Precious few things can ruin life’s best moments than bad grammar. Should you ever get the opportunity, be sure not to announce a declaration of love with ‘Je suis amoureux avec toi’. This phrase is a literal translation of the English expression ‘to be in love with someone’. In French, we use a different preposition Continue reading “I’m in love with you”
Month: August 2019
FAUX AMIS
Learn who your real French friends are
This week’s faux ami or false friend is the word ‘sujet’. ‘Sujet’ is often thought to mean ‘subject’ in English, and this is partly true. ‘Subject’ in this sense means ‘topic’: Quel est le sujet de ta dissertation ? – What is the topic of your essay? (or ‘What is the subject of your essay?’)
‘Sujet’ is incorrectly translated as ‘subject’ when it refers to a course studied at school or university. The correct word for this is ‘matière’, a feminine noun.
Il a étudié cinq matières au lycée – He studied five subjects in high school
So, to summarise:
Sujet – a topic (of discussion, an essay, etc.), a masculine noun
Matière – a subject studied at school, university, etc., a feminine noun
The lesson from all this is to dig a little deeper and to not be fooled by appearances. With some exceptions, a lot of words that look similar in both languages are faux amis.
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Nickel, merci !
When asked ‘Ça va ?’ you probably wouldn’t hesitate before responding ‘bien’ or ‘ça va’. These are the standard responses students are normally taught in class. However, there are other ways of expressing the notion of ‘ça va’ which you can use to vary your responses. One of them is ‘nickel’ (pronounced like ‘quel’). It has several meanings – as a noun it refers to nickel the metal, as an adjective it means ‘spick and span’. It can also mean ‘great’ (similar to ‘génial’ or ‘super’) and can be used in reply to a greeting.
Salut ! Ça va ? | Nickel, merci ! – Hi! How’s it going? | Great, thanks!
J’ai enfin trouvé ma montre ! | Ah, nickel ! – I finally found my watch! | That’s great!
This usage is very familier (informal) so it’s best reserved for friends and familiar acquaintances.
So, the next time you’re speaking to someone, why not surprise them by trying something different?
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Protip: personne ou une personne?
Protips: The little things you learn to pro up your French
The word personne exists both as a pronoun and a noun in French. As a noun, it means a person or someone and is synonymous with quelqu’un in most cases. As a pronoun, it means no one or nobody and is constructed as a double negative using ne.
Personne ne doit savoir la vérité – No one/nobody must know the truth (‘personne’ here is a pronoun, therefore there is no article; it stands alone.)
Et si la personne que tu aimes ne t’aime pas? – What if the person you like doesn’t like you back? (‘personne’ here is a noun, and can refer to a male or female; notice the article before the noun. It is always feminine even when referring to a male.)
The noun personne can act as a synonym of quelqu’un in some situations (though quelqu’un is somewhat more common in usage than une personne). Quelqu’un is a neutral noun, but in French there is no third gender so neutral nouns are masculine. Again, even when used to refer to a female, quelqu’un will remain invariable. Unlike une personne, quelqu’un has no plural form. To express plurality, use les gens.
Les gens qui tiennent à leurs rêves doivent surmonter des difficultés dans leur vie – [The] people who hold on to their dreams need to overcome difficulties in their lives
Personne as a pronoun can be employed on its own to mean ‘no one’ or ‘nobody’, for instance in answer to a question.
Qui est entré dans mon bureau ? | Personne – Who went into my office? | No one
COMME UN PRO 