A French verb to take
The irregular French verb prendre literally means "to take," but also has a number of additional meanings and is used in many idiomatic expressions.
Prendre = to take
Prendre means “to take" both literally and figuratively.
Par exemple…
| Qui a pris mon journal ? |
|
Who took my newspaper? |
| Je prends du sucre dans mon café. |
|
I take sugar in my coffee. |
| Il va prendre le bus. |
|
He’s going to take the bus. |
| Prends ton temps. |
|
Take your time. |
When taking something from someone’s hands or arms, use prendre de:
| J’ai pris le livre de ses mains. |
|
I took the book from his hands. |
But when taking something out of or off something inanimate, prendre requires a different preposition, usually dans or sur.
| Prends les ciseaux dans le tiroir. |
|
Take the scissors from the drawer. |
| Tu peux prendre l’argent sur la table. |
|
You can take the money from the table. |
Prendre = to catch, capture
| Il a pris quatre poissons. |
|
He caught four fish. |
| J’essaie de prendre un voleur. |
|
I’m trying to catch a thief. |
Prendre à + infinitive = to catch, spot [someone] doing
| Il faut le prendre à tricher. |
|
We have to catch him cheating. |
| Elle m’a pris à sortir en catimi. |
|
She caught me sneaking out. |
Prendre = to catch fire
| Le bois n’a pas encore pris. |
|
The wood hasn’t caught (on fire) yet. |
| Qui a pris l’allumette ? |
|
Who lit the match? |
Prendre = to catch on, be successful
| Le film a pris plus que l’on aurait pu imaginer. |
|
The movie was more successful than anyone could have imagined. |
| On cherche toujours le prochain start-up qui va prendre. |
|
People are always looking for the next big start-up. |
Prendre = to pick up, fetch
| Il va passer nous prendre dans 10 minutes. |
|
He’s going to pick us up in 10 minutes. |
| Je l’ai pris devant la poste. |
|
I picked him up in front of the post office. |
Prendre = to handle, deal with
| Comment va-t-on prendre ce problème ? |
|
How are we going to deal with this problem? |
| Auguste va le prendre. |
|
Auguste is going to handle it. |
Prendre = to come over, strike
| La tristesse m’a pris en regardant la photo. |
|
Sadness came over me as I looked at the photo. |
| Qu’est-ce qui te prend ? (informal) |
|
What’s come over you? What’s the matter with you? |
Prendre = to fool, dupe
| Tu m’as pris pour la dernière fois. |
|
You’ve fooled me for the last time. |
| Il essaie de me prendre avec des paroles aimables. |
|
He’s trying to sweet-talk me. |
Prendre = to set, thicken
| Il faut laisser la gélatine le temps de prendre. |
|
You have to let the gelatin set. |
| J’ai toujours des difficultés à faire prendre la mayonnaise. |
|
I always have trouble getting my mayonnaise to thicken. |
Se prendre
Se prendre can be used as a reflexive verb or in passive reflexive construction.
a) Reflexive: to consider oneself
| Elle se prend pour une diplomate. |
|
She considers herself a diplomat. |
| Tu te prends pour qui ? |
|
Who do you think you are? |
b) Passive reflexive: to get caught, trapped
| Mon sac s’est pris dans la porte. |
|
My bag got caught in the door. |
| La souris s’est prise dans le piège. |
|
The mouse got caught in the trap. |
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