Learn who your real French friends are

Today’s faux amis is the word ‘lecture’. In English, this word denotes a class normally taken at university, where students sit in rows and listen while a professor delivers content verbally. It can also mean to speak to someone at length in a reproving manner.

In French, the word ‘lecture’ (pronounced like ‘confiture’ and other words ending in ‘-ture’) is a feminine noun which means reading. It refers to the physical act of perusing a book or other literary work. For example, you may have been taught to say ‘J’aime la lecture’ (I like reading) when discussing your interests in conversation class.

‘Lecture’ as it refers to a class in English is translated as cours magistral in French (cours magistraux plural).

E.g. J’ai un cours magistral à midi – I have a lecture at noon

Lecture and la lecture are what we call false cognates. This means they have the same spelling, but different etymologies (linguistic origins) and meanings. By contrast, true cognates are words which have the same spelling, origin and meaning. For example, ‘danger’ in French means the same thing as the English word ‘danger’.

The most common way of expressing possession in both English and French is to use possessive adjectives (mine, yours, his, etc.). In French, there are two other ways of expressing possession/ownership:

• Using the verb ‘appartenir’ (the syntax is ‘appartenir à qn’ – to belong to someone)

Exemple 1: Le livre appartient à Mark – The book belongs to Marc (The book is Marc’s)

Exemple 2: À qui appartient ce portable? – Who does this phone belong to? (Whose phone is this?)

Because of the syntax ‘appartenir à qn’, the ‘à qn‘ part can be replaced with an indirect object pronoun. If we apply an IOP to the first example, we get ‘Le livre lui appartient’ (The book belongs to him).

• Using the verb ‘être’ + à

Exemple 1: Le livre est à Mark – The book belongs to Marc (The book is Marc’s)

Exemple 2: À qui appartient ce portable? | C’est à moi – Whose phone is this? | It’s mine

‘Appartenir’ is used more in formal contexts, while ‘être’ is used in more everyday contexts. However, the two expressions are more or less the same and can be used interchangeably.

Where in English possession is expressed using an apostrophe followed by the letter ‘s’, the French use the preposition ‘de’. Let’s look at some examples:

Exemple 1: My mother’s friends always drink when they come over – Les amis de ma mère boivent toujours quand elles la rendent visite (literally “the friends of my mother”)

Rather than use the -‘s form of a noun (this is called a clitic), the French use ‘de’ (of), as in ‘the friends of my mother’. The clitic does not exist in French; there is no such thing as “ma mère’s amis”.

Exemple 2: She likes to make snacks for her neighbours’ kids – Elle aime faire des collations* pour les enfants de ses voisins. (literally “the kids of her neighbours“)

*”collation“, a feminine noun, is the French equivalent of afternoon tea