Découvrez vos vrais amis français

Il a assisté à la fête hier.

Il a assisté au massacre de sa famille.

The verb ‘assister’ looks very similar to the English verb ‘assist’, however the two have entirely different meanings. ‘Assister’ means ‘to attend’, as in the case of the first example above. It can also mean ‘to witness’, as in the case of the second example: He witnessed the massacre of his family (or He was present at the massacre of his family; there is a slight nuance here as ‘present’ does not necessarily mean ‘witnessed’).

How could we translate ‘to assist’? Well, we could just use a common verb that has the same meaning: aider.

He assists his grandmother with the chores on Tuesdays – Il aide sa grand-mère avec les tâches ménagères les mardis.