Learn who your real French friends are

This week’s faux ami is the word issu, which is often thought to mean ‘issue’ in English. In actuality, these two words have no relation in meaning.

Issu (feminine issue)is an adjective meaning ‘stemming from’ or ‘resulting from’ (les produits issus de l’agriculture biologique – organic produce, literally ‘produce resulting from organic farming’. It can also be used to talk about someone’s lineage, descent or background, that is their social or cultural background. Some meanings that can be derived from this include ‘descended from’, ‘of/from a ________ (e.g. humble) background’, etc. E.g. Cléopâtre VII est issue de Ptolemée XII – Cleopatra VII is descended from Ptolemy XII.

The feminine form issue exists as a noun meaning ‘exit’, ‘solution’ or ‘outcome’ and is employed in some common compound nouns: issue de secours – emergency exit; rue sans issue – no through road. It is also found in the expression à l’issue de which means ‘at the conclusion of’.

A more accurate translation of ‘issue’ (which is a synonym of ‘problem’) is problème.

It’s a big issue among young people – C’est un grand problème parmi les jeunes