HOW TO USE A FRENCH DICTIONARY

ALL LEARNERS OF FRENCH WILL FIND KNOWING HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY A REALLY USEFUL AND IMPORTANT SKILL. IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO ADD TO WHAT YOU LEARN IN CLASS AND IMPROVE YOUR LEVELS AND GRADES.

THERE ARE 2 MAIN SECTIONS IN THE DICTIONARY. THE FIRST HALF HAS FRENCH WORDS LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. THE SECOND HALF HAS ENGLISH WORDS LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.

YOU USE THE FIRST SECTION WHEN YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT A FRENCH WORD MEANS IN ENGLISH. YOU USE THE SECOND SECTION WHEN YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT AN ENGLISH WORD MEANS IN FRENCH.

THE DICTIONARY WILL HAVE A KEY TO THE ABBREVIATIONS. AS WELL AS TELLING US THE MEANINGS OF WORDS, THE DICTIONARY WILL ALSO TELL US SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD. TO DO THIS IT USES ABBREVIATIONS. HOWEVER, THEY ARE ONLY HELPFUL IF YOU KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN RECOGNISE THE ABBREVIATIONS AND NOT CONFUSE THEM WITH THE ACTUAL WORDS. THE DICTIONARY WILL HAVE A KEY TO THE ABBREVIATIONS.

FRENCH DICTIONARIES ARE MOSTLY VERY SIMILAR FRENCH DICTIONARIES ARE MOSTLY VERY SIMILAR. THERE MIGHT BE LITTLE DIFFERENCES WITH ABBREVIATIONS OR LAYOUTS. LET’S LOOK AT SOME TYPICAL PAGES OF A DICTIONARY TO SEE WHAT INFORMATION WE CAN SEE……

THIS PAGE IS TAKEN FROM THE FIRST SECTION 0F A DICTIONARY THIS PAGE IS TAKEN FROM THE FIRST SECTION 0F A DICTIONARY. THE WORDS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER IN FRENCH.

THIS IS THE FIRST WORD ON THE PAGE THIS IS THE LAST WORD ON THE PAGE TIP!!! WHEN YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR A WORD, LOOKING AT THE WORDS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGES WILL SPEED THINGS UP

WORD IN FRENCH (NOTE-THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE DICTIONARY PAGE) ABBREVIATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD MEANING OF THE FRENCH WORD IN ENGLISH THE FIRST SECTION OF THE DICTIONARY WILL SHOW THE WORD FIRST, THEN THE ABBREVIATION IN ITALICS GIVING INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD, THEN THE MEANING OF THE WORD.

(NOTE-THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE DICTIONARY PAGE) WORD IN ENGLISH MEANING OF THE ENGLISH WORD IN FRENCH ABBREVIATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD THE SECOND SECTION OF THE DICTIONARY WILL SHOW THE WORD FIRST, THEN THE MEANING OF THE WORD, THEN THE ABBREVIATION IN ITALICS GIVING INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD

nmpl = masculine noun which is also plural HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS nm = masculine noun (This means you have to write “un” or “le” with the word) nf = feminine noun (This means you have to write “une” or “la” with the word) nmpl = masculine noun which is also plural (This means you have to write “les” with the word) nfpl = feminine noun which is also plural TIP!!! REMEMBER A NOUN IS A “PERSON, PLACE OR THING”.

adj = adjective (a describing word) adv = adverb (saying how something is done) conj = conjunction (a joining word) neg = negative (a word like “not”) prep = preposition (a position word such as “in”.) pron = pronoun (words like “her” or “it”) sing = singular (one of something) pl = plural (more than one of something) v/vt/vi/v reg/v irreg/v refl All of these abbreviations are for verbs (a doing word). There are different types of verbs which is why there is more than one abbreviation. If it has a “v” at the start you will know it stands for “verb”.

This noun can be masculine or feminine A masculine noun a feminine noun an adjective A verb

AS WELL AS ABBREVIATIONS TELLING US INFORMATION ABOUT A WORD, THE DICTIONARY WILL ALSO GIVE US ALL THE POSSIBLE DIFFERENT MEANINGS TOO. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU LOOK AT ALL THE OPTIONS BEFORE YOU CHOOSE WHICH WORD YOU NEED. LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE……

Note that the word “square” is written more than once There are different types of “square” in English. There is a “town square” or the square shape. Make sure you read all the possibilities before you choose which word you need.

Say, for example, you come across the word “livre” in a text and you don’t know what it means. When you look it up you’ll find more than one possible meaning. So which one is it? You need to look at the other words in your sentence. It doesn’t make sense to say “The boy is reading a pound”!!! TIP!! Also be careful that you look at the spelling carefully. There are other words that are very similar but may not be what you want!!

LET’S SEE SOME EXAMPLES…… SOME DICTIONARIES WILL SHOW EXTRA INFORMATION AND USE SOME SYMBOLS TO REPRESENT “KEY WORDS”. LET’S SEE SOME EXAMPLES……

This information is something called the “phonetic alphabet” This information is something called the “phonetic alphabet”. It shows you how to pronounce a word Note the information here like we’ve already seen. This tells us the word is a feminine noun

Here we will see how the ~ symbol is used The “key word” here is “pied”. It then shows the “phonetic spelling” which tells us how to pronounce the word. Next we are told it is a “masculine noun” and lastly that it means “foot” in English. There are then a lot of phrases which have the ~ symbol in them. This means you simply replace the ~ with the keyword, which in this case is “pied”. So the phrase “c’est le pied!” means “it’s great!”.

Here we see how the “key word” is slightly different Notice that in the keyword there is a thin line. This means that you only replace the ~ symbol with the letters BEFORE the line. So this word becomes “négociateur”

EVERY TIME YOU USE A DICTIONARY MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL THE INFORMATION CAREFULLY. THE MORE YOU BECOME FAMILIAR WITH IT ALL THE EASIER IT WILL BECOME AND YOUR FRENCH CAN ONLY IMPROVE!!