪl, əl]
modal auxiliary

1) ( to express the future)

she'll help you — elle t'aidera; ( in the near future) elle va t'aider

must I phone him or will you? — est-ce que je dois lui téléphoner ou est-ce que tu vas le faire?

I've said I'll repay you and I will — j'ai dit que je te rembourserai et je le ferai

2) (expressing consent, willingness)

‘will you help me?’ - ‘yes, I will’ — ‘est-ce que tu m'aideras?’ - ‘oui, bien sûr’

he won't cooperate — il ne veut pas coopérer

‘have a chocolate’ - ‘thank you, I will’ — ‘prends un chocolat’ - ‘volontiers, merci’

I will not be talked to like that — je n'accepte pas qu'on me parle sur ce ton

I won't have it said of me that I'm mean — il ne sera pas dit que je suis mesquin

will you or won't you? — c'est oui ou c'est non?

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’

will you please listen to me! — est-ce que tu vas m'écouter!

wait a minute will you! — attends un peu!

4) (in offers, invitations)

will you marry me? — est-ce que tu veux m'épouser?

you'll have another cake, won't you? — vous prendrez bien un autre gâteau?

5) ( expressing custom or habit)

they will usually ask for a deposit — ils demandent généralement une caution

any teacher will tell you that... — n'importe quel professeur te dira que...

these things will happen — ce sont des choses qui arrivent; ( in exasperation)

she will keep repeating the same old jokes — elle n'arrête pas de répéter les mêmes blagues

6) ( expressing conjecture or assumption)

that will be my sister — ça doit être ma sœur

they won't be aware of what has happened — ils ne doivent pas savoir ce qui s'est passé

that will have been last month — ça devait être le mois dernier

you'll have gathered that — vous aurez compris que

7) ( expressing ability or capacity to do)

the lift will hold 12 — l'ascenseur peut transporter 12 personnes

that jug won't hold a litre — ce pichet ne contient pas un litre

this chicken won't feed six — ce poulet n'est pas assez gros pour six personnes

the car won't start — la voiture ne veut pas démarrer
2.
transitive verb

1) ( urge)

to will somebody's death — souhaiter ardemment la mort de quelqu'un

to will somebody to do — supplier mentalement quelqu'un de faire

to will somebody to live — prier pour que quelqu'un vive

2) (wish, desire) vouloir

3) Law léguer
3.
reflexive verb

he willed himself to stand up — au prix d'un effort surhumain il a réussi à se lever
II 1. [wɪl]
noun

1) volonté f ( to do de faire)

to have a strong/weak will — avoir beaucoup/peu de volonté

to have a will of one's own — faire ce qu'on a envie de faire

strength of will — force de caractère

against my will — contre mon gré

to do something with a will — faire quelque chose de bon cœur

to lose the will to live — ne plus avoir envie de vivre

2) Law testament m

the last will and testament of — les dernières volontés de

to leave somebody something in one's will — léguer quelque chose à quelqu'un
2.
at will adverbial phrase [select, take] à volonté

you can change it at will — tu peux le changer quand tu veux

••

where there's a will there's a way — Prov quand on veut on peut Prov

English-French dictionary > will
4 Illnesses, aches and pains

Where does it hurt?

where does it hurt?

= où est-ce que ça vous fait mal? or (more formally) où avez-vous mal?

his leg hurts

= sa jambe lui fait mal

( Do not confuse faire mal à qn with the phrase faire du mal à qn, which means to harm sb.)

he has a pain in his leg

= il a mal à la jambe

Note that with avoir mal à French uses the definite article (la) with the part of the body, where English has a possessive (his), hence:

his head was aching

= il avait mal à la tête

English has other ways of expressing this idea, but avoir mal à fits them too:

he had toothache

= il avait mal aux dents

his ears hurt

= il avait mal aux oreilles

Accidents

she broke her leg

= elle s’est cassé la jambe

Elle s’est cassé la jambe means literally she broke to herself the leg ; because the se is an indirect object, the past participle cassé does not agree. This is true of all such constructions:

she sprained her ankle

= elle s’est foulé la cheville

they burned their hands

= ils se sont brûlé les mains

Chronic conditions

Note that the French often use fragile (weak) to express a chronic condition:

he has a weak heart

= il a le cœur fragile

he has kidney trouble

= il a les reins fragiles

he has a bad back

= il a le dos fragile

Being ill

Mostly French uses the definite article with the name of an illness:

to have flu

= avoir la grippe

to have measles

= avoir la rougeole

to have malaria

= avoir la malaria

This applies to most infectious diseases, including childhood illnesses. However, note the exceptions ending in -ite (e.g. une hépatite, une méningite) below.

When the illness affects a specific part of the body, French uses the indefinite article:

to have cancer

= avoir un cancer

to have cancer of the liver

= avoir un cancer du foie

to have pneumonia

= avoir une pneumonie

to have cirrhosis

= avoir une cirrhose

to have a stomach ulcer

= avoir un ulcère à l’estomac

Most words in -ite ( English -itis) work like this:

to have bronchitis

= avoir une bronchite

to have hepatitis

= avoir une hépatite

When the illness is a generalized condition, French tends to use du, de l’, de la or des:

to have rheumatism

= avoir des rhumatismes

to have emphysema

= avoir de l’emphysème

to have asthma

= avoir de l’asthme

to have arthritis

= avoir de l’arthrite

One exception here is:

to have hay fever

= avoir le rhume des foins

When there is an adjective for such conditions, this is often preferred in French:

to have asthma

= être asthmatique

to have epilepsy

= être épileptique

Such adjectives can be used as nouns to denote the person with the illness, e.g. un/une asthmatique and un/une épileptique etc.

French has other specific words for people with certain illnesses:

someone with cancer

= un cancéreux/une cancéreuse

If in doubt check in the dictionary.

English with is translated by qui a or qui ont, and this is always safe:

someone with malaria

= quelqu’un qui a la malaria

people with Aids

= les gens qui ont le Sida

Falling ill

The above guidelines about the use of the definite and indefinite articles in French hold good for talking about the onset of illnesses.

French has no general equivalent of to get. However, where English can use catch, French can use attraper:

to catch mumps

= attraper les oreillons

to catch malaria

= attraper la malaria

to catch bronchitis

= attraper une bronchite

to catch a cold

= attraper un rhume

Similarly where English uses contract, French uses contracter:

to contract Aids

= contracter le Sida

to contract pneumonia

= contracter une pneumonie

to contract hepatitis

= contracter une hépatite

For attacks of chronic illnesses, French uses faire une crise de:

to have a bout of malaria

= faire une crise de malaria

to have an asthma attack

= faire une crise d’asthme

to have an epileptic fit

= faire une crise d’épilepsie

Treatment

to be treated for polio

= se faire soigner contre la polio

to take something for hay fever

= prendre quelque chose contre le rhume des foins

he’s taking something for his cough

= il prend quelque chose contre la toux

to prescribe something for a cough

= prescrire un médicament contre la toux

malaria tablets

= des cachets contre la malaria

to have a cholera vaccination

= se faire vacciner contre le choléra

to be vaccinated against smallpox

= se faire vacciner contre la variole

to be immunized against smallpox

= se faire immuniser contre la variole

to have a tetanus injection

= se faire vacciner contre le tétanos

to give sb a tetanus injection

= vacciner qn contre le tétanos

to be operated on for cancer

= être opéré d’un cancer

to operate on sb for appendicitis

= opérer qn de l’appendicite

Big English-French dictionary > Illnesses, aches and pains
5 Usage note : do

The direct French equivalent of the verb to do in subject + to do + object sentences is faire:

she’s doing her homework

= elle fait ses devoirs

what are you doing?

= qu’est-ce que tu fais?

what has he done with the newspaper?

= qu’est-ce qu’il a fait du journal?

faire functions in very much the same way as to do does in English and it is safe to assume it will work in the great majority of cases. For the conjugation of the verb faire, see the French verb tables.

Grammatical functions

In questions

In French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in questions equivalent to the use of do in English.

When the subject is a pronoun, the question is formed in French either by inverting the subject and verb and putting a hyphen between the two ( veux-tu?) or by prefacing the subject + verb by est-ce que (literally is it that):

do you like Mozart?

= aimes-tu Mozart? or est-ce que tu aimes Mozart?

did you put the glasses in the cupboard?

= as-tu mis les verres dans le placard? or est-ce que tu as mis les verres dans le placard?

When the subject is a noun there are again two possibilities:

did your sister ring?

= est-ce que ta sœur a téléphoné? or ta sœur a-t-elle téléphoné?

did Max find his keys?

= est-ce que Max a trouvé ses clés? or Max a-t-il trouvé ses clés?

In negatives

Equally, auxiliaries are not used in negatives in French:

I don’t like Mozart

= je n’aime pas Mozart

you didn’t feed the cat

= tu n’as pas donné à manger au chat

don’t do that!

= ne fais pas ça!

In emphatic uses

There is no verbal equivalent for the use of do in such expressions as I DO like your dress. A French speaker will find another way, according to the context, of expressing the force of the English do. Here are a few useful examples:

I DO like your dress

= j’aime beaucoup ta robe

I DO hope she remembers

= j’espère qu’elle n’oubliera pas

I DO think you should see a doctor

= je crois vraiment que tu devrais voir un médecin

When referring back to another verb

In this case the verb to do is not translated at all:

I don’t like him any more than you do

= je ne l’aime pas plus que toi

I live in Oxford and so does Lily

= j’habite à Oxford et Lily aussi

she gets paid more than I do

= elle est payée plus que moi

I haven’t written as much as I ought to have done

= je n’ai pas écrit autant que j’aurais dû

‘I love strawberries’ ‘so do I’

= ‘j’adore les fraises’ ‘moi aussi’

In polite requests

In polite requests the phrase je vous en prie can often be used to render the meaning of do:

do sit down

= asseyez-vous, je vous en prie

do have a piece of cake

= prenez un morceau de gâteau, je vous en prie

‘may I take a peach?’ ‘yes, do’

= ‘puis-je prendre une pêche?’ ‘je vous en prie’

In imperatives

In French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in imperatives:

don’t shut the door

= ne ferme pas la porte

don’t tell her anything

= ne lui dis rien

do be quiet!

= tais-toi!

In tag questions

French has no direct equivalent of tag questions like doesn’t he? or didn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:

you like fish, don’t you?

= tu aimes le poisson, n’est-ce pas?

he lives in London, doesn’t he?

= il habite à Londres, 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 meaning contained in the tag: par hasard can often be useful as a translation:

Lola didn’t phone, did she?

= Lola n’a pas téléphoné par hasard?

Paul doesn’t work here, does he?

= Paul ne travaille pas ici par hasard?

In many cases the tag is not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey what is implied:

you didn’t tidy your room, did you? (i.e. you ought to have done)

= tu n’as pas rangé ta chambre?

In short answers

Again, there is no direct French equivalent for short answers like yes I do, no he doesn’t etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:

‘Marion didn’t say that’ ‘yes she did’

= ‘Marion n’a pas dit ça’ ‘si’

‘they don’t sell vegetables at the baker’s’ ‘yes they do’

= ‘ils ne vendent pas les légumes à la boulangerie’ ‘si’

In response to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:

‘do you like strawberries?’ ‘yes I do’

= ‘aimez-vous les fraises?’ ‘oui ’

For more examples and particular usages, see the entry do.

Big English-French dictionary > Usage note : do
6 get

get [get]

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1. transitive verb

2. intransitive verb

3. compounds

4. Phrasal Verbs

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► vb: pret, ptp got, ptp (US) gotten

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1. transitive verb

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► When get is part of a set combination, eg get the sack, get hold of, look up the other word.

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   a. ( = have, receive, obtain) avoir

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► avoir covers a wide range of meanings, and like get is unspecific.

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• I go whenever I get the chance j'y vais dès que j'en ai l'occasion

• he got a fine il a eu une amende

• I got a lot of presents j'ai eu beaucoup de cadeaux

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► Some get + noun combinations may take a more specific French verb.

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• it was impossible to get help il était impossible d'obtenir de l'aide

• he got help from the others il s'est fait aider par les autres

• first I need to get a better idea of the situation je dois d'abord me faire une meilleure idée de la situation

• I think he got the wrong impression je pense qu'il s'est fait des idées

• they get lunch at school ils déjeunent à l'école

• if I'm not working I get no pay si je ne travaille pas je ne suis pas payé

• this area doesn't get much rain il ne pleut pas beaucoup dans cette région

• we'll get a sandwich in town on prendra un sandwich en ville

• this room gets a lot of sun cette pièce est très ensoleillée

• he got two years il s'est pris (inf) deux ans de prison

► have/has got

• I've got toothache j'ai mal aux dents

• I have got three sisters j'ai trois sœurs

• how many have you got? combien en avez-vous ?

• I've got it! ( = have safely) (ça y est) je l'ai !

• you're okay, I've got you! ne t'en fais pas, je te tiens !

   b. ( = find) trouver

• he got me a job il m'a trouvé un emploi

• it's difficult to get a hotel room in August c'est difficile de trouver une chambre d'hôtel en août

• you get different kinds of... on trouve plusieurs sortes de...

• you'll get him at home if you phone this evening tu le trouveras chez lui si tu appelles ce soir

• I've been trying to get you all week ça fait une semaine que j'essaie de t'avoir

• you can get me on the mobile tu peux m'appeler sur mon portable

   c. ( = buy) acheter

• where do they get their raw materials? où est-ce qu'ils achètent leurs matières premières ?

• to get sth cheap acheter qch bon marché

   d. ( = fetch, pick up) aller chercher

• I must go and get some bread il faut que j'aille chercher du pain

• can you get my coat from the cleaners? est-ce que tu peux aller chercher mon manteau au pressing ?

• can I get you a drink? est-ce que je peux vous offrir quelque chose ?

   e. ( = take) prendre

• I'll get the bus je vais prendre le bus

• I don't get the local paper je ne prends pas le journal local

   f. ( = call in) appeler

• we had to get a plumber nous avons dû appeler un plombier

   g. ( = prepare) préparer

• she was getting breakfast elle préparait le petit déjeuner

   h. ( = catch) [+ disease, fugitive] attraper ; [+ name, details] comprendre

• I didn't get your name je n'ai pas compris votre nom

• we'll get them yet! on leur revaudra ça !

• he'll get you for that! qu'est-ce que tu vas prendre ! (inf)

   i. ( = understand) get it? (inf) t'as pigé ? (inf)

• I don't get it (inf) je ne comprends pas

• you've got it in one! (inf) tu as tout compris !

• I don't get you (inf) je ne vous suis pas

• I don't get the joke je ne vois pas ce qu'il y a de drôle

• let me get this right, you're saying that... alors, si je comprends bien, tu dis que...

• don't get me wrong comprenez-moi bien

   j. ( = answer) can you get the phone? est-ce que tu peux répondre ?

• I'll get it! j'y vais !

   k. ( = annoy) (inf) agacer

• that's what really gets me c'est ce qui m'agace le plus

   l. (set structures)

► to get + adjective

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► This construction is often translated by a verb alone. Look up the relevant adjective.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to get one's hands dirty se salir les mains

• to get sb drunk soûler qn

• you're getting me worried tu m'inquiètes

► to get sth done (by someone else) faire faire qch

• to get one's hair cut se faire couper les cheveux

• I need to get my car serviced je dois faire réviser ma voiture

• when do you think you'll get it finished? ( = when will you finish it) quand penses-tu avoir fini ?

• you can't get anything done round here ( = do anything) il est impossible de travailler ici► to get sb/sth to do sth

• get him to clean the car fais-lui laver la voiture

• I'll get her to ring you back je lui demanderai de te rappeler

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► réussir or pouvoir may be used when speaking of achieving a result.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• we eventually got her to change her mind nous avons finalement réussi à la faire changer d'avis

• I couldn't get the washing machine to work je n'ai pas réussi à faire marcher le lave-linge

• to get sth going [+ machine] faire marcher qch

► to get sb/sth somewhere

• to get sth downstairs descendre qch

• how can we get it home? comment faire pour l'apporter à la maison ?

• threatening me will get you nowhere tu n'obtiendras rien de moi par la menace

• to get sth upstairs monter qch► to get sb/sth + preposition

• to get sb by the arm saisir qn par le bras

• to get sb by the throat prendre qn à la gorge

• he gets a lot of money for his paintings il gagne beaucoup d'argent avec ses tableaux

• he gets his red hair from his mother il a les cheveux roux de sa mère

• the bullet got him in the arm la balle l'a atteint au bras

• he managed to get the card into the envelope il a réussi à faire entrer la carte dans l'enveloppe

• to get o.s. into a difficult position se mettre dans une situation délicate

• we got him on to the subject of the war nous l'avons amené à parler de la guerre

• she gets a lot of pleasure out of gardening elle prend beaucoup de plaisir à jardiner

• I couldn't get the stain out of the tablecloth je n'ai pas réussi à enlever la tache sur la nappe

• to get sth past the customs réussir à passer qch à la douane

• I'll never get the car through here je n'arriverai jamais à faire passer la voiture par ici

• to get sth to sb faire parvenir qch à qn

• to get a child to bed mettre un enfant au lit

2. intransitive verb

   a. ( = go) aller( to à, ( from de ) ;) ( = arrive) arriver ; ( = be) être

• how do you get there? comment fait-on pour y aller ?

• can you get there from London by bus? est-ce qu'on peut y aller de Londres en bus ?

• what time do you get to Sheffield? à quelle heure arrivez-vous à Sheffield ?

► to get + adverb/preposition

• you won't get anywhere if you behave like that tu n'arriveras à rien en te conduisant comme ça

• how did that box get here? comment cette boîte est-elle arrivée ici ?

• what's got into him? qu'est-ce qui lui prend ?

• we're getting nowhere fast (inf) on fait du sur place (inf)

• now we're getting somewhere! (inf) enfin du progrès !

• how's your thesis going? -- I'm getting there où en es-tu avec ta thèse ? -- ça avance

• where did you get to? où étais-tu donc passé ?

• where can he have got to? où est-il passé ?

• where have you got to? (in book, work) où en êtes-vous ?

• don't let it get to you (inf) ne te fais pas de bile (inf) pour ça

   b. (set structures)

► to get + adjective

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► This construction is often translated by a verb alone.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I hope you'll get better soon j'espère que tu vas vite te remettre

• things are getting complicated les choses se compliquent

• this is getting expensive ça commence à faire cher

• she's afraid of getting fat elle a peur de grossir

• it's getting late il se fait tard

• I'm getting nervous je commence à avoir le trac

• he's getting old il vieillit il se fait vieux

• this is getting ridiculous ça devient ridicule

• how stupid can you get? il faut vraiment être stupide !

• to get used to sth/to doing s'habituer à qch/à faire

► to get + past participle (passive)

he got beaten up il s'est fait tabasser (inf)

• several windows got broken plusieurs fenêtres ont été brisées

• to get paid se faire payer

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Reflexive verbs are used when the sense is not passive.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to get dressed s'habiller

• to get married se marier

• to get washed se laver

► to get to + infinitive

• he's getting to be an old man il se fait vieux

• it's getting to be impossible ça devient impossible

• to get to know sb apprendre à connaître qn

• we got to like him in the end nous avons fini par l'apprécier

• students only get to use the library between 2pm and 8pm les étudiants ne peuvent utiliser la bibliothèque qu'entre 14 heures et 20 heures► have got to + infinitive ( = must)

you've got to come il faut que vous veniez subj

• have you got to go and see her? est-ce que vous êtes obligé d'aller la voir ?

• you've got to be joking! tu plaisantes !► to get + -ing ( = begin)

to get going partir

• I got talking to him in the train j'ai parlé avec lui dans le train

• I got to thinking that... (inf) je me suis dit que...

3. compounds

► get-rich-quick scheme (inf) noun

combine pour faire fortune rapidement

► get-together noun réunion f

► get-up-and-go (inf) noun

• he's got lots of get-up-and-go il est très dynamique ► get-well card noun carte f de vœux (pour un prompt rétablissement)

4. Phrasal Verbs

► get about intransitive verb

   a. ( = move about) se déplacer

• he gets about with a stick/on crutches il marche avec une canne/des béquilles

• she gets about quite well despite her handicap elle arrive assez bien à se déplacer malgré son handicap

   b. ( = travel) voyager

• she gets about a lot elle voyage beaucoup

   c. [news] circuler

• the story had got about that... des rumeurs circulaient selon lesquelles...

• it has got about that... le bruit court que...

• I don't want it to get about je ne veux pas que ça s'ébruite► get above inseparable transitive verb

• to get above o.s. avoir la grosse tête (inf)

• you're getting above yourself! pour qui te prends-tu ?► get across

1. intransitive verb

[person crossing] traverser ; [meaning, message] passer

• the message is getting across that people must... les gens commencent à comprendre qu'il faut...

2. separable transitive verb

[+ person crossing] faire traverser ; [+ ideas, intentions, desires] communiquer ( to sb à qn)

• to get sth across to sb faire comprendre qch à qn► get ahead intransitive verb

(in race) prendre de l'avance ; (in career) monter en grade

► get along intransitive verb

   a. ( = go) aller (to à ) ; ( = leave) s'en aller

• I must be getting along il faut que je m'en aille

   b. ( = manage) se débrouiller

• to get along without sth/sb se débrouiller sans qch/qn

   c. ( = progress) [work] avancer ; [student, invalid] faire des progrès

   d. ( = be on good terms) (bien) s'entendre

• I don't get along with him at all je ne m'entends pas du tout avec lui► get around

1. intransitive verb

→ get about

2. separable transitive verb

→ get round

3. inseparable transitive verb

→ get round► get at inseparable transitive verb

   a. [+ object, person, place] atteindre

   b. [+ facts, truth] découvrir

   c. ( = suggest) what are you getting at? où voulez-vous en venir ?

   d. (British) ( = attack) s'en prendre à

• she's always getting at her brother elle s'en prend toujours à son frère

• I feel got at je me sens visé

   e. ( = influence) (inf) suborner

• there's a danger witnesses will be got at il y a un risque de subornation de témoins► get away

1. intransitive verb

   a. ( = leave) partir

• to get away from a place quitter un endroit

• I usually get away from work at six je quitte généralement (le travail) à 6 heures

• I'll try to get away from work early j'essaierai de rentrer du travail plus tôt

• we are not going to be able to get away this year nous n'allons pas pouvoir partir en vacances cette année

• get away (with you)! (inf) à d'autres !

   b. ( = escape) s'échapper

• to get away from [+ people, situation] échapper à ; [+ idea] renoncer à

• he was trying to get away when he was shot il essayait de s'échapper quand on lui a tiré dessus

• she moved here to get away from the stress of city life elle est venue s'installer ici pour échapper au stress de la vie citadine

• he went to the Bahamas to get away from it all il est allé aux Bahamas pour laisser tous ses problèmes derrière lui

• the thief got away with the money le voleur est parti avec l'argent

2. separable transitive verb

   a. ( = take) emmener ; ( = move away) éloigner ; ( = send off) expédier

   b. ( = remove) to get sth away from sb enlever qch à qn► get away with transitive verb

( = suffer no consequences)

she got away with saying some outrageous things elle a tenu impunément des propos choquants

• he broke the law and got away with it il a violé la loi en toute impunité

• you'll never get away with that! on ne te laissera pas passer ça ! (inf)

• he gets away with murder (inf) il peut se permettre de faire n'importe quoi► get back

1. intransitive verb

   a. ( = return) revenir

• to get back rentrer chez soi

• life is starting to get back to normal la vie reprend son cours

• to get back to work reprendre le travail

• to get back to the point revenir au sujet

• let's get back to why you didn't come yesterday revenons à la question de savoir pourquoi vous n'êtes pas venu hier

• to get back to sb (inf) recontacter qn ; (on phone) rappeler qn

• can I get back to you on that? (inf) puis-je vous recontacter à ce sujet ? ; (on phone) puis-je vous rappeler à ce sujet ?

   b. ( = move backwards) reculer

• get back! reculez !

2. separable transitive verb

   a. ( = recover) [+ sth lent, sth lost, stolen] récupérer ; [+ strength] reprendre ; [+ one's husband, partner] faire revenir

• he's trying desperately to get her back il essaie désespérément de la faire revenir

• I won't get my car back until Thursday je ne récupérerai pas ma voiture avant jeudi

• I was afraid I wouldn't get my passport back j'avais peur de ne pas récupérer mon passeport

• to get one's money back se faire rembourser

   b. ( = return) rendre

• I'll get it back to you as soon as I can je vous le rendrai dès que possible► get back at (inf) inseparable transitive verb

( = retaliate against) prendre sa revanche sur

► get by intransitive verb

   a. ( = pass) passer

   b. ( = manage) arriver à s'en sortir (inf)

• she gets by on very little money elle arrive à s'en sortir (inf) avec très peu d'argent

• he'll get by! il s'en sortira ! (inf)► get down

1. intransitive verb

descendre (from, off de)

• may I get down? (at table) est-ce que je peux sortir de table ?

• to get down on one's knees se mettre à genoux

• get down! ( = climb down) descends ! ; ( = lie down) couche-toi !

2. separable transitive verb

   a. (from upstairs, attic) descendre ; (from shelf) prendre

   b. ( = swallow) [+ food, pill] (inf) avaler

   c. ( = make note of) noter

   d. ( = depress) déprimer

• don't let it get you down! ne te laisse pas abattre !► get down to inseparable transitive verb

• to get down to doing sth se mettre à faire qch

• to get down to work se mettre au travail

• you'll have to get down to it il faut vous y mettre

• when you get down to it there's not much difference between them en y regardant de plus près il n'y a pas grande différence entre eux

• to get down to business passer aux choses sérieuses

• let's get down to the details regardons ça de plus près► get in

1. intransitive verb

   a. [person] ( = enter) entrer ; ( = be admitted to university, school) être admis

• do you think we'll get in? tu crois qu'on réussira à entrer ?

   b. ( = arrive) [train, bus, plane] arriver

   c. ( = be elected) [member] être élu ; [party] accéder au pouvoir

2. separable transitive verb

   a. [+ harvest] rentrer

• did you get your essay in on time? as-tu rendu ta dissertation à temps ?

   b. ( = buy) acheter

• to get in supplies s'approvisionner

   c. ( = fit in) glisser

• he got in a reference to his new book il a glissé une allusion à son dernier livre

• it was hard to get a word in c'était difficile de placer un mot

• he managed to get in a game of golf il a réussi à trouver le temps de faire une partie de golf► get into inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = enter) [+ house, park] entrer dans ; [+ car, train] monter dans

• he got into a good university il a été admis dans une bonne université

• to get into politics entrer en politique

• to get into the way of doing sth ( = make a habit of) prendre l'habitude de faire qch

• I don't know what has got into him je ne sais pas ce qui lui a pris

   b. [+ clothes] mettre

• I can't get into these jeans any more je ne peux plus rentrer dans ce jean► get in with inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = gain favour of) (réussir à) se faire bien voir de

• he tried to get in with the headmaster il a essayé de se faire bien voir du directeur

   b. ( = become friendly with) se mettre à fréquenter

• he got in with local drug dealers il s'est mis à fréquenter les trafiquants de drogue du quartier► get off

1. intransitive verb

   a. (from vehicle) descendre

• to tell sb where to get off (inf) envoyer promener qn (inf)

   b. ( = depart) [person] partir ; [car] démarrer ; [plane] décoller

• to get off to a good start [project, discussion] bien partir

• to get off to sleep s'endormir

   c. ( = escape) s'en tirer

• to get off with a reprimand en être quitte pour une réprimande

   d. ( = leave work) finir ; ( = take time off) se libérer

• we get off at 5 o'clock nous finissons à 5 heures

• I can't get off early today je ne peux pas m'en aller de bonne heure aujourd'hui

2. separable transitive verb

   a. [+ bus, train] descendre de

   b. [+ clothes, shoes] enlever

   c. ( = dispatch) I'll phone you once I've got the children off to school je t'appellerai une fois que les enfants seront partis à l'école

• to get a child off to sleep faire dormir un enfant

   d. ( = save from punishment) faire acquitter

• a good lawyer will get him off un bon avocat le fera acquitter

3. inseparable transitive verb

   a. to get off a bus/a bike descendre d'un bus/de vélo

• they got off the boat ils sont descendus à terre

• he got off his horse il est descendu de cheval

• get off the floor! levez-vous !

• I wish he would get off my back! (inf) si seulement il pouvait me ficher la paix (inf) !

• we've rather got off the subject nous nous sommes plutôt éloignés du sujet

   b. ( = be excused) (inf) to get off gym se faire dispenser des cours de gym► get off with (inf) inseparable transitive verb

(British) lever (inf !)

► get on

1. intransitive verb

   a. (on to bus, bike) monter ; (on to ship) monter à bord

   b. ( = advance, make progress) avancer

• how are you getting on? comment ça marche ? (inf)

• how did you get on? comment ça s'est passé ?

• to be getting on (inf) ( = getting old) se faire vieux

• he's getting on for 40 il approche de la quarantaine

• it's getting on for 3 o'clock il n'est pas loin de 3 heures

• I must be getting on now il faut que j'y aille

• this will do to be getting on with ça ira pour le moment

• there were getting on for 100 people il y avait pas loin de 100 personnes

   c. ( = succeed) réussir

• if you want to get on, you must... si tu veux réussir, tu dois...

   d. ( = agree) s'entendre

• we don't get on nous ne nous entendons pas

• I get on well with her je m'entends bien avec elle

2. separable transitive verb

( = put on) [+ clothes, shoes] mettre

3. inseparable transitive verb

• to get on a horse monter sur un cheval

• to get on a bicycle monter sur sa bicyclette

• to get on a train monter dans un train

• to get back on one's feet se remettre debout► get on to inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = get in touch with) se mettre en rapport avec ; ( = speak to) parler à ; ( = ring up) téléphoner à

   b. ( = start talking about) aborder

• we got on to (the subject of) money nous avons abordé la question de l'argent► get on with inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = continue) continuer

• while they talked she got on with her work pendant qu'ils parlaient, elle a continué à travailler

• get on with it! (working) allez, au travail ! ; (telling sth) accouche ! (inf)

   b. ( = start on) se mettre à

• I'd better get on with the job! il faut que je m'y mette !► get out

1. intransitive verb

   a. sortir (of de ) ; (from vehicle) descendre (of de)

• get out! sortez !

• let's get out of here! sortons d'ici !

   b. ( = escape) s'échapper (of de)

• to get out of [+ task, obligation] échapper à ; [+ difficulty] surmonter

• you'll have to do it, you can't get out of it il faut que tu le fasses, tu ne peux pas y échapper

• some people will do anything to get out of paying taxes certaines personnes feraient n'importe quoi pour éviter de payer des impôts

• he's trying to get out of going to the funeral il essaie de trouver une excuse pour ne pas aller à l'enterrement

   c. [news] se répandre ; [secret] être éventé

• wait till the news gets out! attends que la nouvelle soit ébruitée !

2. separable transitive verb

   a. ( = bring out) [+ object] sortir

• he got his diary out of his pocket il a sorti son agenda de sa poche

   b. ( = remove) [+ nail, tooth] arracher ; [+ stain] enlever

• I can't get it out of my mind je n'arrive pas à chasser cela de mon esprit

   c. ( = free) [+ person] faire sortir

• it gets me out of the house ça me fait sortir► get over

1. intransitive verb

( = cross) traverser ; [message, meaning] passer (inf) ; [speaker] se faire entendre

2. inseparable transitive verb

   a. [+ road] traverser ; [+ obstacle, difficulty] surmonter ; [+ problem] résoudre

   b. ( = recover from) to get over an illness se remettre d'une maladie

• to get over sb's death se remettre de la mort de qn

• I can't get over it je n'en reviens pas

• I can't get over the fact that... je n'en reviens pas que... + subj

• I can't get over how much he's changed je n'en reviens pas de voir combien il a changé

• she never really got over him (inf) elle ne l'a jamais vraiment oublié

3. separable transitive verb

   a. [+ person, animal, vehicle] faire passer

   b. ( = communicate) faire comprendre ; [+ ideas] communiquer► get over with separable transitive verb

( = have done with) en finir

• let's get it over with finissons-en

• I was glad to get the injections over with j'étais content d'en avoir fini avec ces piqûres► get round

1. intransitive verb

= get about

2. separable transitive verb

• to get sb round to one's way of thinking rallier qn à son point de vue

3. inseparable transitive verb

   a. [+ obstacle, difficulty, law] contourner

   b. [+ person] amadouer► get round to (inf) inseparable transitive verb

• to get round to doing sth trouver le temps de faire qch

• I don't think I'll get round to it before next week je ne pense pas trouver le temps de m'en occuper avant la semaine prochaine► get through

1. intransitive verb

   a. [news] parvenir (to à ) ; [signal] être reçu

• I think the message is getting through to him je pense qu'il commence à comprendre

   b. ( = be accepted, pass) [candidate] être reçu ; [motion, bill] passer

• to get through to the third round [team] se qualifier pour le troisième tour

   c. (on phone) obtenir la communication

• I phoned you several times but couldn't get through je t'ai appelé plusieurs fois mais je n'ai pas pu t'avoir

   d. ( = communicate with) to get through to sb communiquer avec qn

• he can't get through to his son at all il n'arrive pas du tout à communiquer avec son fils

2. inseparable transitive verb

   a. [+ hole, window] passer par ; [+ hedge] passer à travers ; [+ crowd] se frayer un chemin à travers

   b. ( = do) [+ work] faire ; [+ book] lire (en entier)

• we've got a lot of work to get through nous avons beaucoup à faire

• he got through a lot of work il a abattu beaucoup de travail

   c. ( = use) [+ supplies] utiliser ; [+ money] dépenser ; [+ food] manger ; [+ drink] boire

• we get through £150 per week nous dépensons 150 livres par semaine

   d. ( = survive) how are they going to get through the winter? comment vont-ils passer l'hiver ?

• we couldn't get through a day without arguing pas un jour ne se passait sans que nous ne nous disputions

3. separable transitive verb

   a. [+ person, object] faire passer

• we couldn't get the sofa through the door on n'a pas pu faire passer le sofa par la porte

• to get the message through to sb that... faire comprendre à qn que...

   b. to get a bill through faire adopter un projet de loi► get together

1. intransitive verb

se réunir

• let's get together on Thursday retrouvons-nous jeudi

• this is the only place where villagers can get together c'est le seul endroit où les gens du village peuvent se réunir

2. separable transitive verb

[+ people, ideas, money] rassembler ; [+ group] former

• let me just get my things together je rassemble mes affaires et j'arrive

► get under

1. intransitive verb

( = pass underneath) passer par-dessous

2. inseparable transitive verb

• to get under a fence/a rope passer sous une barrière/une corde

► get up

1. intransitive verb

   a. ( = rise) [person] se lever ( from de ) ; [wind] se lever

• what time did you get up? à quelle heure t'es-tu levé ?

   b. (on a chair, on stage) monter

2. inseparable transitive verb

• he couldn't get up the tree il n'a pas réussi à monter à l'arbre

3. separable transitive verb

   a. we eventually got the truck up the hill on a finalement réussi à faire monter le camion jusqu'en haut de la côte

• to get up speed prendre de la vitesse

   b. (from bed) [+ person] faire lever ; ( = wake) réveiller► get up to inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = catch up with) rattraper

   b. ( = reach) arriver à

• I've got up to page 17 j'en suis à la page 17

• where did we get up to last week? où en sommes-nous arrivés la semaine dernière ?

   c. ( = be involved in) (inf) to get up to mischief faire des bêtises

• you never know what he'll get up to next on ne sait jamais ce qu'il va inventer

• do you realize what they've been getting up to? tu sais ce qu'ils ont trouvé le moyen de faire ?

• what have you been getting up to lately? qu'est-ce que tu deviens ?

* * *

Note: This much-used verb has no multi-purpose equivalent in French and therefore is very often translated by choosing a synonym: to get lunch = to prepare lunch = préparer le déjeuner

get is used in many idiomatic expressions ( to get something off one's chest etc) and translations will be found in the appropriate entry (chest etc). This is also true of offensive comments ( get lost etc) where the appropriate entry would be lost

Remember that when get is used to express the idea that a job is done not by you but by somebody else ( to get a room painted etc) faire is used in French followed by an infinitive ( faire repeindre une pièce etc)

When get has the meaning of become and is followed by an adjective (to get rich/drunk etc) devenir is sometimes useful but check the appropriate entry (rich, drunk etc) as a single verb often suffices ( s'enrichir, s'enivrer etc)

For examples and further uses of get see the entry below
[get] 1.
transitive verb (p prés - tt-; prét got; pp got, gotten US)

1) ( receive) recevoir [letter, grant]; recevoir, percevoir [salary, pension]; Television, Radio capter [channel]

did you get much for it? — est-ce que tu en as tiré beaucoup d'argent?

what did you get for your car? — combien as-tu revendu ta voiture?

we get a lot of rain — il pleut beaucoup ici

our garden gets a lot of sun — notre jardin est bien ensoleillé

we get a lot of tourists — nous avons beaucoup de touristes

you get what you pay for — si on veut de la qualité il faut y mettre le prix

he's getting help with his science — il se fait aider en sciences

2) ( inherit)

to get something from somebody — lit hériter quelque chose de quelqu'un [article, money]; fig tenir quelque chose de quelqu'un [trait, feature]

3) ( obtain) ( by applying) obtenir [permission, divorce, licence]; trouver [job]; ( by contacting) trouver [plumber]; appeler [taxi]; ( by buying) acheter [item] ( from chez); avoir [ticket]

to get something for nothing/at a discount — avoir quelque chose gratuitement/avec une réduction

to get somebody something —

to get something for somebody — ( by buying) acheter quelque chose à quelqu'un

I'll get something to eat at the airport — je mangerai quelque chose à l'aéroport

4) ( subscribe to) acheter [newspaper]

5) ( acquire) se faire [reputation]

6) ( achieve) obtenir [grade, mark, answer]

he got it right — ( of calculation) il a obtenu le bon résultat; ( of answer) il a répondu juste

7) ( fetch) chercher [object, person, help]

go and get a chair — va chercher une chaise

to get somebody something —

to get something for somebody — aller chercher quelque chose pour quelqu'un

can I get you your coat? — est-ce que je peux vous apporter votre manteau?

8) (manoeuvre, move)

to get somebody/something upstairs/downstairs — faire monter/descendre quelqu'un/quelque chose

I'll get them there somehow — je les ferai parvenir d'une façon ou d'une autre

can you get between the truck and the wall? — est-ce que tu peux te glisser entre le camion et le mur?

9) ( help progress)

is this discussion getting us anywhere? — est-ce que cette discussion est bien utile?

I listened to him and where has it got me? — je l'ai écouté mais à quoi ça m'a avancé?

10) ( contact)

did you get Harry on the phone? — tu as réussi à avoir Harry au téléphone?

11) ( deal with)

I'll get it — ( of phone) je réponds; ( of doorbell) j'y vais

12) ( prepare) préparer [breakfast, lunch etc]

13) ( take hold of) attraper [person] (by par)

I've got you, don't worry — je te tiens, ne t'inquiète pas

to get something from ou off — prendre quelque chose sur [shelf, table]

to get something from ou out of — prendre quelque chose dans [drawer, cupboard]

14) (colloq) ( oblige to give)

to get something from ou out of somebody — faire sortir quelque chose à quelqu'un [money]; fig obtenir quelque chose de quelqu'un [truth]

15) (colloq) ( catch) gen arrêter [escapee]

got you! — gen je t'ai eu!; ( caught in act) vu!

16) Medicine attraper [disease]

he got measles from his sister — sa sœur lui a passé la rougeole

17) ( use as transport) prendre [bus, train]

18) ( have)

to have got — avoir [object, money, friend etc]

I've got a headache — j'ai mal à la tête

19) ( start to have)

to get (hold of) the idea ou impression that — se mettre dans la tête que

20) ( suffer)

to get a surprise — être surpris

to get a shock — avoir un choc

to get a bang on the head — recevoir un coup sur la tête

21) ( be given as punishment) prendre [five years etc]; avoir [fine]

22) ( hit)

to get somebody/something with — toucher quelqu'un/quelque chose avec [stone, arrow]

got it! — ( of target) touché!

23) (understand, hear) comprendre

now let me get this right... — alors si je comprends bien...

‘where did you hear that?’ - ‘I got it from Paul’ — ‘où est-ce que tu as entendu ça?’ - ‘c'est Paul qui me l'a dit’

get this! he was arrested this morning — tiens-toi bien! il a été arrêté ce matin

24) (colloq) (annoy, affect)

what gets me is... — ce qui m'agace c'est que...

25) (learn, learn of)

to get to do — (colloq) finir par faire

to get to like somebody — finir par apprécier quelqu'un

how did you get to know ou hear of our organization? — comment avez-vous entendu parler de notre organisation?

we got to know them last year — on a fait leur connaissance l'année dernière

26) ( have opportunity)

to get to do — avoir l'occasion de faire, pouvoir faire

27) ( start)

to get (to be) — commencer à devenir

to get to doing — (colloq) commencer à faire

then I got to thinking that... — puis je me suis dit que...

we'll have to get going — il va falloir y aller

28) ( must)

to have got to do — devoir faire [homework, chore]

it's got to be done — il faut le faire

you've got to realize that... — il faut que tu te rendes compte que...

there's got to be a reason — il doit y avoir une raison

29) ( persuade)

to get somebody to do — demander à quelqu'un de faire

I got her to talk — j'ai réussi à la faire parler

did you get anything out of her? — est-ce que tu as réussi à la faire parler?

30) ( have somebody do)

to get something done — faire faire quelque chose

to get the car repaired — faire réparer la voiture

to get one's hair cut — se faire couper les cheveux

how do you ever get anything done? — comment est-ce que tu arrives à travailler?

31) ( cause)

to get the car going — faire démarrer la voiture

as hot as you can get it — aussi chaud que possible

to get one's socks wet — mouiller ses chaussettes

to get one's finger trapped — se coincer le doigt
2.
intransitive verb (p prés - tt-; prét got; pp got, gotten US)

1) ( become) devenir [suspicious, old]

how lucky/stupid can you get! — il y en a qui ont de la chance/qui sont vraiment stupides!

it's getting late — il se fait tard

how did he get like that? — comment est-ce qu'il en est arrivé là?

2) ( forming passive)

to get (oneself) killed — se faire tuer

to get hurt — être blessé

3) ( become involved in)

to get into — (colloq) ( as hobby) se mettre à; ( as job) commencer dans; fig

to get into a fight — se battre

4) ( arrive)

to get there — arriver

to get to the airport — arriver à l'aéroport

how did your coat get here? — comment est-ce que ton manteau est arrivé là?

how did you get here? — ( by what miracle) comment est-ce que tu es arrivé là?; ( by what means) comment est-ce que tu es venu?

where did you get to? — où est-ce que tu étais passé?

we've got to page 5 — nous en sommes à la page 5

5) ( progress)

it got to 7 o'clock — il était 7 heures

I'd got as far as the title — j'en étais au titre

I'm getting nowhere with this essay — je n'avance pas dans cette dissertation

now we're getting somewhere — il y a du progrès

6) (colloq) ( put on)

to get into — mettre, enfiler (colloq) [pyjamas, overalls]

•

Phrasal Verbs:

- get about

- get across

- get ahead

- get along

- get around

- get at

- get away

- get away from

- get back

- get behind

- get by

- get down

- get in

- get into

- get off

- get on

- get onto

- get on with

- get out

- get out of

- get over

- get round

- get through

- get together

- get under

- get up

••

get along with you! — (colloq) ne sois pas ridicule!

get away with you! — (colloq) arrête de raconter n'importe quoi! (colloq)

get him in that hat! — regarde-le avec ce chapeau!

I'll get you (colloq) for that — je vais te le faire payer (colloq)

I'm getting there — je progresse

he's got it bad — (colloq) il est vraiment mordu

I've got it — j'ai compris

to get above oneself — commencer à avoir la grosse tête (colloq)

to get it together — (colloq) se ressaisir

to tell somebody where to get off — envoyer promener quelqu'un

to get with it — (colloq) se mettre dans le coup (colloq)

what's got into her? — qu'est-ce qui lui a pris?

you've got me there! — alors là tu me poses une colle! (colloq)

English-French dictionary > get
7 Colours

Not all English colour terms have a single exact equivalent in French: for instance, in some circumstances brown is marron, in others brun. If in doubt, look the word up in the dictionary.

Colour terms

what colour is it?

= c’est de quelle couleur? or (more formally) de quelle couleur est-il?

it’s green

= il est vert or elle est verte

to paint sth green

= peindre qch en vert

to dye sth green

= teindre qch en vert

to wear green

= porter du vert

dressed in green

= habillé de vert

Colour nouns are all masculine in French:

I like green

= j’aime le vert

I prefer blue

= je préfère le bleu

red suits her

= le rouge lui va bien

it’s a pretty yellow!

= c’est un joli jaune!

have you got it in white?

= est-ce que vous l’avez en blanc?

a pretty shade of blue

= un joli ton de bleu

it was a dreadful green

= c’était un vert affreux

a range of greens

= une gamme de verts

Most adjectives of colour agree with the noun they modify:

a blue coat

= un manteau bleu

a blue dress

= une robe bleue

blue clothes

= des vêtements bleus

Some that don’t agree are explained below.

Words that are not true adjectives

Some words that translate English adjectives are really nouns in French, and so don’t show agreement:

a brown shoe

= une chaussure marron

orange tablecloths

= des nappes fpl orange

hazel eyes

= des yeux mpl noisette

Other French words like this include: cerise ( cherry-red), chocolat ( chocolate-brown) and émeraude ( emerald-green).

Shades of colour

Expressions like pale blue, dark green or light yellow are also invariable in French and show no agreement:

a pale blue shirt

= une chemise bleu pâle

dark green blankets

= des couvertures fpl vert foncé

a light yellow tie

= une cravate jaune clair

bright yellow socks

= des chaussettes fpl jaune vif

French can also use the colour nouns here: instead of une chemise bleu pâle you could say une chemise d’un bleu pâle ; and similarly des couvertures d’un vert foncé (etc). The nouns in French are normally used to translate English adjectives of this type ending in -er and -est:

a darker blue

= un bleu plus foncé

the dress was a darker blue

= la robe était d’un bleu plus foncé

Similarly:

a lighter blue

= un bleu plus clair (etc.)

In the following examples, blue stands for most basic colour terms:

pale blue

= bleu pâle

light blue

= bleu clair

bright blue

= bleu vif

dark blue

= bleu foncé

deep blue

= bleu profond

strong blue

= bleu soutenu

Other types of compound in French are also invariable, and do not agree with their nouns:

a navy-blue jacket

= une veste bleu marine

These compounds include: bleu ciel ( sky-blue), vert pomme ( apple-green), bleu nuit ( midnight-blue), rouge sang ( blood-red) etc. However, all English compounds do not translate directly into French. If in doubt, check in the dictionary.

French compounds consisting of two colour terms linked with a hyphen are also invariable:

a blue-black material

= une étoffe bleu-noir

a greenish-blue cup

= une tasse bleu-vert

a greeny-yellow dress

= une robe vert-jaune

English uses the ending -ish, or sometimes -y, to show that something is approximately a certain colour, e.g. a reddish hat or a greenish paint. The French equivalent is -âtre:

blue-ish

= bleuâtre

greenish or greeny

= verdâtre

greyish

= grisâtre

reddish

= rougeâtre

yellowish or yellowy

= jaunâtre

etc.

Other similar French words are rosâtre, noirâtre and blanchâtre. Note however that these words are often rather negative in French. It is better not to use them if you want to be complimentary about something. Use instead tirant sur le rouge/jaune etc.

To describe a special colour, English can add -coloured to a noun such as raspberry (framboise) or flesh (chair). Note how this is said in French, where the two-word compound with couleur is invariable, and, unlike English, never has a hyphen:

a chocolate-coloured skirt

= une jupe couleur chocolat

raspberry-coloured fabric

= du tissu couleur framboise

flesh-coloured tights

= un collant couleur chair

Colour verbs

English makes some colour verbs by adding -en (e.g. blacken). Similarly French has some verbs in -ir made from colour terms:

to blacken

= noircir

to redden

= rougir

to whiten

= blanchir

The other French colour terms that behave like this are: bleu (bleuir), jaune (jaunir), rose (rosir) and vert (verdir). It is always safe, however, to use devenir, thus:

to turn purple

= devenir violet

Describing people

Note the use of the definite article in the following:

to have black hair

= avoir les cheveux noirs

to have blue eyes

= avoir les yeux bleus

Note the use of à in the following:

a girl with blue eyes

= une jeune fille aux yeux bleus

the man with black hair

= l’homme aux cheveux noirs

Not all colours have direct equivalents in French. The following words are used for describing the colour of someone’s hair (note that les cheveux is plural in French):

fair

= blond

dark

= brun

blonde or blond

= blond

brown

= châtain inv

red

= roux

black

= noir

grey

= gris

white

= blanc

Check other terms such as yellow, ginger, auburn, mousey etc. in the dictionary.

Note these nouns in French:

a fair-haired man

= un blond

a fair-haired woman

= une blonde

a dark-haired man

= un brun

a dark-haired woman

= une brune

The following words are useful for describing the colour of someone’s eyes:

blue

= bleu

light blue

= bleu clair inv

light brown

= marron clair inv

brown

= marron inv

hazel

= noisette inv

green

= vert

grey

= gris

greyish-green

= gris-vert inv

dark

= noir

Big English-French dictionary > Colours
8 Date

Where English has several ways of writing dates, such as May 10, 10 May, 10th May etc. French has only one generally accepted way: le 10 mai, ( say le dix mai). However, as in English, dates in French may be written informally: 10.5.68 or 31/7/65 etc.

The general pattern in French is:

le cardinal number month year

le 10 mai 1901

But if the date is the first of the month, use premier, abbreviated as 1er:

May 1st 1901

= le 1er mai 1901

Note that French does not use capital letters for months, or for days of the week ⇒ The months of the year and ⇒ The days of the week ; also French does not usually abbreviate the names of the months:

Sept 10

= le 10 septembre etc.

If the day of the week is included, put it after the le:

Monday, May 1st 1901

= le lundi 1er mai 1901

Monday the 25th

= lundi 25 ( say lundi vingt-cinq)

Saying and writing dates

what’s the date?

= quel jour sommes-nous?

it’s the tenth

= nous sommes le dix or (less formally) on est le dix

it’s the tenth of May

= nous sommes le dix mai or (less formally) on est le dix mai

* (i) There are two ways of saying hundreds and thousands in dates:

1968

= mille neuf cent soixante-huit or dix-neuf cent soixante-huit

(ii) The spelling mil is used in legal French, otherwise mille is used in dates, except when a round number of thousands is involved, in which case the words l’an are added:

1900

= mille neuf cents

2000

= l’an deux mille

† French prefers Roman numerals for centuries:

the 16th century

= le XVIe

Saying on

French uses only the definite article, without any word for on:

it happened on 6th March

= c’est arrivé le 6 mars ( say le six mars)

he came on the 21st

= il est arrivé le 21 ( say le vingt et un)

see you on the 6th

= on se voit le 6 ( say le six)

on the 2nd of every month

= le 2 de chaque mois ( say le deux...)

he’ll be here on the 3rd

= il sera là le 3 ( say le trois)

Saying in

French normally uses en for years but prefers en l’an for out-of-the-ordinary dates:

in 1968

= en 1968 ( say en mille neuf cent soixante-huit or en dix-neuf cent…)

in 1896

= en 1896 ( say en mille huit cent quatre-vingt-seize or en dix-huit cent…)

in the year 2000

= en l’an deux mille

in AD 27

= en l’an 27 ( say l’an vingt-sept) de notre ère

in 132 BC

= en l’an 132 ( say l’an cent trente-deux) avant Jésus-Christ

With names of months, in is translated by en or au mois de:

in May 1970

= en mai mille neuf cent soixante-dix or au mois de mai mille neuf cent soixante-dix

With centuries, French uses au:

in the seventeenth century

= au dix-septième siècle

The word siècle is often omitted in colloquial French:

in the eighteenth century

= au dix-huitième siècle or (less formally) au dix-huitième

Note also:

in the early 12th century

= au début du XIIe siècle ( say du douzième siècle)

in the late 14th century

= à or vers la fin du XIVe siècle ( say du quatorzième siècle)

Phrases

Remember that the date in French always has the definite article, so, in combined forms, au and du are required:

from the 10th onwards

= à partir du 10 ( say du dix)

stay until the 14th

= reste jusqu’au 14 ( say au quatorze)

from 21st to 30th May

= du 21 au 30 mai ( say du vingt et un au trente mai)

around 16th May

= le 16 mai environ/vers le 16 mai ( say le seize mai) or aux environs du seize mai ( say du seize mai)

not until 1999

= pas avant 1999 ( say mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf)

Shakespeare (1564-1616)

= Shakespeare (1564-1616) ( say Shakespeare, quinze cent soixante-quatre-seize cent seize)

Shakespeare b. 1564 d.1616

= Shakespeare, né en 1564, mort en 1616 ( say Shakespeare, né en quinze cent soixante-quatre, mort en seize cent seize).

Note that French has no abbreviations for né and mort.

in May ’45

= en mai 45 ( say en mai quarante-cinq)

in the 1980s

= dans les années 80 ( say dans les années quatre-vingts)

in the early sixties

= au début des années 60 ( say des années soixante)

in the late seventies

= à la fin des années 70 ( say des années soixante-dix)

the riots of ’68

= les émeutes de 68 ( say de soixante-huit)

the 14-18 war

= la guerre de 14 or de 14-18 ( say de quatorze or de quatorze-dix-huit)

the 1912 uprising

= le soulèvement de 1912 ( say de mille neuf cent douze)

Big English-French dictionary > Date
9 Usage note : be

The direct French equivalent of the verb to be in subject + to be + predicate sentences is être:

I am tired

= je suis fatigué

Caroline is French

= Caroline est française

the children are in the garden

= les enfants sont dans le jardin

It 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 médecin

Claudie is still a student

= Claudie est toujours étudiante

This is true of any noun used in apposition when the subject is a person:

he’s a widower

= il est veuf

But

Lyons is a beautiful city

= Lyon est une belle ville

For 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 functions

The passive

être 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 renard

the window had been broken

= la fenêtre avait été cassée

their books will be sold

= leurs livres seront vendus

our doors have been repainted red

= nos portes ont été repeintes en rouge

In 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 tenses

In 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 present

French uses simply the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:

I am working

= je travaille

Ben is reading a book

= Ben lit un livre

In 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 future

French also uses the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:

we are going to London tomorrow

= nous allons à Londres demain

I’m (just) coming!

= j’arrive!

I’m (just) going!

= j’y vais!

The past

To 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 mère

he was writing to his mother

= il écrivait à sa mère

However, 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 past

Compound past tenses in the progressive form in English are generally translated by the imperfect in French:

I’ve been looking for you

= je te cherchais

For 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.

Obligation

When 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 suite

what am I to do?

= qu’est-ce que je dois faire?

he was to arrive last Monday

= il devait arriver lundi dernier

she was never to see him again

= elle ne devait plus le revoir.

In tag questions

French 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 answers

Again, 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’

Probability

For expressions of probability and supposition ( if I were you etc.) see the entry be.

Other functions

Expressing sensations and feelings

In expressing physical and mental sensations, the verb used in French is avoir:

to be cold

= avoir froid

to be hot

= avoir chaud

I’m cold

= j’ai froid

to be thirsty

= avoir soif

to be hungry

= avoir faim

to be ashamed

= avoir honte

my hands are cold

= j’ai froid aux mains

If, 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 are

In 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’hui

Discussing weather and temperature

In expressions of weather and temperature faire is generally used:

it’s cold

= il fait froid

it’s windy

= il fait du vent

If in doubt, consult the appropriate adjective entry.

Visiting somewhere

When 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 Suède

have 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 fois

Note too:

has the postman been?

= est-ce que le facteur est passé?

For here is, here are, there is, there are see the entries here and there.

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.

Big English-French dictionary > Usage note : be
10 Usage note : for

When for is used as a preposition, followed by a noun or pronoun, it is translated by pour:

for my sister

= pour ma sœur

for the garden

= pour le jardin

for me

= pour moi

For 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 vitres

When 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 rester

it 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 changements

For the construction to be waiting for sb to do see the entry wait.

For particular usages see the entry for.

In time expressions

for 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 heures

we’ve been together for two years (and we’re still together)

= nous sommes ensemble depuis deux ans

When 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 heures

for 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 ans

In 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 vu

for 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 heures

for 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 semaines

I will go to Rome for six weeks

= j’irai à Rome pour six semaines

Note, 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 semaines

he will be away for three days

= il sera absent pendant trois jours

For 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.).

Big English-French dictionary > Usage note : for
11 again

again [əˈgen]

adverb

   a. ( = one more time) encore

• show me again montre-moi encore une fois

• it's him again! c'est encore lui !

• what's his name again? comment s'appelle-t-il déjà ?

• but there again... mais là encore...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Note that a specific verb can often be used to translate English verb + again into French.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I had to do it again j'ai dû le refaire

• please call again later merci de rappeler plus tard

• we went there again nous y sommes retournés

• to begin again recommencer

• to see sb/sth again revoir qn/qch

• he was soon well again il s'est vite remis

• she is home again elle est rentrée

   b. (with negative) plus

• I won't do it again je ne le ferai plus

• I won't do it ever again je ne le ferai plus jamais

• never again jamais plus

• never again! c'est bien la dernière fois !

• not again! encore !

• but then again... mais d'un autre côté...

   c. (set structures)

► again and again à plusieurs reprises

• I've told you again and again je te l'ai dit et répété► (all) over again

• to start all over again recommencer au début

• he had to count them over again il a dû les recompter► as... again

• he is as old again as Christine il a deux fois l'âge de Christine

• as much again deux fois autant

* * *
[ə'geɪn, ə'gen]
Note: When used with a verb, again is often translated by adding the prefix re to the verb in French: to start again = recommencer; to marry again = se remarier; I'd like to read that book again = j'aimerais relire ce livre; she never saw them again = elle ne les a jamais revus. You can check re+ verbs by consulting the French side of the dictionary

For other uses of again and for idiomatic expressions, see below

adverb encore

sing it (once) again! — chante-le encore (une fois)!

yet again he refused — il a encore refusé

when you are well again — quand tu seras rétabli

I'll never go there again — je n'y retournerai jamais

never again! — jamais plus!

not again! — encore!

again and again — à plusieurs reprises

time and (time) again — maintes fois

again, you may think that — et là encore, vous pourriez penser que

(and) then again, he may not — mais il se peut aussi qu'il ne le fasse pas

English-French dictionary > again
12 do

I.

do¹ [du:]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. auxiliary verb

2. transitive verb

3. intransitive verb

4. noun

5. plural noun

6. Phrasal Verbs

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► vb: 3rd pers sg pres does, pret did, ptp done

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. auxiliary verb

   a.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► There is no equivalent in French to the use of do in questions, negative statements and negative commands.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• do you understand? (est-ce que) vous comprenez ?

• I don't understand je ne comprends pas

• didn't you like it? tu n'as pas aimé ça ?

• don't worry! ne t'en fais pas !

   b. (in tag questions seeking confirmation) n'est-ce pas

• you know him, don't you? vous le connaissez, n'est-ce pas ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The tag is sometimes not translated.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he didn't go, did he? il n'y est pas allé(, n'est-ce pas) ?

• (so) you know him, do you? alors comme ça vous le connaissez ?

• she said that, did she? ah oui ? elle a dit ça ?

   c. (in tag responses) they speak French -- oh, do they? ils parlent français -- ah oui ?

• he wanted £1,000 for it -- did he really? il en demandait 1 000 livres -- vraiment ?

• who broke the mirror? -- I did qui a cassé la glace ? -- moi

• may I come in? -- please do! puis-je entrer ? -- je t'en prie !

• shall I ring her again? -- no, don't! est-ce que je la rappelle ? -- surtout pas !

• I'll tell him -- don't! je vais le lui dire -- surtout pas !

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► oui or non alone are often used to answer questions.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• do you see them often? -- yes, I do vous les voyez souvent ? -- oui

• did you see him? -- no I didn't est-ce que tu l'as vu ? -- non

   d. (substitute for another verb) he's always saying he'll stop smoking, but he never does il dit toujours qu'il va s'arrêter de fumer mais il ne le fait pas

• you drive faster than I do tu conduis plus vite que moi

• I like this colour, don't you? j'aime bien cette couleur, pas toi ?

   e. (encouraging) DO come! venez donc !

• DO tell him that... dites-lui bien que...

   f. (used for emphasis) I DO wish I could come with you je voudrais tant pouvoir vous accompagner

• but I DO like pasta! mais si j'aime bien les pâtes !

• I am sure he never said that -- he DID say it je suis sûr qu'il n'a jamais dit ça -- je t'assure que si !

• so you DO know them! alors comme ça tu les connais !

2. transitive verb

   a. faire

• what are you doing in the bathroom? qu'est-ce que tu fais dans la salle de bains ?

• what do you do for a living? que faites-vous dans la vie ?

• the car was doing 100mph la voiture faisait du 160 km/h

• to do again refaire

• it's all got to be done again tout est à refaire

• now you've done it! c'est malin !

• that's done it! (inf) (in dismay) c'est fichu ! (inf) ; (satisfaction) ça y est !

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Some do + noun combinations require a more specific French verb.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to do the flowers arranger les fleurs

• to do one's hair se coiffer

• to do one's teeth se laver les dents

• to do nine subjects étudier neuf matières

• to do an author étudier un auteur

• he does his maths master to perfection il imite son professeur de math à la perfection

• to do heroin (inf) prendre de l'héroïne

   b. ( = finish) to get done with sth en finir avec qch

   c. ( = cook) faire ; ( = peel) éplucher

• I'll do some pasta je vais faire des pâtes

• how do you like your steak done? comment voulez-vous votre bifteck ?

• I like steak well done j'aime le bifteck bien cuit

   d. (British = cheat) to be done (inf) se faire avoir (inf)

   e. ( = suffice) aller à

• will a kilo do you? un kilo, ça ira ?

• that will do me nicely ça ira très bien

   f. (set structures)

► to do + preposition

• there's nothing I can do about it je ne peux rien y faire

• he's been badly done by on s'est très mal conduit avec lui

• what are we going to do for money? comment allons-nous faire pour trouver de l'argent ?

• what can I do for you? qu'est-ce que je peux faire pour vous ?

• could you do something for me? est-ce que tu peux me rendre un service ?

• what are you doing to that poor cat? qu'est-ce que tu es en train de faire à ce pauvre chat ?

• this theme has been done to death c'est un sujet rebattu

• what have you done with my gloves? qu'as-tu fait de mes gants ?

• he didn't know what to do with himself il ne savait pas à quel saint se vouer

• what am I going to do with you? qu'est-ce que je vais bien pouvoir faire de toi ?

3. intransitive verb

   a. ( = act) faire

• do as your friends do faites comme vos amis

• do as I say fais ce que je dis

• he did well to take advice il a bien fait de prendre conseil

• you would do well to rest more vous feriez bien de vous reposer davantage

• he did right il a bien fait

• he did right to go il a bien fait d'y aller

• could you lend me £50? -- nothing doing! (inf) tu pourrais me prêter 50 livres ? -- pas question !

   b. ( = get on) aller ; (as regards health) se porter

• how are you doing? comment ça va ?

• how's he doing? comment va-t-il ?

• the patient is doing better now le malade va mieux

• he's doing well at school il a de bons résultats à l'école

• the patient is doing very well le malade est en très bonne voie

• how do you do? (on being introduced) enchanté (de faire votre connaissance)

• the roses are doing well this year les roses sont belles cette année

   c. ( = finish) terminer

• have you done? vous avez terminé ?

► to have done with

• I've done with all that nonsense je ne veux plus entendre parler de ces bêtises

• have you done with that book? vous n'avez plus besoin de ce livre ?

   d. ( = suit) aller

• this room will do cette chambre fera l'affaire

• that will do for the moment ça ira pour le moment

• that will never do! il n'en est pas question !

• it doesn't do to tell him what you think of him ce n'est pas une bonne idée de lui dire ce qu'on pense de lui

• this coat will do as a blanket ce manteau peut servir de couverture

   e. ( = be sufficient) suffire

• three bottles of wine should do trois bouteilles de vin devraient suffire

• can you lend me some money? -- will £10 do? peux-tu me prêter de l'argent ? -- dix livres, ça ira ?

• that will do! ça ira !

   f. ► to have to do with ( = be connected with)

what has that got to do with it? qu'est-ce que ça a à voir ?

• they say crime has nothing to do with unemployment ils prétendent que la criminalité n'a rien à voir avec le chômage

• that has nothing to do with it! cela n'a aucun rapport !

• this debate has to do with the cost of living ce débat porte sur le coût de la vie

• that's got a lot to do with it! ça y est pour beaucoup !

• money has a lot to do with it l'argent y est pour beaucoup

• that has nothing to do with you! ça ne vous regarde pas !

• I won't have anything to do with it je ne veux pas m'en mêler

4. noun

(British) fête f

• they had a big do for their twenty-fifth anniversary ils ont fait une grande fête pour leur vingt-cinquième anniversaire de mariage

5. plural noun

dos

• the dos and don'ts ce qu'il faut faire ou ne pas faire

6. Phrasal Verbs

► do away with inseparable transitive verb

   a. ( = get rid of) [+ law, controls] abolir ; [+ nuclear weapons] démanteler ; [+ subsidies] supprimer ; [+ building] démolir

• this will do away with the need for a UN presence cela rendra la présence des Nations unies superflue

   b. ( = kill) (inf) supprimer

• to do away with o.s. se supprimer► do down (inf) separable transitive verb

(British) [+ person] dénigrer

• she's always doing herself down il faut toujours qu'elle se rabaisse► do for (inf) inseparable transitive verb

( = ruin) [+ hopes, chances, project] ficher (inf) en l'air

• he's done for il est fichu (inf)► do in (inf!) separable transitive verb

   a. ( = kill) buter (inf !)

   b. ( = overwhelm) it does my head in ça me prend la tête (inf)

   c. ( = exhaust) épuiser

• to be done in être claqué (inf)► do out of (inf) separable transitive verb

• to do sb out of £100 arnaquer (inf) qn de 100 livres

• to do sb out of a job piquer son travail à qn► do over separable transitive verb

   a. (US = redo) (inf) refaire

   b. (British) (inf!) ( = beat up) tabasser (inf) ; ( = ransack) mettre sens dessus dessous

• the door was open: they had done the place over la porte était ouverte: ils avaient mis la maison sens dessus dessous

   c. ( = redecorate) refaire► do up

1. intransitive verb

[dress, jacket] se fermer

2. separable transitive verb

   a. ( = fasten) [+ buttons] boutonner ; [+ zip, dress] fermer ; [+ shoes] lacer

   b. ( = parcel together) emballer

• to do sth up in a parcel emballer qch

• to do up a parcel faire un paquet

   c. ( = renovate) [+ house, room] (inf) refaire ; ( = dress) (inf) arranger

• she was done up in a bizarre outfit elle était bizarrement affublée

• to do o.s. up se faire beau ( belle f)► do with (inf) inseparable transitive verb

   a. I could do with a cup of tea je prendrais bien une tasse de thé

• the house could do with a coat of paint la maison a besoin d'un bon coup de peinture

   b. ( = tolerate) supporter

• I can't be doing with whining children je ne supporte pas les enfants qui pleurnichent► do without

1. inseparable transitive verb

se passer de

• I could have done without that! je m'en serais bien passé !

• I can do without your advice! je vous dispense de vos conseils !

2. intransitive verb

• we had to do without on a dû se serrer la ceinture

II.

do² [dəʊ]

noun

(Music) do m

* * *
I 1. [duː, də]
transitive verb (3^e pers sg prés does; prét did; pp done)

1) ( be busy) faire [washing up, ironing etc]

to do something again — refaire quelque chose

she's been doing too much lately — elle en fait trop ces derniers temps

will you do something for me? — peux-tu me rendre un service?

2) ( make smart)

to do somebody's hair — coiffer quelqu'un

to do one's teeth — se brosser les dents

to do the living room in pink — peindre le salon en rose

3) ( complete) faire [military service, period of time]

4) ( finish)

have you done (colloq) complaining? — tu as fini de te plaindre?

tell him now and have done with it — dis-le lui maintenant, ce sera fait

it's as good as done — c'est comme si c'était fait

that's done it — ( task successfully completed) ça y est; ( expressing dismay) il ne manquait plus que ça

5) ( complete through study) faire [subject, degree, homework]

6) ( write) faire [translation, critique]

7) ( effect change) faire

what have you done to your hair? — qu'est-ce que vous avez fait à vos cheveux?

I haven't done anything with your pen! — je n'ai pas touché à ton stylo!

that hat does a lot for her — ce chapeau lui va bien

8) ( hurt) faire

to do something to one's arm — se faire mal au bras

9) (colloq) ( deal with)

they don't do theatre tickets — ils ne vendent pas de billets de théâtre

to do breakfasts — servir le petit déjeuner

10) ( cook) faire [sausages, spaghetti etc]

well done — [meat] bien cuit

11) ( prepare) préparer [vegetables]

12) ( produce) monter [play]; faire [film, programme] (on sur)

13) ( imitate) imiter [celebrity, mannerism]

14) ( travel at) faire

to do 60 — faire du 60 à l'heure

15) ( cover distance of) faire [30 km etc]

16) (colloq) ( satisfy needs of)

will this do you? — ça vous ira?

17) (colloq) ( cheat)

we've been done — on s'est fait avoir

to do somebody out of £5 — refaire (colloq) quelqu'un de 5 livres sterling

18) (colloq) ( rob)

to do a bank — faire un casse (colloq) dans une banque

19) (colloq) (arrest, convict)

to get done for — se faire prendre pour [illegal parking etc]
2.
intransitive verb (3^e pers sg prés does; prét did; pp done)

1) ( behave) faire

do as you're told — ( by me) fais ce que je te dis; ( by others) fais ce qu'on te dit

2) ( serve purpose)

that box will do — cette boîte fera l'affaire

3) ( be acceptable)

this really won't do! — ( as reprimand) ça ne peut pas continuer comme ça!

4) ( be sufficient) [amount of money] suffire

5) ( finish) finir

6) ( get on) [person] s'en sortir; [business] marcher

7) ( in health)

mother and baby are both doing well — la mère et l'enfant se portent bien

the patient is doing well — l'état de santé du patient s'améliore rapidement
3.
auxiliary verb (3^e pers sg prés does; prét did; pp done)

1) (with questions, negatives)

own up, did you or didn't you take my pen? — avoue, est-ce que c'est toi qui as pris mon stylo ou pas?

didn't he look wonderful! — est-ce qu'il n'était pas merveilleux!

2) ( for emphasis)

so you do want to go after all! — alors tu veux vraiment y aller finalement!

I do wish you'd let me help you — j'aimerais tant que tu me laisses t'aider

3) ( referring back to another verb)

he said he'd tell her and he did — il a dit qu'il le lui dirait et il l'a fait

you draw better than I do — tu dessines mieux que moi

4) (in requests, imperatives)

do sit down — asseyez-vous, je vous en prie

do shut up! — tais-toi veux-tu!

don't you tell me what to do! — je n'ai pas de leçons à recevoir de toi

5) ( in tag questions and responses)

he lives in France, doesn't he? — il habite en France, n'est-ce pas?

‘who wrote it?’ - ‘I did’ — ‘qui l'a écrit?’ - ‘moi’

‘shall I tell him?’ - ‘no don't’ — ‘est-ce que je le lui dis?’ - ‘non surtout pas’

‘he knows the President’ - ‘does he?’ — ‘il connaît le Président’ - ‘vraiment?’

so/neither does he — lui aussi/non plus
4.
(colloq) noun GB fête f

his leaving do — son pot (colloq) de départ

Phrasal Verbs:

- do away with

- do in

- do out

- do up

- do with

- do without

••

do as you would be done by — ne faites pas ce que vous ne voudriez pas qu'on vous fasse

how do you do — enchanté

it doesn't do to be — ce n'est pas une bonne chose d'être

it's a poor do (colloq) if — c'est vraiment grave si

it was all I could do not to... — je me suis retenu pour ne pas...

nothing doing! — ( no way) pas question!

well done! — bravo!

what are you doing with yourself these days? — qu'est-ce que tu deviens?

what are you going to do for money? — où vas-tu trouver l'argent?

all the dos and don'ts — tout ce qu'il faut/fallait faire et ne pas faire
II [dəʊ]
noun Music = doh

English-French dictionary > do
13 BE

be [bi:]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. link verb

2. auxiliary verb

3. modal verb

4. intransitive verb

5. impersonal verb

6. compounds

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► pres am, is, are, pret was, were, ptp been

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. link verb

   a. être

• the sky is blue le ciel est bleu

• who is that? -- it's me! qui est-ce ? -- c'est moi !

• she's English elle est anglaise

• they are friendly ils sont sympathiques

• if I were you I would refuse si j'étais vous, je refuserais

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The following translations use ce + être because they contain an article or possessive in French.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• she is an Englishwoman c'est une Anglaise

• they are my best friends ce sont mes meilleurs amis

• it's the most expensive c'est le plus cher

   b. (with occupation) être

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► No article is used in French, unless the noun is qualified by an adjective.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he wants to be a doctor il veut être médecin

• she's a well-known lawyer c'est une avocate renommée

   c. (referring to health) aller

• how are you? comment allez-vous ?

• I'm better now je vais mieux maintenant

   d. ( = cost) coûter

• how much is it? combien ça coûte ?

   e. ( = equal) faire

• two and two are four deux et deux font quatre

   f.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Note how the verb avoir is used when translating to be + certain adjectives.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to be cold/hot/hungry/thirsty/ashamed/right/wrong avoir froid/chaud/faim/soif/honte/raison/tort

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Note how French makes the person, not the part of the body, the subject of the sentence in the following.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• my feet are cold j'ai froid aux pieds

• my hands are frozen j'ai les mains gelées

   g. (with age) avoir

• how old is he? quel âge a-t-il ?

• he's 25 il a 25 ans

• she's about my age elle a à peu près mon âge

2. auxiliary verb

   a. (in continuous tenses)

► to be + -ing

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► French does not distinguish between simple and continuous actions as much as English does.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I'm coming! j'arrive !

• she's always complaining elle est toujours en train de se plaindre

• what have you been doing this week? qu'est-ce que tu as fait cette semaine ?

• will you be seeing her tomorrow? est-ce que vous allez la voir demain ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► être en train de + infinitive emphasizes that one is in the middle of the action.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I haven't got time, I'm cooking the dinner je n'ai pas le temps, je suis en train de préparer le repas

• I was just writing to him when he phoned j'étais en train de lui écrire quand il m'a appelé

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The imperfect tense is used for continuous action in the past.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he was driving too fast il conduisait trop vite

► have/had been +... for/since

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► French uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I've been waiting for you for an hour je t'attends depuis une heure

• I've been waiting for you since six o'clock je t'attends depuis six heures

• I'd been at university for six weeks when my father got ill j'étais à l'université depuis six semaines quand mon père est tombé malade

   b. (in tag questions seeking confirmation) n'est-ce pas ?

• he's a friend of yours, isn't he? c'est un ami à toi, n'est-ce pas ?

• she wasn't happy, was she? elle n'était pas heureuse, n'est-ce pas ?

• so it's all done, is it? tout est fait, alors ?

• you're not ill, are you? tu n'es pas malade j'espère ?

   c. (in tag responses) they're getting married -- oh are they? ils vont se marier -- ah bon ?

• he's going to complain about you -- oh is he? il va porter plainte contre toi -- ah vraiment ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When answering questions, oui or non may be used alone.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he's always late, isn't he? -- yes, he is il est toujours en retard, n'est-ce pas ? -- oui

• is it what you expected? -- no it isn't est-ce que tu t'attendais à ça ? -- non

   d. (in passives) être

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The past participle in French passive constructions agrees with the subject.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he was killed il a été tué

• she was killed elle a été tuée

• both goals were scored in the second half les deux buts ont été marqués à la deuxième mi-temps

• the cars were set on fire les voitures ont été incendiées

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The passive is used less in French than in English. It is often expressed by on + active verb.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• the door was shut in his face on lui a fermé la porte au nez

• it is said that... on dit que...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The reflexive can be used to describe how something is usually done.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• peaches are sold by the kilo les pêches se vendent au kilo

3. modal verb

► am/are/is to + infinitive

   a. ( = will)

the talks are to start tomorrow les négociations doivent commencer demain

• now the old lady has died, her house is to be sold maintenant que la vieille dame est décédée, sa maison va être mise en vente

   b. ( = must) you are to follow these instructions exactly tu dois suivre ces instructions scrupuleusement

• you are not to touch that tu ne dois pas y toucher

• this door is not to be opened cette porte ne doit pas être ouverte

   c. ( = should) he is to be pitied il est à plaindre

• not to be confused with... à ne pas confondre avec...

   d. ( = be destined to) this was to have serious repercussions cela devait avoir de graves répercussions

• they were never to return ils ne devaient jamais revenir

   e. ( = can) these birds are to be found all over the world on trouve ces oiseaux dans le monde entier

4. intransitive verb

   a. être ; ( = take place) avoir lieu

• to be or not to be être ou ne pas être

• he is there at the moment, but he won't be there much longer il est là en ce moment mais il ne va pas rester très longtemps

• the match is tomorrow le match a lieu demain

• Christmas Day is on a Wednesday this year Noël tombe un mercredi cette année

► there is/are ( = there exist(s)) il y a

• there is a mouse in the room il y a une souris dans la pièce

• there are pigeons on the roof il y a des pigeons sur le toit

• I thought there would be problems je pensais qu'il y aurait des problèmes

• there are three of us nous sommes trois► there's (pointing out sth) voilà

• there's the church voilà l'église► here is/are voici

• here's your key voici ta clé

• here are the tickets voici les billets

• here you are at last! te voilà enfin !

• here you are! ( = take this) tiens (or tenez) !

   b. ► to have been (to a place)

I have already been to Paris je suis déjà allé à Paris

• I have been to see my aunt je suis allé voir ma tante

• he has been and gone il est venu et reparti

• where have you been? où étais-tu passé ?

5. impersonal verb

   a. (weather, temperature) faire

• it's fine/cold/dark il fait beau/froid/nuit

• it's 20 degrees in the shade il fait 20 degrés à l'ombre

• it's windy/foggy il y a du vent/du brouillard

   b. (time) être

• it's morning c'est le matin

• it's 6 o'clock il est 6 heures

• tomorrow is Friday demain c'est vendredi

• it is 14 June today nous sommes le 14 juin

   c. (emphatic) it's me who does all the work c'est moi qui fais tout le travail

• it was then we realized that... c'est alors que nous nous sommes rendu compte que...

• it was they who suggested that... ce sont eux qui ont suggéré que...

• why is it that she is so popular? pourquoi a-t-elle tant de succès ?

6. compounds

► the be-all and end-all noun le but suprême

* * *

noun: abrév bill of exchange

English-French dictionary > BE
14 be

be [bi:]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. link verb

2. auxiliary verb

3. modal verb

4. intransitive verb

5. impersonal verb

6. compounds

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► pres am, is, are, pret was, were, ptp been

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. link verb

   a. être

• the sky is blue le ciel est bleu

• who is that? -- it's me! qui est-ce ? -- c'est moi !

• she's English elle est anglaise

• they are friendly ils sont sympathiques

• if I were you I would refuse si j'étais vous, je refuserais

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The following translations use ce + être because they contain an article or possessive in French.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• she is an Englishwoman c'est une Anglaise

• they are my best friends ce sont mes meilleurs amis

• it's the most expensive c'est le plus cher

   b. (with occupation) être

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► No article is used in French, unless the noun is qualified by an adjective.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he wants to be a doctor il veut être médecin

• she's a well-known lawyer c'est une avocate renommée

   c. (referring to health) aller

• how are you? comment allez-vous ?

• I'm better now je vais mieux maintenant

   d. ( = cost) coûter

• how much is it? combien ça coûte ?

   e. ( = equal) faire

• two and two are four deux et deux font quatre

   f.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Note how the verb avoir is used when translating to be + certain adjectives.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to be cold/hot/hungry/thirsty/ashamed/right/wrong avoir froid/chaud/faim/soif/honte/raison/tort

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► Note how French makes the person, not the part of the body, the subject of the sentence in the following.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• my feet are cold j'ai froid aux pieds

• my hands are frozen j'ai les mains gelées

   g. (with age) avoir

• how old is he? quel âge a-t-il ?

• he's 25 il a 25 ans

• she's about my age elle a à peu près mon âge

2. auxiliary verb

   a. (in continuous tenses)

► to be + -ing

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► French does not distinguish between simple and continuous actions as much as English does.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I'm coming! j'arrive !

• she's always complaining elle est toujours en train de se plaindre

• what have you been doing this week? qu'est-ce que tu as fait cette semaine ?

• will you be seeing her tomorrow? est-ce que vous allez la voir demain ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► être en train de + infinitive emphasizes that one is in the middle of the action.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I haven't got time, I'm cooking the dinner je n'ai pas le temps, je suis en train de préparer le repas

• I was just writing to him when he phoned j'étais en train de lui écrire quand il m'a appelé

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The imperfect tense is used for continuous action in the past.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he was driving too fast il conduisait trop vite

► have/had been +... for/since

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► French uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I've been waiting for you for an hour je t'attends depuis une heure

• I've been waiting for you since six o'clock je t'attends depuis six heures

• I'd been at university for six weeks when my father got ill j'étais à l'université depuis six semaines quand mon père est tombé malade

   b. (in tag questions seeking confirmation) n'est-ce pas ?

• he's a friend of yours, isn't he? c'est un ami à toi, n'est-ce pas ?

• she wasn't happy, was she? elle n'était pas heureuse, n'est-ce pas ?

• so it's all done, is it? tout est fait, alors ?

• you're not ill, are you? tu n'es pas malade j'espère ?

   c. (in tag responses) they're getting married -- oh are they? ils vont se marier -- ah bon ?

• he's going to complain about you -- oh is he? il va porter plainte contre toi -- ah vraiment ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When answering questions, oui or non may be used alone.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he's always late, isn't he? -- yes, he is il est toujours en retard, n'est-ce pas ? -- oui

• is it what you expected? -- no it isn't est-ce que tu t'attendais à ça ? -- non

   d. (in passives) être

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The past participle in French passive constructions agrees with the subject.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he was killed il a été tué

• she was killed elle a été tuée

• both goals were scored in the second half les deux buts ont été marqués à la deuxième mi-temps

• the cars were set on fire les voitures ont été incendiées

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The passive is used less in French than in English. It is often expressed by on + active verb.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• the door was shut in his face on lui a fermé la porte au nez

• it is said that... on dit que...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The reflexive can be used to describe how something is usually done.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• peaches are sold by the kilo les pêches se vendent au kilo

3. modal verb

► am/are/is to + infinitive

   a. ( = will)

the talks are to start tomorrow les négociations doivent commencer demain

• now the old lady has died, her house is to be sold maintenant que la vieille dame est décédée, sa maison va être mise en vente

   b. ( = must) you are to follow these instructions exactly tu dois suivre ces instructions scrupuleusement

• you are not to touch that tu ne dois pas y toucher

• this door is not to be opened cette porte ne doit pas être ouverte

   c. ( = should) he is to be pitied il est à plaindre

• not to be confused with... à ne pas confondre avec...

   d. ( = be destined to) this was to have serious repercussions cela devait avoir de graves répercussions

• they were never to return ils ne devaient jamais revenir

   e. ( = can) these birds are to be found all over the world on trouve ces oiseaux dans le monde entier

4. intransitive verb

   a. être ; ( = take place) avoir lieu

• to be or not to be être ou ne pas être

• he is there at the moment, but he won't be there much longer il est là en ce moment mais il ne va pas rester très longtemps

• the match is tomorrow le match a lieu demain

• Christmas Day is on a Wednesday this year Noël tombe un mercredi cette année

► there is/are ( = there exist(s)) il y a

• there is a mouse in the room il y a une souris dans la pièce

• there are pigeons on the roof il y a des pigeons sur le toit

• I thought there would be problems je pensais qu'il y aurait des problèmes

• there are three of us nous sommes trois► there's (pointing out sth) voilà

• there's the church voilà l'église► here is/are voici

• here's your key voici ta clé

• here are the tickets voici les billets

• here you are at last! te voilà enfin !

• here you are! ( = take this) tiens (or tenez) !

   b. ► to have been (to a place)

I have already been to Paris je suis déjà allé à Paris

• I have been to see my aunt je suis allé voir ma tante

• he has been and gone il est venu et reparti

• where have you been? où étais-tu passé ?

5. impersonal verb

   a. (weather, temperature) faire

• it's fine/cold/dark il fait beau/froid/nuit

• it's 20 degrees in the shade il fait 20 degrés à l'ombre

• it's windy/foggy il y a du vent/du brouillard

   b. (time) être

• it's morning c'est le matin

• it's 6 o'clock il est 6 heures

• tomorrow is Friday demain c'est vendredi

• it is 14 June today nous sommes le 14 juin

   c. (emphatic) it's me who does all the work c'est moi qui fais tout le travail

• it was then we realized that... c'est alors que nous nous sommes rendu compte que...

• it was they who suggested that... ce sont eux qui ont suggéré que...

• why is it that she is so popular? pourquoi a-t-elle tant de succès ?

6. compounds

► the be-all and end-all noun le but suprême

* * *
[biː, bɪ]
intransitive verb (p prés being; 3^e pers sg prés is, prét was, pp been)

1) gen être

it's me —

it's I — c'est moi

he's a good pupil — c'est un bon élève

2) ( in probability)

if Henri were here — si Henri était là

were it not that... — si ce n'était que...

were they to know — s'ils savaient

if I were you — à ta place

had it not been for Frank, I'd have missed the train — sans Frank j'aurais raté le train

3) ( phrases)

so be it — d'accord

be that as it may — quoi qu'il en soit

as it were — pour ainsi dire

even if it were so — même si c'était le cas

I preferred it as it was — je l'aimais mieux avant

leave it as it is — ne changez rien

let ou leave him be — laisse-le tranquille

English-French dictionary > be
15 what

what [wɒt]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. adjective

2. pronoun

3. compounds

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. adjective

   a. (in questions and indirect speech) quel m, quelle f quels mpl, quelles fpl

• what time is it? quelle heure est-il ?

• what flavours do you want? quels parfums voulez-vous ?

• what subjects did you choose? quelles matières as-tu choisies ?

• she told me what colour it was elle m'a dit de quelle couleur c'était

• they asked me what kind of films I liked ils m'ont demandé quel genre de films j'aimais

   b. ( = all the) I gave him what money I had je lui ai donné tout l'argent que j'avais

• what savings we had are now gone le peu d'économies que nous avions s'est maintenant envolé

• I will give you what information we have je vais vous donner toutes les informations dont nous disposons

• I gave her what comfort I could je l'ai réconfortée comme j'ai pu

   c. (exclamations) what a nice surprise! quelle bonne surprise !

• what a ridiculous suggestion! quelle suggestion ridicule !

• what a nightmare! quel cauchemar !

• what a nuisance! quelle barbe ! (inf)

• what a lot of people! que de monde !

• what lovely hair you've got! quels jolis cheveux tu as !

2. pronoun

   a. (used alone, or in emphatic position) quoi

• what? I didn't get that quoi ? je n'ai pas compris

• I've forgotten something -- what? j'ai oublié quelque chose -- quoi ?

• he's getting married -- what! il se marie -- quoi !

• what! you expect me to believe that! quoi ! et tu penses que je vais croire ça !

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► quoi is used with a preposition, if the French verb requires one.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I've just thought of something -- what? je viens de penser à quelque chose -- à quoi ?

• I've just remembered something -- what? je viens de me souvenir de quelque chose -- de quoi ?

• you what? (inf!) (British) quoi !

   b. (subject in direct questions) qu'est-ce qui

• what's happened? qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ?

• what's bothering you? qu'est-ce qui te préoccupe ?

• what's for dinner? qu'est-ce qu'il y a pour dîner ?

• what is his address? quelle est son adresse ?

• what's the French for "pen"? comment dit-on « pen » en français ?

• what is this called? comment ça s'appelle ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When asking for a definition or explanation, c'est quoi is often used in spoken French.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• what are capers? c'est quoi, les câpres ?

• what's that noise? c'est quoi, ce bruit ?

• what's that? (asking about sth) c'est quoi ? ; ( = what did you say) comment ?

   c. (object in direct questions) qu'est-ce que, que quoi after prep

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The object pronoun que is more formal than qu'est-ce que and requires inversion of verb and pronoun.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• what did you do? qu'avez-vous fait ?

• what can we do? qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire ? que peut-on faire ?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► The French preposition cannot be separated from the pronoun.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• what does he owe his success to? à quoi doit-il son succès ?

• what were you talking about? de quoi parliez-vous ?

   d. ( = which in particular) quel m, quelle f quels mpl, quelles fpl

• what's the best time to call? quel est le meilleur moment pour vous joindre ?

• what are the advantages? quels sont les avantages ?

   e. ( = how much) combien

• what will it cost? ça va coûter combien ?

• what does it weigh? ça pèse combien ?

• what do 2 and 2 make? combien font 2 et 2 ?

• what does it matter? qu'est-ce que ça peut bien faire ?

   f. (in indirect questions) (subject of verb) ce qui ; (object of verb) ce que

• I wonder what will happen je me demande ce qui va se passer

• I wonder what they think je me demande ce qu'ils pensent

• I don't know what that building is je ne sais pas ce que c'est que ce bâtiment

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► If the French verb takes a preposition, what is translated by quoi.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• tell us what you're thinking about dites-nous à quoi vous pensez

• I wonder what they need je me demande de quoi ils ont besoin

• I wonder what they are expecting je me demande à quoi ils s'attendent

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► quoi is used when what ends the sentence.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I don't know who's doing what je ne sais pas qui fait quoi

   g. (in relative clauses) ( = that which) (subject of verb) ce qui ; (object of verb) ce que ; (object of verb taking "de") ce dont ; (object of verb taking "à") ce à quoi

• what is done is done ce qui est fait est fait

• the hotel isn't what it was l'hôtel n'est plus ce qu'il était

• what I don't understand is... ce que je ne comprends pas c'est...

• what I need is... ce dont j'ai besoin c'est...

• it wasn't what I was expecting ce n'est pas ce à quoi je m'attendais

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When what means the ones which, the French pronoun is generally plural.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• I've no clothes except what I'm wearing je n'ai pas d'autres vêtements que ceux que je porte

   h. (set structures)

► and what...

• and what's more et qui plus est

• and what is worse et ce qui est pire

• and what not (inf) et cetera► or what? (inf!)

are you coming or what? tu viens ou quoi ? (inf)

• I mean, is that sick, or what? il faut vraiment être malade ! (inf)► tell you what (inf)

tell you what, let's stay here another day j'ai une idée: si on restait un jour de plus ?► what about

• what about people who haven't got cars? et les gens qui n'ont pas de voiture ?

• what about going to the cinema? si on allait au cinéma ?► what for? pourquoi ?

• what did you do that for? pourquoi avez-vous fait ça ?

• to give sb what for (inf!) passer un savon a qn► what if et si

• what if this doesn't work out? et si ça ne marchait pas ?

• what if he says no? et s'il refuse ?► what of

• but what of the country's political leaders? et les dirigeants politiques du pays ?

• what of it? (inf) et alors ?► what's what (inf)

he knows what's what il connaît son affaire

• I've done this job long enough to know what's what je fais ce travail depuis assez longtemps pour savoir de quoi il retourne► what with

• what with the stress and lack of sleep, I was in a terrible state entre le stress et le manque de sommeil, j'étais dans un état lamentable

• what with one thing and another avec tout ça

3. compounds

► what-d'ye-call-her (inf) noun Machine (inf) f

► what-d'ye-call-him (inf) noun Machin (inf) m

► what-d'ye-call-it (inf) noun machin (inf) m

► what's-her-name (inf) noun Machine (inf) f

► what's-his-name (inf) noun Machin (inf) m

► what's-it noun machin (inf) m

• Mr What's-it (inf) Monsieur Machin (Chose) (inf) ► what's-its-name (inf) noun machin (inf) m

* * *
[wɒt], US [hwɒt] 1.
pronoun

1) ( what exactly) ( as subject) qu'est-ce qui; ( as object) que, qu'est-ce que; ( with prepositions) quoi

what is happening? — qu'est-ce qui se passe?

what are you doing? — qu'est-ce que tu fais?

with what? — avec quoi?

and what else? — et quoi d'autre?

what is to be done? — que faire?

what does it matter? — qu'est-ce que ça peut faire?

what's her telephone number? — quel est son numéro de téléphone?

what's that button for? — à quoi sert ce bouton?

what for? — ( why) pourquoi?; ( concerning what) à propos de quoi?

what's it like? — comment c'est?

what's this called in Flemish? —

what's the Flemish for this? — comment dit-on cela en flamand?

what did it cost? — combien est-ce que ça a coûté?

2) ( in rhetorical questions)

what's life without love? — que serait la vie sans l'amour?

what's the use? — ( enquiringly) à quoi bon?; ( exasperatedly) à quoi ça sert?

what does he care? — qu'est-ce que ça peut bien lui faire?

3) ( whatever)

do what you want — fais ce que tu veux

4) ( in clauses) ( as subject) ce qui; ( as object) ce que, (before vowel) ce qu'

this is what is called a ‘monocle’ — c'est ce qu'on appelle un ‘monocle’

do you know what that device is? — sais-tu ce que c'est que cet appareil?

what I need is — ce dont j'ai besoin c'est

drinking what looked like whisky — buvant quelque chose qui ressemblait à du whisky

and what's more — et en plus

and what's worse ou better — et en plus

5) (colloq) ( when guessing)

it'll cost, what, £50 — ça coutera, quoi, dans les 50 livres?

6) ( inviting repetition)

what's that? —

what did you say? — quoi? qu'est-ce que tu as dit?

he earns what? — il gagne combien?

he did what? — il a fait quoi?

George what? — George comment?
2.
determiner

1) ( which) quel/quelle/quels/quelles

what time is it? — quelle heure est-il?

2) ( in exclamations) quel/quelle

what a nice car! — quelle belle voiture!

what a strange thing to do! — quelle drôle d'idée!

what use is that? — lit, fig à quoi ça sert?

3) ( the amount of)

what money he earns he spends — tout ce qu'il gagne, il le dépense

what little she has — le peu qu'elle a, tout ce qu'elle a

what few friends she had — les quelques amis qu'elle avait
3.
what about prepositional phrase

1) ( when drawing attention)

what about the letter they sent? — et la lettre qu'ils ont envoyée, alors?

what about the children? — et les enfants (alors)?

2) ( when making suggestion)

what about a meal out? — et si on dînait au restaurant?

what about Tuesday? — qu'est-ce que tu dirais de mardi?

3) ( in reply)

‘what about your sister?’ - ‘what about her?’ — ‘et ta sœur?’ - ‘quoi ma sœur?’
4.
what if prepositional phrase et si
5.
what with prepositional phrase

what with her shopping bags and her bike — avec ses sacs à provisions et son vélo en plus

what with the depression and unemployment — entre la dépression et le chômage

what with one thing and another — avec ceci et cela
6.
exclamation quoi!, comment!

••

I'll tell you what — tu sais quoi

to give somebody what for — (colloq) GB passer un savon (colloq) à quelqu'un

to know what's what — s'y connaître

well, what do you know — iron tout arrive

what do you think I am! — (colloq) tu me prends pour quoi!

what's it to you? — (colloq) en quoi ça vous regarde?

English-French dictionary > what
16 Points of the compass

abbreviated as

north = nord N

south = sud S

east = est E

west = ouest O

nord, sud, est, ouest is the normal order in French as well as English.

northeast = nord-est NE

northwest = nord-ouest NO

north-northeast = nord-nord-est NNE

east-northeast = est-nord-est ENE

Where?

Compass points in French are not normally written with a capital letter. However, when they refer to a specific region in phrases such as I love the North or he lives in the North, and it is clear where this North is, without any further specification such as of France or of Europe, then they are written with a capital letter, as they often are in English, too. In the following examples, north and nord stand for any compass point word.

I love the North

= j’aime le Nord

to live in the North

= vivre dans le Nord

Normally, however, these words do not take a capital letter:

in the north of Scotland

= dans le nord de l’Écosse

Take care to distinguish this from

to the north of Scotland (i.e. further north than Scotland)

= au nord de l’Écosse

in the south of Spain

= dans le sud de l’Espagne*

it is north of the hill

= c’est au nord de la colline

a few kilometres north

= à quelques kilomètres au nord

due north of here

= droit au nord

* Note that the south of France is more usually referred to as le Midi.

There is another set of words in French for north, south etc., some of which are more

common than others:

(north) septentrion (rarely used) septentrional(e)

(south) midi méridional(e)

(east) orient oriental(e)

(west) occident occidental(e)

Translating northern etc.

a northern town

= une ville du Nord

a northern accent

= un accent du Nord

the most northerly outpost

= l’avant-poste le plus au nord

Regions of countries and continents work like this:

northern Europe

= l’Europe du Nord

the northern parts of Japan

= le nord du Japon

eastern France

= l’est de la France

For names of countries and continents which include these compass point words, such as North America or South Korea, see the dictionary entry.

Where to?

French has fewer ways of expressing this than English has ; vers le is usually safe:

to go north

= aller vers le nord

to head towards the north

= se diriger vers le nord

to go northwards

= aller vers le nord

to go in a northerly direction

= aller vers le nord

a northbound ship

= un bateau qui se dirige vers le nord

With some verbs, such as to face, the French expression changes:

the windows face north

= les fenêtres donnent au nord

a north-facing slope

= une pente orientée au nord

If in doubt, check in the dictionary.

Where from?

The usual way of expressing from the is du:

it comes from the north

= cela vient du nord

from the north of Germany

= du nord de l’Allemagne

Note also these expressions relating to the direction of the wind:

the north wind

= le vent du nord

a northerly wind

= un vent du nord

prevailing north winds

= des vents dominants du nord

the wind is in the north

= le vent est au nord

the wind is coming from the north

= le vent vient du nord

Compass point words used as adjectives

The French words nord, sud, est and ouest are really nouns, so when they are used as adjectives they are invariable.

the north coast

= la côte nord

the north door

= la porte nord

the north face (of a mountain)

= la face nord

the north side

= le côté nord

the north wall

= le mur nord

Nautical bearings

The preposition by is translated by quart in expressions like the following:

north by northwest

= nord quart nord-ouest

southeast by south

= sud-est quart sud

Big English-French dictionary > Points of the compass
17 Towns and cities

Occasionally the gender of a town is clear because the name includes the definite article, e.g. Le Havre or La Rochelle. In most other cases, there is some hesitation, and it is always safer to avoid the problem by using la ville de:

Toulouse is beautiful

= la ville de Toulouse est belle

In, to and from somewhere

For in and to with the name of a town, use à in French ; if the French name includes the definite article, à will become au, à la, à l’ or aux:

to live in Toulouse

= vivre à Toulouse

to go to Toulouse

= aller à Toulouse

to live in Le Havre

= vivre au Havre

to go to Le Havre

= aller au Havre

to live in La Rochelle

= vivre à La Rochelle

to go to La Rochelle

= aller à La Rochelle

to live in Les Arcs

= vivre aux Arcs

to go to Les Arcs

= aller aux Arcs

Similarly, from is de, becoming du, de la, de l’ or des when it combines with the definite article in town names:

to come from Toulouse

= venir de Toulouse

to come from Le Havre

= venir du Havre

to come from La Rochelle

= venir de La Rochelle

to come from Les Arcs

= venir des Arcs

Belonging to a town or city

English sometimes has specific words for people of a certain city or town, such as Londoners, New Yorkers or Parisians, but mostly we talk of the people of Leeds or the inhabitants of San Francisco. On the other hand, most towns in French-speaking countries have a corresponding adjective and noun, and a list of the best-known of these is given at the end of this note.

The noun forms, spelt with a capital letter, mean a person from X:

the inhabitants of Bordeaux

= les Bordelais mpl

the people of Strasbourg

= les Strasbourgeois mpl

The adjective forms, spelt with a small letter, are often used where in English the town name is used as an adjective:

Paris shops

= les magasins parisiens

However, some of these French words are fairly rare, and it is always safe to say les habitants de X, or, for the adjective, simply de X. Here are examples of this, using some of the nouns that commonly combine with the names of towns:

a Bordeaux accent

= un accent de Bordeaux

Toulouse airport

= l’aéroport de Toulouse

the La Rochelle area

= la région de La Rochelle

Limoges buses

= les autobus de Limoges

the Le Havre City Council

= le conseil municipal du Havre

Lille representatives

= les représentants de Lille

Les Arcs restaurants

= les restaurants des Arcs

the Geneva road

= la route de Genève

Brussels streets

= les rues de Bruxelles

the Angers team

= l’équipe d’Angers

the Avignon train

= le train d’Avignon

but note

Orleans traffic

= la circulation à Orléans

Names of cities and towns in French-speaking countries and their adjectives

Remember that when these adjectives are used as nouns, meaning a person from X or the people of X, they are spelt with capital letters.

Aix-en-Provence = aixois(e)

Alger = algérois(e)

Angers = angevin(e)

Arles = arlésien(ne)

Auxerre = auxerrois(e)

Avignon = avignonnais(e)

Bastia = bastiais(e)

Bayonne = bayonnais(e)

Belfort = belfortain(e)

Berne = bernois(e)

Besançon = bisontin(e)

Béziers = biterrois(e)

Biarritz = biarrot(e)

Bordeaux = bordelais(e)

Boulogne-sur-Mer = boulonnais(e)

Bourges = berruyer(-ère)

Brest = brestois(e)

Bruges = brugeois(e)

Bruxelles = bruxellois(e)

Calais = calaisien(ne)

Cannes = cannais(e)

Carcassonne = carcassonnais(e)

Chambéry = chambérien(ne)

Chamonix = chamoniard(e)

Clermont-Ferrand = clermontois(e)

Die = diois(e)

Dieppe = dieppois(e)

Dijon = dijonnais(e)

Dunkerque = dunkerquois(e)

Fontainebleau = bellifontain(e)

Gap = gapençais(e)

Genève = genevois(e)

Grenoble = grenoblois(e)

Havre, Le = havrais(e)

Lens = lensois(e)

Liège = liégeois(e)

Lille = lillois(e)

Lourdes = lourdais(e)

Luxembourg = luxembourgeois(e)

Lyon = lyonnais(e)

Mâcon = mâconnais(e)

Marseille = marseillais(e) or phocéen(ne)

Metz = messin(e)

Modane = modanais(e)

Montpellier = montpelliérain(e)

Montréal = montréalais(e)

Moulins = moulinois(e)

Mulhouse = mulhousien(ne)

Nancy = nancéien(ne)

Nantes = nantais(e)

Narbonne = narbonnais(e)

Nevers = nivernais(e)

Nice = niçois(e)

Nîmes = nîmois(e)

Orléans = orléanais(e)

Paris = parisien(ne)

Pau = palois(e)

Périgueux = périgourdin(e)

Perpignan = perpignanais(e)

Poitiers = poitevin(e)

Pont-à-Mousson = mussipontain(e)

Québec = québécois(e)

Reims = rémois(e)

Rennes = rennais(e)

Roanne = roannais(e)

Rouen = rouennais(e)

Saint-Étienne = stéphanois(e)

Saint-Malo = malouin(e)

Saint-Tropez = tropézien(ne)

Sancerre = sancerrois(e)

Sète = sétois(e)

Sochaux = sochalien(ne)

Strasbourg = strasbourgeois(e)

Tarascon = tarasconnais(e)

Tarbes = tarbais(e)

Toulon = toulonnais(e)

Toulouse = toulousain(e)

Tours = tourangeau(-elle)

Tunis = tunisois(e)

Valence = valentinois(e)

Valenciennes = valenciennois(e)

Versailles = versaillais(e)

Vichy = vichyssois(e)

Big English-French dictionary > Towns and cities
18 Usage note : it

When it is used as a subject pronoun to refer to a specific object (or animal) il or elle is used in French according to the gender of the object referred to:

‘where is the book/chair?’ ‘it’s in the kitchen’

= ‘où est le livre/la chaise?’ ‘il/elle est dans la cuisine’

‘do you like my skirt?’ ‘it’s lovely’

= ‘est-ce que tu aimes ma jupe?’ ‘elle est très jolie’

However, if the object referred to is named in the same sentence, it is translated by ce (c’ before a vowel):

it’s a good film

= c’est un bon film

When it is used as an object pronoun it is translated by le or la (l’ before a vowel) according to the gender of the object referred to:

it’s my book/my chair and I want it

= c’est mon livre/ma chaise et je le/la veux

Note that the object pronoun normally comes before the verb in French and that in compound tenses like the perfect and the past perfect, the past participle agrees with it:

I liked his shirt - did you notice it?

= j’ai aimé sa chemise - est-ce que tu l’as remarquée? or l’as-tu remarquée?

In imperatives only, the pronoun comes after the verb:

it’s my book - give it to me

= c’est mon livre - donne-le-moi (note the hyphens)

When it is used vaguely or impersonally followed by an adjective the translation is ce (c’ before a vowel):

it’s difficult

= c’est difficile

it’s sad

= c’est triste

But when it is used impersonally followed by an adjective + verb the translation is il:

it’s difficult to understand how…

= il est difficile de comprendre comment …

If in doubt consult the entry for the adjective in question.

For translations for impersonal verb uses (it’s raining, it’s snowing) consult the entry for the verb in question.

it is used in expressions of days of the week (it’s Friday) and clock time (it’s 5 o’clock). This dictionary contains usage notes on these and many other topics. For other impersonal and idiomatic uses see the entry it.

When it is used after a preposition in English the two words (prep + it) are often translated by one word in French. If the preposition would normally be translated by de in French (e.g. of, about, from etc.) the prep + it = en:

I’ve heard about it

= j’en ai entendu parler

If the preposition would normally be translated by à in French (e.g. to, in, at etc.) the prep + it = y:

they went to it

= ils y sont allés

For translations of it following prepositions not normally translated by de or à (e.g. above, under, over etc.) consult the entry for the preposition.

Big English-French dictionary > Usage note : it
19 out

out [aʊt]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. adverb

2. adjective

3. preposition

4. noun

5. transitive verb

6. compounds

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► When out is an element in a phrasal verb, eg get out, go out, look up the verb. When out is part of a set combination, eg day out, look up the noun.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. adverb

   a. ( = not in) Paul is out Paul est sorti

• he's out a good deal il sort beaucoup

• he's out fishing il est parti à la pêche

• when the tide is out à marée basse

• (the ball is) out! (Tennis) (la balle est) out !

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When followed by a preposition, out is not usually translated.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• he's out in the garden il est dans le jardin

► to want out (inf)

the cat wants out le chat veut sortir

• he wants out (of marriage, contract) il a envie de tout plaquer (inf)

   b. ( = outside) dehors

• it's hot out il fait chaud dehors

• out you go! sortez !

   c. (expressing distance) the boat was 10 miles out to sea le bateau était à 10 milles de la côte

• their house is 10km out of town leur maison est à 10 km de la ville

   d. [homosexual] to be out (inf)

assumer son homosexualité

   e. (set structures)

► to be out and about again être de nouveau sur pied

► out here ici

• come in! -- no, I like it out here entre ! -- non, je suis bien ici !► out there ( = in that place) là-bas

► out with it! (inf) vas-y, parle !

2. adjective

   a. [light, fire, gas] éteint

   b. ( = available) [model, edition, video] sorti

   c. ( = unavailable) (for lending, renting) that book is out ce livre est sorti

   d. ( = revealed) the secret is out le secret n'en est plus un

   e. ( = unconscious) sans connaissance

• he was out for 30 seconds il est resté sans connaissance pendant 30 secondes

   f. ( = wrong) their timing was 5 minutes out ils s'étaient trompés de 5 minutes

• you're not far out (inf) tu n'es pas tombé loin (inf)

   g. ( = unacceptable) [idea, suggestion] that's right out, I'm afraid il n'en est pas question

   h. ( = defeated) (in games) you're out tu es éliminé

• the socialists are out (politically) les socialistes sont battus

   i. ( = finished) before the month was out avant la fin du mois

   j. ( = striking) out on strike en grève

   k. ( = unfashionable) passé de mode

• long skirts are out les jupes longues sont passées de mode

   l. (flowers, sun) the roses are out les rosiers sont en fleurs

• the sun was out le soleil brillait

   m. (set structures)

► to be out to do sth (inf) ( = seeking to do) chercher à faire qch

► to be out for sth (inf)

she was just out for a good time elle ne cherchait qu'à s'amuser

3. preposition

► out of

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► When out of is an element in a phrasal verb, eg run out of, look up the verb. When it is part of a set combination, eg out of danger, out of the way, look up the noun.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

   a. ( = outside) en dehors de, hors de

• he lives out of town il habite à l'extérieur de la ville

• they were 100km out of Paris ils étaient à 100 km de Paris

► out of it (inf)

I was glad to be out of it ( = escaped from situation) j'étais bien content d'y avoir échappé

• I felt rather out of it at the party je me suis senti un peu isolé à cette fête

   b. ( = absent) he's out of the office at the moment il n'est pas au bureau actuellement

   c. ( = through) par

• out of the window par la fenêtre

   d. ( = from) only one chapter out of the novel un seul chapitre du roman

• a model made out of matchsticks une maquette construite avec des allumettes

• he had made the table out of a crate il avait fabriqué la table avec une caisse

• he looked like something out of "Star Trek" il semblait tout droit sorti de « Star Trek »

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

► In the following dans describes the original position of the thing being moved.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• to take sth out of a drawer prendre qch dans un tiroir

• to drink out of a glass boire dans un verre

• he copied the poem out of a book il a copié le poème dans un livre

   e. ( = because of) par

• out of curiosity/necessity par curiosité/nécessité

   f. ( = from among) sur

• in nine cases out of ten dans neuf cas sur dix

   g. ( = without) we are out of bread nous n'avons plus de pain

   h. ( = sheltered from) à l'abri de

• out of the wind à l'abri du vent

   i. ( = eliminated from) éliminé de

• out of the World Cup éliminé de la Coupe du monde

4. noun

► on the outs with sb (inf!) (US) brouillé avec qn

5. transitive verb

[+ homosexual] révéler l'homosexualité de

6. compounds

► out-and-out adjective [lie] pur et simple ; [liar, cheat] fini ; [racist, fascist] pur et dur

► out-of-body experience noun expérience f de sortie du corps

► out-of-bounds adjective [place] interdit ; (US) [ball] sorti

► out-of-court adjective [settlement, agreement] à l'amiable

► out-of-date adjective [passport, ticket] périmé ; [clothes, theory, concept] démodé ; [word] vieilli

► out-of-doors adverb = outdoors

► out-of-the-ordinary adjective insolite

► out-of-the-way adjective ( = remote) isolé

► out-of-this-world (inf) adjective fantastique (inf)

► out-of-town adjective [shopping centre, cinema] en périphérie

► out-of-work adjective au chômage ; [actor] sans engagement

► out-tray noun corbeille f de départ

* * *

Note: out is used after many verbs in English to alter or reinforce the meaning of the verb ( hold out, wipe out, filter out etc). Very often in French, a verb alone will be used to translate these combinations. For translations you should consult the appropriate verb entry (hold, wipe, filter etc)

When out is used as an adverb meaning outside, it often adds little to the sense of the phrase: they're out in the garden = they're in the garden. In such cases out will not usually be translated: ils sont dans le jardin

out is used as an adverb to mean absent or not at home. In this case she's out really means she's gone out and the French translation is elle est sortie

For the phrase out of see III in the entry below

For examples of the above and other uses, see the entry below
[aʊt] 1.
transitive verb révéler l'homosexualité de [person]
2.
adverb

1) ( outside) dehors

to stand out in the rain — rester (dehors) sous la pluie

to be out in the garden — être dans le jardin

out there — dehors

out here — ici

to tear a page out — arracher une page

2) ( from within)

to go ou walk out — sortir

to pull/take something out — retirer/sortir quelque chose

I couldn't find my way out — je ne trouvais pas la sortie

3) ( at a distance)

out in China — en Chine

two days out from port — à deux jours du port

when the tide is out — à marée basse

further out — plus loin

4) ( in the world at large)

there are a lot of people out there looking for work — il y a beaucoup de gens qui cherchent du travail en ce moment

5) ( absent)

to be out — gen être sorti; [strikers] être en grève

6) ( for social activity)

to invite somebody out to dinner — inviter quelqu'un au restaurant

a day out — une sortie pour la journée

7) (published, now public)

to be out — [book, exam results] être publié

my secret is out — mon secret est révélé

8) ( in bloom)

to be out — [tree, shrub] être en fleurs

to be fully out — [flower] être épanoui

9) ( shining)

to be out — [sun, moon, stars] briller

10) ( extinguished)

to be out — [fire, light] être éteint

lights out — extinction des feux

11) Sport, Games

to be out — [player] être éliminé

‘out!’ — ( of ball) ‘out!’

12) ( unconscious)

to be out (cold) — (colloq) gen être dans les pommes (colloq); [boxer] être K.O.

13) (over, finished)

before the week is out — avant la fin de la semaine

14) GB ( incorrect)

to be out in one's calculations — s'être trompé dans ses calculs

my watch is two minutes out — ( slow) ma montre retarde de deux minutes; ( fast) ma montre avance de deux minutes

15) (colloq) ( not possible) exclu

no, that option is out — non, cette solution est exclue

16) (colloq) ( actively in search of)

to be out to do something — être bien décidé à faire quelque chose

he's just out for what he can get — péj c'est l'intérêt qui le guide

he's out to get you — il t'en veut à mort; ( killer) il veut ta peau (colloq)

17) (colloq) ( not in fashion) passé de mode
3.
out of prepositional phrase

1) ( from)

to go ou walk ou come out — sortir

get out of here! — sors d'ici!

to jump out of the window — sauter par la fenêtre

to take something out of a box — retirer quelque chose d'une boîte

to take something out of one's bag — prendre quelque chose dans son sac

2) ( expressing ratio) sur

two out of every three — deux sur trois

3) ( part of whole)

out of a book — tiré d'un livre

4) Law

to be out — [jury] être en délibération

5) ( beyond defined limits) hors de [reach, sight]; en dehors de [city]

6) ( free from confinement)

out of hospital — sorti de l'hôpital

7) ( sheltered) à l'abri de [sun]

8) ( lacking)

to be (right) out of — ne plus avoir de [item]

9) ( made from) en [wood, metal]

10) ( due to) par [respect]

••

I want out! — (colloq) je ne marche plus avec vous/eux etc (colloq)

come on, out with it! — (colloq) allez, dis ce que tu as à dire!

to be out and about — ( after illness) être à nouveau sur pied

to be out of it — (colloq) être dans les vapes (colloq)

to feel out of it — se sentir exclu

you're well out of it — c'est mieux comme ça

English-French dictionary > out
20 under

under [ˈʌndə^r]

1. preposition

   a. ( = beneath) sous

• under the table/umbrella sous la table/le parapluie

• it's under there c'est là-dessous

• under it dessous

• he went and sat under it il est allé s'asseoir dessous

• under the Tudors sous les Tudor

• he had 50 men under him il avait 50 hommes sous ses ordres

• under the command of... sous les ordres de...

   b. ( = less than) moins de ; (in rank, scale) au-dessous de

• to be under age être mineur

• children under 15 enfants mpl de moins de 15 ans

• the under-15s les moins de 15 ans

• it sells at under £10 cela se vend à moins de 10 livres

• in under two hours en moins de deux heures

   c. (with names) sous

• under an assumed name sous un faux nom

   d. ( = according to) selon

• under French law selon la législation française

• under the terms of the contract selon les termes du contrat

2. adverb

   a. ( = beneath) en dessous

• he stayed under for three minutes ( = underwater) il est resté sous l'eau pendant trois minutes

• he lifted the rope and crawled under il a soulevé la corde et il est passé dessous en rampant

   b. ( = less) moins

• children of 15 and under les enfants de moins de 16 ans

• ten degrees under moins dix

3. prefix

( = insufficiently) sous-

• undernourished sous-alimenté

• underused sous-exploité

* * *

Note: When under is used as a straightforward preposition in English it can almost always be translated by sous in French: under the table = sous la table; under a sheet = sous un drap; under a heading = sous un titre

under is often used before a noun in English to mean subject to or affected by ( under control, under fire, under oath, under review etc). For translations, consult the appropriate noun entry (control, fire, oath, review etc)

under is also often used as a prefix in combinations such as undercook, underfunded, underprivileged and undergrowth, underpass. These combinations are treated as headwords in the dictionary

For particular usages, see the entry below
['ʌndə(r)] 1.
preposition

1) ( physically beneath or below) sous

under the bed — sous le lit

under it — en dessous

it's under there — c'est là-dessous

to come out from under something — sortir de dessous quelque chose

2) ( less than)

under £10 — moins de 10 livres sterling

children under five — les enfants de moins de cinq ans or en dessous de cinq ans

a number under ten — un nombre inférieur à dix

temperatures under 10°C — des températures inférieures à 10°C

3) ( according to)

under the law — selon la loi

fined under a rule — condamné à une amende en vertu d'une règle

4) ( subordinate to) sous

I have 50 people under me — j'ai 50 employés sous mes ordres

5) ( in classification) sous

do I look for Le Corbusier under ‘le’ or ‘Corbusier’? — est-ce que je dois chercher Le Corbusier sous ‘le’ ou ‘Corbusier’?
2.
adverb

1) ( physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] en dessous

to go under — [diver, swimmer] disparaître sous l'eau

2) ( less) moins

£10 and under — 10 livres sterling et moins

children of six and under — des enfants de six ans et moins

to run five minutes under — [event, programme] durer cinq minutes de moins que prévu

3) ( anaesthetized)

to put somebody under — endormir quelqu'un

4) ( subjugated)

to keep somebody under — opprimer quelqu'un

5) (below, later in text)

see under — voir ci-dessous

English-French dictionary > under

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