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1 less
A quantif moins de ; less beer/information/money moins de bière/d'information/d'argent ; I have less money than him j'ai moins d'argent que lui ; it took less time than we expected cela a pris moins de temps que prévu ; I have less time for reading than I used to j'ai moins le temps de lire qu'avant ; of less value/importance de moindre valeur/importance ; to grow less diminuer.B pron moins ; I have less than you j'en ai moins que toi ; they have little money but we have even less ils n'ont pas beaucoup d'argent mais nous en avons encore moins ; I gave them less to eat je leur ai donné moins à manger ; less than half moins de la moitié ; in less than three hours en moins de trois heures ; in less than no time en moins de deux ; 13 is less than 18 13 est plus petit que 18 ; a sum of not less than £1,000 une somme qui s'élève au moins à 1 000 livres sterling ; he was less than honest/helpful il était loin d'être honnête/serviable ; it's an improvement, but less of one than I had hoped c'est un progrès, mais pas au point que j'aurais espéré ; she's nothing less than a common criminal elle n'est rien de moins qu'une criminelle ; nothing less than written proof will satisfy them ils ne seront satisfaits que quand ils auront une preuve écrite ; it's nothing less than a scandal! c'est un véritable scandale! ; they want nothing less than the best ils exigent le meilleur ; I offered them £800 for the car but they let me have it for less je leur ai proposé 800 livres sterling pour la voiture, mais ils me l'ont laissée pour moins ; he's less of a fool than you think il est moins bête que tu ne le penses ; they will think all the less of her for it ça va la faire descendre dans leur estime ; I think no less of her for that elle n'est pas descendue dans mon estime pour autant ; the less she knows about it the better moins elle en sait, mieux ça vaut ; I want £100 and not a penny less! je veux cent livres et pas un centime de moins! ; the less said about it the better moins on en parle, mieux ça vaut ; people have been shot for less! il y en a qui ont été tués pour moins que ça! ; less of your impudence! ne sois pas insolent! ; less of that! ( to child misbehaving) ça suffit!C adv moins ; I read less these days je lis moins en ce moment ; I liked it less than you did je l'ai moins aimé que toi ; I dislike him no less than you je ne l'aime pas plus que toi ; that's less urgent/serious c'est moins urgent/grave ; much less important beaucoup moins important ; it matters less than it did before cela a moins d'importance qu'avant ; it's less complicated than you think c'est moins compliqué que vous ne croyez ; she is no less qualified than you elle n'est pas moins qualifiée que toi ; less often moins souvent ; it's less a village than a town c'est plutôt une ville qu'un village ; the more I see him, the less I like him plus je le vois, moins je l'aime ; no less than 30 people/85% au moins 30 personnes/85% ; they live in Kensington, no less! ils habitent à Kensington, rien que ça! ; he's married to a countess, no less! il est marié avec une comtesse, rien que ça! ; no less a person than the emperor l'empereur en personne ; one of the less known valleys une des vallées les moins connues ; he was less offended than shocked il était plus choqué qu'offensé ; she wasn't any the less happy elle n'en était pas moins heureuse ; much ou still ou even less encore moins ; he can't afford to rent a house, much less buy one il n'a pas les moyens de louer une maison, encore moins d'en acheter une.D prep moins ; less 15% discount moins 15% de remise ; a salary of £20,000, less tax un salaire de 20 000 livres sterling, avant impôts.E less and less adv phr de moins en moins ; we see her less and less nous la voyons de moins en moins ; less and less often/busy de moins en moins souvent/occupé. -
2 less
less [les]1. adjectivea. (in amount, size, degree) moins (de)• can't you let me have it for less? vous ne pouvez pas me faire un prix ?• less of your cheek! (inf) assez d'impertinence !• less noise please! moins de bruit s'il vous plaît !• a sum less than £100 une somme de moins de 100 livres• I was told the news by the bishop, no less (inf) c'est l'évêque en personne, s'il vous plaît (inf), qui m'a appris la nouvelle► no less + than• it costs no less than £100 ça ne coûte pas moins de 100 livres• with no less skill than enthusiasm avec non moins d'habileté que d'enthousiasme► nothing less than rien moins que2. adverba. moins► less... than• the problem is less one of money than of personnel c'est moins un problème d'argent qu'un problème de personnel► no less... than• the less he works the less he earns moins il travaille, moins il gagne• the less you worry about it the better moins vous vous ferez du souci à ce sujet, mieux ça vaudra3. preposition• less 10% moins 10 %* * *[les] 1.(comparative of little) quantifier moins de2.pronoun moinsa sum of not less than £1,000 — une somme qui s'élève au moins à 1000 livres sterling
it's an improvement, but less of one than I had hoped — c'est un progrès, mais pas au point que j'aurais espéré
£100 and not a penny less! — cent livres et pas un centime de moins!
3.the less said about it the better — moins on en parle, mieux ça vaut
adverb moinsthe more I see him, the less I like him — plus je le vois, moins je l'aime
no less than 85% — au moins 85%
4.they live in Kensington, no less! — ils habitent à Kensington, rien que ça!
preposition moins5.less 15% discount — moins 15% de remise
less and less adverbial phrase de moins en moins -
3 often
often,, US [transcription]["O ;fn"] adv souvent ; very/so/too/less often très/si/trop/moins souvent ; more and more often de plus en plus souvent ; as often as not, more often than not le plus souvent ; it's not often you see that ce n'est pas souvent qu'on voit ça ; you'll often find that tu constateras souvent que ; how often do you meet? vous vous voyez tous les combien ○ ?, vous vous voyez souvent? ; how often do the planes depart? les avions partent tous les combien? ; an often-repeated remark une remarque souvent répétée ; it cannot be said too often that on ne répétera jamais assez que ; once too often une fois de trop ; every so often ( in time) de temps en temps ; (in distance, space) ça et là. -
4 less
[les] 1. adjective((often with than) not as much (as): Think of a number less than forty; He drank his tea and wished he had put less sugar in it; The salary for that job will be not less than $30,000.) plus petit que, moins (de)2. adverb(not as much or to a smaller extent: I like her less every time I see her; You should smoke less if you want to remain healthy.) moins3. pronoun(a smaller part or amount: He has less than I have.) moins (que)4. preposition(minus: He earns $280 a week less $90 income tax.) moins- lessen- lesser 5. adverb(less: the lesser-known streets of London.) moins- no less a person than -
5 Usage note : less
When less is used as a quantifier ( less money) it is translated by moins de: moins d’argent. For examples and particular usages, see A in the entry less.When less is used as a pronoun ( you should have taken less), it is translated by moins: tu aurais dû en prendre moins.less than is usually translated by moins que and even less by encore moins. For examples and particular usages of these see B in the entry less.When less is used as an adverb followed by a verb, an adjective, or another adverb (to eat less, less interesting, less often) it is translated by moins: manger moins, moins intéressant, moins souvent. For examples and particular usages see C in the entry less.For the phrase less and less see E in the entry less. -
6 much
much [mʌt∫]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. pronoun2. adjective3. adverb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. pronoun• does it cost much? est-ce que ça coûte cher ?• is it worth much? est-ce que ça a de la valeur ?► much of ( = a large part of) une bonne partie de• much of what you say une bonne partie de ce que vous dites► to make much of sth attacher beaucoup d'importance à qch► not/nothing... much ( = a small amount) pas beaucoup• what was stolen? -- nothing much qu'est-ce qui a été volé ? -- pas grand-chose━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Constructions with valoir are often used when assessing value or merit.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• there isn't much in it (in choice, competition) ça se vaut2. adjective• it's a bit much! (inf) c'est un peu fort !3. adverba. ( = to a great degree) beaucoup• I very much hope that... j'espère de tout cœur que...b. ( = more or less) it's much the same c'est quasiment la même chose► as much• I thought as much! c'est bien ce que je pensais !• as much time as... autant de temps que...• twice as much money as... deux fois plus d'argent que...• you could pay as much as $200 for that ça peut te coûter jusqu'à 200 dollars► however much• however much you like him... quelle que soit votre affection pour lui,...► how much? combien ?• how much does it cost? combien ça coûte ?► much as• much as I dislike doing this,... bien que je n'aime pas du tout faire cela,...► much less ( = and even less)he couldn't understand the question, much less answer it il ne pouvait pas comprendre la question et encore moins y répondre► not much of a (inf) ( = not a great)• he'd drunk so much that... il avait tellement bu que...• so much so that... à tel point que...• so much for his help! c'est ça qu'il appelle aider !• so much for that! tant pis !• so much the better! tant mieux !► not so much... as• I think of her not so much as a doctor but as a friend je la considère plus comme une amie que comme un médecin► this/that much• this much? (ça ira) comme ça ?• I know this much... ce que je sais, c'est que...• this much is certain... un point est acquis...* * *Note: When much is used as an adverb, it is translated by beaucoup: it's much longer = c'est beaucoup plus long; she doesn't talk much = elle ne parle pas beaucoupFor particular usages, see I belowWhen much is used as a pronoun, it is usually translated by beaucoup: there is much to learn = il y a beaucoup à apprendre. However, in negative sentences grand-chose is also used: I didn't learn much = je n'ai pas beaucoup appris or je n'ai pas appris grand-choseWhen much is used as a quantifier, it is translated by beaucoup de: they don't have much money = ils n'ont pas beaucoup d'argent[mʌtʃ] 1.1) ( to a considerable degree) beaucoup2) ( often) beaucoup, souvent3) ( nearly) plus ou moins, à peu prèsvery much — ( a lot) beaucoup; ( absolutely) tout à fait
I thought as much — ça ne m'étonne pas, je m'en doutais
you'll have to accept the decision however much you disagree — il va falloir que tu acceptes la décision même si tu n'es pas d'accord
5) (emphatic: setting up a contrast)2.the discovery wasn't so much shocking as depressing — la découverte était moins choquante que déprimante
1) ( a great deal) beaucoup; ( in negative sentences) grand-chosemuch of the difficulty lies in... — une grande partie de la difficulté réside dans...
to make much of something — ( focus on) insister sur quelque chose; ( understand) comprendre quelque chose
2) (expressing a relative amount, degree)so much — tellement, tant
so much of the time, it's a question of patience — la plupart du temps c'est une question de patience
it's too much! — lit c'est trop!; ( in protest) c'en est trop!
I'll say this much for him, he's honest — il a au moins ça pour lui, il est honnête
this much is certain, we'll have no choice — une chose est certaine, nous n'aurons pas le choix
it can cost as much as £50 — ça peut coûter jusqu'à 50 livres sterling
as much as to say... — d'un air de dire...
do you know how much this means to me? — est-ce que tu sais à quel point or combien c'est important pour moi?
3) (focusing on limitations, inadequacy)it's not ou nothing much — ce n'est pas grand-chose
it's not up to much — GB ça ne vaut pas grand-chose
3.I'm not much of a one for cooking — (colloq) la cuisine ce n'est pas mon fort (colloq)
quantifier beaucoup de4.much+ combining form5.much-loved/-respected — très apprécié/respecté
much as conjunctional phrase bien que (+ subj)6.much as we regret our decision we have no choice — bien que nous regrettions or nous avons beau regretter notre décision, nous n'avons pas le choix
much less conjunctional phrase encore moins7.I've never seen him much less spoken to him — je n'ai jamais eu l'occasion de le voir encore moins de lui parler
so much as adverbial phrasewithout so much as saying goodbye/as an apology — sans même dire au revoir/s'excuser
••there isn't much in GB ou to US it — (in contest, competition) ils se suivent de près
there isn't much in it for us — ( to our advantage) ça ne va pas nous apporter grand-chose
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7 more
more [mɔ:r]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjective2. pronoun3. adverb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjectivea. ( = greater in amount) plus de► more... than plus de... queb. ( = additional) encore de• more tea? encore un peu de thé ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• is there any more wine? y a-t-il encore du vin ?► a few/several more2. pronouna. ( = greater quantity) plus• that's more than enough c'est amplement suffisant► no/nothing more• no more, thanks (in restaurant) ça suffit, mercib. ( = others) d'autres• have you got any more like these? en avez-vous d'autres comme ça ?3. adverbc. ( = rather) plutôtd. ( = again) once more une fois de plus• once more, they have disappointed us une fois de plus, ils nous ont déçus• the more you rest the quicker you'll get better plus vous vous reposerez plus vous vous rétablirez rapidement• all the more so because... d'autant plus que...* * *Note: When used to modify an adjective or an adverb to form the comparative more is very often translated by plus: more expensive = plus cher/chère; more beautiful = plus beau/belle; more easily = plus facilement; more regularly = plus régulièrement. For examples and further uses see belowWhen used as a quantifier to indicate a greater amount or quantity of something more is very often translated by plus de: more money/cars/people = plus d'argent/de voitures/de gens. For examples and further uses see II 1 below[mɔː(r)] 1.1) ( comparative)2) ( to a greater extent) plus, davantageyou must work/rest more — il faut que tu travailles/te reposes davantage
the more you think about it, the harder it will seem — plus tu y penseras, plus ça te paraîtra dur
3) ( longer)4) ( again)5) ( rather)2.3.a little/lot more wine — un peu/beaucoup plus de vin
1) ( larger amount or number) plusit costs more than the other one — il/elle coûte plus cher que l'autre
many were disappointed, more were angry — beaucoup de gens ont été déçus, un plus grand nombre étaient fâchés
2) ( additional amount) davantage; ( additional number) plusseveral/a few more (of them) — plusieurs/quelques autres
in Mexico, of which more later... — au Mexique, dont nous reparlerons plus tard...
4.let's ou we'll say no more about it — n'en parlons plus
more and more phrasal determiner, adverbial phrase de plus en plus5.more or less adverbial phrase plus ou moins6.more so adverbial phrase encore plusin York, and even more so in Oxford — à York et encore plus à Oxford
he is just as active as her, if not more so ou or even more so — il est aussi actif qu'elle, si ce n'est plus
7.they are all disappointed, none more so than Mr Lowe — ils sont tous déçus, en particulier M. Lowe
more than adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase1) ( greater amount or number) plus de2) ( extremely)••she's nothing more (nor less) than a thief —
she's a thief, neither more nor less — c'est une voleuse, ni plus ni moins
he's nothing ou no ou not much more than a servant — ce n'est qu'un serviteur
and what is more... — et qui plus est...
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8 under
under [ˈʌndər]1. prepositiona. ( = beneath) sous• under the table/umbrella sous la table/le parapluie• under the command of... sous les ordres de...b. ( = less than) moins de ; (in rank, scale) au-dessous de• it sells at under £10 cela se vend à moins de 10 livresc. (with names) sousd. ( = according to) selon2. adverba. ( = beneath) en dessousb. ( = less) moins3. prefix( = insufficiently) sous-* * *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 titreunder 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 dictionaryFor particular usages, see the entry below['ʌndə(r)] 1.1) ( physically beneath or below) sous2) ( 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
temperatures under 10°C — des températures inférieures à 10°C
3) ( according to)4) ( subordinate to) sous5) ( in classification) sous2.do I look for Le Corbusier under ‘le’ or ‘Corbusier’? — est-ce que je dois chercher Le Corbusier sous ‘le’ ou ‘Corbusier’?
1) ( physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] en dessousto go under — [diver, swimmer] disparaître sous l'eau
2) ( less) moins£10 and under — 10 livres sterling et moins
to run five minutes under — [event, programme] durer cinq minutes de moins que prévu
3) ( anaesthetized)4) ( subjugated)5) (below, later in text) -
9 more
❢ When used to modify an adjective or an adverb to form the comparative more is very often translated by plus: more expensive = plus cher/chère ; more beautiful = plus beau/belle ; more easily = plus facilement ; more regularly = plus régulièrement. For examples and further uses see A 1 below.When used as a quantifier to indicate a greater amount or quantity of something more is very often translated by plus de: more money/cars/people = plus d'argent/de voitures/de gens. For examples and further uses see B 1 below.A adv1 ( comparative) it's more serious than we thought/you think c'est plus grave que nous ne pensions/vous ne pensez ; the more intelligent (child) of the two (l'enfant) le plus intelligent des deux ; he's no more honest than his sister il n'est pas plus honnête que sa sœur ; the more developed countries les pays plus développés ;2 ( to a greater extent) plus, davantage ; you must work/sleep/rest more il faut que tu travailles/dormes/te reposes davantage ; he sleeps/talks more than I do il dort/parle plus que moi ; you can't paint any more than I can, you can no more paint than I can tu ne sais pas plus peindre que moi ; the more you think of it, the harder it will seem plus tu y penseras, plus ça te paraîtra dur ; he is (all) the more determined/angry because il est d'autant plus déterminé/en colère que ;3 ( longer) I don't work there any more je n'y travaille plus ; I couldn't continue any more je ne pouvais pas continuer plus longtemps ; she is no more littér elle n'est plus ;4 ( again) once/twice more une fois/deux fois de plus, encore une fois/deux fois ; he's back once more il est de nouveau de retour ;5 ( rather) more surprised than angry plus étonné que fâché ; he's more a mechanic than an engineer il est plus mécanicien qu'ingénieur ; it's more a question of organization than of money c'est plus une question d'organisation que d'argent.B quantif more cars than people plus de voitures que de gens ; more eggs than milk plus d'œufs que de lait ; more cars than expected/before plus de voitures que prévu/qu'avant ; some more books encore quelques livres ; a little/lot more wine un peu/beaucoup plus de vin ; more bread encore un peu de pain ; there's no more bread il n'y a plus de pain ; have some more beer! reprenez de la bière ; have you any more questions/problems? avez-vous d'autres questions/problèmes? ; we've no more time nous n'avons plus le temps ; nothing more rien de plus ; something more autre chose, quelque chose d'autre.C pron1 ( larger amount or number) plus ; it costs more than the other one il/elle coûte plus cher que l'autre ; he eats more than you il mange plus que toi ; the children take up more of my time les enfants prennent une plus grande partie de mon temps ; many were disappointed, more were angry beaucoup de gens ont été déçus, un plus grand nombre étaient fâchés ; we'd like to see more of you nous voudrions te voir plus souvent ;2 ( additional amount) davantage ; ( additional number) plus ; tell me more (about it) dis-m'en davantage ; I need more of them il m'en faut plus ; I need more of it il m'en faut davantage ; we found several/a few more (of them) in the house nous en avons trouvé plusieurs/quelques autres dans la maison ; I can't tell you any more je ne peux pas t'en dire plus ; have you heard any more from your sister? as-tu d'autres nouvelles de ta sœur? ; I have nothing more to say je n'ai rien à ajouter ; in Mexico, of which more later… au Mexique, dont nous reparlerons plus tard… ; let's ou we'll say no more about it n'en parlons plus.D more and more det phr, adv phr de plus en plus ; more and more work/time de plus en plus de travail/de temps ; to work/sleep more and more travailler/dormir de plus en plus ; more and more regularly de plus en plus régulièrement.F more so adv phr encore plus ; in York, and even more so in Oxford à York et encore plus à Oxford ; it is very interesting, made (even) more so because c'est très intéressant, d'autant plus que ; he is just as active as her, if not more so ou or even more so il est aussi actif qu'elle, si ce n'est plus ; (all) the more so because… d'autant plus que… ; they are all disappointed, none more so than Mr Lowe ils sont tous déçus, en particulier M. Lowe ; no more so than usual/the others pas plus que d'habitude/les autres.1 ( greater amount or number) plus de ; more than 20 people/£50 plus de 20 personnes/50 livres sterling ; more than half plus de la moitié ; more than enough plus qu'assez ;2 ( extremely) more than generous/happy plus que généreux/ravi ; the cheque more than covered the cost le chèque a amplement couvert les frais ; you more than fulfilled your obligations tu as fait plus que remplir tes obligations.she's nothing more (nor less) than a thief, she's a thief, neither more nor less c'est une voleuse, ni plus ni moins ; he's nothing ou no ou not much more than a servant ce n'est qu'un serviteur ; and what is more… et qui plus est… ; there's more where that came from ce n'est qu'un début. -
10 little
I.little1 [ˈlɪtl]II.little2 [ˈlɪtl]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjective2. pronoun3. adverb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjective( = not much) peu de► a little... ( = some) un peu de...• would you like a little milk in your tea? voulez-vous un peu de lait dans votre thé ?• we're having a little trouble nous avons un petit problème► no little...2. pronouna. ( = not much) pas grand-chose• that has very little to do with it! ça n'a pas grand-chose à voir !• however little you give, we'll be grateful votre contribution, même la plus modeste, sera la bienvenueb. ( = small amount) the little I have seen is excellent le peu que j'en ai vu est excellent• every little helps ( = gift) tous les dons sont les bienvenus3. adverba. ( = not much) they spoke very little on the way home ils n'ont pas dit grand-chose sur le chemin du retour► a little... ( = somewhat) un peu...b. ( = not at all) he little imagined that... il était loin de s'imaginer que...• little did he think that... il était loin de se douter que...c. ( = rarely) rarement• you could get one for as little as £20 on peut en trouver pour seulement 20 livres• you can eat well for as little as $5 on peut bien manger pour 5 dollars• I like him as little as you do je ne l'aime pas plus que toi► little by little petit à petit peu à peu► to make little of sth ( = accomplish easily) faire qch sans aucun mal ; ( = play down) minimiser qch ; ( = underestimate) sous-estimer qch• the sailors made little of loading the huge boxes les marins chargeaient les énormes caisses sans aucun mal• he made little of his opportunities ( = failed to exploit) il n'a pas tiré parti des possibilités qu'il avait► to say little for sb ( = reflect badly on)* * *Note: When little is used as a quantifier ( little hope, little damage) it is translated by peu de: peu d'espoir, peu de dégâtsWhen a little is used as a pronoun ( give me a little) it is translated by un peu: donne-m'en un peuWhen little is used alone as a pronoun ( there's little I can do) it is very often translated by pas grand-chose: je ne peux pas faire grand-choseFor examples of these and other uses of little as a pronoun ( to do as little as possible etc) see II belowFor uses of little and a little as adverbs see the entry belowI 1. ['lɪtl](comparative less; superlative least) quantifier2. 3.too little money — trop peu or pas assez d'argent
1) ( not much) peu2) ( not at all)4.a little (bit) adverbial phrase ( slightly) un peu5.a little less/more — un peu moins/plus
as little as adverbial phraseII ['lɪtl]as little as £60 — juste 60 livres sterling
1) ( small) [house, smile, voice] petit (before n)poor little thing — pauvre petit/-e m/f
2) ( young) [sister, boy] petit (before n)3) ( in a small way) [farmer, businessman] petit (before n)4) ( expressing scorn)5) ( short) [snooze] petit (before n)••to make little of — ( not understand) ne pas comprendre grand-chose à [speech]
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11 under
❢ 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 undercooked, underfunded, underprivileged and undergrowth, underpass, underskirt. These combinations are treated as headwords in the dictionary. For particular usages, see the entry below.A prep1 ( physically beneath or below) sous ; under the bed/chair sous le lit/la chaise ; under it en dessous ; it's under there c'est là-dessous ; to come out from under sth sortir de dessous qch ;2 ( less than) under £10/two hours moins de 10 livres sterling/deux heures ; 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 ; those under the rank of ceux qui ont un rang inférieur à celui de ;3 ( according to) under the law/clause 5 selon la loi/l'article 5 ; 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) do I look for Le Corbusier under ‘le’ or ‘Corbusier’? est-ce que je dois chercher Le Corbusier sous ‘le’ ou ‘Corbusier’? ; you'll find it under ‘Problems’ tu le trouveras à la rubrique ‘Problèmes’.B adv1 ( physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] en dessous ; to go/stay under [diver, swimmer] disparaître/rester 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 sb under endormir qn ; to stay under for three minutes être endormi pendant trois minutes ;4 ( subjugated) to keep sb under opprimer qn ;5 (below, later in text) see under voir ci-dessous. -
12 than
than [ðæn, ðən]a. que• you'd be better going by car than by bus tu ferais mieux d'y aller en voiture plutôt qu'en autobus• more/less than 20 plus/moins de 20* * *Note: When than is used as a preposition in expressions of comparison, it is translated by que (or qu' before a vowel or mute ‘h’): he's taller than me = il est plus grand que moi; London is bigger than Oxford = Londres est plus grand qu'OxfordFor expressions with numbers, temperatures etc see the entry belowWhen than is used as a conjunction, it is translated by que and the verb following it is preceded by ne: it was farther than I thought = c'était plus loin que je ne pensais. However, French speakers often try to phrase the comparison differently: it was more difficult than we expected = c'était plus difficile que prévu. For other uses see the entry below[ðæn, ðən] 1.1) ( in comparisons) que2) (expressing quantity, degree, value) de2.more/less than 100 — plus/moins de 100
1) ( in comparisons) que2) ( expressing preferences)I'd sooner ou rather do X than do Y — je préférerais faire X que (de) faire Y
3) ( when)hardly ou no sooner had he left than the phone rang — à peine était-il parti que le téléphone a sonné
4) US ( from) -
13 ease
[i:z] 1. noun1) (freedom from pain or from worry or hard work: a lifetime of ease.) bien-être2) (freedom from difficulty: He passed his exam with ease.) facilité3) (naturalness: ease of manner.) naturel2. verb1) (to free from pain, trouble or anxiety: A hot bath eased his tired limbs.) soulager2) ((often with off) to make or become less strong, less severe, less fast etc: The pain has eased (off); The driver eased off as he approached the town.) (se) calmer, ralentir3) (to move (something heavy or awkward) gently or gradually in or out of position: They eased the wardrobe carefully up the narrow staircase.) (mouvoir) doucement•- easily- easiness - easy 3. interjection(a command to go or act gently: Easy! You'll fall if you run too fast.) doucement- easy-going - at ease - easier said than done - go easy on - stand at ease - take it easy - take one's ease -
14 little
I.❢ When little is used as a quantifier ( little hope, little damage) it is translated by peu de: peu d'espoir, peu de dégâts. For examples and particular usages see A below. When a little is used as a pronoun ( give me a little) it is translated by un peu: donne-moi un peu. When little is used alone as a pronoun ( there's little I can do) it is very often translated by pas grand-chose: je ne peux pas faire grand-chose. For examples of these and other uses of little as a pronoun ( to do as little as possible etc) see B below. For uses of little and a little as adverbs see the entry below. Note that less and least are treated as separate entries in the dictionary.A quantif little hope/chance peu d'espoir/de chances ; little damage was done il y avait peu de dégâts ; we've made little progress nous avons fait peu de progrès ; there's so little time il y a si peu de temps ; too little money trop peu or pas assez d'argent ; there's little sense ou point ça n'a pas beaucoup de sens ; he speaks little German il ne parle presque pas allemand ; little or no influence/training presque pas d'influence/de formation ; little or no time/money presque pas de temps/d'argent ; with no little difficulty non sans mal ; I have little time ou sympathy for cheats je ne supporte pas les tricheurs ; I see little of Paul these days je ne vois pas beaucoup Paul en ce moment ; ⇒ chance.B pron taste a little goûtez-en un peu ; save a little for me gardes-en un peu pour moi ; I only ate a little je n'en ai mangé qu'un peu ; a little of the money un peu de l'argent ; the little I saw wasn't very good le peu que j'ai vu n'était pas très bien ; I did what little I could j'ai fait le peu que j'ai pu ; he remembers very little il ne se souvient pas bien ; little of what he says is true il n'y a pas grand-chose de vrai dans ce qu'il dit ; there's little I can do je ne peux pas faire grand-chose ; she did little to help elle n'a pas fait grand-chose pour aider ; I got little out of the lecture je n'ai pas compris grand-chose au cours ; age has little to do with it l'âge n'a pas grand-chose à voir là-dedans ; to do as little as possible faire le moins possible ; to know little about mechanics ne pas s'y connaître beaucoup en mécanique ; there's little to worry about il n'y a pas tellement de raisons de s'inquiéter ; little of note rien de bien particulier ; it says little for his honesty ça en dit long sur son honnêteté ; it says very little for her ce n'est pas tellement à son honneur ; little or nothing quasiment rien ; ⇒ help.C adv1 ( rarely) [say, speak, sleep, eat, laugh] peu ; I go there very little j'y vais très peu ; she visits them as little as possible elle leur rend visite le moins souvent possible ; his books are little read on ne le lit plus guère ;2 (hardly, scarcely) to be little changed ne pas avoir beaucoup changé ; the next results were little better les résultats suivants étaient à peine meilleurs ; little more than an hour ago il y a à peine une heure ; it's little short of madness cela frise la folie ; a little-known novel un roman peu connu ;3 ( not at all) little did she realize that the watch was stolen elle ne s'est pas du tout rendu compte que la montre était volée ; I little thought ou supposed that he would do it je n'aurais jamais cru qu'il le ferait ; little did they know that ils étaient bien loin de se douter que ; little do you know! si tu savais!D a little (bit) adv phr ( slightly) un peu ; a little (bit) anxious/surprised un peu inquiet/surpris ; a little less/more un peu moins/plus ; stay a little longer reste encore un peu ; I was not a little surprised/offended j'étais plutôt surpris/vexé ; ‘I'm a genius,’ he said, not a little proudly ‘je suis un génie,’ a-t-il dit, non sans fierté.E as little as adv phr for as little as 10 dollars a day pour seulement 10 dollars par jour ; it can cost as little as £60 cela coûte seulement 60 livres sterling ; I like Henry as little as you do je n'aime Henry guère plus que toi.II.1 ( small) petit (before n) ; a little house une petite maison ; a little something un petit quelque chose ; poor little thing pauvre petit/-e m/f ; a little old lady une petite vieille dame ; she's a nice little thing elle est adorable ;2 ( young) [brother, sister, boy, girl] petit (before n) ; when I was little quand j'étais petit ; the baboon and its little ones le babouin et ses petits ; Mrs Carter and all the little Carters Madame Carter et tous ses enfants ;3 (feeble, weak) [gesture, nod, smile] petit (before n) ; a little voice said… une petite voix dit… ;4 ( lacking influence) [farmer, businessman] petit (before n) ;5 (expressing scorn, contempt) he's a little despot c'est un vrai petit tyran ; a poky little flat un petit appartement minable ; a nasty little boy un méchant petit garçon ;6 ( short) [nap, snooze] petit (before n) ; a little holiday quelques jours de vacances ; a little break une petite pause ; I'll walk with you a little way je ferai un bout de chemin avec toi ; stay a little while reste un moment ; a little while longer encore un peu.little by little petit à petit ; to make little of ( disparage) ne pas faire grand cas de [achievement, victory] ; ( not understand) ne pas comprendre grand-chose à [speech, report] ; ⇒ fancy, learning, too. Pour le comparatif et le superlatif on préférera les formes smaller et smallest à littler and littlest. -
15 much
❢ When much is used as an adverb, it is translated by beaucoup: it's much longer = c'est beaucoup plus long ; she doesn't talk much = elle ne parle pas beaucoup.For particular usages, see A below. When much is used as a pronoun, it is usually translated by beaucoup: there is much to learn = il y a beaucoup à apprendre. However, in negative sentences grand-chose is also used: I didn't learn much = je n'ai pas beaucoup appris or je n'ai pas appris grand-chose.When much is used as a quantifier, it is translated by beaucoup de: they don't have much money = ils n'ont pas beaucoup d'argent.For particular usages see C below.A adv1 ( to a considerable degree) beaucoup ; much smaller/happier beaucoup plus petit/ content (than que) ; they're not much cheaper than the originals ils ne sont pas beaucoup moins chers que les originaux ; much more interesting beaucoup or bien plus intéressant ; the film was much better than expected le film était bien meilleur que prévu ; it's much better organized c'est beaucoup mieux organisé ; they're getting much less demanding ils deviennent beaucoup moins exigeants ; the shoes are much too expensive les chaussures sont beaucoup trop chères ; it's much too dangerous c'est beaucoup trop dangereux ; he doesn't much care for them il ne les aime pas beaucoup ; I didn't much like what I saw je n'ai pas beaucoup aimé ce que j'ai vu ; she doesn't worry much about it ça ne l'inquiète pas beaucoup ; we'd much rather stay here nous préférerions de beaucoup rester ici ; the meeting has been much criticized on a beaucoup critiqué la réunion ; they are much to be pitied ils méritent qu'on ait pitié d'eux ; much loved by her friends très aimée de ses amis ; your comments would be much appreciated tous vos commentaires seront les bienvenus ; he's not much good at Latin/at tennis il n'est pas très bon en latin/au tennis ; he's not much good at doing il n'est pas très doué pour faire ; does it hurt much? est-ce que ça fait très mal? ; it's much the more interesting of the two studies c'est de loin la plus intéressante des deux études ; she's much the best teacher here elle est de loin le meilleur professeur ici ; much to our annoyance, they didn't phone back ils n'ont pas rappelé, ce qui nous a beaucoup vexés ; much to my surprise à ma grande surprise ;2 ( often) beaucoup, souvent ; we don't go out much nous ne sortons pas beaucoup ; they didn't see each other much ils ne se voyaient pas beaucoup ; she doesn't talk much about the past elle ne parle pas beaucoup du passé ; do you go to concerts much? est-ce que tu vas souvent au concert? ; a much married film star une vedette de cinéma qui s'est remariée plusieurs fois ;3 (approximately, nearly) plus ou moins, à peu près ; to be much the same être à peu près pareil (as que) ; his condition is much the same as yesterday son état est plus ou moins or à peu près le même qu'hier ; it's pretty much like driving a car c'est plus ou moins la même chose que de conduire une voiture ; he behaved much the way the others did il s'est comporté plus ou moins comme les autres ; in much the same way à peu près de la même façon (as que) ; much the same is true of China la situation est à peu près la même en Chine ;4 ( specifying degree to which something is true) too much trop ; you worry/talk too much tu t'inquiètes/parles trop ; very much ( a lot) beaucoup ; ( absolutely) tout à fait ; he misses you very much tu lui manques beaucoup ; I'd appreciate it very much if j'apprécierais beaucoup que (+ subj) ; thanks very much merci beaucoup ; we enjoyed ourselves very much nous nous sommes beaucoup amusés ; she's very much like her mother elle ressemble beaucoup à sa mère ; it's very much the norm c'est tout à fait la norme ; I felt very much the foreigner je me sentais tout à fait étranger ; so much tellement ; I wanted so much to meet you j'avais tellement envie de vous rencontrer ; it hurts so much ça fait tellement mal ; it's so much better c'est tellement mieux ; he hates flying so much that he prefers to take the boat il déteste tellement l'avion qu'il préfère prendre le bateau ; thanks so much for merci beaucoup pour ; as much autant (as que) ; I like them as much as you (do) je les aime autant que toi ; she doesn't worry as much as before elle ne s'inquiète pas autant qu'avant ; they hated each other as much as ever ils se détestaient toujours autant ; she is as much entitled to a visa as you elle a autant droit à un visa que toi ; they were as much a part of village life as the farmers ils faisaient autant partie de la vie du village que les fermiers ; he wasn't sure and said as much il n'était pas sûr et il l'a dit ; I thought as much c'est bien ce qui me semblait ; however much même si ; you'll have to accept the decision however much you disagree il va falloir que tu acceptes la décision même si tu n'es pas d'accord ; I couldn't cry out however much it hurt je ne pouvais pas crier même si ça me faisait très mal ;5 (emphatic: setting up a contrast) not so much X as Y moins X que Y, plus Y que X ; it wasn't so much a warning as a threat c'était moins un avertissement qu'une menace, c'était plus une menace qu'un avertissement ; the discovery wasn't so much shocking as depressing la découverte était moins choquante que déprimante ; it doesn't annoy me so much as make me wonder ça m'agace moins que ça ne me surprend.B pron1 ( a great deal) beaucoup ; ( in negative sentences) grand-chose ; do you have much left? est-ce qu'il vous en reste beaucoup? ; did he earn much? est-ce qu'il a gagné beaucoup? ; we have much to learn nous avons beaucoup à apprendre (from de) ; we didn't eat much nous n'avons pas mangé grand-chose ; there isn't much to do il n'y a pas grand-chose à faire ; he doesn't have much to say il n'a pas grand-chose à dire ; there isn't much one can do to prevent it il n'y a pas grand-chose à faire pour empêcher ça ; he doesn't have much to complain about il n'a pas à se plaindre ; it leaves much to be desired ça laisse (vraiment) à désirer ; there's much to be said for beaucoup de choses plaident en faveur de [plan, country life, job-sharing] ; much of une grande partie de ; much of the difficulty lies in… une grande partie de la difficulté réside dans… ; much of the meeting was spent discussing… une grande partie de la réunion a été consacrée à discuter… ; much of their work involves… une grande partie de leur travail consiste à… ; much of what remains is useless une grande partie de ce qui reste est inutile ; much of the resentment is due to le ressentiment vient en grande partie de ; I don't see much of them now je ne les vois plus beaucoup maintenant ; to make much of sth ( focus on) insister sur qch ; ( understand) comprendre qch ; the report made much of the scandal le rapport insistait sur le scandale or faisait grand cas du scandale ; I couldn't make much of her last book je n'ai pas compris grand-chose à son dernier livre ;2 (expressing a relative amount, degree) so much tant ; they are willing to pay so much per vehicle ils sont prêts à payer tant par véhicule ; we'd eaten so much that nous avions tant mangé que ; she spends so much of her life abroad elle passe une très grande partie de sa vie à l'étranger ; she spends so much of her life abroad that elle passe une si grande partie de sa vie à l'étranger que ; so much of her work is gloomy il y a une grande partie de son œuvre qui est sombre ; so much of the earth is polluted la terre est tellement polluée ; so much of the time, it's a question of patience la plupart du temps c'est une question de patience ; too much trop ; it costs too much c'est trop cher ; you eat too much tu manges trop ; it's too much! lit c'est trop! ; ( in protest) c'en est trop! ; it's too much of a strain c'est trop éprouvant ; she was too much of an egotist to do elle était trop égoïste pour faire ; I couldn't eat all that, it's too much for me! je ne pourrais jamais manger tout ça, c'est trop pour moi! ; the heat/the work was too much for them ils n'ont pas pu supporter la chaleur/le travail ; the measures proved too much for them ils n'ont pas pu tolérer les mesures ; he was too much for his opponent il était trop fort pour son adversaire ; I bought about this much j'en ai acheté à peu près ça ; he's read this much already il a déjà lu tout ça ; I'll say this much for him, he's honest il a au moins ça pour lui, il est honnête ; this much is certain, we'll have no choice une chose est certaine, nous n'aurons pas le choix ; twice as much deux fois autant or plus ; if we had half as much as you si nous avions la moitié de ce que tu as ; I'll need half as much again il me faudra encore la moitié de ça ; as much as possible autant que possible ; they paid as much as we did ils ont payé autant que nous ; is it as much as that? est-ce que ça fait autant que ça? ; I enjoy nature as much as the next person j'apprécie la nature autant que n'importe qui ; it can cost as much as £50 ça peut coûter jusqu'à 50 livres sterling ; it was as much as I could do not to laugh il a fallu que je me retienne pour ne pas rire ; as much as to say… d'un air de dire… ; how much? combien? ; how much did you pay for it? combien est-ce que tu l'as payé? ; tell them how much you won dis-leur combien tu as gagné ; how much do they know? qu'est-ce qu'ils savent au juste? ; he never knew how much we missed him il n'a jamais su à quel point or combien il nous a manqué ; do you know how much this means to me? est-ce que tu sais à quel point or combien c'est important pour moi? ;3 (focusing on limitations, inadequacy) it's not ou nothing much ce n'est pas grand-chose ; it's not up to much GB ça ne vaut pas grand-chose ; he 's not much to look at il n'est pas très beau ; she doesn't think much of him elle n'a pas très bonne opinion de lui ; she doesn't think much of it elle n'en pense pas beaucoup de bien ; I'm not much of a letter-writer/reader je n'aime pas beaucoup écrire des lettres/lire ; it's not much of a film ce n'est pas un bon film ; it wasn't much of a life ce n'était pas une vie ; it wasn't much of a holiday for us ce n'était vraiment pas des vacances pour nous ; that's not much of a consolation! ça ne me console pas tellement! ; I'm not much of a one for cooking ○ la cuisine ce n'est pas mon fort ○.C quantif beaucoup de ; have you got much money/work? est-ce que tu as beaucoup d'argent/de travail? ; I haven't got (very) much time je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps ; we didn't get much support nous n'avons pas eu beaucoup de soutien ; it doesn't make much sense ça n'a pas beaucoup de sens ; there isn't much wine left il ne reste pas beaucoup de vin ; does he watch much TV? est-ce qu'il regarde beaucoup la télé ○ ? ; she didn't speak much English elle parlait peu anglais ; too much energy trop d'énergie ; to spend too much money dépenser trop d'argent ; we don't have too much time nous n'avons pas beaucoup de temps ; don't use so much salt ne mets pas tant de sel ; why does he make so much noise? pourquoi fait-il tant de bruit? ; I spent so much time doing j'ai passé tant de temps à faire ; she gets so much enjoyment out of the radio elle a tant de plaisir à écouter la radio ; we paid twice as much money nous avons payé deux fois plus d'argent ; how much time have we got left? combien de temps nous reste-t-il? ; how much liquid does it contain? combien de liquide est-ce que ça contient?D much+ (dans composés) much-loved/-respected très apprécié/respecté ; much-maligned tant décrié ; much-needed indispensable.E much as conj phr bien que (+ subj) ; much as he needed the money, he wouldn't beg for it il avait vraiment besoin de cet argent et pourtant il ne pouvait se résoudre à mendier ; much as we regret our decision we have no choice bien que nous regrettions or nous avons beau regretter notre décision, nous n'avons pas le choix.F much less conj phr encore moins ; I've never seen him much less spoken to him je n'ai jamais eu l'occasion de le voir encore moins de lui parler.G so much as adv phr without so much as saying goodbye/as an apology sans même dire au revoir/s'excuser ; if you so much as move/sigh si tu fais le moindre mouvement/pousses le moindre soupir ; they can be imprisoned for so much as criticizing the regime ils peuvent être emprisonnés ne serait-ce que pour avoir critiqué le régime.much wants more plus on en a plus on en veut ; there isn't much in GB ou to US it (in contest, competition) ils se suivent de près ; there isn't much in it for us ( to our advantage) ça ne va pas nous apporter grand-chose ; she's late again? that's a bit much! elle est encore en retard? elle exagère! ; ⇒ so. -
16 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 yearle 10 mai 1901But if the date is the first of the month, use premier, abbreviated as 1er:May 1st 1901= le 1er mai 1901Note 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 1901Monday the 25th= lundi 25 ( say lundi vingt-cinq)Saying and writing dateswhat’s the date?= quel jour sommes-nous?it’s the tenth= nous sommes le dix or (less formally) on est le dixit’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 cents2000= l’an deux mille† French prefers Roman numerals for centuries:the 16th century= le XVIeSaying onFrench 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 inFrench 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 millein AD 27= en l’an 27 ( say l’an vingt-sept) de notre èrein 132 BC= en l’an 132 ( say l’an cent trente-deux) avant Jésus-ChristWith 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-dixWith centuries, French uses au:in the seventeenth century= au dix-septième siècleThe word siècle is often omitted in colloquial French:in the eighteenth century= au dix-huitième siècle or (less formally) au dix-huitièmeNote 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)PhrasesRemember 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) -
17 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 someoneWhere 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, monsieurgood evening, Mrs Jones= bonsoir, madamegoodbye, Miss Smith= au revoir, mademoiselleThe 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, docteurIn 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 présidenteyes, Minister= oui, Monsieur le ministre or (to a woman) oui, Madame le ministreNote 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 someoneMr Smith is here= monsieur Smith est làMrs Jones phoned= madame Jones a téléphonéMiss Black has arrived= mademoiselle Black est arrivéeMs 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 arrivéProfessor Jones spoke= le professeur Jones a parléThis is true of all titles:Prince Charles= le prince CharlesPrincess Marie= la princesse MarieNote 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) -
18 stand
[stænd] 1. past tense, past participle - stood; verb1) (to be in an upright position, not sitting or lying: His leg was so painful that he could hardly stand; After the storm, few trees were left standing.) être debout2) ((often with up) to rise to the feet: He pushed back his chair and stood up; Some people like to stand (up) when the National Anthem is played.) se mettre debout3) (to remain motionless: The train stood for an hour outside Newcastle.) rester4) (to remain unchanged: This law still stands.) maintenir5) (to be in or have a particular place: There is now a factory where our house once stood.) s'élever6) (to be in a particular state, condition or situation: As matters stand, we can do nothing to help; How do you stand financially?) dans l'état oû, dans ces conditions7) (to accept or offer oneself for a particular position etc: He is standing as Parliamentary candidate for our district.) être candidat (à)8) (to put in a particular position, especially upright: He picked up the fallen chair and stood it beside the table.) poser (droit/debout)9) (to undergo or endure: He will stand (his) trial for murder; I can't stand her rudeness any longer.) supporter10) (to pay for (a meal etc) for (a person): Let me stand you a drink!) offrir2. noun1) (a position or place in which to stand ready to fight etc, or an act of fighting etc: The guard took up his stand at the gate; I shall make a stand for what I believe is right.) poste2) (an object, especially a piece of furniture, for holding or supporting something: a coat-stand; The sculpture had been removed from its stand for cleaning.) support3) (a stall where goods are displayed for sale or advertisement.) étalage4) (a large structure beside a football pitch, race course etc with rows of seats for spectators: The stand was crowded.) tribune5) ((American) a witness box in a law court.) barre•- standing 3. noun1) (time of lasting: an agreement of long standing.) durée2) (rank or reputation: a diplomat of high standing.) importance•- stand-by4. adjective((of an airline passenger or ticket) costing or paying less than the usual fare, as the passenger does not book a seat for a particular flight, but waits for the first available seat.) sans garantie5. adverb(travelling in this way: It costs a lot less to travel stand-by.) sans garantie- stand-in- standing-room - make someone's hair stand on end - stand aside - stand back - stand by - stand down - stand fast/firm - stand for - stand in - stand on one's own two feet - stand on one's own feet - stand out - stand over - stand up for - stand up to -
19 than
than,❢ When than is used as a preposition in expressions of comparison, it is translated by que (or qu' before a vowel or mute ‘h’): he's taller than me = il est plus grand que moi ; London is bigger than Oxford = Londres est plus grand qu'Oxford.For expressions with numbers, temperatures etc see the entry below. See also the entries more, less, hardly, soon, rather, other. When than is used as a conjunction, it is translated by que and the verb following it is preceded by ne: it was farther than I thought = c'était plus loin que je ne pensais. However, French speakers often try to phrase the comparison differently: it was more difficult than we expected = c'était plus difficile que prévu. For other uses see the entry below. See also the entries hardly, rather, soon.A prep1 ( in comparisons) que ; thinner than him plus mince que lui ; he has more than me il a plus que moi ; faster by plane than by boat plus rapide en avion qu'en bateau ; I was more surprised than annoyed j'étais plus étonné qu'ennuyé ; it's more difficult for us than for them c'est plus difficile pour nous que pour eux ;2 (expressing quantity, degree, value) de ; more/less than 100 plus/moins de 100 ; more than half plus de la moitié ; temperatures lower than 30 degrees des températures de moins de 30 degrés.B conj1 ( in comparisons) que ; he's older than I am il est plus âgé que moi ; it took us longer than we thought it would ça nous a pris plus de temps que prévu ; it was further away than I remembered c'était plus loin que dans mon souvenir ; there's nothing better/worse than doing il n'y a rien de mieux/de pire que de faire ;2 ( expressing preferences) I'd sooner ou rather do X than do Y je préférerais faire X que (de) faire Y ;3 ( when) hardly ou no sooner had he left than the phone rang à peine était-il parti que le téléphone a sonné ; -
20 BE
be [bi:]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verb3. modal verb6. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verba. être• who is that? -- it's me! qui est-ce ? -- c'est moi !• 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.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► No article is used in French, unless the noun is qualified by an adjective.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how are you? comment allez-vous ?d. ( = cost) coûter• how much is it? combien ça coûte ?e. ( = equal) fairef.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• 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.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━g. (with age) avoir• how old is he? quel âge a-t-il ?► to be + -ing━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French does not distinguish between simple and continuous actions as much as English does.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'm coming! j'arrive !• 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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The imperfect tense is used for continuous action in the past.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► have/had been +... for/since━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• 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• 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 ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• 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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The past participle in French passive constructions agrees with the subject.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The passive is used less in French than in English. It is often expressed by on + active verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• it is said that... on dit que...━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The reflexive can be used to describe how something is usually done.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━3. modal verb► am/are/is to + infinitivea. ( = will)• 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 venteb. ( = must) you are to follow these instructions exactly tu dois suivre ces instructions scrupuleusementc. ( = 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 répercussionse. ( = can) these birds are to be found all over the world on trouve ces oiseaux dans le monde entiera. être ; ( = take place) avoir lieu• 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► there is/are ( = there exist(s)) il y a• here you are at last! te voilà enfin !• here you are! ( = take this) tiens (or tenez) !b. ► to have been (to a place)• where have you been? où étais-tu passé ?a. (weather, temperature) faire• it's fine/cold/dark il fait beau/froid/nuit• it's windy/foggy il y a du vent/du brouillard• 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* * *noun: abrév bill of exchange
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