![]() ![]() Blessé /Blessedīlesser means “to wound,” either emotionally or physically. Une brasserie is either “a brewery,” or “a bar” that serves meals. Brasserie /BrassiereĪgain, no connection with lingerie. The French word for “a bra” is un soutien-gorge. It has no connection whatsoever with female undergarments. Votre bras means “your arm,” the limb between your shoulder and your wrist. They’re really saying “I’m waiting for you,” and not “I’m attending to you.” If you’re planning on romancing someone in French you’ll need to know this distinction (and learning these French romance words too wouldn’t hurt!). Attendre /AttendĪttendre means “to wait for.” Je t’attends is one of the little phrases that boyfriends and girlfriends often text to each other when they’re spending time apart. ![]() Similarly, the ancien maire of a commune is the “former mayor,” who might still be a young man your ancienne voiture is the car you used to own and l’ancienne gare describes the former station building, probably converted to another use such as a house, a shop, or a café. A good rule of thumb is that if ancien comes before the noun, it usually means “former” rather than “ancient”/“old.” 2. Ancien /AncientĪncien can mean “ancient,” but more often it means “former.” It’s important to know that un ancien combattant means “an old soldier” in the sense of “a former soldier.” It doesn’t mean that he’s as old as Methuselah. The consequences of being led astray by a false friend can range from being left feeling slightly puzzled, to suffering acute embarrassment when you see, from the other person’s reaction, that you’ve said something rather shocking. She’ll be drop-dead gorgeous, but she might turn out to be as miserable as sin and not crack a smile all evening. But since the French adjective joli does not mean jolly, but rather means “pretty,” you could be wrong on both counts. A jolly girl is sure to have a good sense of humor and be great company, even if she leaves something to be desired in the looks department. For instance, you might fix up a blind date with une jolie fille, confidently looking forward to a fun evening with plenty of laughs. Semi-false cognates can set you up for disappointments too. grande often simply means “big.” The town could be a dump, but if it’s big it could correctly be described as grande. That’s because in French, the adjective grand But if you go to une grande ville expecting to be wowed, you’ll probably end up being disappointed instead. If you visit a grand city, you would expect to see impressive buildings since the English “grand” means it has a wow factor. An example of a French false cognate is the word grand Semi-false cognates are words that don’t look exactly the same, but they’re similar enough to invite confusion. For the purposes of this blog, we’re also including “semi-false cognates” in our list of faux amis. The Challenge of French False Cognatesįalse cognates are words that look identical in both languages but whose meanings differ. And those are the faux amis, which literally translates to “false friends.” These words can easily trick you into getting the wrong end of the stick, or to say something senseless or embarrassing that you hadn’t intended at all. When French words look like English words, they really ought to mean the same thing, oughtn’t they? Often they do, fortunately, but some words don’t play fair. (Download) What Are French False Friends (aka Faux Amis)? This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy.
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