French Conversation · Level 4
88 words
French word
sous
Pronunciation
IPA/su/
Meaning
- prepositionunder
Example
Mets le sac sous la table.
Put the bag under the table.
More examples
Le chat dort sous la chaise.
The cat is sleeping under the chair.
Core concept
Something is positioned lower than, and often partly covered by, another thing.
Common phrases
sous la table
under the table
sous la pluie
in the rain
sous pression
under pressure
Similar words
en dessous de: Indicates that a person or thing is below or near another object.
au-dessous de: Indicates that a person or thing is positioned below another object.
Definition in French
Indique que quelque chose se trouve en dessous d'un autre élément, généralement suivie d'un nom (par exemple « sous la table »).
Word origin
French sous comes from Latin sub through Old French forms such as soz and souz, retaining the spatial idea of being below.
Usage tips
- As a preposition, sous normally precedes a noun phrase, while dessous or en dessous commonly stands alone for a lower position.
Other meanings
- belowpreposition
Opposites
- suronpreposition
- au-dessus deabovepreposition
Related words
- sous-solbasementnoun
- sous-marinsubmarinenoun
- sous-estimerunderestimateverb