anything

anything
anything [ˈenɪθɪŋ]
pronoun
   a.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
► In negative constructions, anything is generally translated by rien.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• there wasn't anything in the box il n'y avait rien dans la boîte
• we haven't seen anything nous n'avons rien vu
• I didn't see anything interesting je n'ai rien vu d'intéressant
• hardly anything presque rien
• without anything happening sans qu'il se passe rien
► anything but
• this is anything but pleasant ceci n'a vraiment rien d'agréable
• anything but! (reply to question) pas du tout !
   b.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
► In questions and if clauses, anything can usually be translated by quelque chose.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• was there anything in the box? y avait-il quelque chose dans la boîte ?
• did you see anything interesting? tu as vu quelque chose d'intéressant ?
• can anything be done? peut-on faire quelque chose ?
• if anything happened to me s'il m'arrivait quelque chose
• is there anything more boring than ...? y a-t-il rien de plus ennuyeux que ... ?
► if anything
• if anything it's an improvement ce serait plutôt une amélioration
• it is, if anything, even smaller c'est peut-être encore plus petit
   c. ( = no matter what) n'importe quoi
• say anything (at all) dites n'importe quoi
• I'd give anything to know the secret je donnerais n'importe quoi pour connaître le secret
• this isn't just anything ce n'est pas n'importe quoi
• take anything you like prenez tout ce que vous voudrez
• anything else would disappoint her s'il en était autrement elle serait déçue
• they eat anything ( = they're not fussy) ils mangent de tout
► like anything (inf)
I ran like anything qu'est-ce que j'ai couru !
• she cried like anything qu'est-ce qu'elle a pleuré !
* * *
['enɪθɪŋ]
pronoun
1) (with negative, implied negative) rien

she didn't say/do anything — elle n'a rien dit/fait

he didn't have anything to do — il n'avait rien à faire

don't believe anything he says — ne crois pas un mot de ce qu'il dit

2) (in questions, conditional sentences) quelque chose

if anything happens ou should happen to her — s'il lui arrive quoi que ce soit

is there anything to be done? — peut-on faire quelque chose?

is there anything in the rumour that...? — est-il vrai que...?

3) (no matter what) tout

anything is possible — tout est possible

I'd do ou give anything to get that job — je ferais tout pour obtenir cet emploi

they'd do anything for you — ils sont toujours prêts à rendre service

she likes anything sweet/to do with football — elle aime tout ce qui est sucré/qui a rapport au football

to cost anything between £50 and £100 — coûter de 50 à 100 livres sterling

he was anything but happy/a liar — il n'était pas du tout heureux/menteur

‘was it interesting?’ - ‘anything but!’ — ‘est-ce que c'était intéressant?’ - ‘tout sauf ça’

he wasn't annoyed, if anything, he was quite pleased — il n'était pas fâché, au contraire, il était content

••

anything goes — tout est permis

as easy/funny as anything — facile/drôle comme tout

to run/laugh/work like anything — courir/rire/travailler comme un fou (colloq)


English-French dictionary. 2013.

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