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1 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 termswhat 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 verteto paint sth green= peindre qch en vertto dye sth green= teindre qch en vertto wear green= porter du vertdressed in green= habillé de vertColour nouns are all masculine in French:I like green= j’aime le vertI prefer blue= je préfère le bleured suits her= le rouge lui va bienit’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 bleuit was a dreadful green= c’était un vert affreuxa range of greens= une gamme de vertsMost adjectives of colour agree with the noun they modify:a blue coat= un manteau bleua blue dress= une robe bleueblue clothes= des vêtements bleusSome that don’t agree are explained below.Words that are not true adjectivesSome words that translate English adjectives are really nouns in French, and so don’t show agreement:a brown shoe= une chaussure marronorange tablecloths= des nappes fpl orangehazel eyes= des yeux mpl noisetteOther French words like this include: cerise ( cherry-red), chocolat ( chocolate-brown) and émeraude ( emerald-green).Shades of colourExpressions like pale blue, dark green or light yellow are also invariable in French and show no agreement:a pale blue shirt= une chemise bleu pâledark green blankets= des couvertures fpl vert foncéa light yellow tie= une cravate jaune clairbright yellow socks= des chaussettes fpl jaune vifFrench 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 foncéthe dress was a darker blue= la robe était d’un bleu plus foncéSimilarly:a lighter blue= un bleu plus clair (etc.)In the following examples, blue stands for most basic colour terms:pale blue= bleu pâlelight blue= bleu clairbright blue= bleu vifdark blue= bleu foncédeep blue= bleu profondstrong blue= bleu soutenuOther types of compound in French are also invariable, and do not agree with their nouns:a navy-blue jacket= une veste bleu marineThese 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-noira greenish-blue cup= une tasse bleu-verta greeny-yellow dress= une robe vert-jauneEnglish 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= bleuâtregreenish or greeny= verdâtregreyish= grisâtrereddish= rougeâtreyellowish or yellowy= jaunâtreetc.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 chocolatraspberry-coloured fabric= du tissu couleur framboiseflesh-coloured tights= un collant couleur chairColour verbsEnglish makes some colour verbs by adding -en (e.g. blacken). Similarly French has some verbs in -ir made from colour terms:to blacken= noircirto redden= rougirto whiten= blanchirThe 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 violetDescribing peopleNote the use of the definite article in the following:to have black hair= avoir les cheveux noirsto have blue eyes= avoir les yeux bleusNote the use of à in the following:a girl with blue eyes= une jeune fille aux yeux bleusthe man with black hair= l’homme aux cheveux noirsNot 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= blonddark= brunblonde or blond= blondbrown= châtain invred= rouxblack= noirgrey= griswhite= blancCheck other terms such as yellow, ginger, auburn, mousey etc. in the dictionary.Note these nouns in French:a fair-haired man= un blonda fair-haired woman= une blondea dark-haired man= un bruna dark-haired woman= une bruneThe following words are useful for describing the colour of someone’s eyes:blue= bleulight blue= bleu clair invlight brown= marron clair invbrown= marron invhazel= noisette invgreen= vertgrey= grisgreyish-green= gris-vert invdark= noir -
2 sight
sight [saɪt]vue ⇒ 1 (a)-(c) spectacle ⇒ 1 (d) curiosité ⇒ 1 (e) avis ⇒ 1 (f) pagaille ⇒ 1 (g) viseur ⇒ 1 (h) voir ⇒ 2 (a) repérer ⇒ 2 (a) viser ⇒ 1 (h), 2 (b) beaucoup ⇒ 31 noun(a) (faculty, sense) vue f;∎ to have good/bad sight avoir une bonne/mauvaise vue;∎ her sight is failing sa vue baisse;∎ to lose/to recover one's sight perdre/recouvrer la vue(b) (act, instance of seeing) vue f;∎ he fainted at the sight of the blood il s'est évanoui à la vue du sang;∎ it was my first sight of the Pacific c'était la première fois que je voyais le Pacifique;∎ at first sight the place seemed abandoned à première vue, l'endroit avait l'air abandonné;∎ it was love at first sight ce fut le coup de foudre;∎ do you believe in love at first sight? est-ce que tu crois au coup de foudre?;∎ to catch sight of sb/sth apercevoir ou entrevoir qn/qch;∎ to lose sight of sb/sth perdre qn/qch de vue;∎ figurative we mustn't lose sight of the fact that… il ne faut pas perdre de vue (le fait) que… + indicative;∎ I can't stand or bear the sight of him! je ne le supporte pas!;∎ I can't stand the sight of blood je ne supporte pas la vue du sang;∎ to know sb by sight connaître qn de vue;∎ to buy sth sight unseen acheter qch sans l'avoir vu;∎ Commerce we need to have sight of it first il faut le voir d'abord;∎ he can play music at or American by sight il sait déchiffrer une partition;∎ to shoot at or on sight tirer à vue;∎ payable at or American on sight payable à vue(c) (range of vision) (portée f de) vue f;∎ the plane was still in sight l'avion était encore en vue;∎ there wasn't a taxi in sight il n'y avait pas un (seul) taxi en vue;∎ I heard her voice but she was nowhere in sight j'entendais sa voix mais je ne la voyais nulle part;∎ is the end in sight? est-ce que tu en vois la fin?;∎ there's still no end in sight je n'en vois pas la fin;∎ keep that car/your goal in sight ne perdez pas cette voiture/votre but de vue;∎ the mountains came into sight les montagnes sont apparues;∎ the runners came into sight les coureurs sont apparus;∎ I watched her until she was out of sight je l'ai regardée jusqu'à ce qu'elle disparaisse de ma vue;∎ keep out of sight! ne vous montrez pas!, cachez-vous!;∎ keep it out of sight ne le montrez pas, cachez-le;∎ she never lets him out of her sight elle ne le perd jamais de vue;∎ (get) out of my sight! hors de ma vue!;∎ get that dog out of my sight! faites disparaître ce chien!;∎ a peace settlement now seems within sight un accord de paix semble maintenant possible;∎ it was impossible to get within sight of the accident il était impossible de s'approcher du lieu de l'accident pour voir ce qui se passait;∎ he had to give up within sight of the summit il a dû renoncer à quelques mètres du sommet;∎ proverb out of sight, out of mind loin des yeux, loin du cœur(d) (spectacle) spectacle m;∎ the cliffs were an impressive sight les falaises étaient impressionnantes à voir;∎ beggars are a common sight on the streets on voit beaucoup de mendiants dans les rues;∎ it was not a pretty sight ça n'était pas beau à voir;∎ the waterfalls are a sight worth seeing les cascades valent la peine d'être vues;∎ it was a sight for sore eyes c'était un soulagement de voir ça;∎ you're a sight for sore eyes! (you're a welcome sight) Dieu merci te voilà!; (you look awful) tu fais vraiment peine à voir!(e) (tourist attraction) curiosité f;∎ one of the sights of Rome une des choses à voir à Rome;∎ I'll show you or take you round the sights tomorrow je vous ferai visiter ou voir la ville demain;∎ to see the sights of the town visiter la ville∎ in my father's sight she could do no wrong aux yeux de mon père, elle était incapable de faire du mal;∎ we are all equal in the sight of God nous sommes tous égaux devant Dieu∎ the kitchen was a sight! quelle pagaille dans la cuisine!;∎ your hair is a sight! tu as vu tes cheveux?;∎ what a sight you are!, you look a sight! (wet, dirty) te voilà dans un drôle d'état!; (ridiculous) de quoi tu as l'air comme ça!;∎ you're or you look a sight in that outfit! tu as vu de quoi tu as l'air dans cette tenue?;∎ I must look a sight! je ne dois pas être beau à voir!;∎ what a sight! quel tableau!∎ to take a sight on sth viser qch;∎ front sight guidon m;∎ notch sight cran m de mire;∎ angle of sight angle m de visée ou de site, site m;∎ to have sth in one's sights avoir qch dans sa ligne de tir; figurative avoir qch en vue;∎ figurative to lower one's sights viser moins haut;∎ to set one's sights on sth viser qch;∎ to set one's sights on doing sth avoir pour ambition de faire qch;∎ he's set his sights on becoming a doctor son ambition est de devenir médecin;∎ she has her sights set on the presidency/a diplomatic career elle vise la présidence/une carrière de diplomate∎ the clouds parted and we sighted the summit les nuages se déchirèrent et nous aperçûmes le sommet;∎ a submarine was sighted un sous-marin a été repéré∎ he carefully sighted his pistol at the target il visa soigneusement la cible avec son pistolet∎ you'd earn a (damn) sight more money working in industry votre salaire serait beaucoup plus important si vous travailliez dans l'industrie;∎ it's a (far) sight worse than before c'est bien pire qu'avant□ ;∎ he's a sight too modest il est bien ou beaucoup trop modeste;∎ not by a long sight loin de là□, bien au contraire□►► Finance sight bill effet m à vue;Technology sight check contrôle m à vue, contrôle m visuel;Finance sight deposit dépôt m à vue;Finance sight draft traite f à vue;sight gag gag m visuel;Finance sight letter of credit crédit m utilisable à vue;Stock Exchange sight quotation cotation f à vue -
3 small
small [smɔ:l]1. adjective• with a small "e" avec un « e » minuscule• it's a small world! le monde est petit !• to make sth smaller [+ amount, supply] réduire qch ; [+ objet, organization] réduire la taille de qchb. ( = young) petit2. adverb3. noun4. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Aux États-Unis, une ville de moins de 10 000 habitants est une « petite ville » ( small town). Le terme « village », peu utilisé, évoque plutôt l'ancien continent ou les pays du tiers-monde. Les populations des petites villes sont généralement appréciées pour les valeurs qu'elles incarnent: gentillesse, honnêteté, politesse, rapports de bon voisinage et patriotisme. Cependant, on peut aussi parler des « small-town attitudes » dans un sens péjoratif pour désigner une tendance aux préjugés et une certaine étroitesse d'esprit.* * *[smɔːl] 1. 2.(colloq) smalls plural noun GB euph petit linge m3.1) ( not big) gen petit; [increase, majority, proportion, quantity, amount, stake] faiblethe small matter of the £1,000 you owe me — iron la bagatelle de 1000 livres sterling que tu me dois iron
in his ou her own small way — gen à sa façon
the smallest room — (colloq) euph le petit coin (colloq) euph
2) ( petty) [person, act] mesquin3) ( not much)to have small cause ou reason for worrying ou to worry — n'avoir guère de raisons de s'inquiéter
it is small comfort ou consolation to somebody — c'est une piètre consolation pour quelqu'un
4) ( quiet) [voice, noise] petit; [sound] faible5) ( humiliated)to feel ou look small — être dans ses petits souliers (colloq)
4.to make somebody feel ou look small — humilier quelqu'un
adverb [write] petit
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