Today’s lesson examines the French expression à peine, which translates to hardly and barely.

À peine

hardly, barely

À peine

Expression origin

À peine comes from ad paene (nearly, almost) in Latin. Translations for peine (feminine noun) include punishment, pain and difficulty.

Example sentences

For this first sentence, j’avais fini (I had finished) is an example of the pluperfect or plus-que-parfait tense.

J’avais à peine fini le repas quand le téléphone a sonné.

I’d hardly finished the meal when the phone rang.

For this second sentence, the French borrow word jean is singular because le pantalon (pants) is singular.

Je rentre à peine dans ce jean.

I barely fit into these jeans.

Ce chaton a à peine trois mois.

This kitten is barely three months old.

Related lessons

• Pluperfect Tense (plus-que-parfait)
• Numbers 1-100
• Le Repas – Meal
• Chat – cat in French

Reference

• Wiktionary

French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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