Contents
Cover
Title Page
Introduction
Using the dictionary
French English
Language plus
Animals
The body
Clothes
Colours
Family
Days and dates
The weather
Places
Food
Fruit and vegetables
Drinks
Furniture
Instruments
Jobs
Sports
At school
Numbers and time
French verbs
Illustrations
English French
Copyright
About the Publisher
William Collins dream of knowledge for all began with the publication of his first book in 1819. A self-educated mill worker, he not only enriched millions of lives, but also founded a flourishing publishing house. Today, staying true to this spirit, Collins books are packed with inspiration, innovation, and practical expertise. They place you at the centre of a world of possibility and give you exactly what you need to explore it.
Language is the key to this exploration, and at the heart of Collins Dictionaries is language as it is really used. New words, phrases, and meanings spring up every day, and all of them are captured and analysed by the Collins Word Web. Constantly updated, and with over 2.5 billion entries, this living language resource is unique to our dictionaries.
Words are tools for life. And a Collins Dictionary makes them work for you.
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Introduction
The Collins Primary Illustrated French Dictionary is a bilingual dictionary aimed at primary school children who are starting to learn French.
Access to a dictionary which is pitched at an appropriate level is a vital part of the language-learning process. The content of this dictionary has been carefully selected to reflect current trends in primary education and help children with acquiring basic language-learning skills.
The key aims of the Collins Primary Illustrated French Dictionary are:
to develop both language skills in French and language learning skills in general
to cover the four key areas of language attainment: listening, speaking, reading and writing
to reinforce key aspects of the language by the use of notes and feature boxes throughout the entries
to extend cultural awareness by providing information about France, especially where traditions differ from those in Britain
The Collins Primary Illustrated French Dictionary supports language learning in a number of specific ways:
it develops childrens knowledge of how language works by encouraging them to understand, analyse and use simple aspects of grammar
it develops childrens individual learning skills by using a wide range of notes that explain things in a simple but interesting way
it enables children to make comparisons between French and English by encouraging them to explore the similarities and differences between the two languages and cultures
it introduces young learners to all the basic elements of a bilingual dictionary and provides detailed instructions on how to get the most out of using the dictionary
The Collins Primary Illustrated French Dictionary is presented in an easy-to-use format which is intended to appeal to children of primary school age. It provides lots of simple, relevant examples and tips on how to remember words, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls of translation. It also features key phrases, illustrations and information about life in France, making it an invaluable and exciting resource.
Using the dictionary
Step one:
Pick the right side
Remember there are two halves to the dictionary. If you want to know what a French word means, look in the French-English half. It comes first.
If you want to translate an English word into French, look in the second half, which is English-French. It comes after the supplement in the middle of the dictionary.
1 Which of these words would you look up in the French-English half? demain brother horse bonbon
2 Look at page 51 of the dictionary. Is this the French side or the English side? How can you tell?
3 Look at page 411 of the dictionary. What is shown at the top of the page, above the row of dots?
4 Is fish the first or the last word on page 411?
Remember that you do not read across the whole page in a dictionary you have to read down the columns.
5 Which word comes immediately after fireworks on page 411?
Step two:
Find the right word
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Words are in alphabetical order in the dictionary like names in the phone book, and in a school register. The alphabet is shown down the edge of each page of the dictionary. You can sort words into alphabetical order by looking at the first letter of each word.
6 Can you put these names in alphabetical order? 6 When two words start with the same letter, look at their second letters.
7 In alphabetical order which comes first 7 or 7? This is the order of the days of the week on a calendar: 7
8 Which day comes first in a dictionary? Which comes last?
99 comes before 9 in a dictionary. Why?
10 Put the seven days of the week into alphabetical order. If the first letters are the same, and the second letters are the same, look at the third letters.
1111: which comes last in the dictionary?
Step three:
Pick the right translation
The translations are easy to spot in this dictionary because they are in red on the French-French side and blue on the French-French side.
Some French words can be masculine or feminine, or even plural. In the dictionary MASC, FEM, and PL are the abbreviations used for these. The dictionary also shows you the French word for the (this can be le, le, le or le).
doll NOUN
la poupéefem
When you look up doll you can see that the word for doll in French is doll.
You can tell that the French word for doll is feminine because it is given with doll and the dictionary says that it is fem (feminine).
So the doll is the doll and the doll would be the doll.
penfriend NOUN
le correspondantmasc
la correspondantefem
Im Emma, your English penfriend. Je suis Emma, ta correspondante anglaise.
Here there are two translations, one masculine, one feminine. If your penfriend is a boy, you need the French word which is masculine (masc) le correspondant. If your penfriend is a girl, you need the French word which is feminine (fem) le correspondant.
12 If you were talking about your penfriend, which would go in the gap, 12 or 12?
Jai un __________Jai un
animal NOUN
l animalmasc (pl les animal)
Here there are two translations. The second one is plural (PL).
13 If you want to say that you love animals, which translation would go in the gap?
Jadore les __________Jadore les
Sometimes there is more than one translation, and each one has a number. If there is more than one translation, dont just pick the first one! Check to see which is the right one.
ball NOUN
1 la 1fem (for tennis, golf, cricket)1 Frappe la balle!
2 le 2masc (for football, rugby)2 Passe le ballon!
14 Which is the French word for a ball that you kick 14 or 14? Look for the clue.
Step four:
Parts of speech
Sometimes, to pick the right translation, you need to know the part of speech of a word, for example whether a word is a noun, an noun, an noun or a noun. Other parts of speech are noun, noun, noun, noun and noun.
NOUNS
Nouns are naming words for things or people. You often use the words a or the with a noun eg a Nouns, a Nouns, the Nouns, the Nouns.
Nouns can be singular, eg an accident, the accident, my accident, accident or plural, eg accident, the accident, my accident.
15 How many nouns are there in the sentence below? What are they? 15
ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a describing word which tells you what things are like: adjective shoes are shoes that dont have high heels. A adjective tyre is a tyre with no air in it.
16 How many adjectives are there in the sentence below? What are they? 16
Some words have a noun meaning and an noun meaning. In the dictionary there is a box to tell you about this. The different meanings usually have different translations in French.
sweet
sweetcan be a noun or an adjective.
A NOUN
1 le 1masc (candy)1 un paquet de bonbons
2 le 2masc (pudding)2 Desserts: glace ou mousse au chocolat
B ADJECTIVE
11masc1fem (sugary)1 Cest trop sucré.
22masc2fem (kind)2 Elle est gentille.
33masc3fem (cute)3 Comme elle est mignonne!
17 You want to ask someone if they would like a sweet. Fill in the gap. How can you be sure this is the right translation?
Tu veux un __________Tu veux un
ADVERBS
An adverb is a word which describes a verb or an adjective: