French Word of the Day

French Fanatic

Learn French vocabulary with one new French word a day
Friday, September 6, 2013

actuellement

currently

Nous sommes actuellement en route.
We are currently on the way.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
In French, actuellement actually means currently. If you really mean actually, you would want to use en fait.

TODAY
Our example can help you avoid a common mistake. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide plenty of pitfalls for language learners. Today’s word is a perfect example of a word whose meaning could be easily mistaken.

DISCOVER MORE FALSE COGNATES
Check out these words that aren’t quite what they seem:

CAN YOU AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE?
Take our French False Cognates Quiz to see if you can say currently in French and avoid the common mistakes presented by French false cognates.



Sunday, December 30, 2012

attendre

to wait

J’attends ma mère.
I’m waiting for my mother.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
Attendre means to wait. If you want to say you’re attending to somebody or something, you would use the verb assister. So, if you were attending to your mother, rather than waiting for her, you would say: J’assiste à ma mère.

TODAY
Our example illustrates an especially useful topic. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times, as with our example today, do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide pitfalls for language learners.

Vocabulary Section: False Cognates,Verbs,Word of the Day
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

blesser

to injure

Henri s’est blessé la jambe en jouant au tennis.
Henri injured his leg while playing tennis.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
Blesser means to injure, not to bless. When we remember this, Henri gets attention for his injury — not for strangely bestowing blessings on body parts during a match!

THIS WEEK
We have an especially useful topic for you. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide plenty of pitfalls for language learners.

This week, we’ll share some of our favorite false cognates with you to  keep you from falling into the trap of translating incorrectly.

THE LATEST QUIZ IS READY FOR OUR VOILÀ! SUBSCRIBERS
Members of our Voilà service can go straight to this week’s quiz by clicking here.
Not a member yet? SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Vocabulary Section: False Cognates,Verbs,Word of the Day
Monday, August 2, 2010

demander

to ask

Jean a demandé de l’argent.
Jean asked for some money.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
Demander means to ask, not to demand. As you can imagine, making that mistake when translating the example sentence above could make the difference between casting Jean as a polite young man or a robber!

THIS WEEK
We have an especially useful topic for you. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide plenty of pitfalls for language learners.

This week, we’ll share some of our favorite false cognates with you to  keep you from falling into the trap of translating incorrectly.

THE LATEST QUIZ IS READY FOR OUR VOILÀ! SUBSCRIBERS
Members of our Voilà service can go straight to this week’s quiz by clicking here.
Not a member yet? SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Vocabulary Section: False Cognates,Verbs,Word of the Day
Tuesday, June 18, 2013

la misère

poverty or misery

Les gens qui n’ont pas d’argent vivent dans la misère.
People who have no money live in poverty.

AVOID THE TEMPTING FAUX PAS!
While la misère can mean misery, its more common meaning is poverty — which a friend of our site pointed out is indeed pretty miserable.

TODAY
Our example illustrates an especially useful topic. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide plenty of pitfalls for language learners. Today’s word is one such example.

QUIZ LINK
Take our quiz and find out if you can avoid falling into the traps created by common false cognates.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

les paroles

n.f.pl., words or lyrics

Ses paroles m’ont effrayé.
His words frightened me.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
Here, it is only words that frighten the subject — not the fact that someone is getting out of prison on parole. If you were discussing parole, as in leave from prison, you would be talking about la liberté conditionnelle.

THIS WEEK
We hope our topic, false cognates, has been especially useful for you. These words are tricky because they look and sound much like their English equivalents but, in fact, have different meanings.

THE LATEST QUIZ IS READY FOR OUR VOILÀ! SUBSCRIBERS
Members of our Voilà service can go straight to this week’s quiz by clicking here.
Not a member yet? SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

sage

well-behaved or wise

Les enfants sont sages.
The children are well-behaved.

AVOID THE TEMPTING MISTAKE!
In this case, sage means well-behaved. But if we said our grandparents were sages, we would probably mean they were wise. Of course, well-behaved grandparents are welcome, too!

TODAY
Our topic is especially useful. While French and English have many cognates — words that are derived from the same root word and consequently look and sound a lot alike — these words sometimes have similar meanings but other times do not. When they don’t, they are called false cognates and can provide plenty of pitfalls for language learners. Today’s word can be one such example. Click here to discover more false cognates on our Web site.

WILL YOU BE FOOLED?
Take our False Cognates Quiz to see if you can navigate troublesome false cognates in French.