Look

Verb

Sense / Meaning / Semantics

direct your gaze at / regarder

In the imperative mode, look is most often translated as regarder.

It is sometimes translated as Écoute(z)!, (see "discourse marker" below)

appear / sembler

When look is not followed by a particle or directional preposition, it is an attributive verb, often translated as avoir l'air de

• look + ADJ
• look + like + Noun / Pronoun / Sentence

• You look sleepy. tu as l'air fatigué
• It looks like a trap. ça a l'air d'être un piège
• She looks like you. Elle te ressemble // elle ressemble (plus) à toi
• They looked like they were exhausted. Ils avaient l'air d'être vannés.

Look + preposition = regarder

Except in orders (imperative mode, see above), look is followed by a preposition, most commonly "at"

• He looked at his hands. They were dirty.
• I looked at the clock and realized I was late.
• They asked me to look at this.

It is often used with other directional / situational prepositions (under, out, on, in, over, through, etc.)

• I looked in the dresser, under the bed, on the desk, everywhere. I'm sorry I couldn't find your brush. Are you sure it isn't in your bag?
• They looked out the window and across the street.
• He looked right through us, as if we weren't there.
• When you look through a telescope, close your other eye.

Look + particle = ???

• look for: chercher
• look up: rechercher
• look through: parcourir
• look over: parcourir, avoir vue sur
• look into: enquêter
• look on: être spectateur (compare to above)
• look up to: être admiratif de
• look out for: etre à l'affût de
• look back on: se rappeler qqch
• look forward to: attendre avec impatience (nb: look forward to Ving.)

etc.

conjugation / grammar / syntax

Present tense

I / We / You / They...

• look
• don't look

He / She / It / That / This ...

• looks
• doesn't look

Past tense

• looked
• didn't look

Participles

• present: looking
• past:: looked [lʊkt]

Grammar / syntax

Look

• can be intransitive (followed by nothing)
• cannot be followed directly by a conjugated verb or the verbal base
• can be followed directly by an adjective (or verbal participles)
• can be followed directly by "like" + N, Pronoun, Sentence.

Noun

glance

• have a (quick / long / good) look at a problem
• We gave another house a look, but we didn't like it as much.

appearance

• That's a pretty cool look. I like the colors.

Discourse Marker

As mentioned above "look" is a discourse marker demanding particular attention to the speech that follows.

• Look. I'm not going. Écoute, je n'y vais pas. ( C'est tout / point barre / etc. )