De la conjugaison de play en anglais aux multiples définitions de ce verbe en passant par ses synonymes, expressions et phrasal verbs, apprenez tout ce qu’il faut savoir de ce mot !
Tableaux de conjugaison de play en anglais
Conjugaison du verbe play à l’indicatif
Le verbe play au present simple
- I play
- You play
- He/she/it plays
- We play
- You play
- They play
Le verbe play au present continuous
- I am playing
- You are playing
- He/she/it is playing
- We are playing
- You are playing
- They are playing
Le verbe play past simple
- I played
- You played
- He/she/it played
- We played
- You played
- They played
Le verbe play au past continuous
- I was playing
- You were playing
- He/she/it was playing
- We were playing
- You were playing
- They were playing
Le verbe play au present perfect
- I have played
- You have played
- He/she/it has played
- We have played
- You have played
- They have played
Le verbe play au present perfect continuous
- I have been playing
- You have been playing
- He/she/it has been playing
- We have been playing
- You have been playing
- They have been playing
Le verbe play au past perfect
- I had played
- You had played
- He/she/it had played
- We had played
- You had played
- They had played
Le verbe play au past perfect continuous
- I had been playing
- You had been playing
- He/she/it had been playing
- We had been playing
- You had been playing
- They had been playing
Le verbe play au future
- I will play
- You will play
- He/she/it will play
- We will play
- You will play
- They will play
Le verbe play au future continuous
- I will be playing
- You will be playing
- He/she/it will be playing
- We will be playing
- You will be playing
- They will be playing
Le verbe play au future perfect
- I will have played
- You will have played
- He/she/it will have played
- We will have played
- You will have played
- They will have played
Le verbe play au future perfect continuous
- I will have been playing
- You will have been playing
- He/she/it will have been playing
- We will have been playing
- You will have been playing
- They will have been playing
Conjugaison du verbe play au conditionnel
Le verbe play au conditional present
- I would play
- You would play
- He/she/it would play
- We would play
- You would play
- They would play
Le verbe play au conditional present continuous
- I would be playing
- You would be playing
- He/she/it would be playing
- We would be playing
- You would be playing
- They would be playing
Le verbe play au conditional perfect
- I would have played
- You would have played
- He/she/it would have played
- We would have played
- You would have played
- They would have played
Le verbe play au conditional perfect continuous
- I would have been playing
- You would have been playing
- He/she/it would have been playing
- We would have been playing
- You would have been playing
- They would have been playing
Les autres formes
L’infinitif de play
- to play
Participe présent de play
- playing
Participe passé de play
- played
L’impératif de play
- play
- let’s play
Définition de play en anglais
Que veut dire le verbe play en anglais ?
Le Cambridge Dictionary donne plusieurs définitions du verbe play.
Penchons-nous sur les principales :
1. When you play, especially as a child, you spend time doing an enjoyable and/or entertaining activity
Sophie loves playing with her little brother.
→ Sophie adore jouer avec son petit frère.
2. To take part in a game or other organized activity
They play poker every Saturday evening.
→ Ils jouent au poker tous les samedis soirs.
3. To compete against a person or team in a game
The top two teams will play each other in the final.
→ Les deux premières équipes s’affronteront en finale.
4. To hit or kick a ball in a game
The player played the ball after the whistle.
→ Le joueur a renvoyé le ballon après le coup de sifflet.
5. To choose a card from the ones you are holding and put it down on the table (in a card game)
She played the jack of diamonds.
→ Elle a joué le valet de carreau.
6. To perform an entertainment or a particular character in a play, film, etc.
He played the leading role in the series.
→ Il a joué le rôle principal dans la série.
7. To behave or pretend in a particular way, especially in order to produce a particular effect or result
Don’t try to play smart.
→ N’essaie pas de faire le malin.
8. To perform music on an instrument or instruments
I think playing the violin is difficult
→ Je pense que c’est difficile de jouer du violon.
9. To (cause a machine to) produce sound or a picture
Can you play this video?
→ Est-ce que tu peux lire cette vidéo ?
10. To direct or be directed over or onto something
A red spotlight was played on his face.
→ Une lumière rouge éclairait son visage.
11. To move quickly or be seen for a short time (of something you see, such as light)
Confusion played across her eyes.
→ La confusion traversa ses yeux.
12. To risk money, especially on the results of races or business deals, hoping to win more money
They lost their entire life savings playing the horses.
→ Ils ont perdu toutes leurs économies en pariant sur les chevaux.
Pour accéder à l’intégralité de la page du Cambridge Dictionary, cliquez ici !
Les phrasal verbs avec play en anglais
Rappel : les phrasal verbs (ou “verbes à particule”) sont des verbes qui, lorsqu’ils sont suivis d’un autre mot (la particule), voient leur sens initial complété ou modifié.
Voici les principaux phrasal verbs formés sur le verbe play :
- play about (anglais britannique) → faire l’idiot, faire l’imbécile (familier)
- play along → jouer le jeu, se prêter au jeu (familier)
- play around → faire des expériences
- play around with something → jouer avec, s’amuser avec (familier)
- play at something → jouer à (faire semblant, prétendre)
- play off → jouer les barrages (vocabulaire sportif)
- play on something → profiter de, tirer parti de
- play somebody off somebody → monter quelqu’un contre quelqu’un
- play something again → repasser (une chanson, par exemple)
- play something down → minimiser (familier)
- play something out → jouer, interpréter (un rôle, une pièce…)
- play up (anglais britannique) → faire des siennes (familier)
- play upon something → jouer sur, tirer parti de
Les synonymes de play en anglais
En fonction du contexte, vous pouvez remplacer le verbe to play par l’un des verbes suivants :
- act → jouer (au théâtre ou au cinéma)
- bet → parier
- challenge → défier
- compete → participer (à une compétition sportive)
- contend → s’affronter, être en compétition
- enact → jouer (au théâtre ou au cinéma)
- gamble → jouer (de l’argent)
- game → s’adonner aux jeux de hasard (familier)
- perform → jouer (un spectacle, de la musique…)
- portray → incarner, jouer quelqu’un (au théâtre)
- represent → jouer (un rôle au théâtre)
- toy → jouer avec
Expressions avec play en anglais
- in play (adverbe) → pour rigoler, pour de faux (familier)
- play a part in something → jouer un rôle dans quelque chose, prendre part à quelque chose
- play both ends against the middle → tirer profit de la situation
- play by the rules → respecter les règles
- play cat and mouse with somebody → jouer au chat et à la souris avec quelqu’un
- play catch-up → se mettre à la page, rattraper son retard (familier)
- play dead → faire le mort
- play dirty → tricher, agir de façon déloyale
- play ducks and drakes with something → gaspiller, gâcher (de l’argent, par exemple)
- play favorites (anglais américain), play favourites (anglais britannique) → avoir ses chouchous(familier)
- play fetch → jouer à la balle, jouer à rapporter la balle (avec un chien)
- play gooseberry (anglais britannique) → tenir la chandelle, être la cinquième roue du carrosse
- play hard to get → se faire désirer
- play hardball → jouer les durs, être sans pitié
- play hooky (anglais américain) → sécher les cours
- play politics → jouer tactique
- play second fiddle to somebody → jouer les seconds couteaux
- play the game → jouer le jeu
- play the hand you are dealt → faire avec ce qu’on a
- play to the gallery → épater la galerie
- play with fire → jouer avec le feu
- play your trump card → jouer son atout, jouer sa carte maîtresse