What am I saying? Eat Sleep Dreamers today we're going to look at ten French words that
English has stolen, I mean borrowed. We've borrowed the words. Let's do this!
First of all I've got to apologise to all French speakers out there. I can't speak French
as you could tell. I'm sorry guys, that was bad I know. Help me with my pronunciation,
tell me in the comments below how did I do? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't do that again.
Anyway, I want this video to be a thank you video to the French language because the French
language has given English so many words. The numbers are crazy, it's something like
a third of English words are rooted in French or in latin. So today I wanted to share with
you ten words that we use all the time in our every day conversations, spoken English,
written English, all of it. It's all in there. Now historically the reason that there are
so many French words in English is because of the Norman conquest in 1066. the Normans
came over to England, conquered England and the English language incorporated many of
the French words that they brought over. And we still use so many of these words today
and in certain circumstances they are the only words that we can use. We don't have
any other ways to say these words, we just use the French words. So let's get into it.
Number one bon appétit. This is said to someone before eating a meal. It means enjoy your
meal. We don't have a phrase for that in English. We don't use any other words other than bon
appétit. So whenever my family would sit down for dinner we would say bon appétit
to each other, like enjoy your meal. Now the pronunciation is obviously going to be different.
We're not going to say it in the French way. We're going to give it an anglicized twist.
We're going to use our accents so yeah there's no right or wrong way to pronounce these.
It's how you pronounce it. I would say bon appétit. Number two, related to that bon
voyage. This means good trip or have a good trip. So if someone is leaving maybe they
are going on holiday, you would say bon voyage. Like have a good journey, have a good trip.
We might say that exact phrase, have a good trip but yeah often we'd say bon voyage. Number
three R.S.V.P. now you would see this mostly written to be honest at the bottom of an invitation.
The French is Répondez s'il vous plaît which means like please reply and that's exactly
what it means in English, please reply. Let's say you've been invited to a wedding it would
say R.S.V.P. and that means you need to reply to the invitation either accepting or declining
the invitation. Number four fiancé. This is someone that is engaged to be married.
So that stage between being boyfriend / girlfriend, boyfriend / boyfriend, girlfriend / girlfriend
and being married so husband and wife or husband and husband or wife wife. That stage in between
you'd be a fiancé. Now you'll notice there that the pronunciation is different from the
French. The French would stress the final syllable so fiancé but we stress the first
syllable fiancé. This is both for male and female so you are both fiancé. 'My fiancé
works for a law firm.' So the person that I am engaged to works for a law firm. If you
can't remember the pronunciation just think of Beyonce, Beyonce fiancé. Number five déjà
vu. This is that feeling that you have experienced something before. have you ever had that?
Where you are in a situation and you think wait a minute has this happened before? I
feel like I've been here with these people in this situation. This is déjà vu. Number
five déjà vu this is that feeling that you have experienced something before. So an example
sentence 'Oh I've got déjà vu, I feel like we've been here before.' How would you say
déjà vu in your language, let me know in the comments below. Number six chic. It's
an adjective that means fashionable or stylish. So you might have a chic dress for example
a chic dress. It's a stylish elegant dress. Related to that is boutique. As a noun it's
a small shop that is stylish fashionable and sells clothes or jewellery things like that.
So a little boutique. We can also use it as an adjective so for example a boutique hotel
is a small hotel that is stylish and fashionable. So an example sentence ' We stayed in a lovely
boutique hotel when we went to Rome.' Number eight entrepreneur. This is an individual
that starts a business. They are an entrepreneur. Now the pronunciation there, probably very
different from the French. We would just say entrepreneur. 'I met loads of tech entrepreneurs
at a conference yesterday.' Number nine a la carte. An a la carte menu is the opposite
of a fixed/set menu. So with an a la carte menu you get to order separate dishes, whatever
you want from this menu. The opposite of that would be like a fixed menu. So you have a
choice of three starters, three main courses and three deserts. So that's a fixed menu
but the a la carte menu is you can choose whatever you want. So you have much more freedom,
much more choice with an a la carte menu. The waiter or waitress might say to you 'would
you like to look at the a la carte menu?' And the final one is encore. This means again.
Now in British culture we use it most commonly at the end of a performance. So for example
I've been to lots of concerts and when the band finishes their last song they go off
stage and the crowd shout encore. Which means they want more, they want them to play again,
they want them to play more music. And that's when the band will usually come back on to
the stage and play two or three more songs typically. Now as a noun this is also called
the encore, those two or three songs that the band plays at the end of the concert.
It's called the encore. So it could be an exclamation from the crowd or it could be
a noun as well. Eat Sleep Dreamers tell me in the comments below what words do you use
in your language to express these things. So for example when a performance has ended
and you want more, the band has finished, what do you shout to the band to say that
you want more? Do you say encore or do you say something else? When someone goes on holiday
or goes on a long journey, what do you say to them? Do you say 'bon voyage' or do you
say something totally different? Let me know guys. Tell me, let's share our experiences
together in comments below and let's teach each other our different variations, our different
languages below. I can't wait, I can't wait to hear them. Guys remember I've got new videos
every Tuesday and every Friday helping you take your English to the next level. If you
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time guys this is Tom the Chief Dreamer saying goodbye.