An adverb is a word which describes a verb or an adjective:
She writes neatly. The film was neatly good.
18 How many adverbs are there in the sentence below? What are they? What do they have in common? 18
Some words have an adjective meaning and an adjective meaning. The different meanings have different translations in French.
hard
hardcan be an adjective or an adverb.
A ADJECTIVE
11(difficult)1 Cette question est trop difficile pour moi.
22masc2fem (not soft)2 Ce fromage est très dur.
B ADVERB BB Colette travaille dur.
19 You want to say you work hard. Fill in the gap in the sentence below:
Je travaille __________Je travaille
VERBS
Verbs are sometimes called doing words. They often go with words like I and you, and with names, eg I Verbs football, What do you Verbs?, Hugo Verbs mashed potato.
Verbs tell you about the present: eg Im listening; the past: I m listening a goal; and the future: eg Im listening an ice cream.
20 How many verbs are there in the sentence below? What are they? 20
Some words have an adjective meaning and a adjective meaning. The different meanings have different translations in French.
clean
cleancan be an adjective or a verb.
A ADJECTIVE
proprepropre une chemise propre
B VERB
nettoyernettoyer Nettoie le tableau sil te plaît!
21 If you want to ask for a clean glass, how do you know that 21 is the translation, not 21?
Some words have a noun meaning and a noun meaning.
rain
raincan be a noun or a verb.
A NOUN
la pluiefempluie sous la pluie
B VERB
pleuvoirpleuvoir Il va pleuvoir. pleuvoir Il pleut beaucoup par ici.
Its raining. Il pleut.
22 Is 22 a noun or a verb?
23 Why is 23 in part 23?
Learn useful phrases
In the dictionary youll see phrases that are especially important in orange boxes. Try to learn these when you come across them, and youll soon know lots of useful things to say in French.
What time is it? Quelle heure est-il? What time is it? Cest lheure du déjeuner. What time is it? Combien de fois?
Find out interesting things about life in France
There are also boxes which tell you about French customs, and about differences between life in France and Britain.
Did you know?
In France, Easter eggs are said to be brought by the Easter bells orcloches de Pâqueswhich fly from Rome and drop them in peoples gardens.
Even more words
At school you will learn to talk about subjects such as the time and the weather, your family, your pets, and your clothes. The most important words for talking about these subjects are shown in the dictionary itself, and even more words are given in Language Plus, the supplement in the middle part of the dictionary. Have a look!
Answer key
1 demain and bonbon
2 the French side; French words on it; French-English written at the side of the page.
3 fire fish
4 Its the last word on page 411.
5 first
6 Chantal, Hélène, Jean-Marie, Luc, Pierre, Sophie
7 Harry because a comes before e
8 Friday comes first and Wednesday comes last.
9 because the second letter of Thursday is h, which comes before u, the second letter of Tuesday
10 Friday, Monday, Thursday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday
11 June
12 correspondant
13 animaux
14 un ballon the clue is in the example: un ballon de football
15 4 car, tyre, dent, door
16 2 brown, blue
17 bonbon a sweet is a noun, it means candy; the example helps too
18 2 quietly, happily; they both end in -ly
19 dur
20 2 starts, finishes
21 because clean has an adjective meaning in this sentence; the example helps too
22 a noun
23 because its a verb
French EnglishA a
a VERB seea
Language tip
Dont confuseawith the prepositiona.
11
Elle a beaucoup damis.
She has lots of friends.
Language tip
Sometimesais used to show that something has happened in the past.
Il a joué au football. He played football.
22
Il a neuf ans.
He is nine years old.
il y a there is/there are
Language tip
il y ahas two translations. Look at the examples.
Il y a un bon film à la télé. Theres a good film on TV. Il y a un bon film à la télé. There are lots of people.
Language tip
il y acan also meanil y a.
Elle est partie il y a dix minutes. She left ten minutes ago.
Quest-ce quil y a? Whats the matter?
à PREPOSITION
Language tip
Dont confuseàwith the verb formà. See alsoàandà.
11
Je suis à la maison.
I am at home.
Je finis à quatre heures.
I finish at 4 oclock.
22
Il est à Paris.
He is in Paris.
Elle habite au Portugal.
She lives in Portugal.
Mes grands-parents habitent à la campagne.
My grandparents live in the country.
au printemps
in the spring
au mois de juin
in June
33
Je vais à Paris.
Im going to Paris.
Elle va au Portugal.
Shes going to Portugal.
Cet été je vais à la campagne.
Im going to the country this summer.
Il la donné à son frère. He gave it to his brother. Il la donné à son frère. Ive got nothing to do. Il la donné à son frère. This book is Pauls.
44
Il est arrivé à bicyclette. He arrived by bicycle. Il est arrivé à bicyclette. on foot Il est arrivé à bicyclette. I walk to school. Il est arrivé à bicyclette. from here Il est arrivé à bicyclette. Its 10 kilometres from here. Il est arrivé à bicyclette. an hour Il est arrivé à bicyclette. 100 kilometres an hour Il est arrivé à bicyclette. See you on Saturday! Il est arrivé à bicyclette. See you later!
À bientôt! See you soon! À bientôt! See you tomorrow!
abandonner VERB
11
22
Je veux abandonner la natation.
I want to give up swimming.
l abeille FEM NOUN
bee
abominable ADJECTIVE
awful
l abord MASC NOUN
dabord first dabord Ill go home first.
l abricot MASC NOUN
apricot
absent MASC ADJECTIVE
(FEM absente)
absent
absolument ADVERB
absolutely
l accent MASC NOUN
accent
un accent aigu an acute accent un accent aigu a grave accent un accent aigu a circumflex
Language tip
French vowels sometimes have an accent to change their sound. There are three kinds of accents: the acute (école), the grave (mère) and the circumflex (hôtel). See alsoaigu, aigu, aigu.
accepter VERB
to accept
l accident MASC NOUN
accident
accompagner VERB
to accompany
Language tip
There is the wordaccompanyin English, but it is quite a formal word and we will often use something different, such asaccompany.
Elle maccompagne à lécole. She takes me to school.
l accord MASC NOUN
être daccord to agree être daccord Do you agree with me?
Daccord! OK!
l accordéon MASC NOUN
accordion
Ray joue de laccordéon. Ray plays the accordion.
l accueil MASC NOUN
reception
acheter VERB
to buy
l acné FEM NOUN
acne
l acteur MASC NOUN
actor
un acteur de cinéma a film actor
actif MASC ADJECTIVE
(FEM active) active
l activité FEM NOUN
activity
l actrice FEM NOUN
actress
une actrice de cinéma a film actress
les actualités FEM PL NOUN
news
Je regarde les actualités tous les soirs. I watch the news every night.
l addition FEM NOUN
11
22
Laddition, sil vous plaît! Can we have the bill, please?
adhésif MASC ADJECTIVE
(FEM adhésive) adhésive sticky tape
l adjectif MASC NOUN
adjective
grand est un adjectif. grand is an adjective.
admettre VERB
11
Jadmets que jai eu tort. I admit I was wrong.
22
Les chiens ne sont pas admis dans le restaurant. Dogs are not allowed in the restaurant.
l adolescent MASC NOUN
l adolescente FEM NOUN
teenager