92 - 5 False Friends in French (Part III)

 
 

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 tout le monde! Hello everyone! 

Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 92, numéro 92! 

I feel like the last two episodes from the podcast were a bit heavy, maybe? So today we're doing an easier lesson. 

We're going to look at five false friends between French and English. I already did two episodes on that topic, parts 1 & 2; I'll link them in the transcript. 

Let me just recap briefly what false friends are. They are words between 2 languages that look similar or even are spelled the same but don't have the same meaning. We call them in French"faux-amis." 

Alright, before we start, if you're new to the podcast, don't forget to download your lesson's cheat sheet, so you hear the words and check their spelling at the same time. 

For this episode, 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.

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

Our first false friends are: 

1. demander vs. to demand

Demander doesn't mean "to demand" in English. It's less strong than that. It means "to ask or to ask for." 

Par exemple: "Je lui demande l'heure." (I'm asking him the time.)

2. l'agenda vs agenda

The meaning of "l'agenda" is different than the meaning of agenda. It means "organizer, or diary."

Par exemple: "Elle achète un agenda." (She's buying a diary.) For my French Pronunciation Made Easy students, notice the liaison in that sentence.

3. attendre vs. to attend

Ok, these two are very, very often mixed up. "Attendre" means "to wait for" and not "to attend."

Par exemple: "Il attend son tour." (He's waiting for his turn.)

4. brillant vs. brilliant. 

I often hear "It's brilliant!" in English," as in "it's great!" But "brillant" in French doesn't mean the same thing; it means "bright or shiny."

Par exemple: "Cette bague est très brillante." (This ring is very shiny.) And here, I don't know if you've noticed, but I said "brillante" and not "brilliant" because of the adjective agreement, which is a lesson for another day.

5. blesser vs. to bless 

Blesser doesn't mean "to bless" in English. It means "to wound, to injure" or "to hurt."

Par exemple: "Elle s'est blessée." (She injured herself.)

So, quick recap: 

  • demander (to ask for)

  • l'agenda (diary)

  • attendre (to wait)

  • brillant (bright, shiny)

  • blesser (to injure, to hurt)

Et c'est tout pour aujourd'hui. That's all for today. Thanks for listening. I'll chat with you next week. 

À bientôt!

 
Mathilde Kien2 Comments