un

«un» in Mova's school dictionary: «not» or «the opposite of»: unhappy (not happy), unkind… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

fragment / prefix (un-); abbreviation (UN); French and Spanish word (un, «a/one»)

meaning for a pupil

1) As «un-» at the start of a word, it means «not» or «the opposite of»: unhappy (not happy), unkind, unlock (do the opposite of lock). tree →

2) UN (written in capitals) stands for the United Nations, a group of nearly all the countries of the world that works for peace. tree →

3) In French and Spanish, «un» means «a» or «one». tree →

4) (informal, dialect) In some speech «'un» is a clipped «one»: «a good 'un», «the little 'uns». tree →

5) In old dialect speech, «un» can mean «him» or «it». tree →

sense in the lessons

In English lessons pupils learn that un- builds opposites; in maths, «un» is part of words like «unequal» and «unknown» (the number we are looking for). On the news «the UN» is the United Nations. In UK speech «a good 'un» means a good person. Phrases: «the UN», «UN peacekeepers», «a good 'un».

examples

• Add un- to «happy» and you get «unhappy». tree →
• The door was unlocked, so we went in. tree →
• The UN sends peacekeepers to troubled places. tree →
• In French, «un chat» means «a cat». tree →
• Grandad says our dog is a good 'un. tree →
• The little 'uns are playing in the sandpit. tree →
• Find the unknown number in the sum. tree →

note

Not a normal word on its own in English. Do not confuse prefix un- with in-/im-/dis- (incorrect, impossible, dislike): each word takes its own. «Unlock» undoes an action; «unhappy» means «not». UN is said as two letters: «you-en».

In the corpora

• Prefixes meaning «not» include un-, in-, im-, il- and ir-.
• cent ("sahn") means a hundred; a euro cent is called un centime ("sahn-TEEM").
• rouge means red and already ends in e: une pomme rouge, un camion rouge.
• noir is the masculine and noire the feminine; both sound "NWAR": un chien noir, une souris noire.
• Une semaine ("un suh-MEN") is a week; French calendars start the week on lundi.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «un» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.