Can you see prendre in these sentences?
The verb is conjugated in the present tense. Do you remember how we conjugate this verb?
Prendre: To take
- Je prends: I take
- Tu prends: You take
- Il/elle/on prend: He/she/it takes
- Nous prenons: We take
- Vous prenez: You take
- Ils/elles prennent: They take
We can add a noun to one of these conjugations. For instance:
- Je prends une selfie: Je prends une selfie.
With these short introductions out of the way, let’s begin by looking at a couple of easy examples.
Examples where the expressions with prendre are similar to their English counterparts.
Prendre soin de: To take care of
- Je prends soin de mes enfants: I take care of my children.
- Ils prennent soin de moi: They take care of me.
- Nous prenons soin de ton frère: We take care of your brother.
Prendre des risques: To take risks
- Elle prend des risques: She takes risks.
- Elles prennent des risques: They take risks.
- Je prends des risques: I take risks.
Prendre au sérieux: To take something/somebody seriously
- Elle te prend au sérieux: She takes you seriously
- Nous te prenons au sérieux: We take you seriously.
- Tu me prends au sérieux: You take me seriously.
Prendre le temps (de): To take time to
- Elle prend le temps de travailler chez soi: She takes the time to work from home.
- Je prends le temps de regarder un film au lieu de travailler: I take the time to watch a movie instead of working.
- Il prend le temps de développer un project: He takes the time to develop a project.
In the past tense (le passé composé)
Do you remember how we conjugate prendre in the past tense (le passé composé.)?
- J’ai pris: I took
- Tu as pris: You took
- Il/elle/on a pris: He/she/it took
- Nous avons pris: We took
- Vous avez pris: You took
- Ils/elles ont pris: They took
Please note that the translations of this verb (in the past tense) can change in the following expressions.
Prendre sa retraite*: To retire
- J’ai pris ma retraite: I retired.
- Vous avez pris votre retraite: You have retired.
- Il a pris sa retraite: He retired.
*The direct translation of this expression would be to take his/her retirement. In French, prendre is the verb we usually use when we want to say somebody has retired.
Prendre rendez-vous avec quelqu’un: To make an appointment with somebody
- ll a pris rendez-vous avec toi: He made an appointment with you.
- Elle a pris rendez-vous avec la patronne: She made an appointment with the boss.
- Elles ont pris rendez-vous avec leur médicin: They made an appointment with their doctor.
Prendre au pied de la lettre: To take something too literally/ To take something at face value
- Nous avons pris ta proposition au pied de la lettre: We took your proposal at face value.
- Il vous a pris au pied de la lettre: He took you too literally.
- Vous avez pris ça au pied de la lettre?: Did you take it at face value ?
Prendre une selfie: Att ta en selfie*
- J’ai pris une selfie: I took a selfie.
- EIle a pris une selfie: She took a selfie.
- Vous avez pris une selfie: You took a selfie.
*This is an example where the French has borrowed a noun from English. It’s also an example where we use prendre and to take in the same way.
Prendre du poids: To gain weight
- Il a pris du poids: He gained weight.
- Nous avons pris du poids: We gained weight.
- EIles ont pris du poids: They gained weight.
Prendre feu: To catch fire
- La table a pris feu: The table caught fire.
- Le lit a pris feu: The bed caught fire.
- La cuisine a pris feu: The kitchen caught fire.
Prendre une décision: To make a decision
- Elles ont pris une décision: They made a decision.
- Vous avez pris une décision: You made a decision.
- On a pris une décision: We made a decision.
Prendre un verre*: To have a drink
- J’ai pris un verre: I had a drink.
- Ils ont pris un verre: They had a drink.
- Vous avez pris un verre?: Did you have a drink?
*This expression usually includes alcohol, just like its English counterpart.
Expressions that are not that common
Let’s continue with expressions that are a bit more rare. Some of these expressions can be a bit difficult to translate. For instance, different translations can be appropriate for specific contexts.
But, you have already seen that some translations change in English. Therefore, learning the differences between the languages is a good idea. For instance, sometimes you have to add or remove a verb.
There have been examples of that in this article. We have already looked at “to retire”, where we usually add the verb ”prendre” in French.
Ok, let’s get started with the final part of this article .
Prendre quelqu’un* en grippe: To take a sudden dislike to somebody or something
- Il m’a pris en grippe: He took a dislike to me.
- Je l’ai pris en grippe: I took a dislike to him.
- Mon papa m’a pris en grippe: My dad took a dislike to me.
Quelqu’un means somebody. We can replace quelqu’un with a pronoun as we have done in the examples above. In these examples, we have replaced quelqu’un against:
- m’ (me)
- l’ (le/la)
- m’ (me)
Prendre (quelqu’un) la main dans le sac: To catch someone red-handed
A more direct translation of this expression would be ”To take someone with the hand in the handbag”.
In any case, I think we can conclude that you would not want to be quelqu’un in this context
Let’s look at 2 sentences:
- Je vais le prendre la main dans le sac: I will take him red-handed.
- Nous allons le prendre la main dans le sac: We will take him red-handed.
Let’s continue by looking at 2 sentences in le passé composé:
- Nous l’avons pris la main dans le sac: We caught him red-handed.
- Elle m’a pris la main dans le sac: She caught me red-handed.
Prendre ses jambes à son cou: To make a run for it
- Elle a pris ses jambes à son cou: She made a run for it.
- Il a pris ses jambes à son cou: He made a run for it.
This expression can also mean “To run for your life”:
- Elle a pris ses jambes à son cou: He ran for his life.
- J’ai pris mes jambes à mon cou: I ran for my life.
S’en prendre à quelqu’un: To attack somebody, to target somebody
- Elle s’en prend à moi: She takes it out on me.
- Ils veulent s’en prendre à lui: They want to target/go after him.
- Il s’en prend à toi: He takes it out on you.
The sentences and examples in this article
In my experience, it is much more likely that you will remember certain expressions if you put them in an interesting context.
I always try to create my own sentences when I am learning something new in French. For instance:
- On utilize le passé composé pour des actions terminées: We use le passé compose for completed actions.
I also try to describe things that have happened recently. If I am going to the doctor, I would try to describe this event in French. For instance:
- J’ai pris rendez-vous chez le médicin: I made an appointment with the doctor.
You could also write about something that has happened recently in the world. If you are interested in politics, you could say something about the election in France or Mexico.
This works very well when you want to learn a specific vocabulary related to a specific domain.
