Learn about French False Friends--you know, those little words that look the same as the English ones, but they do not mean the same thing
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: Have you ever mistaken a word for another? Avoid puzzlement and confusion with false friends or cognates by listening to this tricky vocabulary lesson. Hey Celine and Alex! |
| Celine: Bonjour, Sam. |
| Alex: Bonjour, ça va ? |
| Sam: Ça va et toi ? |
| Alex: Très bien, merci. |
| Sam: Oh, that’s great! So, of course, sometimes, there’s confusion with false friends or cognates, right? |
| Celine: Tout à fait, exactly. |
| Sam: Yeah, some words look like they’re the same words in another language. |
| Celine: Yes. |
| Sam: From English to French, but they’re not always. |
| Alex: Ah, oui. |
| Celine: Yeah, that happens to me many times in English. |
| Sam: Me too. |
| Celine: In French. |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Celine: So what’s today’s conversation? |
| Sam: Today’s conversation, an interesting backdrop; a foreign man wants to go to a library in a French city. He’s trying to make a purchase, but has a difficult time. |
| Celine: Okay. So this conversation is between the foreigner and the clerk. |
| Sam: Yeah, at a bookstore in France. So listeners, before we start, keep your ears open for some faux-amis, some words that sound like the same thing in English, but they’re not. So, keep your ears open. Okay, let’s go! |
| Alex: On y va ! |
| DIALOGUES |
| A: Bonjour. Je voudrais emprunter un livre. |
| B: Désolée, nous vendons des livres. C'est une librairie ici. Ce n'est pas une bibliothèque. |
| A: Ah ok. Vous avez des livres de Marcel Pagnol ? |
| B: Oui, là. C'est 10.50 euros. |
| A: Hmmm, ah c'est bon, j'ai de la monnaie. Voilà un billet de 50 euros ! |
| B: Je ne comprends pas. Vous n'avez pas de monnaie ! |
| Sam: One more time, slowly. |
| A: Bonjour. Je voudrais emprunter un livre. |
| B: Désolée, nous vendons des livres. C'est une librairie ici. Ce n'est pas une bibliothèque. |
| A: Ah ok. Vous avez des livres de Marcel Pagnol ? |
| B: Oui, là. C'est 10.50 euros. |
| A: Hmmm, ah c'est bon, j'ai de la monnaie. Voilà un billet de 50 euros ! |
| B: Je ne comprends pas. Vous n'avez pas de monnaie ! |
| Sam: Now, let’s try that with the English. |
| A: Bonjour. Je voudrais emprunter un livre. |
| A: Hello. I'd like to check out a book. |
| B: Désolée, nous vendons des livres. C'est une librairie ici. Ce n'est pas une bibliothèque. |
| B: Sorry, but we sell books. It’s a bookstore here. It's not a library. |
| A: Ah ok. Vous avez des livres de Marcel Pagnol ? |
| A: Ah, okay. Do you have books from Marcel Pagnol? |
| B: Oui, là. C'est 10.50 euros. |
| B: Yes, there. It's 10.50 Euros. |
| A: Hmmm, ah c'est bon, j'ai de la monnaie. Voilà un billet de 50 euros ! |
| A: Hmm… it's okay. I have some change. Here is a 50 Euro bill! |
| B: Je ne comprends pas. Vous n'avez pas de monnaie ! |
| B: I don't understand. You don't have any coins! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Celine: So Sam, did you recognize the false friends in this dialogue? |
| Sam: Just you. |
| Celine: Pff, n’importe quoi. That’s terrible! |
| Sam: I’m only joking. |
| Celine: Non tu n’es pas gentil, you’re not nice. |
| Sam: Yes, I am. |
| Celine: So, did you recognize some faux-amis ? |
| Sam: Yes. |
| Celine: So how many words, Sam? |
| Sam: There were two tricky words in that lesson. |
| Celine: In the conversation? |
| Sam: I think so. |
| Celine: Bravo, four. |
| Sam: Yes. I think the faux-amis were… |
| Celine: So, we’re going to talk about these tricky vocab later. First, let’s see all the vocab from the conversation. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: Okay, the first item is… |
| Alex: désolé(e) [natural native speed] |
| Sam: sorry |
| Alex: désolé(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alex: désolé(e) [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Celine: emprunter [natural native speed] |
| Sam: to borrow |
| Celine: emprunter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Celine: emprunter [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Alex: livre [natural native speed] |
| Sam: book |
| Alex: livre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alex: livre [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Celine: vendre [natural native speed] |
| Sam: to sell |
| Celine: vendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Celine: vendre [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Alex: librairie [natural native speed] |
| Sam: bookstore |
| Alex: librairie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alex: librairie [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Celine: bibliothèque [natural native speed] |
| Sam: library |
| Celine: bibliothèque [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Celine: bibliothèque [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Alex: monnaie [natural native speed] |
| Sam: change (in reference to coins) |
| Alex: monnaie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alex: monnaie [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Celine: pièce [natural native speed] |
| Sam: coin |
| Celine: pièce [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Celine: pièce [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Alex: billet [natural native speed] |
| Sam: bill |
| Alex: billet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alex: billet [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next |
| Celine: comprendre [natural native speed] |
| Sam: to understand |
| Celine: comprendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Celine: comprendre [natural native speed] |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Sam: Okay, now, our grammar point, our false friends. The first item… |
| Celine: la monnaie |
| Sam: Ah, la monnaie |
| Celine: Et oui. |
| Sam: It means money, right? |
| Celine: Ah ah, non, non, non. |
| Sam: Pas tout à fait. |
| Celine: It means “change.” |
| Sam: Oh, yes. That’s a more precise translation, I think, and the correct one. |
| Celine: In the dialogue, the expat says - j'ai de la monnaie. |
| Sam: He said I have some change. |
| Celine: Yeah, but he thought he was saying… |
| Sam and Celine: “I have some money.” |
| Celine: That’s why she didn’t understand. |
| Sam: Ah, that’s an honest mistake. |
| Celine: Yeah, bien sûr. So, how about another example, Alex, with monnaie? |
| Alex: Okay, par exemple - Tu as de la monnaie pour 10 euros ? |
| Sam: “Do you have change for 10 Euros? |
| Celine: “Vous pouvez me faire de la monnaie s’il vous plaît ?” |
| Sam: “Could you give me a change, please?” |
| Celine: This is really useful. “Vous pouvez me faire de la monnaie s’il vous plaît ?” |
| Sam: “Could you give me a change, please?” A very useful phrase. |
| Celine: Très useful. |
| Alex: In French, it would be “faire de la monnaie” and in English, it would be… |
| Sam: You could say the same thing word for word, really. You could say “make a change” or “give change” but the most precise way is to say “Could you give me change for…?” |
| Alex: Uh-huh. |
| Celine: Yes. |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Celine: So in French, it’s “faire de la monnaie”. |
| Sam: “Make a change.” You can say the same thing in English though, but some people say “give me change.” |
| Celine: Super. |
| Alex: Okay, great. Thank you, Sam. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Celine: Super! |
| Alex: Okay. |
| Celine: Okay. How about the second tricky word? La librairie. |
| Sam: Ah, the library! |
| Celine and Alex: No! |
| Sam: Zut! |
| Alex: No, bookstore, bookstore. |
| Celine: Yeah, this is the bookstore. |
| Sam: Ah! |
| Celine: You know what, I’m always confused in English too. |
| Sam: Really? |
| Celine: Yes. I always say I’m going to the library. |
| Sam: Ah! But you do read a lot, don’t you? |
| Celine: I do, yes. |
| Sam: Ah! |
| Celine: So, the expat in the dialogue, he wants to borrow a book. |
| Sam: Uh-huh. |
| Celine: And she says, oh, but this is not a library. This is a bookstore. |
| Sam: Oh! Because the word looks like library in English, he thought he was going to a library. |
| Celine: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Where does he need to go to borrow a book? |
| Alex: À la bibliothèque, which in English is… |
| Sam: “the library” |
| Alex: Ah, voilà voilà. |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Celine: Par exemple, “je vais à la librairie acheter le journal”. |
| Sam: “I’m going to the bookstore to buy a newspaper.” |
| Celine: Bien, un autre exemple, “je dois aller à la bibliothèque pour emprunter un livre”. |
| Sam: “I have to go to the library to borrow a book.” |
| Celine: Voilà. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Alex: And there is another faux-ami, par exemple : la pièce. |
| Sam: “a piece” |
| Alex: Well, not exactly. There are two meanings in French; la pièce like for a coin. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Alex: And la pièce for… |
| Sam: A room. |
| Alex: Exactly! |
| Celine: Okay, this word is not in the dialogue, but it’s better to talk about it, because we were talking about money, right? |
| Sam: Of course. |
| Celine: So pièce is “coin.” |
| Sam: A coin. |
| Alex: Par exemple, “une pièce d’1 euro”. |
| Sam: “A 1 Euro coin.” |
| Alex: Exactly! merci, Sam. |
| Celine: Avec 1 euro, tu peux boire un café. |
| Sam: “With 1 Euro, you can buy a coffee.” |
| Alex: But not in Paris. In Paris, it’s more expensive. |
| Sam: How much? |
| Alex: It’s around 1 Euro and 40 cents. |
| Celine: Ouais, 1.50 euro. |
| Sam: Expensive. |
| Celine: Ah, mais c’est du bon café. |
| Sam: Nothing like having a nice American coffee in Paris. |
| Alex: Ooh la la. |
| Celine: And no refill in France. |
| Sam: Oh no. |
| Celine: Mais oui. |
| Sam: Zut. |
| Celine: Zut. |
Outro |
|---|
| Sam: So guys, is that it for today? |
| Celine: Je pense que oui. |
| Alex: Malheureusement oui. |
| Celine: Oh. |
| Sam: Sadly, we must end there. Until the next time! |
| Celine: Merci à tous. |
| Alex: Merci à tous, merci Celine, merci Sam, au revoir. |
| Celine: Au revoir. |
| Sam: Thank you! Bye-bye. |
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