1 A Noun, masculine (a) (letter) A; de ~ à Z, depuis ~ jusqu'à Z from A to Z; ne savoir ni ~ ni B to be completely illiterate; démontrer qch par A plus B to demonstrate sth logically
2 A Noun (a) (in naming systems) A; (in motorway names) l'A15 the French A15 (motorway); (in paper sizes) une feuille A4 an A4 sheet (of paper)
(b) (on car) =L-plate; (Infml: used to describe car or person in it) learner (driver); une voiture avec un ~ a car with L plates; (Infml) il y a un ~ devant moi I've got a learner (driver) in front of me
3 à Preposition (a) (indicating movement) to; aller ~ Paris to go to Paris; aller au cinéma to go to the cinema; aller ~ l'école (as a pupil) to go to school; (as a parent, visitor) to go to the school; (as a teacher) to go into school; aller ~ l'église (to worship) to go to church; (as a visitor, for confession etc) to go to the church; ~ à l'hôpital (as a patient) to go to hospital, go into hospital; (as a visitor) to go to the hospital
(b) (indicating position) in a town, building, room; at a railway station; habiter ~ Paris to live in Paris; habiter ~ Taiwan/au Canada to live in Taiwan/Canada; être au salon/~ la cuisine to be in the lounge/kitchen; ~ l'école at school, in school; (as a visitor) at the school, in the school; ~ l'église in church; (as visitor) in the church, (outside) at the church; au bureau at the office; qu'est-ce qu'on passe au cinéma? what's on at the cinema?; je l'ai recontrée au cinéma I bumped into her at (or) in the cinema
(c) (indicating position, occasion in time) at; ~ trois heures at three (o'clock); ~ quinze heures at 3 (o'clock) in the afternoon, at 3 pm; (in shipping forecast etc) at fifteen hundred hours; ~ quinze heures trente at half (past) three, at three thirty pm; (in shipping forecast etc) at fifteen thirty (hours); ~ son arrivée on (his) arrival, when he arrived (or) arrives; ~ plus tard! see you (later)!; ~ demain! see you tomorrow!; ~ la semaine prochaine! see you next week!; (Infml) ~ plus! see you! (neutral), laters! (Infml), bye for now! (Infml)
(d) (indicating origin) from a place, container, person, out of a container, off (Infml) a person; boire qch ~ la bouteille/~ la rivière to drink sth from the bottle/river; emprunter qch ~ qn to borrow sth from sb, borrow sth off sb (Infml); acheter qch ~ qn to buy sth from sb, buy sth off sb (Infml)
(e) (indicating distance) away (follows the noun); c'est ~ 10 kilomètres/minutes it's 10 kilometers/minutes away; c'est ~ 5 minutes de la gare it's 5 minutes (away) from the station
(f) (indicating activity) at, on; au travail, (Infml) au boulot at work; au travail!, (Infml) au boulot! let's get to work!, let's get moving! (Infml), let's get cracking! (Infml); ~ la vaisselle! let's get on with the washing up!, let's get cracking with the washing up! (Infml); au piano on the piano, at the piano; ~ la guitare (indicating casual activity) on the guitar; (in giving list of players) on guitar
(g) (indicating possession) c'est ~ moi/~ eux it's mine/theirs; c'est ~ qui? whose is it?; ~ qui la faute? whose fault is it?; c'est un ami ~ David he's a friend of David's; (Infml) le livre ~ Jean John's book (neutral); je suis ~ toi I'm all yours; je suis ~ toi dans un petit moment I'll be with you in a second; c'est ~ vous de le faire it's up to you to do it, you're the one that has to do it; ~ toi de jouer (it's) your turn; ce n'est pas ~ moi de le dire it's not for me to say
(h) (indicating extent, result) to; ~ ma grande surprise/consternation to my great surprise/dismay
4 A Noun (a) (Comput) A drive; le lecteur de disques A the A drive
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