In this video we’re going to look at false friends in French and English.
Let's kick things off immediately with Monnaie and Money.
This one causes all sorts of problems when foreigners visit
a shop or a supermarket in a foreign country, in a French-speaking country.
The cashier may ask the customer if they have any
Monnaie and the customer may well be confused because they've given money.
Monnaie is loose change, not to be confused with money, which can be any amount.
In French, money is l’argent.
Next, we have Location and Location.
Location means rental, hire or leasing.
Une voiture de location, for example, is a rental car, one which you do not own yourself.
Location in English means place or position.
As I’m sure you’ve realised after these two examples,
a false friend is a word which is regularly confused with a word in another language
because the two words look or sound similar. In French, they are called faux amis and no,
they have absolutely nothing to do with bad, fake friends!
In my experience knowing these false friends (or faux amis)
helps French speakers learning English and English speakers learning French.
By the way, if we’re meeting for the first time, I’m Alister. On this channel we have all
types of tips, lessons and advice about learning English. If you’re new here, consider subscribing.
Coin and Coin.
Coin is the French word for corner, like this.
Nothing to do with coins in your wallet, which are Monnaie, as we heard earlier.
Attendre and Attend.
Attendre means to wait.
It is common when a French couple have been dating and they’re kept apart for a period
of time that they will text each other “Je t’attends”. What they are saying is
“I’m waiting for you”, or “I can’t wait to see you” might be the English equivalent.
Attend does not mean to wait.
In English it has a few meanings and we’ll look at two of them. It can mean to go to a
place or an event, maybe you attend a school or you attend a football match, for example.
Additionally, it means to provide a service to someone, often part of your
job. A very common example, in English we would say that nurses attend to their
patients in the hospital.
Déception and Deception.
Déception is about being disappointed when someone or something was not as good as you had expected or hoped for or something you wanted to happen didn’t happen, you're disappointed, Déception.
Deception, however, involves hiding the truth, often illegally,
usually to gain some sort of advantage for the person who is using the deception.
So, why make a video about French?
French is a romance language and it has official status in
no less than 29 countries across the whole globe.
It is the 6th most spoken language worldwide, when you combine those who speak it as a first
language and those who speak it as a second language. Additionally, French claims to be
the second most studied language universally. It truly is an international language!
Grand and Grand.
A classic false friend here. Grand in French usually means big, large or tall.
Grand in English is more about being great, impressive or important.
For example, there’s no doubt that Paris is une grande ville (a large city),
however whether or not you think it is a great city is a matter of your personal opinion.
What do you think? Is Paris a great city? Let me
know in the comments below. Have you been to Paris, for example?
Journée and Journey.
Une journée is a day.
A journey is traveling from one place to another,
usually involving some form of transport, perhaps voyage in French.
Joli(e) and Jolly.
Joli(e) is an adjective describing something that is pretty, this can be people or things.
Jolly, on the other hand, means someone who is happy and smiling, a jolly person.
This video is part of my false friends series. The
link to the playlist is up here and I’ll also include it below in the
YouTube description. Make sure to check it out after you’ve watched this video.
Raisin and Raisin.
Raisins are grapes.
In English, these are raisins.
In French, both raisins and sultanas are called Raisins secs, which makes perfect sense,
it's entirely logical because that's in fact what they are - dried grapes.
Grappe and Grape.
Food false friends can be some of the most confusing so make
sure you're very careful with these ones. A Grappe is a bunch or cluster.
You can have a Grappe of bananas or grapes or flowers.
Passer and Pass.
Be careful here - Passer un examen does not mean to pass
an exam. It simply means to take or to sit an exam. If you want to find
out whether or not you have passed the exam, you’ll have to wait till later.
In English, to pass the exam means to be successful in the exam. If
only taking the exam meant passing the exam.
By the way, if you’re preparing for an English exam, watch this video up here. It has all sorts
of practical tips and psychological strategies to help you do the best you can in your English
exam. I’ll also put a link in the YouTube description below. Bonne chance and good luck!
Librairie and Library.
This is another very common false friend. I remember it when I was studying French in school,
very difficult because both words involve talking about books and you can understand the confusion.
A Librairie is a place where you buy books, a bookstore or a bookshop.
A library is where you borrow books from. In French, bibliothèque.
Blesser and bless.
Blesser means to hurt or wound, either physically or emotionally.
Watch out for this one as bless in English is completely different,
nothing to do with hurting or wounding at all. It is about calling or making someone
or something holy or asking for God’s protection. For example, many marriages in the UK are blessed.
To bless in French is bénir.
Sensible and Sensible.
A person who is described as Sensible is easily upset by the things other
people say or do. In English, we use the adjective sensitive.
A sensible person thinks and acts based on good judgment, practical ideas, and understanding.
Any sensible language-lover or learner would check out this
video showing false friends between Russian and English.
Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you over here in this video.