In the French drama series Plus belle la vie the character Zoé has been fighting to prove her father Stéphane’s innocence after he was identified as a murder suspect. In one episode Stéphane asks Zoé how she’s holding up when she comes to visit him in prison:

Comment tu te sens?

How are you feeling?

-Pas terrible. Je sais que c'est pas toi qui as fait ça.

-Not great. I know it’s not you who did this.

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If Zoé were feeling “not terrible,” that might suggest that she’s doing fairly well, but the rest of the episode suggests otherwise. In fact, pas terrible is an idiom meaning “not great.” Though terrible often has a negative sense as it does in English, it can also mean something along the lines of “formidable,” “huge,” or even “terrific”:

J'ai eu une chance terrible cette année.

I've been tremendously lucky this year.

The meaning of terrible really depends on context. So when the narrator of this news segment calls Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden “un film terrible,” we can assume he’s not giving the movie a bad review, but rather commenting on its harrowing subject matter: 

Une pièce du Chilien Ariel Dorfman,

A play by the Chilean Ariel Dorfman,

dont Polanski tira un film terrible avec

which Polanski made into a chilling film with

Sigourney Weaver et Ben Kingsley.

Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley.

Captions 2-3, TLT Toulouse - Dorfman mis en scène à Toulouse

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Though it can be easy for English speakers to misunderstand the meaning of terrible, there are many occasions when it directly translates as "terrible," as in this trailer for Beauty and the Beast:

Lors d'une terrible tempête, le marchand perdit sa fortune.

During a terrible storm, the merchant lost his fortune.

Caption 3, Bande-annonce - La Belle et La Bête

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You might be wondering why we have une terrible tempête here but un film terrible and une chance terrible above. The answer will help you decipher the adjective's meaning: when terrible comes before the noun, it usually means "terrible," but when it comes after the noun, it usually means "tremendous," "formidable," or something similar.

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Just double-check whenever you come across it to make sure you aren’t in the midst of une terrible méprise (a terrible misunderstanding)!

Monter is a French verb that can come in handy in many situations. We find the most basic meaning of the verb in our interview with Joanna, whose apartment is so tiny that her entire kitchen fits inside a cupboard! And although living on the ground floor means she doesn’t have to climb any stairs, she does have to climb a ladder to get to her bed.

J'habite au rez-de-chaussée,

I live on the ground floor,

donc je n'ai pas besoin de monter les escaliers.

so I don't need to go up the stairs.

Caption 6, Joanna - Son appartement

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C'est pour dormir, avec mon lit, et je dois monter à cette échelle.

It's for sleeping, with my bed, and I have to climb this ladder.

Caption 14, Joanna - Son appartement

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Joanna uses the verb monter to describe going up the stairs and climbing the ladder. Although “to go up” is the verb's most basic meaning, there are quite a few others. For example, a price or a level of something can also monter:

Le prix de l’essence monte chaque année.

The price of gas rises every year. 

Jean-Marc also uses the verb to talk about getting inside his dream car:

À chaque fois que je monte dedans, j'y prends beaucoup de plaisir.

Every time I get in, I enjoy it very much.

Caption 13, Jean-Marc - Voiture de rêve

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The opposite of monter is descendre (to go down), and just as monter can refer to getting into a car or onto a bus or train, descendre refers to getting out or off:

On va monter dans le train à Bastille et descendre à République.

We’ll get on the train at Bastille and get off at République. 

Note that it’s monter dans le train (literally, “to go up into the train”) and descendre du train (to descend from the train).

When monter is used with a direct object, it can mean “to put up,” “set up,” “establish,” or “put together”:

C'était un peu une façon pour moi et de faire un film et de monter une pièce.

It was kind of a way for me to make not only a film but also to stage a play.

Caption 18, TLT Toulouse - Dorfman mis en scène à Toulouse

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Il a réussi à monter sa propre pizzeria.

He succeeded in opening his own pizzeria.

Caption 3, Le Journal - Les microcrédits

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Donc, le crapaud il va falloir beaucoup plus de temps pour le monter.

So for the squat, it will take much longer to put it together.

Caption 37, Le Tapissier - L'artisan et son travail

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Speaking of direct objects, it’s good to know what to do with monter in the past tense (passé composé). Monter is one of the few verbs that usually takes the auxiliary être in the passé composé instead of avoir:

Joanna est montée à l’échelle. 

Joanna climbed the ladder.

But when monter takes a direct object and becomes transitive, it does take avoir:

Nous avons monté une pièce.

We staged a play.

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The passé composé is a very tricky aspect of French grammar. You can find a detailed introduction to it here.

This lesson just dips its toe into the verb’s numerous possibilities: you can also monter un film (edit a film), monter à cheval (ride a horse), monter un complot (hatch a plot), monter au combat (go to battle), monter des blancs d’œufs (whisk egg whites), and much more!

You can find a comprehensive list of monter's meanings on this site.