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1 you
you [ju:]a.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When you is the subject of a sentence, the translation is tu or vous in the singular and vous in the plural. vous is used as the polite form in the singular. When you is the object of a sentence te replaces tu in the singular, but vous remains unchanged. toi is used instead of tu after a preposition and in comparisons. toi is also used when you is stressed.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'll see you soon je te or je vous verrai bientôt• this book is for you ce livre est pour toi or vous• you two wait here! attendez ici, vous deux !• now you say something maintenant à toi or à vous de parler• you and I will go together toi or vous et moi, nous irons ensemble• if I were you à ta or votre place• you fool (you)! espèce d'imbécile !• I like the uniform, it's very you (inf) j'aime bien ton uniforme, c'est vraiment ton styleb. ( = one, anyone)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When you is the subject of a sentence the translation is either on or the passive form. When you is the object of a sentence or is used after a preposition, the direct translation of you is te or vous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how do you switch this on? comment est-ce que ça s'allume ?* * *[juː, jʊ]1) ( addressing somebody)I saw you on Saturday — ( one person) ( polite) je vous ai vu samedi; ( informal) je t'ai vu samedi; ( more than one person) je vous ai vus samedi
you would never do that — ( polite) vous, vous ne feriez jamais cela; ( informal) toi, tu ne ferais jamais ça
there's a manager for you! — (colloq) iron ça c'est un patron!
you idiot! — (colloq) espèce d'imbécile! (colloq)
2) ( as indefinite pronoun) ( subject) on; (object, indirect object) vous, te -
2 you
1 ( addressing sb) I saw you on Saturday ( one person) ( polite) je vous ai vu samedi ; ( informal) je t'ai vu samedi ; ( more than one person) je vous ai vus samedi ; are you busy? ( one person) ( polite) vous êtes occupé? ; ( informal) tu es occupé? ; ( more than one person) vous êtes occupés? ; oh, it's you ah, c'est vous or c'est toi ; it's for you c'est pour vous or pour toi ; you who… vous qui…, toi qui… ; YOU would never do that ( polite) vous, vous ne feriez jamais cela ; ( informal) toi tu ne ferais jamais ça ; there's a manager for you ○ ! iron ça c'est un patron! ; you English vous autres Anglais ; don't you talk to me like that! ne me parle pas sur ce ton! ; you idiot ○ ! espèce d'imbécile ○ ! ; you two can stay vous deux vous pouvez rester ; do you people smoke? vous fumez? ;2 ( as indefinite pronoun) ( subject) on ; (object, indirect object) vous, te ; you never know! on ne sait jamais! ; they say sweets give you spots on dit que les bonbons vous or te donnent des boutons. -
3 English
English ['ɪŋglɪʃ]∎ the English les Anglais mpl2 noun(language) anglais m;∎ do or can you speak English? parlez-vous (l')anglais?;∎ to study English étudier ou apprendre l'anglais;∎ she speaks excellent English elle parle très bien (l')anglais;∎ we spoke (in) English to each other nous nous sommes parlé en anglais;∎ that's not good English ce n'est pas du bon anglais;∎ in plain or simple English clairement;∎ so what you mean, in plain or simple English, is that… autrement dit ou en d'autres termes, ce que vous voulez dire, c'est que…;∎ can you put that in plain or simple English? pouvez-vous vous exprimer plus clairement?;∎ why can't lawyers talk in plain or simple English? pourquoi les hommes de loi ne parlent-ils pas comme vous et moi?;∎ American/Australian English l'anglais m américain/australien;∎ the King's/Queen's English l'anglais m correct;∎ English as a Foreign Language anglais m langue étrangère;∎ English Language Teaching enseignement m de l'anglais;∎ English as a Second Language anglais m deuxième langueanglais►► English breakfast petit déjeuner m anglais ou à l'anglaise, breakfast m;the English Channel la Manche;the English disease (strikes) = terme faisant référence à la fréquence des grèves avant les lois anti-syndicales en Grande-Bretagne; (hooliganism) = expression qui fait référence aux violences auxquelles se livrent les supporters anglais;English English l'anglais m d'Angleterre;English Heritage = organisme britannique de protection du patrimoine historique;American English muffin muffin m;English National Opera opéra m national d'Angleterre;English Riviera = surnom donné à Torbay en raison de la douceur de son climat et de la popularité de ses stations balnéaires;English rose = le type idéal de la femme anglaise;English setter setter m anglais;American English sheepdog bobtail m;English speaker (as native speaker) anglophone mf; (as non-native speaker) personne f parlant anglais;American English for Speakers of Other Languages = anglais langue étrangère;English for special purposes = anglais spécialiséⓘ ENGLISH BREAKFAST Le petit déjeuner traditionnel anglais se compose d'un plat chaud (des œufs au bacon, par exemple), de céréales ou de porridge, et de toasts à la marmelade d'oranges, le tout accompagné de café ou de thé; aujourd'hui il est généralement remplacé par une collation plus légère. -
4 Usage note : you
In English you is used to address everybody, whereas French has two forms: tu and vous. The usual word to use when you are speaking to anyone you do not know very well is vous. This is sometimes called the polite form and is used for the subject, object, indirect object and emphatic pronoun:would you like some coffee?= voulez-vous du café?can I help you?= est-ce que je peux vous aider?what can I do for you?= qu’est-ce que je peux faire pour vous?The more informal pronoun tu is used between close friends and family members, within groups of children and young people, by adults when talking to children and always when talking to animals ; tu is the subject form, the direct and indirect object form is te (t’ before a vowel) and the form for emphatic use or use after a preposition is toi:would you like some coffee?= veux-tu du café?can I help you?= est-ce que je peux t’aider?there’s a letter for you= il y a une lettre pour toiAs a general rule, when talking to a French person use vous, wait to see how they address you and follow suit. It is safer to wait for the French person to suggest using tu. The suggestion will usually be phrased as on se tutoie? or on peut se tutoyer?Note that tu is only a singular pronoun and vous is the plural form of tu.Remember that in French the object and indirect object pronouns are always placed before the verb:she knows you= elle vous connaît or elle te connaîtIn compound tenses like the present perfect and the past perfect, the past participle agrees in number and gender with the direct object:I saw you on Saturday(to one male: polite form)= je vous ai vu samedi(to one female: polite form)= je vous ai vue samedi(to one male: informal form)= je t’ai vu samedi(to one female: informal form)= je t’ai vue samedi(to two or more people, male or mixed)= je vous ai vus samedi(to two or more females)= je vous ai vues samediWhen you is used impersonally as the more informal form of one, it is translated by on for the subject form and by vous or te for the object form, depending on whether the comment is being made amongst friends or in a more formal context:you can do as you like here= on peut faire ce qu’on veut icithese mushrooms can make you ill= ces champignons peuvent vous rendre malade or ces champignons peuvent te rendre maladeyou could easily lose your bag here= on pourrait facilement perdre son sac iciNote that your used with on is translated by son/sa/ses according to the gender and number of the noun that follows.For verb forms with vous, tu and on see the French verb tables.For particular usages see the entry you. -
5 in plain English
(in simple words; clearly expressed: Would you mind explaining it in plain English?) -
6 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. -
7 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* * *[biː, bɪ]1) gen êtreit's me —
2) ( in probability)were it not that... — si ce n'était que...
had it not been for Frank, I'd have missed the train — sans Frank j'aurais raté le train
3) ( phrases)let ou leave him be — laisse-le tranquille
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8 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 -
9 Usage note : do
she’s doing her homework= elle fait ses devoirswhat are you doing?= qu’est-ce que tu fais?what has he done with the newspaper?= qu’est-ce qu’il a fait du journal?faire functions in very much the same way as to do does in English and it is safe to assume it will work in the great majority of cases. For the conjugation of the verb faire, see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsIn questionsIn French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in questions equivalent to the use of do in English.When the subject is a pronoun, the question is formed in French either by inverting the subject and verb and putting a hyphen between the two ( veux-tu?) or by prefacing the subject + verb by est-ce que (literally is it that):do you like Mozart?= aimes-tu Mozart? or est-ce que tu aimes Mozart?did you put the glasses in the cupboard?= as-tu mis les verres dans le placard? or est-ce que tu as mis les verres dans le placard?When the subject is a noun there are again two possibilities:did your sister ring?= est-ce que ta sœur a téléphoné? or ta sœur a-t-elle téléphoné?did Max find his keys?= est-ce que Max a trouvé ses clés? or Max a-t-il trouvé ses clés?In negativesEqually, auxiliaries are not used in negatives in French:I don’t like Mozart= je n’aime pas Mozartyou didn’t feed the cat= tu n’as pas donné à manger au chatdon’t do that!= ne fais pas ça!In emphatic usesThere is no verbal equivalent for the use of do in such expressions as I DO like your dress. A French speaker will find another way, according to the context, of expressing the force of the English do. Here are a few useful examples:I DO like your dress= j’aime beaucoup ta robeI DO hope she remembers= j’espère qu’elle n’oubliera pasI DO think you should see a doctor= je crois vraiment que tu devrais voir un médecinWhen referring back to another verbIn this case the verb to do is not translated at all:I don’t like him any more than you do= je ne l’aime pas plus que toiI live in Oxford and so does Lily= j’habite à Oxford et Lily aussishe gets paid more than I do= elle est payée plus que moiI haven’t written as much as I ought to have done= je n’ai pas écrit autant que j’aurais dû‘I love strawberries’ ‘so do I’= ‘j’adore les fraises’ ‘moi aussi’In polite requestsIn polite requests the phrase je vous en prie can often be used to render the meaning of do:do sit down= asseyez-vous, je vous en priedo have a piece of cake= prenez un morceau de gâteau, je vous en prie‘may I take a peach?’ ‘yes, do’= ‘puis-je prendre une pêche?’ ‘je vous en prie’In imperativesIn French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in imperatives:don’t shut the door= ne ferme pas la portedon’t tell her anything= ne lui dis riendo be quiet!= tais-toi!In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like doesn’t he? or didn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:you like fish, don’t you?= tu aimes le poisson, n’est-ce pas?he lives in London, doesn’t he?= il habite à Londres, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the meaning contained in the tag: par hasard can often be useful as a translation:Lola didn’t phone, did she?= Lola n’a pas téléphoné par hasard?Paul doesn’t work here, does he?= Paul ne travaille pas ici par hasard?In many cases the tag is not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey what is implied:you didn’t tidy your room, did you? (i.e. you ought to have done)= tu n’as pas rangé ta chambre?In short answersAgain, there is no direct French equivalent for short answers like yes I do, no he doesn’t etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘Marion didn’t say that’ ‘yes she did’= ‘Marion n’a pas dit ça’ ‘si’‘they don’t sell vegetables at the baker’s’ ‘yes they do’= ‘ils ne vendent pas les légumes à la boulangerie’ ‘si’In response to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘do you like strawberries?’ ‘yes I do’= ‘aimez-vous les fraises?’ ‘oui ’For more examples and particular usages, see the entry do. -
10 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 -
11 long
long [lɒŋ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjective2. adverb4. noun5. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adjective• how long is the swimming pool? quelle est la longueur de la piscine ?• long time no see! (inf!) ça fait une paye ! (inf)• that was a long, long time ago il y a bien longtemps de cela• it'll be a long time before I do that again! je ne recommencerai pas de si tôt !• have you been studying English for a long time? il y a longtemps que vous étudiez l'anglais ?• it took a long time for the truth to be accepted les gens ont mis très longtemps à accepter la vérité2. adverba. ( = a long time) longtemps• it didn't take him long to realize that... il n'a pas mis longtemps à se rendre compte que...• are you going away for long? vous partez pour longtemps ?• will you be long? tu en as pour longtemps ?• have you been here/been waiting long? vous êtes ici/vous attendez depuis longtemps ?• long live the King! vive le roi !• so long! (inf) à bientôt !b. ( = through) all night long toute la nuit► how long? (in time)how long will you be? (doing job) ça va te demander combien de temps ?• how long did they stay? combien de temps sont-ils restés ?• how long is it since you saw him? cela fait combien de temps que tu ne l'as pas vu ?• how long are the holidays? les vacances durent combien de temps ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► In the following depuis + present/imperfect translates English perfect/pluperfect continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how long have you been learning Greek? depuis combien de temps apprenez-vous le grec ?• how long had you been waiting? depuis combien de temps attendiez-vous ?• how long ago was it? il y a combien de temps de ça ?• he thought of friends long since dead il a pensé à des amis morts depuis longtemps► any/no/a little longer• you can borrow it as long as John doesn't mind vous pouvez l'emprunter à condition que John n'y voie pas d'inconvénient4. noun• the long and the short of it is that... le fin mot de l'histoire, c'est que...5. compounds• long-distance lorry driver (British) routier m adverb• to call sb long-distance appeler qn à longue distance ► long-drawn-out adjective interminable• to be longer-lasting durer plus longtemps ► long-legged adjective [person] aux jambes longues ; [animal] à longues pattes• long-range weather forecast prévisions fpl météorologiques à long terme ► long-running adjective [play] à l'affiche depuis longtemps ; [dispute] vieux ; [TV programme] diffusé depuis longtemps• long-running series (TV) série-fleuve f ► long-sighted adjective (British) hypermétrope ; (in old age) presbyte ; (figurative) [person] qui voit loin ; [decision] pris avec prévoyance ; [attitude] prévoyant* * *[lɒŋ], US [lɔːŋ] 1.1) (lengthy, protracted) [process, wait, journey, vowel] long/longue; [delay] important; [bath, sigh] grand (before n)to get longer — [days] s'allonger
2) ( in expressions of time)to take a long time — [person] être lent; [task] prendre longtemps
3) ( in measuring) [dress, hair, queue] long/longue; [grass] haut; [detour] grandto get long — [grass, hair] pousser; [list, queue] s'allonger
to make something longer — allonger [sleeve]; augmenter la longueur de [shelf]
don't fall, it's a long way down — ne tombe pas, c'est haut
a long way out — ( at sea) loin au large; ( in calculations) loin du compte
to go a long way — [person] ( be successful) aller loin
2.to have a long way to go — fig [worker, planner] avoir encore beaucoup d'efforts à faire
1) ( a long time) longtempsto be long — ( doing something) en avoir pour longtemps
it won't be long before... — dans peu de temps...
it's not that long since... — il ne s'est pas passé tellement de temps depuis...
it wasn't long before... — il n'a pas fallu longtemps pour que...
just long enough to... — juste le temps de...
before long — ( in past) peu après; ( in future) dans peu de temps
5 minutes, no longer! — 5 minutes, pas plus!
2) ( for a long time) (avant pp) depuis longtemps3) ( throughout) (après n)3.as long as, so long as conjunctional phrase1) ( in time) aussi longtemps que2) ( provided that) du moment que (+ indic), pourvu que (+ subj)4.to long for something/somebody — avoir très envie de quelque chose/de voir quelqu'un
to long to do — ( be impatient) être très impatient de faire; ( desire something elusive) rêver de faire
••long time no see! — (colloq) hum ça fait une paye (colloq) qu'on ne s'est pas vus!
so long! — (colloq) salut!
to have a long memory — être rancunier/-ière
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12 over
over [ˈəʊvər]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adverb2. adjective3. preposition4. noun5. modifier━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adverb► to have sb over ( = invite) inviter qn chez soib. ( = there) làc. ( = above) dessusd. (with adverb/preposition)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When followed by an adverb or a preposition, over is not usually translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━e. ( = more) plusf. ( = in succession) he did it five times over il l'a fait cinq fois de suite• William played the same tune over and over again William a joué le même air je ne sais combien de fois• I got bored doing the same thing over and over again je m'ennuyais à refaire toujours la même choseg. ( = remaining) there are three over il en reste troish. (on two-way radio) over! à vous !• over and out! terminé !2. adjective( = finished) after the war was over après la guerre3. preposition━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When over occurs in a set combination, eg over the moon, an advantage over, look up the noun. When over is used with a verb such as jump, trip, step, look up the verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━a. ( = on top of) surb. ( = above) au-dessus dec. ( = across) de l'autre côté ded. ( = during) over the summer pendant l'étéf. ( = more than) plus de• spending has gone up by 7% over and above inflation les dépenses ont augmenté de 7 %, hors inflation• over and above the fact that... sans compter que...h. ( = while having) they chatted over a cup of coffee ils ont bavardé autour d'une tasse de caféi. ( = recovered from)► to be over sth [+ illness, bad experience] s'être remis de qch4. noun5. modifier* * *Note: over is used after many verbs in English ( change over, fall over, lean over etc). For translations, consult the appropriate verb entry (change, fall, lean etc)over is often used with another preposition in English (to, in, on) without altering the meaning. In this case over is usually not translated in French: to be over in France = être en France; to swim over to somebody = nager vers quelqu'unover is often used with nouns in English when talking about superiority ( control over etc) or when giving the cause of something ( concern over, worries over etc). For translations, consult the appropriate noun entry (control, concern, worry etc)over is often used as a prefix in verb combinations ( overeat), adjective combinations ( overconfident) and noun combinations ( overcoat). These combinations are treated as headwords in the dictionary['əʊvə(r)] 1.1) ( across the top of) par-dessusover here/there — par ici/là
3) ( above) au-dessus de4) (covering, surrounding) gen sur5) ( physically higher than)6) ( more than) plus detemperatures over 40° — des températures supérieures à 40°
7) ( in the course of)8) ( recovered from)to be over — s'être remis de [illness, operation]
9) ( by means of)10) ( everywhere)2.over and above prepositional phrase3.adjective, adverb2) ( finished)to be over — [term, meeting] être terminé; [war] être fini
3) ( more)4) ( remaining)5) (to one's house, country)to invite ou ask somebody over — inviter quelqu'un
6) Radio, Television7) ( showing repetition)I had to do it over — US j'ai dû recommencer
I've told you over and over (again)... — je t'ai dit je ne sais combien de fois...
8) GB ( excessively) -
13 over
I.over n Sport partie f d'un match de cricket (lors de laquelle le serveur lance six balles d'une extrémité du terrain).II.❢ Over is used after many verbs in English ( change over, fall over, lean over etc). For translations, consult the appropriate verb entry (change, fall, lean etc). over is often used with another preposition in English (to, in, on) without altering the meaning. In this case over is usually not translated in French: to be over in France = être en France ; to swim over to sb = nager vers qn. over is often used with nouns in English when talking about superiority ( control over, priority over etc) or when giving the cause of something ( delays over, trouble over etc). For translations, consult the appropriate noun entry (control, priority, delay, trouble etc). over is often used as a prefix in verb combinations ( overeat), adjective combinations ( overconfident) and noun combinations ( overcoat). These combinations are treated as headwords in the dictionary.For particular usages see the entry below.A prep1 ( across the top of) par-dessus ; to jump/look/talk over a wall sauter/regarder/parler par-dessus un mur ; to step over the cat passer par-dessus le chat ; a bridge over the Thames un pont sur la Tamise ;2 ( from or on the other side of) my neighbour/the house over the road mon voisin/la maison d'en face ; it's just over the road/river c'est juste de l'autre côté de la rue/rivière ; the noise came from over the wall le bruit venait de l'autre côté du mur ; over here/there par ici/là ; come over here! viens (par) ici! ; from over the sea/the Atlantic/the Channel d'outre-mer/d'outre-atlantique/d'outre-manche ;3 ( above but not touching) au-dessus de ; clouds over the valley des nuages au-dessus de la vallée ; they live over the shop ils habitent au-dessus de la boutique ;4 (covering, surrounding) sur ; to spill tea over sth renverser du thé sur qch ; he's spilled tea over it il a renversé du thé dessus ; to carry one's coat over one's arm porter son manteau sur le bras ; to wear a sweater over one's shirt porter un pull par-dessus sa chemise ; shutters over the windows des volets aux fenêtres ;5 ( physically higher than) the water was ou came over my ankles j'avais de l'eau jusqu'aux chevilles ;6 ( more than) plus de ; children (of) over six les enfants de plus de six ans ; to be over 21 avoir plus de 21 ans ; well over 200 bien plus de 200 ; to take over a year prendre plus d'un an ; temperatures over 40° des températures supérieures à 40° ;8 ( in the course of) over the weekend/the summer pendant le week-end/l'été ; over a period of sur une période de ; over the last decade/few days au cours des dix dernières années/de ces derniers jours ; he has changed over the years il a changé avec le temps ; to do sth over Christmas faire qch à Noël or pendant les vacances de Noël ; to stay with sb over Easter passer les vacances de Pâques chez qn ; to talk over coffee/lunch parler autour d'une tasse de café/d'un déjeuner ;9 ( recovered from) to be over s'être remis de [illness, operation, loss] ; she'll be over it soon elle s'en remettra vite ; to be over the worst avoir passé le pire ;11 ( everywhere in) to travel all over the world/Africa voyager partout dans le monde/en Afrique ; to search all over the house chercher partout dans la maison ; to show sb over a house montrer or faire visiter une maison à qn ; I've lived all over France j'ai habité un peu partout en France ;12 ( because of) to laugh over sth rire de qch ; to pause over sth s'arrêter sur qch ; how long will you be over it? combien de temps cela te prendra-t-il? ;13 Math 12 over 3 is 4 12 divisé par 3 égale 4.B over and above prep phr over and above that en plus de cela ; over and above the minimum requirement au-delà du minimum requis.1 ( use with verbs not covered in NOTE) over she went elle est tombée ; over you go! allez hop! ; does it go under or over? est-ce que ça va en dessous ou au-dessus? ;2 ( finished) to be over [term, meeting, incident] être terminé ; [war] être fini ; after the war is over lorsque la guerre sera finie ; it was all over by Christmas à Noël tout était fini ; when this is all over quand tout ceci sera fini ; to get sth over with en finir avec qch ;3 ( more) children of six and over ou six or over les enfants de plus de six ans ; it can be two metres or over cela peut faire deux mètres ou plus ; temperatures of 40 ° and over des températures supérieures à 40° ;4 ( remaining) two biscuits each and one over deux biscuits par personne et il en reste un ; six metres and a bit over un peu plus de six mètres ; 2 into 5 goes 2 and 1 over 5 divisé par 2 font 2 et il reste 1 ; there's nothing over il ne reste rien ; ⇒ leave over (leave) ;5 (to one's house, country) to invite ou ask sb over inviter qn ; come over for lunch venez déjeuner ; we had them over on Sunday/for dinner ils sont venus dimanche/dîner ; they were over for the day ils sont venus pour la journée ; they're over from Sydney ils sont venus de Sydney ; when you're next over this way la prochaine fois que tu passes dans le coin ;6 Radio, TV over! à vous! ; over to you à vous ; now over to Tim for the weather laissons la place à Tim pour la météo ; now over to our Paris studios nous passons l'antenne à nos studios de Paris ;7 ( showing repetition) five/several times over cinq/plusieurs fois de suite ; to start all over again recommencer à zéro ; I had to do it over US j'ai dû recommencer ; to hit sb over and over (again) frapper qn sans s'arrêter ; I've told you over and over (again)… je t'ai dit je ne sais combien de fois… ;8 GB ( excessively) I'm not over keen je ne suis pas très enthousiaste ; she wasn't over pleased elle n'était pas très contente. -
14 up
up [ʌp]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. preposition2. adverb3. noun4. adjective7. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When up is the second element in a phrasal verb, eg come up, throw up, look up the verb. When it is part of a set combination, eg this way up, close up, look up the other word.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. preposition• to be up a tree/up a ladder être dans un arbre/sur une échelle2. adverb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When used with a preposition, up is often not translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• people up and down the country are saying... partout dans le pays les gens disent...• are you up for it? (inf) ( = willing) tu es partant ? (inf) ; ( = fit) tu te sens d'attaque (inf) ?► up to ( = as far as) jusqu'à• what page are you up to? à quelle page en êtes-vous ?► to be up to sth ( = capable of)• is he up to doing research? est-il capable de faire de la recherche ?• it isn't up to his usual standard ( = equal to) il peut faire bien mieux que cela► to feel or be up to sth ( = strong enough for)• he really isn't up to going back to work yet il n'est vraiment pas en état de reprendre le travail► to be up to sth (inf) ( = doing)what is he up to? qu'est-ce qu'il fabrique ? (inf)• what have you been up to? qu'est-ce que tu as fabriqué ? (inf)• shall I do it? -- it's up to you je le fais ? -- à vous de voir• if it were up to me... si ça ne tenait qu'à moi...3. noun4. adjective• get up! debout !• she was up all night because the baby was ill elle n'a pas fermé l'œil de la nuit parce que le bébé était maladeb. ( = raised) the blinds were up les stores n'étaient pas baissés• "this side up" (on parcel) « haut »• hands up, everyone who knows the answer levez le doigt si vous connaissez la réponse• hands up! (to gunman) haut les mains !c. ( = installed, built)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Whichever verb is implicit in English is usually made explicit in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• we've got the curtains/pictures up at last nous avons enfin posé les rideaux/accroché les tableauxe. ( = finished) his leave is up sa permission est terminée• time's up! c'est l'heure !f. ( = wrong) (inf) what's up? qu'est-ce qui ne va pas ?• what's up with him? qu'est-ce qu'il a qui ne va pas ?• what's up with the car? qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec la voiture ?• what's up with your leg? qu'est-ce qui t'est arrivé à la jambe ? (inf)• he's been rather up and down recently il a eu des hauts et des bas récemment► up and running ( = functioning) opérationnel7. compounds* * *Note: up appears frequently in English as the second element of phrasal verbs ( get up, pick up etc). For translations, consult the appropriate verb entry (get, pick etc)[ʌp] 1.1) ( out of bed)2) (higher in amount, level)sales/prices are up (by 10%) — les ventes/les prix ont augmenté (de 10%)
shares/numbers are up — les actions sont/le nombre est en hausse
production is up (by) 5% — la production a augmenté de 5%
his temperature is up 2 degrees — sa température a augmenté de 2°
sales are 10% up on last year — les ventes ont augmenté de 10% par rapport à l'an dernier
3) (colloq) ( wrong)4) (erected, affixed)5) ( open)6) ( finished)‘time's up!’ — ‘le temps est épuisé!’
it's all up (colloq) with him — il est fini (colloq)
7) ( facing upwards)‘this side up’ — (on parcel, box) ‘haut’
8) ( rising)her blood's up — fig la moutarde lui monte au nez
9) ( pinned up)10) ( cheerful)11) ( being repaired)12) ( in upward direction)13) ( on trial)2.1) ( high)up here/there — là-haut
up in the tree/the clouds — dans l'arbre/les nuages
up to/in London — à Londres
up to/in Scotland — en Écosse
all the way up — jusqu'en haut, jusqu'au sommet
2) ( ahead) d'avanceshe's 40-15 up — ( in tennis) elle mène 40-15
3) ( upwards)t-shirts from £2 up — des t-shirts à partir de deux livres
4) ( to high status)3.1) (at, to higher level)2) ( in direction)4.up above adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase gen au-dessus; Religion au ciel5.up against prepositional phrase6. 7.to be ou come up against opposition — rencontrer de l'opposition
up and down adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase1) ( to and fro)to walk ou pace up and down — aller et venir, faire les cent pas
2) ( throughout)8.up and running adjectival phrase, adverbial phraseto be up and running — [company, project] bien marcher; [system] bien fonctionner
9.to get something up and running — faire marcher or fonctionner quelque chose
up for prepositional phrase10.the subject up for discussion is... — le sujet qu'on aborde est...
up to prepositional phrase1) ( to particular level) jusqu'à2) ( as many as) jusqu'à, près dereductions of up to 50% — des réductions qui peuvent atteindre 50%
tax on profits of up to £150,000 — les impôts sur les bénéfices de moins de 150000 livres sterling
3) ( until) jusqu'àup to 10.30 pm — jusqu'à 22 h 30
4) ( good enough for)I'm not up to it — ( not capable) je n'en suis pas capable; ( not well enough) je n'en ai pas la force
this work wasn't up to your usual standard — ce travail n'est pas au niveau de ce que vous faites d'habitude
6) ( doing)what are those children up to? — qu'est-ce qu'ils fabriquent (colloq) ces enfants?
11. 12.they're up to something — ils mijotent (colloq) quelque chose
intransitive verb (p prés etc - pp-)••to be (well) up on — s'y connaître en [art, history etc]; être au courant de [news, developments]
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15 bad
bad [bæd]1. adjectivea. mauvais ; [person] méchant• you bad boy! vilain !• bad dog! vilain chien !b. [mistake, accident, illness] gravec. ( = going badly) business is bad les affaires vont mal• how is he? -- (he's) not so bad comment va-t-il ? -- (il ne va) pas trop mald. ( = ill) to feel bad se sentir male. ( = guilty) to feel bad about doing sth s'en vouloir d'avoir fait qchf. ( = decayed) [food] mauvais ; [tooth] cariég. ( = harmful) (to be) bad for... (être) mauvais pour...• can exercise be bad for you? est-ce qu'il peut être mauvais de faire de l'exercice ?h. ( = not clever, not good) to be bad at... être mauvais en...• bad at English/spelling mauvais en anglais/en orthographe2. noun3. adverb( = badly) he didn't do too bad il ne s'en est pas mal sorti4. compounds► bad-tempered adjective [person] qui a mauvais caractère ; (on one occasion) de mauvaise humeur ; [look, answer] désagréable* * *[bæd] 1.1) ( evil)2) (unpleasantness, unfavourableness)2.1) (poor, inferior, incompetent, unacceptable) [book, eyesight, cook, idea] mauvais (before n); [joke] stupideto have bad teeth/bad legs — avoir de mauvaises dents/de vilaines jambes
to be bad at — être mauvais en [subject]
to be bad at doing — ( do badly) ne pas être doué pour faire
not bad — (colloq) pas mauvais, pas mal (colloq)
2) ( unfavourable) [news, day, moment, smell, dream, result, omen, mood] mauvais (before n)it's bad enough having to wait, but... — c'est déjà assez pénible de devoir attendre, mais...
it looks bad — ou
things look bad — cela s'annonce mal ( for pour)
the journey/exam wasn't bad at all — le voyage/l'examen s'est plutôt bien passé
too bad! — (colloq) ( sympathetic) pas de chance!; ( hard luck) tant pis!
3) ( morally or socially unacceptable) [person, behaviour, reputation] mauvais (before n); [language, word] grossier/-ièreit is bad that — il est regrettable que (+ subj)
to feel bad — avoir mauvaise conscience ( about à propos de)
4) (severe, serious) [accident, attack, injury, mistake] grave5) ( harmful)smoking is bad for you ou your health — fumer est mauvais pour la santé
6) (ill, injured)‘how are you?’ - ‘not so bad’ — ‘comment vas-tu?’ - ‘pas trop mal’
to be in a bad way — (colloq) aller très mal
7) Finance [money, note] faux/fausse; [loan, debt] douteux/-euse8) ( rotten) [fruit] pourri9) (colloq) ( good) terrible (colloq)3.adverb (colloq) surtout US [need, want] méchamment (colloq)he's/she's got it bad — il/elle est vraiment mordu/-e (colloq)
••to be in bad — US avoir des ennuis
to be in bad with something — US être en froid avec quelqu'un
he's having a bad hair day — (colloq) ce n'est pas son jour
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16 about
about [əˈbaʊt]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. adverba. ( = approximately) à peu près, environ• there were about 25 and now there are about 30 il y en avait environ or à peu près 25 et maintenant il y en a une trentaine• it's about 11 o'clock il est environ or à peu près 11 heures• it's about time! ce n'est pas trop tôt !• I've had about enough! (inf) je commence à en avoir assez !b. ( = here and there) çà et làc. ( = near, in circulation) par ici• is anyone about? il y a quelqu'un ?• you should be out and about! ne restez donc pas enfermé !d. ( = round) all about tout autoure. ( = opposite direction) to turn sth the other way about retourner qch• it's the other way about ( = the opposite) c'est le contraire• I was about to go out when... j'étais sur le point de sortir or j'allais sortir quand...2. prepositiona. ( = concerning) I heard nothing about it je n'en ai pas entendu parler• what is it about? de quoi s'agit-il ?• well, what about it? (inf) ( = does it matter?) et alors ? (inf) ; ( = what do you think?) alors, qu'est-ce que tu en penses ?• what about me? et moi alors ? (inf)• how about going to the cinema? (inf) et si on allait au cinéma ?• how about a coffee? (inf) et si on prenait un café ?b. ( = somewhere in) quelque part dansc. ( = round) autour ded. ( = with, on) I've got it about me somewhere je l'ai quelque part sur moif. ( = occupied with) while we're about it pendant que nous y sommes* * *Note: about is used after certain nouns, adjectives and verbs in English ( information about, a book about, curious about, worry about etc). For translations, consult the appropriate entries (information, book, curious, worry etc)about often appears in British English as the second element of certain verb structures ( move about, jump about, lie about etc). For translations, consult the relevant verb entries (move, jump, lie etc)[ə'baʊt] 1.2) ( awake)2.1) ( approximately) environ, à peu prèsat about 6 pm — vers 18 h, à environ 18 h
2) ( almost) presque3) ( in circulation)4) ( in the vicinity)3.1) ( concerning)what's it about? — (of book, film etc) ça parle de quoi?
it's about... — il s'agit de...
about your overdraft... — pour ce qui est de votre découvert...
2) ( in the nature of)3) ( bound up with)business is about profit — ce qui compte dans les affaires, ce sont les bénéfices
4) ( occupied with)while you're about it... — tant que tu y es..., par la même occasion...
5) ( around)6) (in invitations, suggestions)how ou what about some tea? — et si on prenait un thé?
7) ( when soliciting opinions)8) sout (on)hidden about one's person — [drugs, arms] caché sur soi
••it's about time (that) — il serait temps que (+ subj)
about time too! — ce n'est pas trop tôt! (colloq)
that's about it — ( that's all) c'est tout
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17 from
from [frɒm]a. de• where are you from? d'où êtes-vous (originaire) ?• he took/stole it from them il le leur a pris/volé• he went from office boy to director in five years de garçon de bureau, il est passé directeur en cinq ans• from her childhood onwards... dès son enfance...c. (used with prices, numbers) à partir de• wine from 10 euros a bottle vins à partir de 10 € la bouteilled. (source) to drink from a stream/a glass boire à un ruisseau/dans un verree. (cause, reason) he died from his injuries il est mort des suites de ses blessures• from what I heard... d'après ce que j'ai entendu...• from what I can see... à ce que je vois...• from the look of things... à en juger par les apparences...* * *[frəm, frɒm]Note: When from is used as a straightforward preposition in English it is translated by de in French: from Rome = de Rome; from the sea = de la mer; from Lisa = de Lisa. Remember that de + le always becomes du: from the office = du bureau, and de + les always becomes des: from the United States = des États-Unisfrom is often used after verbs in English ( suffer from, benefit from etc). For translations, consult the appropriate verb entry (suffer, benefit etc)from is used after certain nouns and adjectives in English ( shelter from, exemption from, free from, safe from etc). For translations, consult the appropriate noun or adjective entry (shelter, exemption, free, safe etc)This dictionary contains usage notes on such topics as nationalities, countries and continents, provinces and regions. Many of these use the preposition from. For the index to these notesFor examples of the above and particular usages of from, see the entry belowwhere is he from? — d'où est-il?, d'où vient-il?
2) ( expressing distance)3) ( expressing time span)one month from now — dans un mois, d'ici un mois
4) ( using as a basis)5) ( working for)6) ( among)to select ou choose ou pick from — choisir parmi
7) ( indicating a source)8) (expressing extent, range)wine from £5 a bottle — du vin à partir de 5 livres la bouteille
to rise from 10 to 17% — passer de 10 à 17%
everything from paperclips to wigs — tout, des trombones aux perruques
9) ( in subtraction)10) (because of, due to)11) ( judging by) d'aprèsfrom the way he talks you'd think he was an expert — à l'entendre, on dirait un spécialiste
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18 since
since [sɪns]1. conjunction━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note the use of the French present tense to translate the English perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. ( = because) puisque• why don't you buy it, since you are so rich! achète-le donc, puisque tu es si riche !2. adverb3. preposition━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note the use of the French present tense to translate the English perfect and perfect continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• since when has he had a car? depuis quand a-t-il une voiture ?• ever since 1900 France has attempted to... depuis 1900 la France tente de...• how long is it since the accident? l'accident remonte à quand ?* * *[sɪns] 1.preposition depuis2.since arriving ou since his arrival he... — depuis son arrivée or depuis qu'il est arrivé, il...
1) ( from the time when) depuis queever since I married him — depuis que nous nous sommes mariés, depuis notre mariage
2) ( because) comme, étant donné que3.since you're so clever, why don't you do it yourself? — puisque tu es tellement malin, pourquoi ne le fais-tu pas toi-même?
adverb depuis -
19 about
❢ About is used after certain nouns, adjectives and verbs in English ( information about, a book about, curious about, worry about etc). For translations, consult the appropriate entries (information, book, curious, worry etc). about often appears in British English as the second element of certain verb structures ( move about, rummage about, lie about etc). For translations, consult the relevant verb entries (move, rummage, lie etc).A adj1 ( expressing future intention) to be about to do être sur le point de faire ;2 ( rejecting course of action) I'm not about to do je ne suis pas près de faire ;3 ( awake) debout ; you were (up and) about early this morning tu étais debout tôt ce matin.B adv1 ( approximately) environ, à peu près ; it's about the same as yesterday c'est à peu près pareil qu'hier ; at about 6 pm à environ 18 h ; it's about as useful as an umbrella in a hurricane iron c'est aussi utile qu'un parapluie dans un ouragan ; ⇒ round ;2 ( almost) presque ; to be (just) about ready être presque prêt ; that seems about right ça a l'air d'aller, ça devrait aller ; I've had just about enough of her! j'en ai plus qu'assez d'elle! ; I've had about as much as I can take! j'en ai plus qu'assez! ; ⇒ just ;3 ( in circulation) there was no-one about il n'y avait personne ; there are few people about il y a peu de gens dans les parages ; there is a lot of food poisoning about il y a beaucoup d'intoxications alimentaires en ce moment, les intoxications alimentaires ne manquent pas en ce moment ; there's a lot of it about ça ne manque pas ;4 ( in the vicinity) to be somewhere about être dans les parages ; she must be somewhere about elle doit être dans les parages, elle doit être quelque part par là ;5 ( indicating reverse position) the other way about l'inverse, le contraire ; ⇒ put about (put), turn about (turn).C prep1 (concerning, regarding) a book/film about sb/sth un livre/film sur qn/qch ; to talk about parler de [problem, subject] ; what's it about? (of book, film etc) ça parle de quoi? ; it's about… il s'agit de… ; may I ask what it's about? pourriez-vous me dire de quoi il s'agit? ; I'm ringing about my results j'appelle pour mes résultats ; it's about my son's report c'est au sujet du bulletin scolaire de mon fils ; about your overdraft… pour ce qui est de votre découvert… ;2 ( in the nature of) there's something weird/sad about him il a quelque chose de bizarre/triste ; there's something about the place that intrigues me l'endroit a quelque chose qui me fascine ; what I like about her is ce que j'aime chez elle c'est ;3 ( bound up with) business is about profit ce qui compte dans les affaires, ce sont les bénéfices ; teaching is all about communication enseigner, c'est communiquer ; that's what life is all about c'est la vie ;4 ( occupied with) to know what one is about savoir ce qu'on fait ; mind what you're about! GB fais attention or fais gaffe ○ à ce que tu fais! ; while you're about it… tant que tu y es…, par la même occasion… ; and be quick about it! et fais vite! ;5 ( around) to wander/run about the streets errer/courir dans les rues ; strewn about the floor éparpillés sur le sol ;6 (in invitations, suggestions) how ou what about some tea? et si on prenait un thé? ; how about going into town? et si on allait en ville? ; how about it?, how about you? ça te or vous dit? ;7 ( when soliciting opinions) what about the transport GB ou transportation US costs? et les frais de transport? ; what about us? et nous alors? ; ‘what about the dinner?’-‘what about it?’ ‘et le repas alors?’-‘quoi, le repas?’ ; what about you? et toi? ; what about Natasha? et Natasha? ; how about it? qu'est-ce que tu en penses? ;9 GB ( surrounding) autour de ; there were trees about the house il y avait des arbres autour de la maison.it's about time (that) il serait temps que (+ subj) ; about time too! il était temps!, ce n'est pas trop tôt ○ ! ; that's about it ( that's all) c'est tout ; ( that's the situation) en gros, oui, c'est à peu près ça. -
20 Numbers
0 zéro*1 un†2 deux3 trois4 quatre5 cinq6 six7 sept8 huit9 neuf10 dix11 onze12 douze13 treize14 quatorze15 quinze16 seize17 dix-sept18 dix-huit19 dix-neuf20 vingt21 vingt et un22 vingt-deux30 trente31 trente et un32 trente-deux40 quarante50 cinquante60 soixante70 soixante-dixseptante (in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland etc.)71 soixante et onzeseptante et un ( etc)72 soixante-douze73 soixante-treize74 soixante-quatorze75 soixante-quinze76 soixante-seize77 soixante-dix-sept78 soixante-dix-nuit79 soixante-dix-neuf80 quatre-vingts‡81 quatre-vingt-un§82 quatre-vingt-deux90 quatre-vingt-dix ; nonante (in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, etc)91 quatre-vingt-onze ; nonante et un92 quatre-vingt-douze ; nonante-deux ( etc.)99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf100 cent101 cent un†102 cent deux110 cent dix111 cent onze112 cent douze187 cent quatre-vingt-sept200 deux cents250 deux cent|| cinquante300 trois cents1000 || mille1001 mille un†1002 mille deux1020 mille vingt1200 mille** deux cents2000 deux mille††10000 dix mille10200 dix mille deux cents100000 cent mille102000 cent deux mille1000000 un million‡‡1264932 un million deux cent soixante-quatre mille neuf cent trente-deux1000000000 un milliard‡‡1000000000000 un billion‡‡* In English 0 may be called nought, zero or even nothing ; French is always zéro ; a nought = un zéro.† Note that one is une in French when it agrees with a feminine noun, so un crayon but une table, une des tables, vingt et une tables, combien de tables? - il y en a une seule etc.‡ Also huitante in Switzerland. Note that when 80 is used as a page number it has no s, e.g. page eighty = page quatre-vingt.§ Note that vingt has no s when it is in the middle of a number. The only exception to this rule is when quatre-vingts is followed by millions, milliards or billions, e.g. quatre-vingts millions, quatre-vingts billions etc.Note that cent does not take an s when it is in the middle of a number. The only exception to this rule is when it is followed by millions, milliards or billions, e.g. trois cents millions, six cents billions etc. It has a normal plural when it modifies other nouns, e.g. 200 inhabitants = deux cents habitants.|| Note that figures in French are set out differently ; where English would have a comma, French has simply a space. It is also possible in French to use a full stop (period) here, e.g. 1.000. French, like English, writes dates without any separation between thousands and hundreds, e.g. in 1995 = en 1995.** When such a figure refers to a date, the spelling mil is preferred to mille, i.e. en 1200 = en mil deux cents. Note however the exceptions: when the year is a round number of thousands, the spelling is always mille, so en l’an mille, en l’an deux mille etc.†† Mille is invariable ; it never takes an s.‡‡ Note that the French words million, milliard and billion are nouns, and when written out in full they take de before another noun, e.g. a million inhabitants is un million d’habitants, a billion francs is un billion de francs. However, when written in figures, 1,000,000 inhabitants is 1000000 habitants, but is still spoken as un million d’habitants. When million etc. is part of a complex number, de is not used before the nouns, e.g. 6,000,210 people = six millions deux cent dix personnes.Use of enNote the use of en in the following examples:there are six= il y en a sixI’ve got a hundred= j’en ai centEn must be used when the thing you are talking about is not expressed (the French says literally there of them are six, I of them have a hundred etc.). However, en is not needed when the object is specified:there are six apples= il y a six pommesApproximate numbersWhen you want to say about…, remember the French ending -aine:about ten= une dizaineabout ten books= une dizaine de livresabout fifteen= une quinzaineabout fifteen people= une quinzaine de personnesabout twenty= une vingtaineabout twenty hours= une vingtaine d’heuresSimilarly une trentaine, une quarantaine, une cinquantaine, une soixantaine and une centaine ( and une douzaine means a dozen). For other numbers, use environ (about):about thirty-five= environ trente-cinqabout thirty-five francs= environ trente-cinq francsabout four thousand= environ quatre milleabout four thousand pages= environ quatre mille pagesEnviron can be used with any number: environ dix, environ quinze etc. are as good as une dizaine, une quinzaine etc.Note the use of centaines and milliers to express approximate quantities:hundreds of books= des centaines de livresI’ve got hundreds= j’en ai des centaineshundreds and hundreds of fish= des centaines et des centaines de poissonsI’ve got thousands= j’en ai des milliersthousands of books= des milliers de livresthousands and thousands= des milliers et des milliersmillions and millions= des millions et des millionsPhrasesnumbers up to ten= les nombres jusqu’à dixto count up to ten= compter jusqu’à dixalmost ten= presque dixless than ten= moins de dixmore than ten= plus de dixall ten of them= tous les dixall ten boys= les dix garçonsNote the French word order:my last ten pounds= mes dix dernières livresthe next twelve weeks= les douze prochaines semainesthe other two= les deux autresthe last four= les quatre derniersCalculations in FrenchNote that French uses a comma where English has a decimal point.0,25 zéro virgule vingt-cinq0,05 zéro virgule zéro cinq0,75 zéro virgule soixante-quinze3,45 trois virgule quarante-cinq8,195 huit virgule cent quatre-vingt-quinze9,1567 neuf virgule quinze cent soixante-septor neuf virgule mille cinq cent soixante-sept9,3456 neuf virgule trois mille quatre cent cinquante-sixPercentages in French25% vingt-cinq pour cent50% cinquante pour cent100% cent pour cent200% deux cents pour cent365% troix cent soixante-cinq pour cent4,25% quatre virgule vingt-cinq pour centFractions in FrenchOrdinal numbers in French§1st 1er‡ premier ( feminine première)2nd 2e second or deuxième3rd 3e troisième4th 4e quatrième5th 5e cinquième6th 6e sixième7th 7e septième8th 8e huitième9th 9e neuvième10th 10e dixième11th 11e onzième12th 12e douzième13th 13e treizième14th 14e quatorzième15th 15e quinzième16th 16e seizième17th 17e dix-septième18th 18e dix-huitième19th 19e dix-neuvième20th 20e vingtième21st 21e vingt et unième22nd 22e vingt-deuxième23rd 23e vingt-troisième24th 24e vingt-quatrième25th 25e vingt-cinquième30th 30e trentième31st 31e trente et unième40th 40e quarantième50th 50e cinquantième60th 60e soixantième70th 70e soixante-dixième or septantième (in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland etc.)71st 71e soixante et onzième or septante et unième (etc.)72nd 72e soixante-douzième73rd 73e soixante-treizième74th 74e soixante-quatorzième75th 75e soixante-quinzième76th 76e soixante-seizième77th 77e soixante-dix-septième78th 78e soixante-dix-huitième79th 79e soixante-dix-neuvième80th 80e quatre-vingtième¶81st 81e quatre-vingt-unième90th 90e quatre-vingt-dixième or nonantième (in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland etc.)91st 91e quatre-vingt-onzième, or nonante et unième (etc.)99th 99e quatre-vingt-dix-neuvième100th 100e centième101st 101e cent et unième102nd 102e cent-deuxième196th 196e cent quatre-vingt-seizième200th 200e deux centième300th 300e trois centième400th 400e quatre centième1,000th 1000e millième2,000th 2000e deux millième1,000,000th 1000000e millionièmeLike English, French makes nouns by adding the definite article:the firstthe second= le second (or la seconde etc.)the first three= les trois premiers or les trois premièresNote the French word order in:the third richest country in the world= le troisième pays le plus riche du monde* Note that half, when not a fraction, is translated by the noun moitié or the adjective demi ; see the dictionary entry.† Note the use of les and d’entre when these fractions are used about a group of people or things: two-thirds of them = les deux tiers d’entre eux.‡ This is the masculine form ; the feminine is 1re and the plural 1ers (m) or 1res (f).§ All the ordinal numbers in French behave like ordinary adjectives and take normal plural endings where appropriate.¶ Also huitantième in Switzerland.
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