👉 See also: Love story lyrics (by Indila), where she uses à peine in the song’s chorus.
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.
Reference
