Collins Primary Illustrated French Dictionary. Collins Dictionaries

confuse a with the preposition à.

      1 has

       Elle a beaucoup d’amis.

      She has lots of friends.

       Language tip

      Sometimes a is used to show that something has happened in the past.

      Il a joué au football. He played football.

      2 is

       Il a neuf ans.

      He is nine years old.

      il y a there is/there are

       Language tip

      il y a has two translations. Look at the examples.

      Il y a un bon film à la télé. There’s a good film on TV. Il y a beaucoup de monde. There are lots of people.

       Language tip

      il y a can also mean ago.

      Elle est partie il y a dix minutes. She left ten minutes ago.

      Qu’est-ce qu’il y a? What’s the matter?

      à PREPOSITION

       Language tip

      Don’t confuse à with the verb form a. See also au (= à + le) and aux (= à + les).

      1 at

       Je suis à la maison.

      I am at home.

      Je finis à quatre heures.

      I finish at 4 o’clock.

      2 in

       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

      3 to

       Je vais à Paris.

      I’m going to Paris.

      Elle va au Portugal.

      She’s going to Portugal.

      Cet été je vais à la campagne.

      I’m going to the country this summer.

      Il l’a donné à son frère. He gave it to his brother. Je n’ai rien à faire. I’ve got nothing to do. Ce livre est à Paul. This book is Paul’s.

      4 by

      Il est arrivé à bicyclette. He arrived by bicycle. à pied on foot Je vais à l’école à pied. I walk to school. à … d’ici … from here C’est à dix kilomètres d’ici. It’s 10 kilometres from here. … à l’heure … an hour cent kilomètres à l’heure 100 kilometres an hour À samedi! See you on Saturday! À tout à l’heure! See you later!

      À bientôt! See you soon! À demain! See you tomorrow!

      abandonner VERB

      1 to abandon

      2 to give up

       Je veux abandonner la natation.

      I want to give up swimming.

      l’ abeille FEM NOUN

       bee

      abominable ADJECTIVE

       awful

      l’ abord MASC NOUN

      d’abord first Je vais rentrer chez moi d’abord. I’ll 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 grave a grave accent un accent circonflexe 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 also aigu, grave, circonflexe.

      accepter VERB

       to accept

      l’ accident MASC NOUN

       accident

      accompagner VERB

       to accompany

       Language tip

      There is the word accompany in English, but it is quite a formal word and we will often use something different, such as take.

      Elle m’accompagne à l’école. She takes me to school.

      l’ accord MASC NOUN

      être d’accord to agree Tu es d’accord avec moi? Do you agree with me?

      D’accord! OK!

      l’ accordéon MASC NOUN

       accordion

      Ray joue de l’accordéon. Ray plays the accordion.

      l’ accueil MASC NOUN

       reception

      acheter VERB

       to buy