Customer Reviews

Le Nouveau Petit Robert: Dictionnaire De La Langue Française (French Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The French really ought to declare this dictionary a national treasure. It is a monument of competent lexicography and contains a lot more information than the user suspects he or she might need some day. For each entry there is an etymology and date of first appearance in French; a vast cross-referencing network for synonyms, antonyms, analogues and homonyms; a complete definition covering social connotations; examples of how the word is actually used in diverse situations; and a phonetic transcription in IPA. Anyone with a serious interest in learning French will probably want to have this volume.

Once finished with the second semester French (or the latest, fourth semester, if you wait until you learn more about the subjunctive), one should primarily use this dictionary to find the meaning and etymology of the French vocabulary. One can still have a translational dictionary standing by, but by using le Petit Robert, one is forced to read the definition also in the same language, thus enforcing one's comprehension of the written language. FYI: the Larousse version is better illustrated, if one prefers such.

I am giving this a five-star rating solely because thus far, this is the best one I have ever seen. The rating might change once I find a better alternative.

As a companion to this dictionary, Le Petit Robert Des Noms Propres helps a lot once one starts to delve into the French literature, politic, and culture.

For conjugation, I would recommend Bescherelle 1: La Conjugaison pour Tous, instead of the "501 French verbs." The former is logically arranged (and thinner and easier to carry!) by presenting one way of conjugating and then listing the rest of the words that fall into this category at the end-pages.

An essential tool for any serious student of French. Clarifies the precise meaning of words in French and helps you to use French like a native speaker.

I have nearly all of the major French dictionaries of some edition, pretending to be equall to this one in size. Petit Robert is by far the best of them only if it had not the very big defect: Why the "Expressions and Locutions" are not in bold face or put in relief in some other way? I can't imagine how the editors of such an otherwise perfect dictionary may be missing such a vital feature! To make them understand how a big hurdle is this, I would recommend them to make a person ,even a native French speaker of say over his fifties, look into Petit Robert for some locution under a long article, for axample "faire"!

Does any body know if the "Grand Format" solves this problem? I would be greatfull if she or he could inform me. Unless they solve this problem I shall no more invest money in "Robert" dictioanaries.

C'est le meilleur dictionnaire que j'ai vue de la langue francaise. Il y a tout dedans, l'étymologie, les homonymes et toutes les explications. je n'utilise patiquemment que cela pour chercher les mots que je ne connais pas. En europe il y a encore le Grand Robert avec plus d'informations, mais ceci est en un seul volume. Je l'aime!

Ce livre nest pas tres petit à vrai dire (assez épais vue à quon trouve entre les fourres), par contre plusiers fois en le consultant je n'avais pas reussi à trouver le sens voulu du mot recherché. En plus en le feuilletant j'ai rencontré bien des mots propres à la litterature des siècles oublies et d'argot scintifique; pourtant j'ai eu du mal à trouver le sens courrant des mots quotidiènes: ceux qu'on peut qualifier "de bas registre" peut-être, mais... Il contient pas mal de locutions aussi, mais malhereusement les plus recents ou ceux quon ne trouve que chez les jeunes sont presque toujours manquants. Et j'aimerais bien savoir à quoi sert-il de mettre les étymoligies dans une tel dictionaire?