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Jane Eyre vocabulary
17 French vocabulary words
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peu
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tags: [french]
► definition
Definition:not very (many); few; little; not much
► uses
Uses:
“I like him extremely, and we are great friends,” Sviazhsky said, smiling good-naturedly. “Mais pardon, il est un petit peu toqué;* he maintains, for instance, that district councils and arbitration boards are all of no use, and he is unwilling to take part in anything.”
*but pardon, he is a minor bother
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“Tu parles français?”
Rudolph made a note of the tu. In an old French grammar he had once looked through, the student was instructed that the second-person singular was to be used for servants, children, non-commissioned soldiers, and social inferiors.
“Un petit peu.”
Irwin Shaw. Rich Man, Poor Man (1959)
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He finished his brandy and presently lumbered away, quite satisfied with this result (mon pauvre ami, je ne vous ai jamais revu et quoiqu’il y ait bien peu de chance que vous voyiez mon livre, permettez-moi de vous dire que je vous serre la main bien cordialement, et que toutes mes fillettes vous saluent)*.
Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita
*(poor dear, I have never seen you and even though there is very little chance that you see my book, let me tell you that I shake the hand cordially, and all my girls send you regards).
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Les morts durent bien peu.
Hélas, dans le cercueil ils tombent en poussière
Moins vite qu’en nos coeurs!**
Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time [volume 3]
**The dead last a short while.
Alas, in the coffin they fall to dust less quickly
than in our hearts!
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