au
part of speech
preposition + article (French «au» = to the, at the, in the); symbol (Au = gold); abbreviation (AU = Australia; astronomical unit) — not an English word on its own
meaning for a pupil
1) (French) «Au» means «to the», «at the» or «in the» before a masculine word: «au parc» is «to the park», «au revoir» is «goodbye». tree →
2) (science) «Au» is the chemical symbol for gold, from the Latin word «aurum». tree →
3) (abbreviation) «AU» is short for Australia (as in web addresses ending .au) and, in space science, for an astronomical unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun. To an English ear French «au» sounds like «oh». tree →
sense in the lessons
In French lessons pupils learn «au revoir» (goodbye), «au café» (at the café), «au lait» (with milk). English borrows phrases: «au pair» (a young person from abroad who lives with a family and helps look after the children), «au naturel», «au revoir». In science, «Au» appears on the periodic table for gold.
examples
- «Au revoir!» means «goodbye!» tree →
- «Je vais au parc» means «I'm going to the park». tree →
- Our au pair comes from Spain and walks us to school. tree →
- On the periodic table, Au stands for gold. tree →
- A café au lait is coffee with milk. tree →
- French «au» sounds like «oh». tree →
- Australian websites often end in «.au». tree →
note
As a word, French, not English, except in borrowed phrases like «au pair» and «au revoir». «Au» is «à + le» joined; before a feminine word French uses «à la», before plurals «aux». The gold symbol is «Au» with a capital A and small u. Do not read «Au» as «ow».
In the corpora
- Au revoir ! ("oh ruh-VWAR") means goodbye; it is written as two words and works with anyone.
- French joins à and le into au, so you go au parc, but à la piscine and à l'école stay apart.
- For sports and games French says jouer à: je joue au football, je joue au tennis, je joue aux cartes.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «au» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.