ce
part of speech
French pronoun and determiner (ce, cet, cette, ces); English abbreviation CE
meaning for a pupil
1) (French) «Ce» means «this» or «that» or «it»: «ce livre» = this book, «c'est» = it is. It sounds like «suh» and is not an English word. tree →
2) (abbreviation) CE stands for «Common Era», used with years instead of AD; BCE means «Before the Common Era». tree →
3) (abbreviation) A CE mark on toys and electrical goods shows they meet European safety rules. tree →
sense in the lessons
In French lessons «ce» comes in «c'est» (it is), «qu'est-ce que c'est?» (what is it?) and «ce matin» (this morning). In history lessons CE and BCE mark years on timelines. On toys and chargers, look for the CE mark (in the UK also UKCA) as a sign of a safety check.
examples
- In French, «c'est mon chien» means «it's my dog». tree →
- «Ce garçon» means «this boy». tree →
- «Qu'est-ce que c'est?» means «What is it?» tree →
- The Romans left Britain in the fifth century CE. tree →
- BCE years count down towards year 1 CE. tree →
- Check the toy box for a CE safety mark. tree →
- French uses «ce» before a masculine noun and «cette» before a feminine one. tree →
note
French «ce» changes: «cet» before a vowel (cet arbre), «cette» for feminine (cette fille), «ces» for plural. «C'est» is «ce + est». CE and BCE are written in capitals and mean the same years as AD and BC. Not an English word on its own.
In the corpora
- C'est is ce plus est squashed together and means "it is" or "that is": C'est super !
- Est-ce que at the start turns a sentence into a yes or no question; it sounds "ess-kuh".
- Pourquoi ? (why?) is answered with parce que (because): Parce que c'est génial !
- A Chinese Cinderella story, Ye Xian, was written down around 850 CE, and similar stories are told in many cultures.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ce» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.