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Anna Karenina vocabulary

35 French vocabulary words

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peu: 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.”

Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina (1878)

^{*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!}