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Essential French Expression
| Meaning | late | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[a(n) reu tar] |
| IPA | [ã ʁə taʁ] | |
Usage notes: Though the English words "retard" and "retarded" have unfortunately taken on pejorative meanings, in French, retard is a perfectly acceptable noun meaning "delay."
Par exemple…
| des retards successifs | a series of delays | |
| sans retard | without delay | |
| Il a un retard en français. | He’s behind on his French. |
The adverbial French expression en retard, meaning delayed, late, behind, or overdue, can only be used with a verb like être or arriver.*
Par exemple…
| On va être en retard ! | We’re going to be late! | |
| Il est toujours en retard à l’école. | He’s always late to school. | |
| Tu es arrivé en retard hier. | You arrived late yesterday. |
En retard can describe a person or entity as under-developed or behind.
Par exemple…
| Il est en retard pour son âge. | He’s behind for his age. | |
| C’est un pays en retard. | It’s an under-developed country. |
Antonym: en avance – early, ahead of schedule
Expressions with retard
- avoir du retard – to be (running) late/slow, to be overdue
- avoir du retard à l’allumage (informal) – to be a bit slow on the uptake
- avoir (cinq minutes, deux jours…) de retard – to be (five minutes, two days…) late
- être en retard pour son âge – to be backward for one’s age
- être en retard sur l’horaire / le programme – to be behind schedule
- être en retard sur son siècle / temps – to be behind the times
- mettre (quelqu’un) en retard – to make (someone) late
- (le travail / les tâches) en retard – backlog (of work / tasks)
* The adjective "late" is equivalent to tardif in French.
Par exemple…
| un dîner tardif | a late dinner | |
| une heure tardive | a late hour |
French verb conjugations
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