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2013-1014

FALSE FRIENDS

ABUS/ABUSE
Nous ne pouvons pas tolrer cet abus de pouvoir
[dautorit].
Un rglement aussi vague, cest la porte ouverte
tous les abus.
Labus de cigarettes [de viandes rouges, de
sucreries] nuit la sant.

We cannot tolerate this abuse of power

[authority].
Such vague regulations leave the way clear for
all kinds of abuses.
Excessive smoking/ overindulgence in
cigarettes [overindulgence in red meat, sweets]
is harmful to the health.
As she went down the stairs she continued to Tout en descendant lescalier, elle continua le
shower him with abuse. (sg)
couvrir dinjures/ dinsultes.
There has been an alarming increase in child Il y a eu une augmentation alarmante des
abuse (sg) over the last few years.
mauvais traitements infligs aux enfants/ des
svices exercs sur les enfants ces dernires
annes.

(S) ABUSER/TO ABUSE

Nabusez pas des privilges qui vous sont
accords [de votre autorit, de votre pouvoir].
Je ne voudrais pas abuser de votre gentillesse
[de votre temps].
Il est injuste dabuser ainsi de ses amis en leur
faisant faire toutes sortes de sales besognes.
Nabuse pas de ces mdicaments. Cela pourrait
nuire ta sant.

Le prvenu a avou quil avait trangl la jeune

femme aprs avoir abus delle.
Ne vous laissez pas abuser par toutes ces belles
paroles!
Votre fils sabuse sil pense quil va russir.
(plus couramment : se fait des illusions)
She started to abuse her husband in the middle
of the party, which was very embarrassing.
The prisoners complained of having been
physically abused and drugged.

Do not abuse the privileges you have been given

[your authority, your power].
I dont want to take advantage of/impose on
your kindness [take up your time].
Its not fair to take advantage of your friends
by giving them all the nasty jobs to do.
Dont take too many of those drugs/Dont
overuse those drugs. They might damage your
health.
(moins souvent: abuse)
The accused admitted to strangling the young
woman after having (sexually) assaulted her.
Dont be deceived/taken in by all those fine
words.
If your son thinks hes going to pass his exams,
hes deceiving himself/deluding himself.
En plein milieu de la soire, elle a commenc
insulter/injurier son mari. Ctait extrmement
gnant.
Les prisonniers se sont plaints davoir t
maltraits/violents et drogues.

ADQUAT/ADEQUATE
On prvoit des encombrements sur les routes,
mais les mesures adquates ont t prises.
Il ne trouvait pas les mots adquats pour dcrire
ce quil ressentait.
Une bonne dfinition doit tre adquate
lobjet dfini.

Some congestion on the roads is expected, but

appropriate measures have been taken.
He couldnt find suitable/appropriate words to
express what he felt.
A good definition must fit the object defined.

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Have you ordered an adequate supply of coal

for the winter?
He doesnt earn a large salary but it is adequate
for his needs.
Her first performance was adequate but far
from brilliant.
The accommodation was modest but adequate.

As-tu command assez de charbon/ une quantit

suffisante de charbon pour lhiver?
Il ne gagne pas un salaire important mais cela
suffit ses besoins.
Sa premire audition tait acceptable mais loin
dtre brillante.
Le logement tait modeste mais correct.

AFFAIRE/AFFAIR
Le roi ne soccupe plus gure des affaires (pl)
de lEtat.
Ce journal ne rserve que peu de place aux
affaires (pl) trangres.
Ils nont jamais dcouvert le fin fond de cette
affaire mystrieuse.
Jai encore deux ou trois affaires urgentes
rgler.
Occupez-vous de vos affaires!
(Jur) Laffaire na jamais t lucide.
Nous sommes parvenus conclure laffaire
dans les dlais prvus.
Je pense que nous avons fait une bonne affaire
en achetant cette voiture doccasion.
Il est la tte dune grosse affaire dimportexport.
Son oncle est dans les affaires (pl).
Les affaires (pl) sont calmes cette poque de
lanne.
Il gre les affaires (pl) de son pre.
Mon fils prend soin de ses affaires. (pl)
On aime ou on naime pas. Cest une affaire de
got.
They say he had an affair with a dancer.
(Brit) Her hat was a strange affair !

The king no longer deals much with affairs (pl)

of state.
This newspaper devotes very little space to
foreign affairs (pl).
They never got to the bottom of the mysterious
affair.
Ive still got two or three urgent matters to
settle.
Mind your own business (sg) !
The case has never been solved.
We managed to conclude the deal in the time
agreed.
I think we got a good bargain when we bought
that second-hand car.
He runs a large import-export firm/business/
concern.
His uncle is in business.
Business is slow at this time of year.
He runs his fathers business affairs (pl).
My son takes care of his things/ belongings.
Either you like it or you dont. Its a matter/
question of taste.
On dit quil a eu une liaison/ aventure avec une
danseuse.
Son chapeau, ctait un drle de truc/machin !

(S)AFFIRMER/TO AFFIRM
Malgr les nombreux tmoignages accablants, il In spite of the overwhelming evidence to the
a affirm quil tait absent le jour du crime.
contrary, he affirmed that he was absent on the
day of the crime
(plus souvent: maintained)
/!\ voir 2
Le ministre affirme que la baisse du chmage The minister contends/asserts/maintains that
est due aux nouvelles mesures prises par le the drop in unemployment is due to the
gouvernement.
governments new measures.
Jaffirme que cet tudiant est absolument I assure you that this student is completely
incapable de rdiger un texte sans fautes.
incapable of writing a text without any mistakes.
Je noserais laffirmer mais il me semble avoir I couldnt swear to it/ I cant be (absolutely)
vu le voleur.
positive about it, but I think I saw the burglar.
2

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Les adolescents portent souvent des vtements

extravagants dans le but daffirmer leur
personnalit.
Son talent saffirme de jour en jour.
Il saffirme comme lun de nos meilleurs
joueurs de tennis.

Adolescents often wear outrageous things in an

effort to assert their personalities.
His talent is asserting itself more every day.
He is establishing himself as one of our best
tennis players.

AFFLUENCE/AFFLUENCE
Les soldes ont attir une telle affluence que
nous pouvons esprer combler une partie de
notre dficit.

The sales have attracted so many people/such

large crowds (of people) that we hope to make
up part of our deficit

A cette heure-l, laffluence est toujours trs

importante dans le hall de la gare.

At that time of day there is always a large

crowd of people/ there are always a great
many people in the station concourse/the station
concourse is always very crowded.

When I visited South America I was shocked by Lors de ma visite en Amrique du Sud, jai t
the contrast between poverty and affluence (sg.) choque par le contraste entre la pauvret des
uns et la richesse des autres.
AGENDA/AGENDA
Prends note du rendez-vous dans ton agenda.

Make a note of the appointment in your diary/

(US) memorandum book.

Whats on the agenda for todays meeting?

Quy a-t-il lordre du jour/ au programme de

la runion daujourdhui?

I have a very full agenda for the coming weeks. Jai un emploi du temps/ un programme trs
charg pour les semaines venir.
AGONISANT/AGONIZING
Le spectacle de ces soldats agonisants tait
intolrable.

The sight of the dying soldiers was unbearable.

The pain was agonizing but fortunately it didnt La douleur tait atroce mais heureusement, ce
last long.
ne fut pas long.
She had to make the agonizing decision to leave Elle a d prendre la dcision dchirante de
her family in order to live in a free country.
quitter sa famille pour aller stablir dans un
pays dmocratique.
They spent an agonizing six hours in the
hijacked plane.

Ils ont connu six heures dangoisse dans lavion

dtourn.

AMATEUR/AMATEUR
Ce nest quun amateur mais il peint drlement Hes only an amateur but his paintings really
bien.
good.
Le tournoi de golf nest ouvert quaux
amateurs.

The golf tournament is only open to amateurs.

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(pj.) Ce nest quune bande damateurs. Je

naurais jamais d leur faire confiance.

Theyre just a bunch of amateurs. I should

never have trusted them.

Dans notre famille, je suis le seul amateur de

bonne cuisine [de musique].

Im the only lover of good food [music lover] in

my family.

Mon pre na pas encore trouv damateur pour My father hasnt found a taker for his Jaguar
sa Jaguar.
yet.
ANCIEN/ANCIENT
Les civilisations anciennes mont toujours
passionn (=antique).

Ive always been fascinated by ancient

civilizations.

Ils ont pass des succs du moment et aussi des

chansons plus anciennes (=vieux).

They played some modern hits and also some

older songs.

Ce chteau est trs ancien. Il a t construit dans The caste is very old. It was built in the first half
la premire moiti du XVIII
of the 18
Cest un grand amateur de meubles anciens
(=antiquits).

He loves antique furniture

Il est plus ancien que moi dans la firme.

Hes been with the firm longer than I have

Lancien prsident de la Rpublique demande

lasile politique.

The previous/former/ex-President of the

Republic is seeking political asylum

Jaimerais bien revoir mon ancienne cole.

Id love to see my old school again

Il y aura un dner pour les anciens (lves) du

lyce samedi prochain.

There will be a dinner for former pupils of the

school/the old boys/the old girls/(US) the
alumni next Saturday.

An ancient servant opened the door

Une vieille servante ouvrit la porte

You should have seen him drive past in his

ancient 2CV

Si tu lavais vu passer dans son antique 2 CV/

sa vieille 2 CV / dans sa 2CV antdiluvienne

ANTENNE/ANTENNA (PL : ANTENNAE / ANTENNAS)

Le papillon tait immobile. Seules ses antennes The butterfly sat motionless, only its antennae
bougeaient
were moving (aussi : feelers)
Avoir des antennes = to have a sixth sense
Avoir des antennes qqpart = to have contacts
somewhere
Maintenant que nous avons la tldistribution,
Now that weve got cable television we dont
nous navons plus besoin dantenne
need an aerial any more (US : antenna)

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Vous pourrez suivre le match en direct sur notre The match will be broadcast live on this (TV)
antenne ds 20h
channel/ (radio) station starting at 8 o clock
tre lantenne = to be on the air
Passer lantenne = to go on the air
Je rends lantenne au studio = Ill return you to
the studio
Je donne lantenne Lyon = and now well go
over to Lyons
Notre entreprise a une antenne parisienne en
Our firm has a Paris office/agency in the heart
plein sixime arrondissement
of the 16th arrondissement
Antenne chirurgicale = advanced surgical unit
Une antenne de lUniversit de Boston sest
A branch/an offshoot of Boston University has
installe rcemment dans la capitale
recently been established in the capital

APTE/APT
Je ne crois pas que cet lve soit apte faire des
tudes universitaires
Les mdecins lont jug apte au service militaire
Pensez-vous quil soit apte ce genre demploi?
Cotton is apt to shrink when washed
Hes apt to work too hard
Hes an apt student (or : clever/able)
The speaker made some very apt comments on
the governments economic policy

I dont think this pupil is capable of taking a

degree
The doctors judged him fit for military service
Do you think he is suited to this kind of work ?
Le coton a tendance rtrcir au lavage
Il a tendance se surmener
Cest un lve dou/intelligent
Le confrencier a fait des commentaires trs
pertinents sur la politique conomique du
gouvernement

ASSISTANCE/ASSISTANCE
Je nai jamais refus de prter assistance une
personne dans le besoin

I have never refused to give assistance to

anyone in need
To come to sbs assistance = venir laide de
qq1
To be of assistance to sb = tre utile qq1
Lassistance au cours devient de plus en plus
Attendance at lectures is getting more and more
irrgulire (aussi : prsence)
irregular
Il ne lui a pas fallu plus dun quart dheure pour In the space of fifteen minutes he had the whole
charmer toute lassistance
audience under is spell (spell = congrgation /
assemble des fidles)

BENIN/BENIGN
Ils ont t victimes dun accident heureusement
bnin
Une punition aussi bnigne naura certainement
pas un grand effet de dissuasion
Quelques formes bnignes de malaria ont t
dcouvertes dans la rgion

A benign old man told us the way

They had an accident, but fortunately, only a

slight/minor one
Such a mild punishment will certainly not act as
a deterrent
Some mild/harmless forms of malaria have
been discovered in this area
Benign tumor existe aussi dans ce sens mais
appartient au jargon mdical
Un vieux monsieur affable/bienveillant nous a
indiqu la route
5

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He welcomed the children with a benign smile

The climate of Tenerife is benign and attracts
many tourists

Il accueillit les enfants avec un sourire

bienveillant
Le climat de Tnriffe est doux et attire de
nombreux touristes

BLANC/BLANK
Cest la premire fois sur quatre ans dtudes
que jai d remettre une copie blanche
Les bulletins de vote blancs ne comptent pas

Its the first time in four years at university that

Ive had to hand in a blank paper
Blank voting slips do not count
Sense de blank = vierge
Donner carte blanche qq1 = to give sb carte
blanche
Ma fille refuse de porter une robe blanche son My daughter refuses to wear a white dress for
mariage
her wedding
Un majordome aux cheveux tout blanc mouvrit The door was opened by a white-haired butler
la porte
Ces vnements marqurent la fin de la
The events marked the end of white domination
domination blanche en Afrique
in Africa
La race blanche = white/Caucasian
Il est trs blanc ces derniers temps. Il travaille
Hes very pale these days. He works too hard
trop
Je prfre le vin blanc
I prefer white wine
Jtais tellement anxieuse avant lexamen que
I was so nervous before the exam that I spent a
jai pass une nuit blanche
sleepless night
Un mariage blanc peut tre annul par lEglise An unconsummated marriage can be annulled
by the Church
Ctait une opration blanche. Le principal est It was a break-even deal. The main thing is that
que nous nayons pas perdu dargent
we didnt make a loss
Il annona dune voix blanche que son fils
He told us in a toneless voice that his son had
stait suicide
committed suicide
Il est sorti blanc comme neige de cette affaire
He came out of it as pure as the driven snow
He gave me a blank look
Il me regarda dun air perplexe/sans avoir lair
de comprendre
CANDIDE / CANDID
La question candide de la nouvelle recrue fit The new recruits innocent/ingenuous/ naive
rire toute lassemble.
question made everyone laugh.
La petite fille me regardait de ses grands yeux The little girl looked at me with her great big
candides.
innocent eyes.
Im going to be absolutely candid with you.
Je vais tre tout fait franc avec vous.
CARTE / CARD
Jai perdu ma carte didentit [de crdit, Ive lost my identity [credit, student] card
dtudiant]
Lorsque je suis en vacances, jenvoie toujours When Im on holiday, I always send (post)cards
des cartes (postales) tous mes amis
to all my friends
Il ma donn sa carte (de visite) et ma dit quil He gave me his (visiting) card and said he
esprait me revoir bientt
hoped to see me again soon

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Je dteste jouer aux cartes avec lui. Il est I hate playing cards with him. Hes such a bad
tellement mauvais joueur !
loser !
Si nous avions une carte plus dtaille de la If we had a more detailed map of the area we
rgion, nous ne devrions pas demander notre wouldnt have to ask the way every five minutes
chemin toutes les cinq minutes
A en juger par la carte, il ny a pas beaucoup de To judge by the menu, there isnt a great deal in
choix dans ce restaurant
this restaurant
To make this model you need some card (sg) Pour faire cette maquette, il faut vous procurer
and some string
du carton et de a ficelle
Students are not allowed to remove cards from Il est interdit aux tudiants de sortir des fiches
library (aussi : index cards, record cards)
du fichier de la bibliothque
(vieilli) my uncles a real card ! He can tell Mon oncle est un rigolo/est comique/marrant !
jokes for hours on end
Il peut raconter des blagues des heures durant
CERTIFIER/TO CERTIFY
Je certifie que Madame Dupont prsente tous I certify that Mrs. Jones shows all the symptoms
les symptmes de la grossesse
of pregnancy
Par ce document, je certifie que jai assist la I hereby certify that I witnessed the sign of the
signature du testament
will
Je peux te certifier que ce quil dit est correct
I can assure you that what he says is correct
Le plombier ma certifi quil viendrait avant la The plumber assured me/guaranteed that he
fin de la semaine
would come before the end of the week
(Brit) He was certified and confined to a mental On le dclara atteint dalination mentale et il
hospital
fut intern
CHARGE / CHARGE
La charge (dexplosifs) tait tellement puissante The (explosive) charge was so powerful that the
que lavion fut pulvris
plane was blown to pieces
La charge de la cavalerie leur assura la victoire The cavalry charge ensured their victory
La remorque nest certainement pas assez solide The trailer is certainly not strong enough to take
pour une telle charge de bois
a load of wood like this
Soccuper du mnage aprs lcole constitue une Doing the homework after school is too heavy a
charge trop lourde pour un enfant de son ge
burden/is too much for a child of her age
Avec les lourdes charges (pl) familiales quil a, His family expenses are so high that he is
il ne pourra probablement pas nous prter cette unlikely to be able to lend us that amount of
somme
money
Dans notre pays, les charges (pl) sociales sont Social security contributions are very high in
trs leves et de nombreuses entreprises ne this country and many firms can no longer meet
peuvent plus y faire face
them
On lui a confi la charge de retrouver tous les He was given the responsibility of finding all
tmoins de laccident
the witnesses of the accident
Je me suis acquitt de cette charge du mieux Ive carried out this task as best I could
que je pouvais
Il a occup de hautes charges au sein de He has held high office (sg) in several
plusieurs gouvernements
governments
Les munitions trouves son domicile The ammunition found in his house provides
constituent une nouvelle charge contre lui
further evidence (sg) against him
The charges for telephone calls are generally Le tarif des communications tlphonique est
lower at night
gnralement moins lev la nuit
7

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The advertising charges were much higher than Les frais de publicit taient beaucoup plus
wed thought
levs que nous ne lavions pens
He was imprisoned on a charge of murder
Il a t emprisonn sous linculpation de
meurtre
The prosecutor has dropped one of the three Le procureur a renonc lun des trois chefs
charges
daccusation
We intend to bring a charge against the surgeon Nous avons lintention de porter plainte contre
le chirurgien
CHARME / CHARM
Il a hrit du charme de son pre
Hes inherited of his fathers charm
Jai t sduit par le charme de cette petite ville I was seduced by the charm of this little
de province
provincial town
Le tlphone sonna. Le charme fut rompu (= The phone rang. The spell was broken
enchantement)
Jtais encore sous le charme de la musique de I was still under the spell of Sibeliuss music
Sibelius
She thought that nothing could happen to her as Elle pensait que rien ne pouvait lui arrive tant
long as she wore that charm round her neck
quelle portait ce ftiche/cette amulette autour
du cou.
When they heard the old woman muttering Lorsquils entendirent les incantations de la
charms, they knew she was a witch
vieille femme, ils ralisrent que ctait une
sorcire
CHEMINEE/CHIMNEY
Lors de la dernire tempte, le vent a fait tomber A lot of chimneys were blown down during the
de nombreuses chemines.
last storm.
Les enfants taient assis devant la chemine et The children were sitting in front of the
regardaient danser les flammes.
fireplace, watching the flames flickering.
O sont mes cls ? Jaurais pourtant jur les Where are my keys? I could have sworn I left
avoir laisses sur la chemine.
them on the mantelpiece.
COLLECTER/TO COLLECT
Il collecte des fonds pour construire une maison
pour des handicaps.
Tous les matins, un camion collecte le lait de
ferme en ferme.
I only collect French and English stamps.

Hes collecting funds to build a home for the

handicapped.
Every morning a lorry goes from farm to farm
collecting the milk.
Je ne collectionne que les timbres de France et
dAngleterre.
Sir, are you going to collect our homework at Monsieur, est ce que vous allez ramasser/
the end of the lesson?
relever nos devoirs la fin de lheure ?
The farmers wife collects the eggs every day.
La fermire ramasse les oeufs tous les jours.
The post is collected twice a day.

La leve est faite/ se fait deux fois par jour.

Ill collect you [the book, the luggage] at eight

oclock this evening.
Can you collect some information [documents,
evidence]?

Je passerai te prendre [je passerai prendre le

livre, les valises] huit heures du soir.
Peux-tu recueillir/ rassembler des informations
[des documents, des preuves] ?
8

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The Inland Revenue is the body responsible for

collecting taxes.
The landlord collects the rent at the end of the
month.
A crowd collected to see what had happened.

Le fisc est charg de percevoir les impts.

Pour plus de commodit, nous regrouperons

dornavant toutes les informations dans un
bulletin hebdomadaire. (souvent : facilit)
Nous avons accord une grande importance la
commodit de consultation du manuel.
Il nest pas du genre pouvoir facilement se
passer des commodits (pl) de la vie moderne.

For greater convenience (sg) we shall from now

on put all the information together in a weekly
newsletter.
Ease of consultation has been one of our
priorities in compiling the manual.
Hes not the type of man who can easily do
without the comforts/ convenience (sg) of
modern life
Though a hundred years old, the house has all
(modern) conveniences / every (modern)
comfort.
Marina holiday camp. Facilities: shops, tennis
courts, bicycle hire

Le propritaire encaisse les loyers la fin du

mois.
Une foule se rassembla pour voir ce qui stait
pass.
Once he had collected himself he behaved as if Une fois quil se fut calm/repris, il agit
nothing had happened.
comme si de rien ntait.
COMMODITE/COMMODITY

La maison, bien que centenaire, est pourvue de

toutes les commodits (pl). (plus souvent : tout
le confort moderne)
Camp de vacances Marina. Commodits:
commerces, terrains de tennis, location de
bicyclettes
Fur is one of Russias important export La fourrure est un produit / une marchandise
commodities.
dexportation trs important(e) pour la Russie.
The controls on a valuable commodity such as Pour une denre de prix telle que le caviar, les
caviar are very strict.
contrles sont trs stricts.
CONDAMNER/ TO CONDEMN
Laccus ft condamn mort [ la prison The accused was condemned to death [to life
vie].
imprisonment].
Son silence [cette preuve] le condamne.
His silence [this evidence] condemns him.
Les excs de son mari lont condamne une
vie de misre.
Lopposition a condamn la politique du
gouvernement.
Cette expression est condamne par les
grammairiens.
Il a t condamn (pour vol) plusieurs reprises.

Her husbands excesses condemned her to a life

of poverty.
The opposition condemned the governments
policy.
This expression is condemned by the
grammarians.
He was convicted (of theft) several times.

En dpit des circonstances attnuantes, elle a t

condamne deux ans de prison ferme.
Le patient sest rtabli alors que les mdecins
lavaient condamn.

Despite the extenuating circumstances she was

sentenced to two years imprisonment.
The patient recovered although the doctors had
given him up/ had declared his case to be
hopeless.

GERM2720 : EAP!

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Il serait plus prudent de condamner cette porte. It would be wiser to block up this door [to stop
using/ shut off/ close off this room].
CONFUS/CONFUSED
Un bruit confus parvenait du fond de la salle.
Ses explicitations sont tellement confuses que je
ny comprends rien.
Des souvenirs confus le troublaient toute
heure de la journe.
Je suis confus davoir oubli de vous
recontacter.
Il tait confus et regrettait visiblement ses
paroles.
Vraiment cest trop. Il ne fallait pas. Je suis
confus.
With all these foreign names Ive got to
remember Im sure to get confused.
Children feel confused of their environment is
constantly changing.

A confused noise reached us from the back of

the hall.
His explanations are so confused I dont
understand them at all.
Confused memories troubled him at every hour
of the day.
Im embarrassed at having forgotten to contact
you again.
He was embarrassed/ he was covered in
confusion and obviously regretted what hed
said (moins souvent: confused)
Its really too much. You shouldnt have. I dont
what to say/ Im overcome/ Im overwhelmed/
Im at a loss of words.
Avec tous ces noms trangers mmoriser, je
vais membrouiller.
Les enfants sont dsorients si on les change
constamment de milieu.

Confusment: vaguely, indistinctly

Confusedly : de manire confuse

CONSISTANT/CONSISTENT
La peinture ne stale pas bien. Elle est trop
consistante.
Ds quelles arrivrent au refuge, on leur servit
un repas consistant.
Si vous voulez les convaincre, il vous faudra des
arguments plus consistants.
Hes not been very consistent in his statement.

I followed a different line of reasoning but Ive

arrived at the correct result too
As soon as they arrived at the mountain hut, they
were given a solid (pith)/ substantial meal.
If you want to convince them youll need more
solid arguments than that.
Il na pas t trs cohrent/consquent/logique
dans ses dclarations.
There has been a consistent (pith)
Ces dix dernires annes, il y a eu une
improvement in the quality of hospital treatment amlioration constante des soins donns dans
over the last ten years.
les hpitaux.
To be consistent with = tre en harmonie avec/ conforme

(SE) CONTRLER/ TO CONTROL (ONESELF)

Elle ne pouvait plus contrler sa colre [ses
nerfs, ses ractions]/se contrler.
(aussi (se) maitriser, (se) dominer)
(Mil.) Larme contrle la partie sud du pays.

She could no longer control her anger [temper,

reactions]/control herself. ( VOIR 4).
The army controls the southern part of the
country.
(plus souvent: the southern part of the country is
under the control of the army).
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(Econ.) Cette socit contrle tout le secteur.

This firm controls the whole sector.

Nous ne manquons pas de contrler ses

affirmations [son travail, les comptes].
Est-ce quon a contrl ton billet ?

We shall certainly check/verify what he says

[check his work, the accounts].
Has your ticket been checked/inspected?

The fire brigade had little difficulty in

controlling the fire.
She cant control her pupils.

Les pompiers nont eu aucune difficult

maitriser le feu.
Elle ne sait pas se faire obir de ses lves/elle
na pas dautorit sur ses lves.
Le trsorier est responsable de linvestissement
des fonds.
Avant la rvolution, c tait le roi qui dirigeait le
pays/qui tait la tte du pays.

The treasurer controls the investment of funds.

Before the revolution, it was the king who
controlled the country.
(plus souvent: was in control of)
This button controls the pressure.

Ce bouton commande la pression.

It became necessary to control Japanese car

On a d limiter/restreindre limportation de
imports.
voitures japonaises.
Contrler semble se rpandre dans ce sens sous linfluence de langlais : ex. on ne peut plus
contrler linflation, la situation.
Contrleur (train) : (ticket) inspector, ticket collector, (bus) conductor ; contrleur des
contributions: tax inspector; contrleur de la navigation arienne: air-traffic controller.

CONVENIR/ TO CONVENE
Cette robe ne convient pas pour un mariage.

That dress is not suitable for a wedding.

Cette date ne me convient pas du tout.

That date is not at all convenient for me/does

not suit me at all.
He has chosen a job that does not suit him at all.

Il a choisi un mtier qui ne lui convient pas du

tout.
Vu les circonstances, il convient dtre prudent. In view of the circumstances, it is advisable to
take care/ one should take care.
Il convient que les enfants respectent leurs
It is right (and proper) for children to respect
parents.
their parents.
Jai eu tort, jen conviens.
I was wrong, I admit (it).
Les membres de la commission ont convenu de
se runir samedi.
Il nous reste convenir dun lieu de rendezvous.
We will convene a meeting of all the teachers
concerned.
The committee will convene next month.

The committee members agreed to meet on

Saturday.
We still have to agree on a meeting place.
Nous convoquerons une runion de tous les
professeurs concerns.
Le comit se runira le mois prochain.

Lhomme qui convient, le mot qui convient, = the right man, the right word
Comme convenu = as agreed

CONVERSATION/CONVERSATION
Au cours de lune de nos conversations, elle
ma dit quelle comptait quitter le pays.
Je mennuie mourir avec elle: elle na aucune
conversation.

During one of our conversations, she said she

intended to leave the country.
She bores me to death: shes got no
conversation ( sg) at all !
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Les conversations au sommet auxquelles les

The summit talks in which the two heads of
deux chefs dEtat ont particip se sont rvles state took part proved very fruitful.
trs fructueuses.
Mais: elle a de la conversation: shes always got something interesting to say (for herself).
Dans la conversation courante: in informal speech/language.

CONVICTION/CONVICTION
Jai la ferme conviction quil a tort.

It is my firm conviction that he is wrong.

Il a dfendu son ide sans grande conviction.

He defended his idea without much conviction

(sg).
Cest tout fait contraire mes convictions
Its totally against my religious convictions/
(souvent pl) religieuses.
beliefs.
It is his fifth conviction for armed robbery.
Cest a cinquime condamnation pour vol
main arme.
The conviction (sg) of the bank manager for
La condamnation du directeur de banque pour
embezzlement came as no surprise to us.
dtournement de fonds ne nous a pas tonns.
Mais : to carry conviction : tre convainquant; to be open to conviction: tre prt se laisser
convaincre
Mais : to have the courage of ones conviction: avoir le courage de ses opinions
Pice conviction: exhibit.

CORRECT/CORRECT
Jai suivi un autre raisonnement mais jaboutis
aussi au rsultat correct
La traduction de ce mot nest pas tout fait
correcte
Il aurait t plus correct de me prvenir de votre
dpart (= poli, biensant)
Les soldats ont reu lordre de rester corrects
envers la population (= courtois)

I followed a different line of reasoning but Ive

arrived at the correct result too
The translation of this word is not quite correct

Par rapport la qualit, le prix est correct

The price is fair for that quality

It would have been more polite to tell me you

were leaving (moins souvent : correct)
The soldiers were ordered to behave
courteously towards the population/ treat the
population with respect
Je ne peux vraiment pas me plaindre de la I really cant complain about the headmistress.
directrice. Elle a toujours t trs correcte avec Shes always been very fair with me
moins (= rgulier, juste)
Trouvez-vous que cest correct de divulguer des Do you think it is right to divulge such
informations aussi confidentielles? Moi pas!
confidential information? I dont!
Le logement tait modeste mais correct
The accommodation was modest but adequate
Votre devoir est correct sans plus
Your homework is adequate but nothing more
To be correct peut semployer avec un sujet anim qui correspond alors avoir raison :
- To be correct in thinking that: avoir raison de croire que
- Whats the correct time? : quelle est lheure exacte?
Correct semploie parfois en anglais dans le sens de biensant, conforme aux bonnes
manires .
- Correct procedure : procdure dusage.
Correct en affaires : honest (businessman).

CRAQUER/TO CRACK
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Dans cette vieille maison, le parquet craque

constamment
La neige craquait (les feuilles craquaient) sous
nos pas
Il fit craquer/craqua une allumette et alluma la
bougie
Mon pantalon a craqu quand je me suis baiss

The floor boards creak all the time in that old

house
The snow crunched (the dead leaves rustled)
beneath our feet
He struck a match and lit the candle

Ton sac est trop plein. Il va craquer

Your bags too full. Its going to break

Si tu continues brler la chandelle par les deux

bouts, tu vas craquer (= seffondrer
nerveusement)
Aprs deux jours dinterrogatoire, il a craqu et
a rvl le nom de son complice (= cder)

Youll crack up if you go on burning the candle

at both ends (moins souvent : crack)

He fell and cracked a bone

Il est tomb et sest fl un os

My trousers split when I bent over

After two days of questioning he broke down

and revealed the name of his accomplice (moins
souvent : cracked)
Quand jai vu cette robe, jai craqu
When I saw that dress I was finished/ Id had
it/ I succumbed!
Ds que Jacques voit une belle blonde aux yeux James is a sucker for beautiful blue-eyed
bleus, il craque !
blondes
The glass cracked but it didnt break
Le verre sest fl mais ne sest pas cass
They managed to crack the enemy code (the Ils ont russi dchiffrer le code de lennemi (
case)
rsoudre laffaire)
His voice cracked with emotion
Sa voix se brisa sous le coup de lmotion
Faire craquer ses doigts : to crack ones fingers
To crack a whip : faire claquer un fouet
To crack the whip : donner des ordres, commander
Plein craquer: bulging, bursting, crammed full
To crack nuts: casser des noix
Its a hard nut to crack : cest un problme difficile rsoudre
Hes a hard nut to crack : cest pas un type commode
Cracked (ground, skin): crevasse
To crack ones head/ones skull against sth: se cogner la tte contre quelque chose
To crack a safe : ouvrir un coffre-fort
To crack a bottle : ouvrir une bouteille
To crack a joke : raconter une blague
Hes cracked : il est cingl
Get cracking : magne-toi !

DLIBR/DELIBERATE
Croyez-moi, il ne sagit pas dun accident mais
dun acte dlibr (souvent : voulu,
intentionnel)
Il entra dans le bureau dun pas/ dun air
dlibr
Il avait lintention dlibre de faire tomber le
gouvernement

Believe me, it was no accident. It was a

deliberate act
He entered the office in a resolute/ determined
manner
It was his firm/ determined intention to
overthrow the government
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He turned and walked with deliberate steps Il se retourna et marcha sans hte/ pas lents/
towards the edge of the cliff
pas mesurs vers le bord de la falaise
His speech was always very deliberate
Il parlait toujours dun ton pos
De propos dlibr : deliberately, on purpose
Dlibrment : deliberately
Deliberately : exprs, volontairement, dlibrment, posment, lentement

DIFFICILE/DIFFICULT
Il mest difficile de renoncer aux tentations. It is difficult for me/ I find it difficult to resist
Jaime tellement les sucreries!
temptation. Ive got such a sweet tooth! (aussi:
hard)
Ils se trouvent parfois dans des situations They sometimes find themselves in difficult
financiers difficiles parce quils voient trop financial situations because of their grandiose
grand
ideas
Je ne pense pas que je ferai encore du baby- I dont think Ill do any more baby-sitting.
sitting. Les enfants sont trop difficiles de nos Children are too difficult nowadays
jours
Je comprends quelle veuille divorcer. Son mari I can understand her wanting a divorce. Her
est tellement difficile ( vivre)
husbands so difficult (to live with/ to get on
with)
Jai invite Marie mais elle est tellement difficile Ive invited Mary, but shes so fussy/ finicky
pour la nourriture que je ne sais pas quoi lui about her food that I dont know what to cook
prparer
Vous naimez pas cet appartement? Vous tes Dont you like this flat? You really are hard to
vraiment difficile
please/ difficult to please
Il ne faut vraiment pas tre difficile pour passer You really cant be fussy/ fastidious if youre
des vacances dans un htel pareil
going to stay in a hotel like that

DISPUTE/DISPUTE
A la maison, il y a de frquentes disputes, mais
tout finit toujours par sarranger
There was a lengthy dispute over the question in
the Senate
The wage dispute has got worse with the
withdrawal of the Christmas bonus
Theres some dispute about the boundaries of
the plot of land

We have a lot of quarrels at home, but

everything works out all right in the end
Il y a eu une longue discussion ce sujet au
Snat
Le conflit salarial sest aggrav avec la
suppression de la prime de fin danne
Il y a contestation sur les limites du terrain

DISTINCT/DISTINCT
Ce sont deux concepts bien distincts. Il ne faut
pas les mlanger.
Il y avait des traces distinctes de pas dans
l'herbe
Le bruit devenait de plus en plus distinct
mesure que nous approchions de la grange
There was a distinct smell of gas coming from
the kitchen
She greeted us with distinct coldness

These are two distinct concepts. One must not

confuse them
There were distinct footprints in the grass
The sound became more and more distinct as
we approached the barn
Il y avait une nette odeur de gaz qui venait de la
cuisine
Elle nous salua avec une froideur manifeste
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He had a distinct preference for blondes

As distinct from

Il avait une prfrence marque/ une nette

prfrence pour les blondes
Par opposition

Clair et distinct

Clear

DISTINCTEMENT/DISTINCTLY
Elle articulait distinctement les noms des
gagnants au micro
On voyait distinctement une silhouette au fond
du jardin
I distinctly remember the day when the
President was killed
I told you distinctly to be home by midnight
She looked distinctly depressed

She pronounced the names of the winners

distinctly into the microphone
We distinctly saw the outline of a figure at the
end of the garden
Je me souviens trs bien du jour de l'assassinat
du prsident
Je t'avais formellement/clairement
dit de
rentrer pour minuit
Elle avait l'air vraiment dprime

The patient is distinctly better today

Le patient va sensiblement mieux aujourd'hui

(SE) DOUBLER/TO DOUBLE

Jean a doubl son capital par rapport l'an pass John has doubled his capital as compared with
last year
Elle s'est achet un manteau doubl de fourrure She bought herself a coat lined with fur
Ne double pas cette voiture. Il en vient une dans
l'autre sens
Un cascadeur l'a doubl pour toutes les scnes
dangereuses du film
Le film a t mal doubl

Don't overtake/pass that car. There's one

coming the other way.
A stuntman stood in for him in all the
dangerous scenes of the film (moins souvent :
doubled for)
This film was badly dubbed

C'est un pdagogue remarquable doubl d'un

savant extraordinaire
Son sens artistique se double d'un grand
ralisme
Normalement ce contrat devait nous revenir
mais nous avons t doubl par nos concurrents
Sa fille a d doubler sa classe/a doubl parce
qu'elle tait faible en math

He is a remarkable teacher as well as a great

scholar
His artistic sense is coupled with/goes hand in
hand with great realism
We were supposed to get the contract, but our
competitors stole a march on us
His daughter had to repeat a year/stay down a
year (Br)/ stay back a year (US) because she
was poor at maths
(tht) Richard Miller doubles the parts of king Dans cette pice, Richard Miller joue la fois le
and slave in this play/doubles as king and slave rle de roi et d'esclave
in this play
This sofa doubles as a bed
Ce canap sert aussi de lit
Doubler le pas

To quicken one's pace, to speed up

Dfense de doubler

(br) no overtaking, (us) no passing

ECONOMIQUE/ECONOMIC
La situation conomique de ce pays se dgrade
d'anne en anne
On ne peut pas dire que le train soit un moyen
de transport conomique

The economic situation of that country is

deteriorating from one year to the next
You can't say that the train is an economical
means of transport
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Le chauffage central au mazout n'est pas trs

conomique
In view of the price of raw materials, such a
venture would not be economic
Sciences conomiques

Oil-fired central heating is not very economical

Vu le prix des matires premires, une telle
entreprise ne serait pas rentable
Economics

S'EMBRASSER/TO EMBRACE
Il embrassa la religion islamique l'ge de 34
ans
Ce livre embrasse tous les grands vnements
politiques des 20 dernires annes
Il faut trouver une dfinition qui embrasse tous
les exemples en ne seule formule
Tous les soirs, mon grand-pre embrassait tous
ses petits-enfants sur le front
Deux amoureux s'embrassaient au coin de la
rue
Bien qu'en fait, il voult embrasser une carrire
politique, il devint mdecin
The two heads of state embraced before an
enthusiastic crowd
Overcome by emotion, Jean embraced her
brother
The two sisters (the lovers) embraced

He embraced the Islamic religion at the age of

34
This book embraces all the important political
events of the last twenty years
We must find a definition which embraces all
the examples in a single formula
Every morning my grandfather would kiss all
his grandchildren on the forehead
Two lovers stood kissing (each other) on the
street corner
Although he really wanted to take up a career in
politics, he became a doctor
Les deux chefs d'Etat se donnrent l'accolade
devant la foule enthousiaste
Trs mue, Jeanne serra son frre dans ses
bras/treignit son frre
Les deux soeurs se serrrent dans les bras
l'une de l'autre/s'treignirent (les amants
s'enlacrent)
He eagerly embraced my offer to work with me Il a tout de suite saisi mon offre de collaboration
You must embrace any opportunity that Il faut saisir toutes les occasions qui se
presents itself
prsentent
! Son rgne embrasse une priode de 50 ans
His reign covers a period of fifty years
! The term "deer" embraces the male and the Le terme "deer" en anglais comprend/englobe
female animal
le cerf et la biche
(en fin de lettre) je t'embrasse
With love
Embrasser du regard

To take in at a glance

ENERVANT/ENERVATING
Il n'y a rien de plus nervant que de voir There is nothing more annoying/irritating than
attendre
having to wait
Il est nervant avec ses histoires belges !
He gets on my nerves with his Irish jokes !
I find this climate very enervating

Je trouve ce climat trs dbilitant

S'EVADER/TO EVADE
Trois prisonniers se sont vads de la prison de
Lantin
C'est le gardien qui a fait vader l'ennemi public
numro un
Elle avait toujours rv de s'vader du milieu o
elle vivait

Three prisoners have escaped from Dartmoor

It was the warder who helped public enemy
murder one to escape
She had always dream of escaping from the
environment she lived in
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The prisoners evaded their pursuers (capture, L e s p r i s o n n i e r s o n t c h a p p l e u r s

punishment, the vigilance of their guards)
poursuivants (ont chapp la capture, au
chtiment, ont tromp la vigilance de leurs
gardiens)
Anyone trying to evade (paying) income tax (to Quiconque essaie de frauder le fisc (de se
evade military service) will be prosecuted
drober ses obligations militaires) sera
poursuivi en justice
The manager evaded all my questions about the Le directeur luda toutes mes questions sur
future of the company
l'avenir de la socit
He evaded his opponent's blow (gaze)
Il vita/esquiva le coup (vita le regard) de son
adversaire
He always evades the issue
Il lude toujours la question

EVALUER/TO EVALUATE
On n'a pas encore valu les consquences du
coup d'Etat
Il n'est pas facile d'valuer les capacits de cet
tudiant
Un expert a valu ma maison 2 millions de
Francs
On n'a pas encore valu le montant

The consequences of the coup have not yet been

evaluated
It is difficult to evaluate this student's abilities
An expert valued/assessed my house at
200,000
The amount has not yet been assessed

Nous avons valu la dure du trajet une heure We had estimated the length of the journey at
one hour
On a valu vingt mille le nombre de The number of people taking part in the
personnes qui ont pris part la manifestation
demonstration was estimated at twenty
thousand
It is difficult to evaluate him as a writer
Il m'est difficile de le juger en tant qu'crivain/
de porter un jugement sur lui entant
qu'crivain
Mal valuer
To misjudge

EVASION/EVASION
Dernirement, il y a eu plusieurs vasions de la
prison de Louvain
Pour moi, le livre est avant tout un moyen
d'vasion
(fin) le gouvernement a pris des mesures pour
prvenir l'vasion des capitaux (aussi: la fuite)
One of the reasons for his dismissal was his
constant evasion (nd) of all responsibility
His evasion (nd) of the question surprised me

There have been several escapes from Louvain

Prison recently
For me books are primarily a means of escape
(from reality) / a form of escapism
The government has taken measures to forestall
the flight of capital
Une des raisons de son licenciement a t sa
fuite constante devant les responsabilits
J'ai t surpris qu'il vite la question

The former PM has been charged with tax L'ancien premier ministre est accus de fraude
evasion (nd)
fiscale
I'm beginning to get tired of her lies and Je commence en avoir assez de ses mensonges
evasions
et de ses faux-fuyants
Tentatives d'vasion
Escape bid/attempt / bid to escape
Evasion russie (manque)

(un)successful escape bid

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Besoin d'vasion
Littrature d'vasion

Need to escape from reality/to get away from it

all
Escapist literature

Evasion fiscale X fraude fiscale

Tax avoidance

EVIDEMMENT/EVIDENTLY
Est-ce que tu reviens la maison pour Nol ? Evidemment !
Evidemment, il aurait t prfrable que les
enfants soient accompagns de leurs parents
Evidemment, il est encore une fois en retard !

Are you coming home for Christmas ? - Of

course !
Of course/obviously/naturally, it would have
been preferable for the children to be
accompanied by their parents
He is late again, of course !

The have evidently decided to move back to A ce qu'il parait/ ce qu'on dit, ils ont dcid
England
de retourner en Angleterre
He was evidently not at ease (plus souvent: Il tait visiblement/manifestement mal l'aise
obviously)

EVOQUER/TO EVOQUE
Cette musique voquait des souvenirs de son
enfance
Tous ces noms voquent la splendeur de
lpoque romaine
Cette photo ne vous voque-t-elle rien de
particulier?

This music evoked memories of his childhood

All these names evoke the glory of the Roman

period
Does this picture suggest anything in particular
to you? Does this picture remind you of
anything in particular?
Tous ces cratres dans la fort voquent les
All the craters in the forest make one think of/
bombardements qui ont ravag cette rgion en
bring to mind the bombings which laid waste
1944
this area in 1944
Le rocher voque une tte dhomme
The rock resembles a human head/The shape of
the rock suggests a human head
Il y avait longtemps quon ne stait plus revu. We hadnt met for a long time and spent the
On a pass la soire voquer des souvenirs
evening reviving memories/recalling the past
La catastrophe du Heysel sera certainement
The Heysel tragedy will certainly be brought
voque au Conseil des ministres
up at the Cabinet meeting
Evoquant lincendie, le premier ministre a
Talking about the fire, the Prime Minister said
dclar que ctait la chose la plus horrible quil it was the most horrible thing he had ever
ait jamais vue
witnessed
Je me contenterai dvoquer les principaux
I will simply touch on/mention the main
thmes du livre sans entrer dans les dtails
themes of the book without going into detail
The childs skill on the piano evoked the
Le talent de lenfant au piano suscita
admiration of the audience
ladmiration du public
The headmasters decision to shorten the
La dcision du directeur de raccourcir les
holidays evoked a storm of protest
vacances suscita une vague de protestation

EXCUSE/EXCUSE
Avez-vous une excuse valable pour justifier
votre retard ? (=justification)
Il trouve de bonnes excuses pour ne pas
participer aux runions (=prtexte)

Have you got a good excuse for being late?

He always find good excuses for not coming to
meetings
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Il ma insult. Jexige des excuses (=tmoignage He insulted me. I demand an apology

de regrets)
Je lui priai daccepter mes excuses, mais il fit
I asked him to accept my apologies but he
mine de ne pas mentendre
pretended not to hear me

EXONERER/TO EXONERATE (ONESELF)

La nouvelle loi exonre de limpt toutes les
uvres de bienfaisance
The pupils confession completely exonerated
the teacher/exonerated the teacher from all
blame

The new laws exempts all charities from paying

tax
Laveu de llve a entirement disculp/
innocent le professeur/a mis le professeur hors
de cause

(S')EXPOSER/TO EXPOSE (ONESELF)

Ne pas exposer cet arosol au soleil

Do not expose this aerosol to sunlight

Le chteau est trs expos au vent

This castle is very exposed to wind

Sil sexpose trop longtemps au soleil, il le

regrettera
Le Pape sait trs bien quil expose sa vie en
visitant ce pays
Sa conduit lexpose/Il sexpose des critiques

If he exposes himself to the sun for too long,

hell be sorry
The Pope knows very well that he is risking his
life by visiting this country
His conduct lays him open/He lays himself
open to criticism
Son gout du jeu la expos plusieurs fois
His taste for gambling has several times put him
perdre sa fortune
in danger of losing his fortune
Ce commerant sexpose faire faillite sil ne
This shopkeeper will be in danger of going
tient pas mieux sa comptabilit
bankrupt/will be laying himself open to
bankruptcy if he doesnt keep better accounts
Je vais vous exposer les faits tels quon me les a I will set out/explain the facts as they were told
relats
to me
Le marchand exposait ses lgumes sur des
The stallholder displayed his vegetables on
grands plateaux en osier
large wicker trays
Cest un jeune peintre qui na pas encore expos He is a young painter who hasnt yet exhibited
Le corps du premier ministre tait expos dans
la cathdrale
Notre maison est expose au sud

The body of the Prime Minister lay in state in

the cathedral
Our house faces south/has a southerly aspect

This year, evening dresses will leave the

shoulders exposed
The remains of a Roman villa have been
exposed in the course of recent excavations
The criminal feared he might be exposed

Cette anne, les robes du soir dcouvrent/

dnudent les paules
Des fouilles rcentes ont mis au jour les
vestiges dune villa romaine
Le criminel craignait quon ne le dnonce/
dmasque
Il voulait rvler/dvoiler le scandale la
presse mais il craignait des reprsailles
Il a t arrt pour avoir fait de
lexhibitionnisme dans un parking souterrain
Jai t en contact avec des langues trangres
depuis mon plus jeune ge

He wanted to expose the scandal to the papers

but was afraid of reprisals
He was arrested for exposing himself in an
underground car park
I was exposed to foreign languages from an
early age

EXTENUANT/EXTENUATING
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Aprs cette journe extnuante, nous avons

After this exhausting day we spent the night in
pass la nuit dans un refuge
a mountain hut
In view of the extenuating circumstances the
Vu les circonstances attnuantes, le juge a
judge decided to acquit the defendant
dcid dacquitter laccus
GAIN/GAIN
Lamour du gain a corrompu de nombreuses
The love of gain (sg) has corrupted many people
personnes
Les gains (pl) sporadiques de mes enfants ne
My childrens occasional earnings are only a
reprsentent quune goutte deau dans locan
drop in the ocean
Jai appris que tu as gagn la loterie. Que
I hear youve won the lottery. What are you
comptes-tu faire de tes gains ?
going to do with your winnings?
Certaines personnes parviennent faire des
Some people make large profits on the stock
gains (pl) importants la bourse
exchange
Le gain de la bataille a donn ce pays la
Winning the battle gave this country supremacy
suprmatie sur ses voisins
over its neighbours
Quel gain retire-t-on de ltude dune langue
What benefit does one derive from studying a
morte telle que le latin?
dead language such as Latin ?
Cela reprsenterait un gain de place
That would represent a considerable saving of
considrable
space (time, money)
The doctor said that a slight gain in weight was Le mdecin a dit quil fallait sattendre une
to be expected
lgre augmentation de poids
The stock exchange reports gains of up to four La bourse annonce des hausses allant jusqu
points
quatre points
GENTIL/GENTLE
Cest une trs gentille personne
Shes a very kind/nice person
Javais un peu peur de le rencontrer mais il a t I was a little afraid of meeting him but he was
trs gentil avec moi
very kind/nice to me
Sois gentil. Va me chercher du lait la cave
Be a dear. Go and get me some milk from the
cellar
Si tu nes pas gentil (sage), papa te grondera
If youre not good, daddy will be angry
Les enfants ont t trs gentils toute la journe

The children have been very good all day

Cest un petit roman gentil, sans plus

Its quite a nice novel but its nothing special

Il sest fait une gentille somme en donnant des

cours de tennis
I wish that nurse would be a bit more gentle
with the children
A gentle breeze cooled the air

He earned a tidy/fair sum by giving tennis

lessons
Cette infirmire pourrait tre un peu plus douce
avec les enfants
Une brise lgre rafrachissait latmosphre

Its quite a gentle slope but you still have to be

careful
I tried to drop a gentle hint but she didnt react

Un gros arbre barrait la route

Cest une pente assez douce mais il faut tout de

mme faire attention
Jai essay de faire une allusion discrte mais
elle na pas eu de raction
GROS/GROSS
A big/large tree was blocking the road

Cest un gros livre. Je ne pense pas que je le

lirai jusquau bout

Its a long/thick book. I dont think Ill finish it

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Met ton gros pull pour sortir

Put on your thick/heavy pullover to go out

Ma soeur est plus grosse que moi

My sisters fatter than me

Tu vas avoir de gros ennuis si tu continues

Il y a plusieurs grosses fautes dans votre
traduction
Il a hrit dune grosse somme

Youll get into big/serious trouble if you go on

like that
There are several big/serious mistakes in your
translation
He inherited a large sum of money

Jai attrap un gros rhume la semaine dernire

I caught a heavy/bad cold last week

Son mari est un gros mangeur/buveur

Her husband is a big eater/heavy drinker

Cest un des plus gros actionnaires de la socit Hes one of the companys biggest shareholders
Les costumes taient confectionns dans du gros
drap
Jai attendu un gros quart dheure et puis je suis
parti
He is guilty of gross ingratitude towards his
parents
Such gross negligence cannot be overlooked

The costumes were made of coarse cloth

I was shocked by his gross behaviour

I waited for a good quarter of an hour and then I

left
Il a fait preuve dune ingratitude choquante
envers ses parents
On ne peut fermer les yeux sur une ngligence
aussi flagrante
Jai t choque par son comportement vulgaire

What was our gross profit last year ?

Quel a t notre bnfice brut lan pass?

Do you think the salary she mentioned was

Penses-tu quelle parlait de son salaire brut ou
gross or net?
net?
HAGARD/HAGGARD
Les survivants erraient au milieu des ruines, lair The survivors wandered among the ruins,
hagard
looking stunned/dazed
She looked haggard. You could see she was
Elle avait les traits tirs. On voyait quelle tait
ready to drop with fatigue
puise
His haggard face bore witness to the hardships Son visage dcharn/ravag/creus tmoignait
he had had to endure
des privations quon lui avait fait subir
HONNTE/HONEST
Notre femme de mnage est trs honnte
Our cleaning lady is very honest
Le prix de cette voiture me parat honnte
Ses rsultats ne sont pas brillants mais ils sont
honntes
Le repas tait honnte, sans plus
Dont beat around the bush. I want an honest
opinion
Its the honest truth

The price of the car seems fair/reasonable to

me
His results are not brilliant but quite fair/
reasonable/adequate
It was quite a decent/reasonable meal but
nothing more
Ne tourne pas autour du pot. Je veux que tu sois
franc avec moi/dis-moi sincrement ce que tu
penses
Cest la pure/stricte vrit

HUMAIN/HUMAN
Aujourd'hui encore, des milliers d'tres humains Even today, thousands of human beings are
sont torturs par le monde.
tortured all over the world.
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Les personnages de la pice sont tellement

parfaits qu'ils n'ont plus rien d'humain.
L'erreur est humaine.

The characters in the play are so perfect that

they hardly seem human.
To err is human.

Les mutins rclamaient des conditions de

dtentions plus humaines (= moins cruel).
Demande un jour de cong au patron. Il est trs
humain. Vu les circonstances, il acceptera
srement. (=comprhensif).

The rebels were demanding more humane

prison conditions.
Ask the boss for a day off. He's very
sympathetic/understanding. In the
circumstances he's sure to agree.

HUMIDE/HUMID
Certaines rgions d'Afrique ont un climat trs
humide.
Il est dconseill aux personnes souffrant de
rhumatismes de vivre dans des rgions humides.
Mettez quelques gouttes de dtergent sur un
chiffon humide.
Ne marche pas sur la pelouse, l'herbe est encore
humide.
Elle avait le front humide (de sueur).

Some parts of Africa have a very humid

climate.
It is not advisable for rheumatism sufferers to
live in a wet/damp climate.
Put a few drops of detergent on a damp cloth.

La cave est trs humide. On ne peut rien y

conserver.
Les yeux humides d'motion, il embrasse son
fils.

The cellar's very damp.

Don't walk on the lawn. The grass is still damp.

Her forehead was damp/moist (with sweat).

His eyes moist with emotion, he kissed his son.

IMPORTANT/IMPORTANT
Qui aurait cru qu'il allait devenir un personnage
si important?
Cette question est trop importante pour tre
reporte la runion suivante.
Ils ont d payer une somme importante pour
rcuprer le tableau.
C'est une usine importante qui emploie 3000
ouvriers.
Il n'y a aucune victime, mais les dgts sont trs
importants.
Il traversa la pice d'un air important.

Who would have thought he'd become such an

important man?
This question is too important to be postponed
until the next meeting.
They had to pay a large/considerable sum of
money to get the picture back.
It's a big/large factory that employs 3,000
workers.
There are no casualties but there is
considerable/extensive damage.
He walked through the room looking selfimportant.

IMPOTENT/IMPOTENT
C'est ignoble de s'en prendre ainsi un vieillard
impotent et sans dfense.
His excessive drinking finally made him
impotent.
She fumed in impotent rage.

It's despicable to attack a defenceless, crippled/

disabled old man like that.
L'alcoolisme a fini par le rendre impuissant.
Elle fulminait, en proie une rage impuissante.

INADMISSIBLE/INADMISSIBLE
Il a pris sa dcision sans nous consulter. C'est
inadmissible!

He made his decision without consulting us. It's

(quite) unacceptable/ it is intolerable.

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Il est inadmissible que les dputs n'assistent

pas rgulirement aux sances parlementaires.

It is (quite) unacceptable/it is intolerable that

MPs should not regularly attend sittings of the
House/ (plus couramment) We really can't have
Mps regularly missing sittings of the House.
C'est inadmissible qu'on nous ait fait attendre si It's disgraceful/a disgrace that they kept us
longtemps.
waiting so long.
(Jur) This evidence is inadmissible.
Ce tmoignage est irrecevable.

INCESSAMMENT/INCESSANTLY
Le premier ministre doit arriver incessamment
He complained incessantly about his backache

The Prime Minister will be here any minute

now/ very shortly
Il se plaignait sans cesse/contamment de son
mal de de dos

INCINRER/TO INCINERATE
Certaines personnes se dbarrassent de leurs
ordures mnagres en les incinrant
Il avait dit quil voulait tre incinr et non
enterr

Some people dispose of their household waste

by incenerating them
He said he wanted to be cremated, not buried

INCLURE/TO INCLUDE
Jai inclus ton nom dans la liste dattente

Ive included your name on the waiting list

Les frais de dplacement sont inclus dans les

frais gnraux
Jinclus un chque pour toute dpense
ventuelle

Travelling expenses are included in the overall

costs
I enclose a cheque to cover any possible
expenses

INFME/INFAMOUS
Pour des crimes aussi infmes, on devrait
rtablir la peine de mort (souvent : odieux,
ignoble)
Dans labattoir rgnait une odeur infme

The death penalty should be brought back for

such odious/vile crimes

The slaughterhouse was filled with a foul/

disgusting/revolting smell
Ces gens habitent dans les taudis les plus
Those people live in the foulest slums youve
infmes qui soient
ever seen
Cest vraiment infme! Comment peut-on
Its absolutly disgusting/revolting ! how can
manger cela ?
you eat it ?
This hous was the wartime home of the
Pendant la guerre, cette maison tait occupe
infamous Doctor Goebbles
par le tristement clbre docteur Goebbles.
This nation is infamous (souvent: notorious) for Ce people est connu pour son avarice / est dune
its avarice
avarice notoire

INTRESSANT/INTERESTING
La confrence sur lalcoolisme tait trs
intressante
Ce serait intressant de comparer le film et le
roman
Ce magasin pratique des prix trs intressants

The lecture on alcoholism was very interesting

On ma fait deux offres galement trs

intressantes et je ne sais pas laquelle choisir

Ive been made two equally attractive offers

and I dont know which to choose

It would be interesting to compare the film and

the novel
The prices in that shop are very attractive

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INTERIEUR/INTERIOR
1. Les murs intrieurs portaient des traces

The interior walls bore the marks of bullets.

d'impact de balles.

(plus couramment : inside)

L'adjectif interior est beaucoup moins courant que son correspondant franais. Il s'emploie surtout dans le cas de surfaces, de murs
situs vers l'intrieur (face interne oppose face externe). Notez galement : interior decoration : dcoration intrieure/
d'intrieurs.

2. L'escalier intrieur tait en marbre.

The inside staircase was made of marble.

Dans ce sens, on emploie parfois les adjectifs indoor et inner : ex. indoor aerial, inner courtyard.

La poche intrieure de mon veston est dchire. The inside pocket of my jacket is torn.
La mer Caspienne est une mer intrieure.

The Caspian Sea is an inland sea.

3. Contrairement au commerce extrieur, le

Unlike foreign trade, domestic/internal trade

commerce intrieur n'a besoin d'aucun

needs no stimulation.

stimulant.
Le pays est dchir par des luttes intrieures.

The country is torn by domestic/internal

La navigation intrieure est bloque.

conflicts.
Inland navigation is at a standstill.

4. Le visage est le reflet de la vie intrieure.

The face reflets a person's inner life.

Une voix intrieure lui disait de retourner chez An inner voice told him to go home.
lui.
Dans son fort intrieur : in one's heart of hearts ; deep down inside.

(S')ISOLER/TO ISOLATE
1. Ils ont d isoler les malades victimes de la

They had to isolate the smallpox victims.

variole.
Mais : isoler un prisonnier : to put a prisoner into solitary confinement.

Le village avait t isol par les inondations.

The village had been isolated by the floods.

On essaie d'isoler le virus mais sans beaucoup

(plus souvent : cut off)

They are trying to isolate the virus but without

de succs.
Pour bien comprendre un mot, il vaut mieux ne

much success.
If you want to understand a word properly, you

pas l'isoler de son contexte.

2. La maison n'est pas trs grande et je peux

should not isolate it from its context.

The house is not very large and it's difficult for

difficilement m'isoler pour travailler.

me to find somewhere where I can be alone to

C'est un vrai ours. Il s'isole toujours dans son

work. (moins souvent : isolate myself)

He's a grumpy old thing. He always stays alone

coin et ne parle jamais personne.

in his corner and never speaks to anyone. (moins

souvent : isolates himself)

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A la fin de sa vie, il vcut en ermite, s'isolant

At the end of his life he lived as a hermit,

d'un monde trop matrialiste son got.

cutting himself off from/ withdrawing from a

world which he considered too materialistic.

Les deux frres s'isolrent quelques minutes

(moins souvent : isolating himself)

The two brothers went off alone for a few

pour se concerter.
minutes and put their heads together.
3. Les personnes qui isoleront leur maison avec People who insulate their houses with double
du double vitrage se verront octroyer une prime. gazing will be given a grant.
Ils ont mal isol cet appartement. On entend tout This flat is badly soundproofed/insulated. We
ce que disent les voisins.
Il serait plus prudent d'isoler ce fil lectrique.

can hear everything the neighbours say.

It would be wiser insulate this wire.

JOINT/JOINT
Les joints entre les carrelages doivent tre

The joints between the tiles must be completely

parfaitement tanches.

watertight.

Notez que, pour des dsigner une garniture en caoutchouc ou autre matire assurant l'tanchit, on emploie en anglais le mot
gasket ou, pour un joint de robinet, washer.

Le joint entre les deux planches est peine

The joint between the two planks is hardly

visible.
visible. (aussi: join)
2. Je fume bien un joint de temps en temps mais I may smoke a joint from time to time but I
je ne touche jamais l'hrone. (colloquial)
never touch heroin.
3. A simple attack of flu can cause severe pain in Une simple grippe peut provoquer de fortes
the joints.

douleurs dans les articulations.

Out of joint : (articulation) dmis, dbot, disloqu ; to put sb's nose out of joint : rendre qn jaloux (en le relguant au second
plan), dpiter qn.

4. We had the inevitable joint served with roast

On nous a servi l'invitable rti accompagn de

potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

pommes sautes et de choux de Bruxelles.
5. He took me to some joint near the river. I felt Il m'amena dans un bouge/ un bistrot/ un bar
very uncomfortable. (colloquial register)

mal fam prs du fleuve. Je ne me sentais pas

I don't think much of this joint. Let's push off !

du tout rassure.
Cette baraque/bote ne me dit rien qui vaille.

(colloquial)

Allons voir ailleurs !

Trouver le joint : to find a/the way, to come up with a/the solution.

LICENCIER/TO LICENCE
(US : license)

1. Vu le manque de capitaux, cette firme a t

Because of the lack of capital, the firm was

oblige de licencier la moiti de ses ouvriers.

forced to (Brit) make half of its workers

redundant/to lay off half of its workers.
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Il a t licenci pour faute professionnelle grave. He has been dismissed for a serious professional
2. This shop is licensed (souvent pass) for the

misdemeanour.
Ce magasin dtient une licence de bureau de

sale of tobacco/to sell tobacco.

tabac/ a l'autorisation de vendre du tabac.

(Brit) Licensed restaurant: restaurant qui a une licence de dbit de boisson; (Brit) licensing laws: lois rglementant la vente
d'alcool.
To license a car : (Fr) acheter la vignette, (Belg) acquitter la taxe (pour automobile).

This company is licensed (souvent pass) to sell

Cette firme est autorise /a une licence pour

our products in the Middle East.

Only qualified doctors are licensed to practise

vendre nos produits au Moyen Orient.

Seules les personnes titulaires d'un diplme de

medicine.

docteur en mdecine ont l'autorisation de/ont

le droit d'exercer la profession.

LOCAL/LOCAL
1. Il travaille dans un petit local humide au fond He works in a damp little room at the end of the
de la cour.
Les scouts cherchent un local pour leurs

courtyard.
The scouts are looking for premises/for a place/

runions hebdomadaires.
Les locaux (pl) de la compagnie occupent les

a room in which to hold their weekly meetings.

The company's offices/premises occupy the top

deux derniers tages de l'immeuble.

two floors of the building.

Locaux ( usage) d'habitation : domestic premises, dwelling houses ; locaux commerciaux, professionnels : commercial, business
premises.

2. The locals (souvent pl) are not very friendly.

Les gens du pays/du coin ne sont pas trs

3. (Brit) They went pub-crawling and ended up

sympathiques.
Ils ont fait la tourne des bistrots et ont atterri au

in the local, completely drunk.

(Brit) They sell Belgian beer in my local.

caf/bistrot du coin, compltement saouls.

Au caf/bistrot o je vais d'habitude, il servent

4. (US) The local from Webster is an hour

de la bire belge.
Le (train) omnibus en provenance de Webster a

behind schedule.

une heure de retard.

(US) Local : section syndicale

(SE) MAINTENIR/TO MAINTAIN

La gendarmerie essaie de maintenir lordre
dans les rues
Nous habitons une rgion o la population
essaie de maintenir les coutumes et traditions

The police are trying to maintain law and order

in the streets
We live in an area where the people try to
maintain customs and traditions (plus
couramment : keep up, keep alive)
Il cherche maintenir certains de ses privilges Hes trying to maintain some of his privileges
(plus couramment : keep)
Aprs son accident, mon frre fut maintenu en After his accident my brother was kept alive by
vie grce un appareillage sophistiqu
a sophisticated machine
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Je faisais des efforts surhumains pour maintenir

sa tte hors de leau
La police fit appel du renfort pour maintenir
la foule loin du cortge prsidentiel
Les prix se maintiennent un niveau assez
lev
Elle a su se maintenir en bonne sant grce aux
plantes
Si le temps se maintient au beau, nous partirons

I was making a superhuman effort to keep his

head above the water
The police called in reinforcements to keep the
crowd away from the presidential procession
Prices remain fairly high.
She remained in good health/stayed healthy
with the aid of herbs
If the weather stays/keeps fine, well go away

Les poutres qui maintenaient le mur cdrent et The beams which were holding up/propping
le mur seffondra
up/supporting the wall gave way and it
collapsed
Jachte toujours pour mon fils des bottines qui I always buy my son boots that support his
maintiennent bien la cheville
ankles
Le suspect maintient quil na jamais rencontr The suspect insists that he never met the man
cet homme
Je lai dit et je le maintiens
Ive said it and Im sticking to it/standing by it
He maintains that the negotiations have no
chance of succeeding
He doesnt earn enough money to maintain his
wife and six children
The government maintains roads and public
buildings
He maintains his car (his house) very well

Il affirme/soutient que les pourparlers nont

aucune chance daboutir
Il ne gagne pas assez dargent pour subvenir
aux besoins de sa femme et de ses six enfants
Le gouvernement entretient les routes et
btiments publics
Il entretient bien sa maison (sa voiture)

MATRIELLEMENT/MATERIALLY
Je suis assez laise matriellement

Materially I dont have much to worry about

Il mest matriellement impossible de faire ce

travail pour demain
Je suis dsole mais je nai matriellement pas
le temps
Things have changed materially since we last
met

Its physically impossible to get this work done

by tomorrow
Im sorry but I simply/literally havent got the
time
Les choses ont sensiblement/considrablement
chang depuis notre dernire entrevue

MYSTIFIER/TO MISTIFY
Il nest pas de ceux que lon mystifie
facilement. Tu ne lui feras jamais croire cela
Comment lopinion a-t-elle pu tre mystifie par
ses discours sur la supriorit de la race
blanche ?
His attitude mystifies me

Hes not easily taken in/fooled. Youll never get

him to believe that
How could the public have been taken in/fooled
by his speeches about the superiority of the
white race ?
Son attitude me rend perplexe

She was quite mystified by the strange

telephone call

Cet trange coup de tlphone la laissa perplexe

NOTE/NOTE
Je navais jamais entendu autant de fausses
notes dans un rcital de piano

Id never heard so many wrong notes in a piano

recital !

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Il ma sembl dceler une note de tristesse dans

sa voix
Quand mon grand-pre lisait un livre, il ajoutait
toujours des notes dans la marge
Les notes se trouvent la fin du livre, juste
avant la bibliographie
Je ne sais pas comment il fait. Il ne prend jamais
de notes pendant le cours
Jai oubli mes notes sur mon bureau. Pourriezvous me les apporter ?
La direction a fait circuler une note au sujet de
la nouvelle campagne de publicit
Je nai pas encore pay la note de gaz

I thought I detected a note of sadness in her

voice
When my grandfather read a book, he always
added notes in the margin
The notes are at the end of the book just before
the bibliography
I dont know how he does it! He never takes
notes during lectures
Ive left my notes on my desk. Could you fetch
them for me?
The management sent round a memo/a
memorandum about the new advertising
campaign
I havent paid the gas bill yet

En gomtrie, ma meilleure note est 12 sur 20

My best mark in geometry is 12 out of 20

Ive sent a note to Auntie Cynthia to let her

Jai envoy un (petit) mot tante Cynthia pour
know when were coming
lui annoncer quand nous arriverions
(surtout Brit) I found a 5 note on the pavement Hier, jai trouv un billet de 5 sur le trottoir
yesterday

NOTICE/NOTICE
Chaque livre est pourvu dune notice
bibliographique sur lauteur
Si tu avais lu plus attentivement la notice
(dutilisation/explicative), tu ne te serais pas
tromp de bouton
Im sorry, but I couldnt manage it at such short
notice
Surely they cant change the opening hours
without notice

Each book includes a biographical note on the

author
If youd read the instructions/directions more
carefully, you wouldnt have pressed the wrong
button
Je suis dsol mais je ne pourrais pas y arriver
si bref dlai
Ils ne peuvent tout de mme pas changer les
heures douverture sans avis pralable/sans
prvenir
Your employer has to give you at least a months Ton employeur doit te donner un pravis dau
notice
moins un mois
Ive decided to give in my notice at the end of Jai dcid de donner ma dmission/mon
the month
pravis la fin du mois
The manager gave him his notice on the spot
Le directeur lui a signifi son cong sur-lechamp (aussi: la congdi/licenci)
One pupil attracted my notice from the very first Ds le premier jour, un lve attira mon
day
attention
Dont take any notice of him. Hes playing the Ne faites pas attention lui. Il fait le clown
fool as usual
comme dhabitude
There was a notice on the gate saying Beware Sur la grille, il y avait un criteau/une pancarte
of the dog
o il tait crit Attention, chien mchant
Theres a notice in the entrance hall saying the Il y a un avis lentre qui dit que la
library will be closed next Saturday
bibliothque sera ferme samedi prochain
The film got mixed notices (pl) but personally I Le film a eu des critiques mitiges, mais
think its worth seeing
personnellement je trouve quil vaut la peine
dtre vu
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OBSCUR/OBSCURE
Cest un texte assez obscur, incomprhensible
pour les non-initis
Lauteur est un romancier obscur du dbut du
XIXe sicle
Ils jetrent le prisonnier dans une pive humide
et obscure
Javais un obscur pressentiment que la fte
allait mal se terminer
Son pre occupe un poste obscur dans
ladministration

Its rather an obscure text, which is

incomprehensible to the layman
The author is an obscure early-nineteenthcentury novelist
They threw the prisoner into a damp, dark room
I had a vague/ dim presentiment that the party
would end badly
His father has a humble/ lowly job in the Civil
Service

OFFICIEUX/OFFICIOUS
Tout porte croire que le premier ministre a
dmissionn, mais la nouvelle nest encore
quofficieuse
A good secretary is helpful without being
officious
Officious neighbours like them are real pain

Everything would seem to indicate that the

Prime Minister has resigned, but as yet the news
is still unofficial
Une bonne secrtaire doit tre serviable sans
pour autant faire de lexcs de zle
Il ny a rien de plus dsagrable que des voisins
comme eux qui se mlent de tout/ que des
voisins indiscrets comme eux

PARFUM/PERFUME
Le doux parfum des roses embaumait la maison The house was fragrant with the sweet perfume
of roses
Jai promis ma femme de lui apporter une I promised to bring my wife a bottle of perfume
bouteille de parfum de Paris
from Paris
Ce parfum de pommes de reinette me rappelle That scent/ (sweet) smell of Coxs Orange
mon enfance
Pippins bring back my childhood
Ces sels de bain existent dans diffrents These bath salts come in different fragrances
parfums
Un parfum de caf frachement torrfi manait An aroma of freshly roasted coffee came from
de la cuisine
the kitchen
Ce vin a un parfum dlicat
This wine has a delicate bouquet
Nous avons une grande varit de parfums :
vanille, chocolat, fraise
Tous ses livres ont un parfum du terroir
[dautrefois, dinnocence] qui me va droit au
cur

We have a wide range of flavours: vanilla,

chocolate, strawberry
All his books have a rural flavour [a flavour of
the past, of innocence] which goes straight to
my heart

PATRON/PATRON
Le patron de la firme est un self-made-man

The manager/ owner/ boss of the company is a

self-made man
Le service est vraiment excrable dans ce The service is really appalling in this restaurant.
restaurant. Appelez-moi le patron !
Get me the manager/ owner!
La femme de mnage a abus de la confiance de The cleaning lady abused her employers
ses patrons
confidence
Il est essentiel damliorer les rapports entre It is essential to improve the relations between
patrons et employs
employers and employees
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Le patron na pas lair de trs bonne humeur Your old man doesnt seem to be in a very good
aujourdhui !
mood today
Saint Christophe est le patron des voyageurs
Saint Christopher is the patron saint of
travellers
Jai achet un patron pour me faire une Ive bought a pattern to make myself a new
nouvelle robe
dress
The young painter was very lucky; a wealthy Ce jeune peintre a eu beaucoup de chance : un
patron took him under his wing
riche mcne la pris sous sa protection
The car park is for the use of patrons only
Le parking est strictement rserv nos clients/
notre clientle

PERVERS/PERVERSE
Il na pas pu djouer les machinations perverses
de ses adversaires
Les courtisans sadonnaient toutes sortes de
plaisirs, plus pervers les uns que les autres

He was unable to thwart his opponents evil/

fiendish/ wicked plots
The courtiers gave themselves over to all kinds
of pleasures, each more perverted/ depraved
than the last
Two-year-olds can be very perverse
Les enfants de deux ans sont souvent trs
contrariants
Shes so perverse that if you ask her to come Elle est tellement contrariante quil suffit de lui
early you can be sure shell be late
demander quelle vienne tt pour quelle arrive
tard
She changed her mind at the last minute just to Elle a chang davis la dernire minute juste
be perverse
pour embter son monde
It would be perverse to continue to hold such an Ce serait aberrant de maintenir une telle
opinion in the light of all the evidence
position alors que tout semble indiquer le
contraire

PESTE/PEST
Cette fillette est une vraie peste ! je ne sais pas
comment vous pouvez la supporter
Au XIVe sicle, des millions de personnes
moururent de la peste en Europe
Eliminating pests is essential if you want to
have a successful vegetable garden

That little girl is a real pest! I dont know how

you put up with her
In the 14th century millions of people died of
the plague in Europe
Il faut absolument liminer les insects/animaux
nuisibles si on veut avoir un beau potager

PETROLE/PETROL
Le prix du ptrole ne cesse daugmenter
We ran out of petrol on the way back

The price of oil/petroleum is constantly going

up
Nous sommes tombs en panne dessence sur le
chemin du retour

PETULANT/PETULANT
Cest une vieille dame adorable : ptulante,
spirituelle et toujours optimiste
I could see he was in a petulant mood the
moment he came into the room
Eric would become petulant if he didnt get his
own way

Shes a delightful old lady : exuberant/

vivacious, witty and unfaillingly optimistic
Ds quil est entr dans la pice, jai vu quil
tait dhumeur maussade
Eric se mettait bouder/faire la tte quand il
navait pas ce quil voulait

PHRASE/PHRASE
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La plupart des phrases contiennent un verbe

Most sentences contain a verb

Set phrases are often difficult to translate

Les expressions/locutions figes sont souvent

difficiles traduire
Tout coup est une locution adverbiale

All of a sudden is an adverbial phrase

PHYSICIEN/PHYSICIAN
Son pre est un physicien clbre, qui a obtenu
le prix Nobel en 1964
Nowadays physicians have to update their
knowledge constantly

His father is a well-known physicist, who won

the Nobel Prize in 1964
De nos jours, les mdecins doivent se recycler
en permanence

PIECE/PIECE
A mon mariage, jai reu un service de table de
36 pices
Il manque plusieurs pices ce puzzle

I was given a 36-piece dinner service as a

wedding present
Several pieces of this jigsaw puzzle are missing

Cette statuette gyptienne est la pice la plus

prcieuse de ma collection
Mon mari achte toujours des costumes troispices
Combien cotent les melons? 7F pice

This Egyptian statuette is the most valuable

piece in my collection
My husband always buys three-piece suits

La pice qui est casse est tellement chre quil

vaut mieux acheter une nouvelle machine
Le mieux serait de mettre une pice en cuir aux
genoux
Pour plus de dtails, voir pices ci-jointes

The broken part/component is so expensive

that youd be better off buying a new machine
The best thing would be to put leather patches
on the knees
For further details see attached documents

On remplace progressivement les billets de

banque par des pices
Cette pice a t monte pour la premire fois
Londres en 1950 (thtre)
Comment comptes-tu meubler cette immense
pice?
Ive found two pieces of the lamp you broke the
other day
Do you want another piece of cake?

Banknotes are gradually being replaced by coins

I would like to play you a piano piece that I

have composed for this occasion
Did you read his piece about disarmament in the
Times?
That barmaids quite a nice piece

Je voudrais vous interpreter un morceau de

piano que jai compose pour cette occasion
As-tu lu son article/papier sur le dsarmement
dans le Monde?
Cette barmaid est un joli petit lot

How much are the melons? 7 francs each

The play was first staged in London in 1950

How do you intend to furnish this huge room?
Jai retrouv deux morceaux de la lampe que tu
as casse lautre jour
Veux-tu encore un morceau de gteau ?

PILOTER/TO PILOT
Notre directeur pilote lui-mme son avion quand Our manager pilots his own plane when he goes
il part en voyage daffaires
on business trips
Il pilota le navire jusqu lentre du port
He piloted the ship as far as the harbour
entrance
Je lai pilot dans Paris (=servir de guide)
I showed him round Paris

PIPE/PIPE
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Il prit le temps de bourrer sa pipe avant de

continuer son histoire
The shepherd was playing his favourite tunes on
a homemade pipe
Theyre laying the water (gas) pipes tomorrow

He paused for a moment to fill his pipe before

resuming his story
Le berger jouait ses airs favoris sur le pipeau/
chalumeau quil stait confectionn
Demain, ils vont poser les conduites deau (de
gaz)

PLACE/PLACE
La statue nest plus sa place

The statue is no longer in its place

Pourriez-vous garder ma place dans la file, sil

vous plait ?
Il y a au moins 400 places dans ce cinma

Could you keep my place in the queue, please?

Lauditoire tait comble. Il ny avait plus une

seule place de libre
Il a obtenu la premire place en gomtrie
Seuls les tudiants qui ont obtenu de trs bons
rsultats scolaires peuvent esprer avoir une
place dans cette universit
Au milieu de chaque place, il y a une fontaine

There are at least 400 places in this cinema

(seats)
The hall was packed. There wasnt a single
place left free (seat)
He took first place in geometry (he came top/he
came out on top in geometry)
Only students with very good school results can
hope to obtain places at this university
There is a fountain in the middle of each square

Je suis dsol, mais il ny a plus de place dans

ma valise
Ce divan prend trop de place

Im sorry but theres no more room in my

suitcase
This divan takes up too much room/space

Ce travail laisse peu de place la crativit

This job leaves little room for creativity

On ma offert une place pour la reprsentation

de demain. Tu la veux ?
Je suis mont dans le bus et jai oubli de payer
ma place
Je cherche une place comme vendeuse

Ive got a ticket/seat for tomorrows

performance. Do you want it?
I got on the bus and forgot to pay my fare

My shirt is torn in several places

Ma chemise est dchire plusieurs endroits

Its the ideal place to spend a holiday

Cest lendroit idal pour passer ses vacances

What is your place of birth?

Quel est votre lieu de naissance?

Im looking for a job as a shop assistant

(SE) PLACER/TO PLACE

Son cheval sest plac troisime

His horse was placed third

Les ouvriers ont plac le robinet beaucoup trop

haut
Ma mre avait plac le paquet bien en vue sur la
chemine
Placez-vous face au mur, les mains sur la tte

The workmen have put the tap much too high

Les enfants se placrent au premier rang pour

mieux voir le magicien
Nous sommes bien placs. Nous sommes au
premier rang

My mother had put the parcel in a conspicuous

position on the mantelpiece
Stand facing the walls with your hands on your
head
The children sat in the first row to get a better
view of the magician
Weve got good seats/places. Were in the first
row
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Ils auraient du prvoir quelquun pour placer les They should have arranged for someone to show
gens dans lamphithtre
the people to their places in the lecture theatre
Il avait plac tous ses espoirs dans son gendre
He had pinned all his hopes on his son-in-law
(put/placed all his confidence in his son-in-law
Ce ntait pas une trs bonne ide de placer la It was not a very good idea to put the separation
scne sur la sparation au dbut de la pice
scene at the beginning of the play
Dans quelle catgorie dcrivains placerais-tu Which category of writer would you put
Franoise Sagan?
Franoise Sagan in?
Il plaa quelques remarques pertinentes sur le
He put some very apt remarks about nuclear
dsarmement dans son allocution
disarmament in his speech
On ne peut pas discuter avec Vanessa. Elle ne
You cant talk to Vanessa. She doesnt let you
vous laisse pas placer un mot
get a word in edgeways.
Mon mari est charg de placer des assurances- My husbands job is selling life insurance
vie chez les jeunes de moins de trente ans
policies to young people under thirty
Si tu avais plac tes conomies la banque, on If you had put your savings in the bank they
ne les aurait pas vols
wouldnt have been stolen
Tout son argent est plac. Je ne pense pas quil All his money is invested. I dont think hell
ten prtera
lend you any
Il cherche placer sa fille comme secrtaire
Hes trying to find/get his daughter a job as
dans la socit o il travaille
secretary in the company where he works
Comme aucun des enfants ne pouvait sen
As none of the children could look after her,
occuper, on dcida de la placer dans une maison they decided to put her in a home
de retraite
I know Ive met him somewhere before but I
Je sais que je lai dj rencontr quelque part,
cant quite place him
mais je ne le situe plus bien/ jai peine le
remettre

PLANTE/PLANT
Mon oncle possde une impressionnante
collection de livres sur les plantes et animaux en
Afrique
Pourquoi ne pas lui acheter une plante en pot
plutt que des fleurs coupes?
Vous avez une grosse entaille la plante du
pied. Vous avez d marcher sur un morceau de
verre
Weve already had to close three of our plants in
the North of England and we may have to close
more
The factorys electric plant will have to be
completely renewed if we want to remain

I knew that one of them must a KGB plant

My uncle has an impressive collection of books

on African plants and animals
Why not buy her a nice pot plant rather than cut
flowers?
Youve got a nasty cut on the sole of your foot.
You must have stepped on a piece of glass
Nous avons dj d fermer trois de nos usines
dans le nord de lAngleterre et il se peut quon
doive en fermer dautres
Le matriel dexploitation lectrique/
lquipement lectrique de lusine doit tre
entirement renouvel si nous voulons rester
concurrentiels
Je savais que lun deux tait un agent (infiltr)
du KGB

PLAT/PLATE
Il le frappa avec le plat de son sabre (de la
main)

He struck him with the flat of his sabre (of his

hand)
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Je pourrais rouler des heures sur le plat

I could cycle four hours on the flat

Tous mes plats sont trop grands pour le four

micro-ondes
Je vous ai cuisin un plat rgional dont vous me
direz des nouvelles
Chez eux, les repas sont toujours constitus dau
moins trois plats
Why dont you buy paper plates for the
children?
Ive had two plates of soup and now Im not
hungry any more
Its not gold, you know. Its only plate but it
looks very effective
The bulkhead was made of huge steel plates

All my dishes are too big for the microwave

The earths crust is made up of plates

Lcorce terrestre est faite de plaques

The brass plate said Pilkington & Smythe,

Solicitors
The book also contains several full-page plates

Sur la plaque de cuivre, on pouvait lire Maitre

Alain Dumas Notaire
Le livre contient galement plusieurs gravures/
planches hors-texte
Le dentiste a dit que je devrais porter un
appareil dentaire/un dentier

The dentist said I would have to wear a plate

Ive cooked you a regional dish, which Im sure

youll like
The meals at their houses always consist of at
least three courses
Pourquoi nachtes-tu pas des assiettes en
carton pour les enfants?
Aprs ces deux assiettes de soupe, je nai plus
faim
Ce nest pas de lor, tu sais. Ce nest que du
plaqu, mais cela fait beaucoup deffet
La cloison tait faite dnormes plaques dacier

PONCTUEL/PONCTUAL
Cest tonnant quHlne soit en retard. Elle est
dhabitude trs ponctuelle.
Des expriences ponctuelles ont eu lieu mais
jusqu prsent, rien de systmatique na t
tent.
Lagence de publicit a dcid de mener une
campagne ponctuelle dans la rgion parisienne.
Il y a encore de graves problmes dans ce
secteur, mais auparavant ils taient chroniques,
maintenant ils sont ponctuels.

Its strange that Helen should be late. Shes

usually so punctual.
Isolated/localized/piecemeal experiments have
been conducted but so far nothing systematic
has been attempted.
The advertising agency has decided to run a
(Brit) one-off/ (US) one-shot campaign in the
Paris area.
There are still serious problems in this sector,
but, whereas formerly they were chronic, they
are now occasional/sporadic.

PROCES/PROCESS
Vu la complexit de laffaire, le procs risque
dtre trs long.
Il a dcid dintenter un procs son
employeur.
In our biology class we studied the process of
digestion.
He has written a thesis on the process of
language learning.
He has invented a new manufacturing process
which is extremely timesaving.

In view of the complexity of the case, the trial is

likely to be a very long one.
He has decided to bring a lawsuit against/to take
(legal) proceedings / (court) action against his
employer.
Au cours de sciences naturelles, nous avons
tudi le processus de la digestion.
Il a crit une thse sur le processus
dapprentissage des langues.
Il a invent un nouveau procd de fabrication/
une nouvelle mthode/ technique de fabrication
qui permet de gagner beaucoup de temps.
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PROFANE/PROFANE
Je ne my connais pas en musique religieuse. Je
prfre la musique profane.
Je suis tout fait profane en la matire. Vous
feriez mieux de vous adresser quelquun
dautre (aussi : je suis un profane).
Aux yeux du profane, ceci semble un peu
mystrieux.
I was embarrassed to find myself thinking such
profane thoughts in church.

I dont know anything about sacred music. I

prefer secular music (rarement: profane).
Im completely ignorant on the subject/I know
nothing about the subject. Youd better to ask
someone else.
To the layman this all seems rather mysterious.
Jtais gn davoir des penses aussi impies
lglise. (profane language : propos
blasphmatoires/impies/grossiers).

PROPRE/PROPER
Je me suis lav les mains. Elles sont propres.

Ive washed my hands. Theyre clean now.

La maison nest pas trs propre, mais je nai pas

le courage de la nettoyer.
Les cahiers de Sylviane sont toujours trs
propres (= soigns).
Guy a coup sa barbe. Je suis ravie, je trouve
que cela fait plus propre.
Cest une excellente matresse de maison et ses
enfants sont toujours trs propres.
Mathieu a dj trois ans et il nest pas encore
propre.
Je prfrerais acheter un chien qui soit dj
propre.
Il na jamais rien fait de propre dans sa vie. Ce
nest pas tonnant quil ait atterri en prison.
Comment pouvez-vous tre sr que cest de
largent propre ?
(neg) Cette affaire nest pas trs propre.

The house is not very clean but I dont feel like

cleaning it.
Sylvias exercise books are always very neat.

Ce sont des proccupations propres au milieu

universitaire.
Cest une maladie propre aux rgions
tropicales.
Ce nest dj pas facile dlever ses propres
enfants, mais quand ce sont ceux des autres,
cest bien pire.
Je lai vu de mes propres yeux.

These concerns are characteristic of/ typical of

the academic world.
It is an illness characteristic of/ peculiar to
tropical regions.
Its hard enough to bring up ones own children,
but when theyre other peoples its even worse.

Guys shaved off his beard. Im delighted, I

think it looks much tidier.
Shes an excellent housekeeper and her children
are always neat and tidy.
Matthews already three and he isnt toilettrained/potty-trained yet.
Id rather buy a dog that was already housetrained.
Hes never done an honest thing in his life. Its
no wonder hes landed up in prison.
How can you be sure that its honest (pith)
money/ that the money was honestly come by?
That business is a bit shady.

I saw it with my own eyes.

Il faut favoriser des mesures propres relancer We must give preference to measures likely to
lconomie.
stimulate the economy.
Is that the proper way to eat artichokes?
Est-ce la bonne faon de manger des
artichauts ?
I might have made a better job of it if Id had the Jaurais fait du meilleur travail si javais eu les
proper tools.
outils appropris/adquats/ les outils qui
convenaient/ quil fallait.

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Most people know that insect but hardly anyone La plupart des gens connaissent cet insecte, mais
knows its proper name.
pratiquement personne ne le dsigne par son
nom exact.
Hes not a proper plumber but he does a good Ce nest pas un vritable plombier mais il fait
job.
du bon travail.
In Victorian times it was not considered proper A lpoque victorienne, on ne trouvait pas
for a lady to smoke.
convenable quune femme fume.
Im more interested in language teaching than in Je suis plus intress par lenseignement des
linguistics proper.
langues que par la linguistique proprement
dite.
(surtout Brit) I felt a proper fool when I ran out Je me suis sentie vraiment idiote quand je suis
of petrol on the motorway.
tombe en panne dessence sur lautoroute.

RAPPORT/REPORT
On ma demand de rdiger un rapport sur
laccident [sur la situation financire de
lentreprise].
Quel rapport peut-il exister entre ces deux
vnements?
Il est trs distant dans ses rapports (pl) avec les
gens.
Les rapports (pl) entre les deux pays ont
toujours t assez tendus.
Les rapports (pl) mre-fille sont souvent
difficiles.

Ive been asked to write a report of the accident

[on the companys financial situation].
What connection/link/relation/ relationship
could there be between the two events?
Hes very distant in his relations with people.

Relations between the two countries have

always been rather strained.
Mother-daughter relations are often difficult/
The mother-daughter relationship is often
difficult.
cette poque, il tait impensable davoir des In those days it would have been unthinkable to
rapports (sexuels) (pl) avant le mariage.
have (sexual) intercourse/ sexual relations/ sex
before marriage.
Le rapport femmes-hommes dans cette
The ratio of women to men at this university is
universit est de deux contre un.
two to one.
Quel est le rapport annuel de vos terres?
Whats the annual return/revenue from your
land?
Ive heard reports (pl) that shes going to give Selon certaines rumeurs, il semblerait quelle
in her notice.
va donner son pravis/ Jai entendu dire quelle
allait donner son pravis.
Theres a report that the Pope is going to cancel Le bruit court que le pape va annuler son
his visit to that country.
voyage dans ce pays.
When they heard the report, they ran into the
Quand ils ont entendu la dtonation, ils ont
garden and found him shot through the head.
couru dans le jardin et lont trouv mort, une
balle dans la tte.
(SE) REPROCHER/TO REPROACH (ONESELF)
Quand il rentrait tard et quelle le lui
When he came home late and she reproached
reprochait, il repartait aussitt
him for it, he went straight back out again
Peut-on vraiment lui reprocher davoir donn Can one really blame him for resigning?
sa dmission

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Je lui reproche son manque total dducation

What I have against him/what I dont like

about him is his total lack of manners/my
criticism of him is that he is totally lacking in
manners
Lopposition a reproch au gouvernement
The opposition criticized the government for/
davoir pris des mesures trop radicales
accused the government of taking over-drastic
measures
Je ne vois rien reprocher ce dictionnaire
I cant find any fault with/ I cant see anything
wrong with this dictionary
Je me suis souvent reproch de lavoir laiss
I often blamed myself for letting her go on her
partir seule
own (moins souvent : reproached myself)
RETRAITE / RETREAT
Le 7e Bataillon couvrit notre retraite et nous
The 7th Battalion covered our retreat and we
nous replimes sur Lille
withdrew to Lille
(Relig) Ma mre est trs pieuse. Deux fois par
My mother is very religious. She goes on a
an, elle fait une retraite dans un couvent
retreat/into retreat in a convent twice a year
Jai rencontr plusieurs fois lcrivain exil dans I met the exiled writer on several occasions in
sa retraite au fond des bois
his woodland retreat
Es-tu pour ou contre la retraite 60 ans ?
Are you for or against retirement (nd) at 60?
Avec la maigre retraite que nous touchons, nous It is difficult to make ends meet on the meagre
avons du mal joindre les deux bouts
pension we get
SOLIDE / SOLID
La glace est de leau ltat solide
Ice is water in its solid state
Le malade ne peut pas encore absorber de
nourriture solide
La maison est vieille, mais les murs sont trs
solides
Ses ides ne reposent sur aucune base solide

The patient cannot take solid food yet

The house is old but the walls are very solid
His ideas have no solid basis (aussi : sound)

Mon associ a fait valoir quelques arguments

solides, qui mont convaincu
Il a toujours fait preuve dun solide bon sens

My partner put forward some solid arguments

which won me over (aussi : sound)
Hes always shown solid common sense (aussi :
sound)
Ne monte pas sur cette chaise. Elle nest pas trs Dont stand on that chair. Its not very strong
solide
Si tu avais attach ton vlo avec un cadenas
If youd fastened your bike with a secure/strong
solide, on ne te laurait pas vol
padlock, you wouldnt have had it stolen
Je voudrais une paire de chaussures solides pour Id like a pair of tough/sturdy/ (Brit)
mon fils
hardwearing/ (US) longwearing shoes for my
son
Ce sont des montres trs solides, qui ne
These are sturdy/tough (Brit) hardwearing/
craignent ni les chocs ni leau
(US) longwearing/ durable watches, which are
both shock-proof and waterproof
Ma grand-mre na pas le cur assez solide
My grandmother doesnt have a strong enough
pour supporter une telle opration
heart to undergo an operation like that
Il faut avoir une solide constitution pour mener You need a strong/sturdy/robust constitution to
un tel train de vie
lead that kind of life
Une amiti solide les unissait
An enduring friendship/ a firm friendship
united them
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Mme une maison solide comme la ntre ressent

les effets de la crise
Je pensais retirer de solides bnfices de cette
affaire
Je vous conseille de prendre un solide petit
djeuner avant de partir
Lindividu massna un solide coup de poing et
puis je ne me souviens plus de rien
Are cricket balls hollow or solid?

Even a well-established business like ours feels

the effects of the crisis
I thought I would make a substantial profit on
that deal
I advise you to have a good/ substantial
breakfast before you go
The man gave me a hard/ a hefty thump and the
everything went blank
Les balles de cricket sont-elles creuses ou
pleines?
I cant afford to buy a solid gold watch (a solid Je ne peux pas me permettre une montre en or
oak bedroom suite)
massif (une chambre coucher en chne
massif)
The demonstrators formed a solid line around
Les manifestants formaient une chane
the nuclear power station
ininterrompue/continue autour de la centrale
nuclaire
There was a solid vote against the building of
Le vote contre la construction de la nouvelle
the new motorway
autoroute a t unanime
The solid citizens of the town were shocked to Les citoyens respectables/honorables de la
the core
ville furent profondment choqus
(US) Id rather have solid blue curtains than
Jaimerais mieux des rideaux bleu uni que des
patterned ones
imprims
I waited two solid hours but he didnt turn up
Jai attendu deux heures entires/ dhorloge,
mais il nest jamais venu
Ive been working for ten solid hours. I think I Jai travaill dix heures daffile/ sans relche/
deserve a break
sans arrter. Je mrite bien une petite pause
(SE) SURVEILLER / TO SURVEY
Pourriez-vous surveiller les enfants (mes
Could you watch/keep an eye on the children
bagages) ?
(the luggage)?
Vu la gravit de ltat du malade, le mdecin
In view of the patients serious condition, the
exige quon le surveille toute la nuit
doctor asked them to keep a close watch on him
all night
Le prisonnier assomma le gardien qui le
The prisoner stunned the warder who was
surveillait et senfuit
guarding him and ran away
Pendant des mois, on a surveill tous les faits et For months they watched the suspects every
gestes du suspect
move
Il fait surveiller sa femme par un dtective priv Hes having his wife watched by a private
detective
Par crainte dun attentat, on surveille
Theyre watching the embassy/keeping the
lambassade jour et nuit
embassy under surveillance day and night for
fear of an attack
Larme amricaine surveille la zone occupe
The US army is watching over/is keeping a
par larme isralienne
watchover the Israeli-occupied zone
Trop de parents ne surveillent pas dassez prs Too many parents dont supervise their
les tudes (les frquentations) de leurs enfants
childrens education closely enough (dont keep
a close enough watch on their childrens
friends)
Larchitecte surveille les travaux en personne
The architect supervises/oversees the work
himself
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2013-1014

Surveille leau, elle va bientt bouillir

Keep an eye on the water/watch the water. Its

going to boil soon
Demain je dois surveiller les examens en
Ive got to invigilate(GB)/proctor(US) the
terminale
senior exams tomorrow
Cest un milieu o il faut sans cesse surveiller With people like that you have to watch your
son langage/se surveiller
language/be on your best behaviour all the
time
Vous avez grossi. Vous devriez surveiller votre Youve put on weight. You should watch your
ligne
figure
He sat on the bench and surveyed the
Il sassit sur le banc et embrassa du regard le
countryside spread out at his feet
paysage qui stalait ses pieds
She surveyed the shining kitchen with
Elle contempla sa cuisine tincelante avec
satisfaction
satisfaction
The Minister surveyed the current economic
Le ministre a fait un tour dhorizon de la
situation in Great Britain
situation conomique en Grande-Bretagne
Youd better have the house surveyed before
Tu devrais faire inspecter/examiner la maison
you make an offer for it
par un expert avant de faire une offre
The whole area was surveyed in 1969
On a fait le lev topographique de toute la
rgion en 1969
A firm from London came to survey the site of Une firme de Londres a t charge de faire le
the new housing estate
lev du terrain/darpenter le terrain destin au
nouveau lotissement
SUSCEPTIBLE /SUSCEPTIBLE
Ce nest pas un projet dfinitif. Il est susceptible Its not a definitive plan. It can still be changed
dtre modifi
Il faudrait engager quelquun qui soit
We should appoint someone who would be able
susceptible de me remplacer lors de mes
to stand in for me/capable of standing in for me
dplacements ltranger
when I go abroad
Dresse-moi la liste des personnes qui sont
Would you draw up a list of the people who
susceptibles dassister au congrs
might possibly come to the conference?
Tu devrais suivre ce cycle de confrences. Elles You should attend that series of lectures. They
sont susceptibles de dintresser
may well/could well interest you/are likely to
interest you
Comme tu es susceptible ! Je disais cela pour
Arent you touchy? I was only kidding!
rire
Shes got yet another boyfriend. But then shes Elle a un nouveau petit ami. Mais tu la connais,
so susceptible
elle tombe facilement amoureuse
I would hesitate to show this film to susceptible Jhsiterais montrer ce film des adolescents
adolescents (plus souvent: impressionable)
impressionnables
Ive always been very susceptible to colds
Jai toujours t trs sujet aux rhumes
If hes anything like his father, hell be very
Sil ressemble un tant soit peu son pre, il sera
susceptible to flattery
sensible/accessible la flatterie
TENDER/TENDRE
Il lui murmurait des mots tendres, qui faisaient
battre son cur
Ce rti est merveilleusement tendre ! O las-tu
achet ?
Cest du bois trop tendre. Il ne conviendrait pas
pour une table.

He murmured tender words to her, which made

her heart beat faster. (aussi : loving)
This joint is beautifully tender ! Where did you
buy it ?
This wood is too soft. It wouldnt do for making
a table.
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Cette gamme de crmes solaires est

particulirement indique pour les peaux
tendres.
Les coloris tendres de cette robe me plaisent
beaucoup.
My knees a bit tender but I dont think theres
any serious damage.

This range of sun creams is particularly suitable

for delicate/sensitive skins.
I love the soft/pastel colours of this dress
Mon genou est un peu sensible/douloureux,
mais je ne pense pas que ce soit trs grave.

Tender nest pas souvent employ lorsquil sagit du trait de caractre dune personne : elle est trs tendre avec ses
enfants : shes very affectionate/loving towards her children.

Ne pas tre tendre pour quelquun : to be hard on sb

Cest un dur au cur tendre : his bark is worse than his bite.
With tender (loving) care : avec tendresse
To have a tender heart : tre compatissant, avoir bon cur

Depuis sa plus tendre enfance, since his/her earliest childhood

Of tender years : dge tendre, en bas ge
At the tender age of thirteen : alors quelle navait que treize ans.

TRUCULENT/TRUCULENTE
Sa dernire pice est une farce paysanne His latest play is a racy bucolic farce worthy of
truculente, digne de Rabelais.
Rabelais.
Sa prose truculente est inimitable
His vivid/colourful/racy prose is inimitable
Ce roman a toutes les qualits : il est court et This novel is perfect : short and lively with
joyeux, et ses personnages sont des plus characters that are colourful/larger than life.
truculents.
I could see from my sons truculent expression Le visage renfrogn de mon fils laissait
that we were in for a stormy evening
prsager une soire houleuse.
The shop assistant was in a truculent mood and Le vendeur tait dhumeur revche et rpondait
gave monosyllabic replies.
par monosyllabes.
VOLATIL/VOLATILE
(Chim) Lther est un liquide volatil et
extrmement inflammable
Shes like most girls of her age : volatile and
easily influenced.
The volatile political situation in that country is
a serious threat to world peace.

Ether is a volatile, highly inflammable liquid.

Elle est comme la plupart des jeunes filles de
son ge : versatile/inconstante et influenable.
La situation politique explosive/trs instable
dans ce pays constitue une srieuse menace pour
la paix mondiale.

Informat : mmoire volatile : volatile memory.

VOLONTAIRE/VOLUNTARY
En cas denrlement volontaire, une prime est
verse la famille (=non obligatoire)
A mon avis, il sagit dune omission volontaire.
Il navait pas envie daborder le sujet. (=voulu,
intentionnel)
Il ne faut pas avoir piti de Robert. Il vit dans
une pauvret volontaire.

In the case of voluntary enlistment a bonus is

paid to the family.
I think the omission was deliberate/intentional.
He wanted to avoid the subject.
Theres no need to feel sorry for Robert. He
lives in poverty from choice/ in self-improved
poverty.
40

GERM2720 : EAP!

Cest un enfant volontaire et travailleur.

Jaimerais bien que tous mes lves lui
ressemblent.
We need
voluntary workers to look after
handicapped children during the holidays.

2013-1014

Hes a determined, hard-working child. I wish

all my pupils were like him.
Nous avons besoin de collaborateurs bnvoles
pour soccuper denfants handicaps pendant les
vacances.

tre volontaire pour faire quelque chose : to volunteer to do something

Un volontaire, un engag volontaire : a volunteer
Voluntary confession, statement : aveu, dclaration spontane
Incendie volontaire : arson
(Anat) Muscles, nerfs volontaires : voluntary muscles, nerves.

!
!
!

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