to recover or get back
Il a récupéré son livre après l’avoir cherché pendant trois jours.
He got his book back after looking for it for three days.
PUT TODAY’S WORD INTO ACTION
Visit conjugation-fr.com to learn how to conjugate récupérer.
the space shuttle
La Nasa s’apprêtait à lancer la navette spatiale Endeavour.
NASA was preparing to launch the space shuttle Endeavour.
next to
Claude est aussi assis à l’avant de la salle à côté d’Hélène.
Claude is also sitting in the front of the room next to Helen.
TODAY
It’s very useful in conversation to be able to describe spatial relationships — the idea of where one thing is in relation to another. Today’s phrase will help you do just that.
DISCOVER MORE DIRECTIONAL WORDS
Follow the links below to learn more French vocabulary words about proximity.
QUIZ LINK
Test yourself on today’s phrase and other related words by clicking here.
a keyboard
Pensez-vous que les claviers des ordinateurs portables sont assez grands?
Do you think the keyboards on the laptops are big enough?
a power outage
Après l’orage, il y avait des milliers de pannes de courant.
After the storm, there were thousands of power outages.
TODAY
Our topic is thunderstorms and their effects — les orages et leurs effets.
DISCOVER THESE OTHER STORMY WEATHER WORDS
VOILÀ SUBSCRIBERS, TAKE THIS WEEK’S QUIZ
Take our Stormy Weather French Vocabulary Quiz to find if you’ve learned to say power outage in French and practice more thunderstorm vocabulary words.
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.
le page = the page, as in an aid or assistant
la page = the page, as in a book
Le page a tourné à la page 100.
The page turned to page 100.
TODAY
We’re having fun with words that have more than one definition that varies according to gender. When the gender changes, so does the meaning!
DISCOVER HOW GENDER MATTERS IN THESE WORDS
Learn how the difference between le and la creates the paired meanings below:
QUIZ YOURSELF
Take our Gender Matters French Vocabulary Quiz to find out how you fare with words whose meanings change according to gender.
n.f., the stars
Les étoiles illuminaient la nuit.
The stars lit the night.
TODAY
We’re looking upward to discover one of the words of the night sky.
DISCOVER MORE FRENCH ASTRONOMY AND SPACE WORDS
The sky’s the limit with these French vocabulary words:
WHAT IN THE HEAVENS?
Practice saying stars in French with our French Astronomy Vocabulary Quiz.
to compete against each other
Les écoles se font concurrence dans les matchs de football.
Schools play against each other in football (soccer) games.
MORE ABOUT FAIRE
Faire, which literally means to do or to make, is among the most common of French verbs. It is used in many expressions. To learn how to conjugate it, have a look at our entry on faire in our Quick Verb Guide.
DID YOU KNOW?
In French, le football means soccer. If you want to talk about the American sport of football, you should say le football américain.
TODAY
We’re learning some of the basic vocabulary of the classroom. If you’re studying French for the first time, get ahead of the curve with these words and phrases — and maybe even impress le prof!
DISCOVER MORE FRENCH CLASSROOM VOCABULARY WORDS
Once you’ve mastered how to say to compete in French, learn these other classroom vocabulary words.
READY FOR CLASS?
Take our French Classroom Vocabulary Quiz to test your skills.
a place setting
Il y aura dix couverts pour ton dîner d’anniversaire.
There will be ten place settings for your birthday dinner.
TODAY
Our word is among the essential French vocabulary words for the dinner table.
DISCOVER THESE OTHER DINNER TABLE WORDS
After you’ve learned to say place setting in French, build your dinner table vocabulary with these additional words.