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.