French dictionary

triste/tʁist/

adjective · A2 · Frequency 898

adjective

Meanings

  1. sad

    Used to describe a person's emotional state, indicating feeling sorrowful or unhappy.

  2. causing sadness or distress

    Used to describe things or situations that cause sadness or distress.

Examples

  • Le garçon triste reste silencieux pendant le trajet du retour.

    The sad boy remains silent during the journey home.

  • Un triste constat ressort de cette enquête sur l'accès au logement.

    A sad finding emerges from this survey on access to housing.

  • Le film raconte un triste épisode de l'histoire de la ville.

    The film tells a sad episode from the city's history.

Collocations

  • un visage tristea sad face
  • une triste nouvellesad news

Common mistakes

  • Je suis triste de toi.

    J'ai pitié de toi.

    'Triste' is an adjective and cannot take 'de' to mean 'feeling sorry for someone'; this meaning requires the verb phrase 'avoir pitié de quelqu'un'.

Related words

adjective

Meanings

  1. sad

    Used to describe a person's emotional state, indicating feeling sorrowful or unhappy.

  2. causing sadness or distress

    Used to describe things or situations that cause sadness or distress.

Examples

  • Les enfants sont tristes parce que leur sortie a été annulée.

    The children are sad because their outing was canceled.

  • Après cette mauvaise nouvelle, mes collègues semblaient tristes.

    After this bad news, my colleagues seemed sad.

  • Les rues sont tristes sous cette pluie froide de novembre.

    The streets look sad in this cold November rain.

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Verb conjugation