Meaning & use
film
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Meanings
nouncountable
A series of moving images shown in a cinema or on television that tells a story or records real events.
Grammar: Countable: a film, two films, the film we saw.
Patterns
- watch a film
- make a film
- a film about someone/something
We watched a French film at the cinema last night.
She is making a film about life in a small village.
The film won several awards at international festivals.
nouncountable or uncountable
A thin layer or covering of a substance on a surface.
Grammar: Often used with 'of': a film of dust, a film of oil.
Patterns
- a film of something
- form a film
A film of dust covered the old books.
Soap can leave a film on your skin if you don't rinse well.
A thin film of ice had formed on the pond overnight.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To record moving images of something using a camera.
Grammar: Can take an object (film a scene) or be used without one (they are filming today).
Patterns
- film something
- film someone doing something
- film in a place
They filmed the wedding from the back of the church.
The crew is filming in the city center this week.
He filmed himself opening the package.
Word forms
| plural | films |
|---|---|
| third person singular | films |
| past tense | filmed |
| past participle | filmed |
| -ing form | filming |
Common combinations
- watch a film
- We usually watch a film together on Friday nights.
- make a film
- The students made a short film for their class project.
- film a scene
- They filmed the scene in a busy market.
- a film of dust
- There was a film of dust on the piano keys.
- film festival
- The city hosts a film festival every autumn.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: film or file?
film vs file
A file is a collection of documents or data; a film is a movie or a thin layer. They sound similar but are unrelated.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'film' correctly as a verb?
Choose one answer.
'Filmed' is the correct past tense of the verb 'film'. Option A uses present tense with a past time marker, option B uses present for a future event (possible but less natural without context), and option D has incorrect grammar ('is film' instead of 'is filming').
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “film”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.