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I have not been able to find a direct equivalent of "get" in French, which I understand because it varies depending in context. Even in English get has many meanings. Since "get" is quite common, I'd like to know what French verb could used to replace the most common uses of "get"?

For example:

"Get" as in "to bring" - "She's getting the food", "I'll go get the tools", "He's getting the money", "I'll go get her", etc. Would I use apporter, chercher? Could I say "je vais aller la chercher" if I wanted to get someone who was needed? Once I heard someone say "Il recoit de l'argent" to refer to a person bringing money, which makes no sense because I thought that meant "to receive".

"Get" as in "to receive" - "I got it, thank you", "She got her paycheck yesterday", "He got the email earlier today". I'm using recevoir would be used in this case?

"Get" as in "to buy" - "I got this yesterday half off!", "I got this last minute at the fair", etc. I'm using it would just be acheter?

Honestly my main question revolves around the first example of "to bring". This is one of the most common ways I hear get used in English. Like "I am going to get it", what verb would be used in place of "get"?

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    In English, get is a verb that is used for many, many different things. There's no one verb in French that can be used to replace it.
    – Peter Shor
    Jun 17 at 13:50
  • Yes, you are correct. I have edited my question to be more specific. "Get" is something I have really struggled with, so any insights would be helpful.
    – jari85
    Jun 17 at 13:55
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    I know dictionaries sometimes get it wrong, but you can come back here to make sure. Dad’s gone to get them at the airport on the Cambridge dictionary is wrong, if you countercheck emmener you'll see it is not what the English means. It seems Cambridge is having a slight problem with emmener on that page ! ("You’ll get me into trouble", nothing to do with emmener either, it means tu vas m'attirer des ennuis)
    – None
    Jun 17 at 14:26
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    Collins seems to do a lot better than Cambridge on that one. Get
    – None
    Jun 17 at 14:57
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    I'm voting to close because there are many translations and it's all dependent on context. Please clarify or ask about a specific meaning, one question per question.
    – livresque
    Jun 17 at 20:28

1 Answer 1

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Quand j'étais écolier, on nous expliquait que to get signifie "obtenir". Comme s'étonner qu'avec de telles sottises l'anglais soit si mal parlé et si mal compris ?

To get n'est que que rarement utilisé seul ; en revanche, les formes à particules sont si fréquentes, si nombreuses et si différentes dans leurs significations que les répertorier constituerait une tâche écrasante ; et cela d'autant plus que deux formes utilisant des particules identiques peuvent être polysémiques (get in, get on, get off, get over, get round etc.).

Quant à savoir, pour refléter à la mise à jour de votre question, comment traduire I am going to get it, c'est dénué de sens sauf à connaître les circonstances et le contexte. Pour votre gouverne, un exemple édifiant : A parcel is hung up at the post office — Very good, I shall get it se traduit par : "Je vais le chercher". Mais d'un paquet dont vous attendez qu'il vous soit livré : "Je vais le recevoir".

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  • I'm going to get it c'est un bon exemple de pourquoi on ne peut pas répondre à la question. Attendons jusqu'à ce que ça soit clarifiée. Sinon c'est impossible.
    – livresque
    Jun 17 at 21:11
  • @livresque — En cas de clarification, un problème analogue se posera très vite à l'intéressé aussi longtemps qu'il ne reconsidérera pas sa question dans un cadre radicalement différent de celui du lexique: l'anglais est une langue formidablement éloignée du français, et seule la stylistique comparée pourra lui permettre de comprendre pourquoi.
    – Brice C.
    Jun 18 at 19:29

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