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# less — English to French

How English *less* is translated into French in open, checked parallel texts: 4 translations with example sentences.

What it means: [less in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/less/).

Sentence pairs counted, by form: less (154 841). By style: everyday 392 · literary 75 · biblical 23 · parliamentary 13 933 · legal and administrative 40 658 · UN documents 99 760.

## moins

Used about 87 309 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 319 · literary ≈ 69 · biblical ≈ 13 · parliamentary ≈ 10 159 · legal and administrative ≈ 14 400 · UN documents ≈ 62 350).

- There is one **less**.
  Il y en a un de **moins**.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Amastan and sacredceltic · checked, community translation · [\#1635525](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1635525) [\#4901098](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4901098))

- Nothing more, nothing **less**.
  Rien de plus, rien de **moins**.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo notre dame, row 491)

- The children of Israel did so, and some gathered more, some **less**.
  Les Israélites firent ainsi; et ils en ramassèrent les uns plus, les autres **moins**.
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · EXO 16:17)

- Nothing **less**, but nothing more.
  Rien de **moins**, mais rien de plus.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 529339)

- 500 μg/kg or **less** of iron,
  500 μg/kg ou **moins** de fer,
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 1072297)

## inférieure

Used about 23 954 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 8 · literary ≈ 2 · legal and administrative ≈ 13 553 · UN documents ≈ 10 392).

- The chance of that happening is **less** than a thousandth of a percent.
  La chance que cela se produise est **inférieure** à un millième de pour cent.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by eastasiastudent and sacredceltic · checked, community translation · [\#1269304](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1269304) [\#1269324](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1269324))

- "Very well," answered my uncle; "let us start from that point and count four days' storm, during which our rate cannot have been **less** than eighty leagues in the twenty-four hours."
  —Bien! partons de ce point alors et comptons quatre jours d'orage, pendant lesquels notre vitesse n'a pas dû être **inférieure** à quatre-vingts lieues par vingt-quatre heures.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · verne journey centre earth, row 3268)

- MW fraction 愦灭;lt; 1000 is **less** than 5 % (w/w)
  Fraction PM 愦灭;lt; 1000 **inférieure** à 5 % (p/p)
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 616424)

- The HIC value is **less** than 1000.
  La valeur HIC est **inférieure** à 1 000;
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 12301261)

- it concerns eels **less** than 20 cm in length, and
  porte sur des anguilles d’une longueur **inférieure** à 20 cm, et
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 1284865)

## mais

Used about 4 529 times in the texts (literary ≈ 3 · parliamentary ≈ 290 · legal and administrative ≈ 4 235).

- Although the speed could not be exactly estimated, the sledge could not be going at **less** than forty miles an hour.
  On ne pouvait l'estimer, mathématiquement, **mais** certainement la vitesse du traîneau ne devait pas être moindre de quarante milles à l'heure.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · verne 80 days, row 2745)

- But they are also ultra-peripheral regions sharing common structural characteristics covered by Objective 1, the defining one being that their per capita GDP is **less** than 75 % of the Community average.
  **Mais** ce sont également des régions ultrapériphériques qui présentent des caractéristiques communes au niveau structurel, couvertes par l'objectif 1, présentant un PIB par habitant inférieur à 75 % de la moyenne communautaire.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1853730)

- Not **less** than € 61 but **less** than € 62,3
  de 61 € ou plus **mais** inférieur à 62,3 €
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 2697388)

- “We must look out for something suitable for you; much **less** pretentious, since you have nothing, but nice and pretty all the same.
  --Il faudrait trouver quelque chose d'approchant pour toi, bien plus modeste puisque tu n'as rien, **mais** assez gentil tout de même.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · maupassant pierre jean, row 866)

- Not **less** than € 42,5 but **less** than € 43,4
  de 42,5 € ou plus **mais** inférieur à 43,4 €
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 2697403)

## ou

Used about 4 072 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 8 · biblical ≈ 1 · parliamentary ≈ 290 · legal and administrative ≈ 1 694 · UN documents ≈ 2 078).

- Even though meat is more expensive than fish, the nutritional quality of the two is more or **less** the same.
  Bien que la viande soit plus chère que le poisson, la qualité nutritive des deux est peu **ou** prou la même.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by tieguy and sysko · checked, community translation · [\#11669965](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/11669965) [\#1085695](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1085695))

- Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knew nothing of all this, **less** or more.”
  Est-ce aujourd’hui que j’ai commencé à consulter Dieu pour lui? Loin de moi! Que le roi ne mette rien à la charge de son serviteur ni de personne de la maison de mon père, car ton serviteur ne connaît de tout ceci aucune chose, petite **ou** grande.
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · 1SA 22:15)

- Mr President, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed **less** than 18 months ago by all the Heads of State and Government.
  - Monsieur le Président, il n’y a pas 18 mois que le traité établissant une Constitution pour l’Europe a été signé par tous les chefs d’État **ou** de gouvernement.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 727896)

- Special fissionable material when used in gram quantities or **less** as a sensing component in instruments; and
  Produits fissiles spéciaux utilisés en quantités de l'ordre du gramme **ou** en quantités inférieures comme élément sensible d'un instrument; et
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 4026246)

- :: bioaccumulated with attendant risk to aquatic organisms or to human health with a short retention of the order of one week or **less**; or
  bioaccumulation avec risque inhérent pour les organismes aquatiques **ou** la santé humaine, et à courte durée de rétention (de l &apos; ordre d &apos; une semaine maximum); ou
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 12661759)

## More sentences

Sentence pairs with the word where no single translation was found: it may be translated by a phrase, or left out.

- I cannot even boil water, much **less** roast a turkey.
  Je ne sais même pas faire bouillir de l'eau, alors faire rôtir une dinde...
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by CM and Scott · checked, community translation · [\#253297](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/253297) [\#7341](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/7341))

- It is none the **less** true.
  C'est néanmoins vrai.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Kat and sacredceltic · checked, community translation · [\#42991](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/42991) [\#948627](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/948627))

- That's more or **less** all I can say at the moment.
  C'est à peu près tout ce que je peux dire pour l'instant.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by sundown and lbdx · checked, community translation · [\#6205953](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/6205953) [\#10953797](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/10953797))

## Grammar

Notes on grammar and translation on Mova: [English grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/) · [French grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/fr/) · [translating between English and French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/pairs/en-fr/) · [translating from English](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/from-en/) · [translating into French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/into-fr/).

## About these examples

Translations are found by how often the two words stand in the same sentence pairs, and the highlighted words are matched automatically: both are approximate. Counts are estimated from a sample of each source. Every example names its source and licence. [Submit a better translation or example](https://md.translate.elamur.ai/free/en/submit/?pair=en-fr&word=less).


Every example is quoted under its source's licence and credited with it; the rest of the site is open under the Elamur Cosmic License.