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21 Usage note : be
I am tired= je suis fatiguéCaroline is French= Caroline est françaisethe children are in the garden= les enfants sont dans le jardinIt functions in very much the same way as to be does in English and it is safe to assume it will work as a translation in the great majority of cases.Note, however, that when you are specifying a person’s profession or trade, a/an is not translated:she’s a doctor= elle est médecinClaudie is still a student= Claudie est toujours étudianteThis is true of any noun used in apposition when the subject is a person:he’s a widower= il est veufButLyons is a beautiful city= Lyon est une belle villeFor more information or expressions involving professions and trades consult the usage note Shops, Trades and Professions.For the conjugation of the verb être see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsThe passiveêtre is used to form the passive in French just as to be is used in English. Note, however, that the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject:the rabbit was killed by a fox= le lapin a été tué par un renardthe window had been broken= la fenêtre avait été casséetheir books will be sold= leurs livres seront vendusour doors have been repainted red= nos portes ont été repeintes en rougeIn spoken language, French native speakers find the passive cumbersome and will avoid it where possible by using the impersonal on where a person or people are clearly involved : on a repeint nos portes en rouge.Progressive tensesIn French the idea of something happening over a period of time cannot be expressed using the verb être in the way that to be is used as an auxiliary verb in English.The presentFrench uses simply the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:I am working= je travailleBen is reading a book= Ben lit un livreIn order to accentuate duration être en train de is used: je suis en train de travailler ; Ben est en train de lire un livre.The futureFrench also uses the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:we are going to London tomorrow= nous allons à Londres demainI’m (just) coming!= j’arrive!I’m (just) going!= j’y vais!The pastTo express the distinction between she read a newspaper and she was reading a newspaper French uses the perfect and the imperfect tenses: elle a lu un journal/elle lisait un journal:he wrote to his mother= il a écrit à sa mèrehe was writing to his mother= il écrivait à sa mèreHowever, in order to accentuate the notion of describing an activity which went on over a period of time, the phrase être en train de (= to be in the process of) is often used:‘what was he doing when you arrived?’‘he was cooking the dinner’= ‘qu’est-ce qu’il faisait quand tu es arrivé?’ ‘il était en train de préparer le dîner’she was just finishing her essay when …= elle était juste en train de finir sa dissertation quand …The compound pastCompound past tenses in the progressive form in English are generally translated by the imperfect in French:I’ve been looking for you= je te cherchaisFor progressive forms + for and since (I’ve been waiting for an hour, I had been waiting for an hour, I’ve been waiting since Monday etc.) see the entries for and since.ObligationWhen to be is used as an auxiliary verb with another verb in the infinitive ( to be to do) expressing obligation, a fixed arrangement or destiny, devoir is used:she’s to do it at once= elle doit le faire tout de suitewhat am I to do?= qu’est-ce que je dois faire?he was to arrive last Monday= il devait arriver lundi derniershe was never to see him again= elle ne devait plus le revoir.In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like isn’t he? or wasn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:their house is lovely, isn’t it?= leur maison est très belle, n’est-ce pas?he’s a doctor, isn’t he?= il est médecin, n’est-ce pas?it was a very good meal, wasn’t it?= c’était un très bon repas, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the extra meaning contained in the tag: par hasard ( by any chance) can be very useful as a translation:‘I can’t find my glasses’ ‘they’re not in the kitchen, are they?’= ‘je ne trouve pas mes lunettes’ ‘elles ne sont pas dans la cuisine, par hasard?’you haven’t seen Gaby, have you?= tu n’as pas vu Gaby, par hasard?In cases where an opinion is being sought, si? meaning more or less or is it? or was it? etc. can be useful:it’s not broken, is it?= ce n’est pas cassé, si?he wasn’t serious, was he?= il n’était pas sérieux, si?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.In short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like yes I am, no he’s not etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘you’re not going out tonight’ ‘yes I am’= ‘tu ne sors pas ce soir’ ‘si’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘are you a doctor?’ ‘yes I am’= ‘êtes-vous médecin?’ ‘oui’‘was it raining?’ ‘yes it was’= ‘est-ce qu’il pleuvait?’ ‘oui’ProbabilityFor expressions of probability and supposition ( if I were you etc.) see the entry be.Other functionsExpressing sensations and feelingsIn expressing physical and mental sensations, the verb used in French is avoir:to be cold= avoir froidto be hot= avoir chaudI’m cold= j’ai froidto be thirsty= avoir soifto be hungry= avoir faimto be ashamed= avoir hontemy hands are cold= j’ai froid aux mainsIf, however, you are in doubt as to which verb to use in such expressions, you should consult the entry for the appropriate adjective.Discussing health and how people areIn expressions of health and polite enquiries about how people are, aller is used:how are you?= comment allez-vous?( more informally) comment vas-tu?( very informally as a greeting) ça va?are you well?= vous allez bien?how is your daughter?= comment va votre fille?my father is better today= mon père va mieux aujourd’huiDiscussing weather and temperatureIn expressions of weather and temperature faire is generally used:it’s cold= il fait froidit’s windy= il fait du ventIf in doubt, consult the appropriate adjective entry.Visiting somewhereWhen to be is used in the present perfect tense to mean go, visit etc., French will generally use the verbs venir, aller etc. rather than être:I’ve never been to Sweden= je ne suis jamais allé en Suèdehave you been to the Louvre?= est-ce que tu es déjà allé au Louvre?or est-ce que tu as déjà visité le Louvre?Paul has been to see us three times= Paul est venu nous voir trois foisNote too:has the postman been?= est-ce que le facteur est passé?The translation for an expression or idiom containing the verb to be will be found in the dictionary at the entry for another word in the expression: for to be in danger see danger, for it would be best to … see best etc.This dictionary contains usage notes on topics such as the clock, time units, age, weight measurement, days of the week, and shops, trades and professions, many of which include translations of particular uses of to be. -
22 would
would [wʊd]1. modal verba.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When would is used to form the conditional, the French conditional is used.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I wouldn't worry, if I were you à ta place, je ne m'inquiéterais pas• to my surprise, he agreed -- I never thought he would à ma grande surprise, il a accepté -- je ne l'aurais jamais pensé• who would have thought it? qui l'aurait pensé ?• I said I'd go, so I'm going j'ai dit que j'irais, alors j'y vais• I said I'd go, so I went j'avais dit que j'irais, alors j'y suis allé━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• if you would come with me, I'd go to see him si vous vouliez bien m'accompagner, j'irais le voir━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━would you wait here please! attendez ici s'il vous plaît !• would you close the window please voulez-vous fermer la fenêtre, s'il vous plaît► would you like ( = do you want)would you like some tea? voulez-vous du thé ?• would you like to go for a walk? est-ce que vous aimeriez faire une promenade ?• 50 years ago the streets would be empty on Sundays il y a 50 ans, les rues étaient vides le dimanche• I saw him come out of the shop -- when would this be? je l'ai vu sortir du magasin -- quand ?d. (inevitability) you would go and tell her! évidemment tu es allé le lui dire !• it would have to rain! évidemment il fallait qu'il pleuve !e. (conjecture) it would have been about 8 o'clock when he came il devait être 8 heures à peu près quand il est venu2. modifier* * *[wʊd, wəd]Note: When would is used with a verb in English to form the conditional tense, would + verb is translated by the present conditional of the appropriate verb in French and would have + verb by the past conditional of the appropriate verb: I would do it if I had time = je le ferais si j'avais le temps; I would have done it if I had had time = je l'aurais fait si j'avais eu le temps; he said he would fetch the car = il a dit qu'il irait chercher la voitureFor more examples, particular usages and all other uses of would see the entry below1) (in sequence of past tenses, in reported speech)if we'd left later we would have missed the train — si nous étions partis plus tard nous aurions raté le train
wouldn't it be nice if... — ce serait bien si...
they couldn't find anyone who would take the job — ils n'arrivaient pas à trouver quelqu'un qui accepte le poste
5) (expressing desire, preference)switch off the radio, would you? — éteins la radio, tu veux bien?
8) ( when giving advice)9) ( expressing exasperation)‘he denies it’ - ‘well he would, wouldn't he?’ — ‘il le nie’ - ‘évidemment!’
‘she put her foot in it (colloq)’ - ‘she would!’ — ‘elle a mis les pieds dans le plat (colloq)’ - ‘tu m'étonnes!’
10) ( expressing an assumption)let's see, that would be his youngest son — voyons, ça doit être son plus jeune fils
11) (indicating habitual event or behaviour in past: used to) -
23 when
when [wen]quand ⇒ 1, 2 (a)-(g) lorsque ⇒ 2 (c) dès que ⇒ 2 (d) après que ⇒ 2 (d) chaque fois que ⇒ 2 (f) étant donné que ⇒ 2 (g) alors que ⇒ 2 (h) où ⇒ 3 (a), 3 (c)1 adverbquand;∎ when are we leaving? quand partons-nous?;∎ when is the next bus? à quelle heure est ou quand passe le prochain bus?;∎ when did the war end? quand la guerre s'est-elle terminée?;∎ when did the accident happen? quand l'accident a-t-il eu lieu?;∎ when was the Renaissance? à quand remonte l'époque de la Renaissance?;∎ when will the wedding be? à quand le mariage?;∎ when do you start your new job? quand commencez-vous votre nouveau travail?;∎ when do you use the subjunctive? quand emploie-t-on le subjonctif?;∎ you're open until when? vous êtes ouvert jusqu'à quand?;∎ when did you last see her? quand l'avez-vous vue pour la dernière fois?;∎ when do the Easter holidays begin? quand est-ce que commencent les vacances de Pâques?;∎ when is the best time to call? quel est le meilleur moment pour appeler?;∎ the homework is due when? quand doit-on rendre les devoirs?(a) (how soon) quand;∎ I don't know when we'll see you again je ne sais pas quand nous vous reverrons;∎ do you remember when we met? te souviens-tu du jour où nous nous sommes connus?;∎ do you know when he was born? savez-vous quand il est né?, connaissez-vous sa date de naissance?;∎ I wonder when the shop opens je me demande à quelle heure ouvre le magasin;∎ your contract states when you will be paid votre contrat spécifie quand vous serez payé;∎ we don't agree on when it should be done nous ne sommes pas d'accord sur le moment où il faudrait le faire(b) (at which time) quand;∎ come back next week when we'll have more time revenez la semaine prochaine quand nous aurons plus de temps;∎ he returned in the autumn, when the leaves were beginning to turn il est revenu à l'automne, alors que les feuilles commençaient à jaunir;∎ the prince will arrive on the 10th, when he will open the new university le prince arrivera le dix et inaugurera la nouvelle université(c) (indicating a specific point in time) quand, lorsque;∎ he turned round when she called his name il s'est retourné quand ou lorsqu'elle l'a appelé;∎ when she's gone, he's unhappy quand ou lorsqu'elle n'est pas là, il est malheureux;∎ when I was a student lorsque j'étais ou à l'époque où j'étais étudiant;∎ will you still love me when I'm old? m'aimeras-tu encore quand je serai vieux?;∎ she's only happy when she's writing elle n'est heureuse que lorsqu'elle écrit;∎ they were talking when he came in ils étaient en train de discuter quand il est entré;∎ she's thinner than when I last saw her elle a maigri depuis la dernière fois que je l'ai vue;∎ he left town when he was twenty il a quitté la ville quand il avait ou à l'âge de vingt ans;∎ when she was a child quand ou lorsqu'elle était enfant;∎ on Sunday, when I go to the market (this week) dimanche, quand j'irai au marché; (every week) le dimanche, quand je vais au marché;∎ I had just walked in the door/he was about to go to bed when the phone rang je venais juste d'arriver/il était sur le point de se coucher quand le téléphone a sonné;∎ we hadn't been gone five minutes when Susan wanted to go home ça ne faisait pas cinq minutes que nous étions partis et Susan voulait déjà rentrer∎ put your pencils down when you have finished posez votre crayon quand vous avez terminé;∎ when completed, the factory will employ 100 workers une fois terminée, l'usine emploiera 100 personnes;∎ when he starts drinking, he can't stop une fois qu'il a commencé à boire, il ne peut plus s'arrêter;∎ I'll answer any questions when the meeting is over quand la réunion sera terminée, je répondrai à toutes vos questions;∎ Cookery when cool, turn out onto a dish une fois refroidi, démouler sur un plat;∎ when I had read my report, she suggested we take a break après mon exposé, elle a suggéré qu'on fasse une pause;∎ when they had finished dinner, he offered to take her home quand ou après qu'ils eurent dîné, il lui proposa de la ramener;∎ when you see her you'll understand quand vous la verrez vous comprendrez;∎ when she had talked to him, she left après lui avoir parlé, elle est partie∎ remember when a coffee cost 10 cents? vous souvenez-vous de l'époque où un café coûtait 10 cents?;∎ he talked about when he was a soldier il parlait de l'époque où il était soldat;∎ that's when it snowed so hard c'est quand il a tant neigé;∎ that's when he got up and left c'est à ce moment-là ou c'est alors qu'il s'est levé et qu'il est parti;∎ that's when the shops close c'est l'heure où les magasins ferment;∎ figurative now is when we should stand up and be counted c'est le moment d'avoir le courage de nos opinions(f) (whenever) quand, chaque fois que;∎ when it's sunny, the children play outside quand il y a du soleil, les enfants jouent dehors;∎ when I hear that song, I think of her chaque fois que ou quand j'entends cette chanson, je pense à elle;∎ when I think of what she must have suffered! quand je pense à ce qu'elle a dû souffrir!;∎ I get very irritated when talking to her je m'énerve chaque fois que je lui parle;∎ I try to avoid seeing him when possible j'essaie de l'éviter quand c'est possible(g) (since, given that) quand, étant donné que;∎ what good is it applying when I don't qualify for the job? à quoi bon me porter candidat quand ou si je n'ai pas les capacités requises pour faire ce travail?;∎ how can you treat her so badly when you know she loves you? comment pouvez-vous la traiter si mal quand ou alors que vous savez qu'elle vous aime?;∎ why change jobs when you like what you do? pourquoi changer de travail quand ou puisque vous aimez ce que vous faites?;∎ fancy having soup when you could have had caviar! pourquoi manger de la soupe quand on peut manger du caviar?∎ she described him as being lax when in fact he's quite strict elle l'a décrit comme étant négligent alors qu'en réalité il est assez strict∎ an age when men were men une époque où les hommes étaient des hommes;∎ in a period when business was bad à une période où les affaires allaient mal;∎ she was president until 1980, when she left the company elle fut présidente jusqu'en 1980, année où elle a quitté l'entreprise∎ she started her job in May, since when she has had no free time elle a commencé à travailler en mai et elle n'a pas eu de temps libre depuis;∎ the new office will be ready in January, until when we use the old one le nouveau bureau sera prêt en janvier, jusque là ou en attendant, nous utiliserons l'ancien∎ do you remember the year when we went to Alaska? tu te rappelles l'année où on est allés en Alaska?;∎ what about the time when she didn't show up? et la fois où elle n'est pas venue?;∎ one day when he was out un jour où il était sorti ou qu'il était sorti;∎ it was only a minute later when he heard a scream à peine une minute plus tard, il entendait un cri;∎ on Monday, the day when I was supposed to start work lundi, le jour où je devais commencer à travailler;∎ it's one of those days when everything goes wrong c'est un de ces jours où tout va de travers;∎ there were times when she didn't know what to do il y avait des moments où elle ne savait plus quoi faire4 noun∎ the when and the how of it quand et comment cela s'est-il passé/se passera-t-il/ etc
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