74- 5 False Friends in French (Part II)

 
 

Listen to this episode to learn 5 false-friends in French.

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Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 74, numéro 74! 

So today, we are doing another episode on false friends between French and English.

If you haven't listened to part I yet, then you can go and listen to episode number 73, where you'll 5 more false friends.

Before we start, if you're new to the podcast, don't forget to download your lesson's cheat sheet, so you can have a look at the words while hearing them. 

For this episode, again, there are no exercises, but you can still go to the French Made Easy library to access all of the other exercises from previous episodes. The link is in the episode notes.

So for those who haven't listened to part I yet, I'll just briefly tell you false friends are. So these are words between 2 languages that are the same or look similar but don't mean the same thing. They are called "faux-amis" in French.

Ok, vous êtes prêts? Are you ready? C'est parti.

  • Rester vs. To rest

These two get mixed up a lot. "Rester" in French doesn't mean "to rest" in English; it means "to stay, or to remain." 

Par exemple: Je reste à la maison aujourd'hui. (I'm staying home today.)

  • Passer un exam(en) vs. To pass an exam

"Passer un examen" in French doesn't mean "to pass an exam" in English; it means "to take an exam." It doesn't actually mean you passed! 

Par exemple: Il passe un examen. (He's taking an exam.)

  • Journée vs. Journey

"La journée" en français doesn't mean "journey" in English. It means "day" or "daytime."

Par exemple: Je travaille toute la journée. (I work all day.)

  • Caméra vs. Camera

So those two aren't exactly spelled the same way as you have an acute accent on the "e," but "la caméra" en français, which sounds the same, doesn't mean "camera" in English; it means "video camera". or "movie camera." So it's not to take photos, but to take videos.

Par exemple: On achète une nouvelle caméra. (We are buying a new video camera.)

  • Bras vs. Bra

They sound almost the same, but "le bras" en français doesn't mean "bra" in English. It means "arm."

Par exemple: Elle a un tatouage sur le bras. (She has a tatoo on her arm.)

So, quick recap: 

  • rester (to stay, to remain)

  • passer un examen (to take an exam)

  • la journée (day, daytime)

  • la caméra (a video camera or a movie camera)

  • bras (arm)

Et voilà, c'est tout pour aujourd'hui. That's all for today. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I'll chat with you next time!

Merci beaucoup, et à bientôt.

 
Mathilde KienComment