Coucou !
The English language contains lots of French words especially in cooking and art. And just like the bad uses and pronunciation of English words in French… I’m thinking about WiFi, parking or spiderman… The meaning of the French words you use in English is not the same in French. Or sometimes doesn’t exist.
Today on Comme une Française TV, you’ll discover 5 expressions you thought were used in France.
Et toi?
Have you used these in France?
Did you make yourself understood?
Share your anecdote, in French if you dare, in the comments below. We can all learn from your experience!
Géraldine
How do you pronounce ..cul de sac?
Bonjour,
Here is the pronunciation for cul-de-sac = \kyd.sak\ ; you can hear the pronunciation here : here.
Merci,
Fabien
Comme Une Française Team
merci!
Bof…
Bonjour Grégory,
It’s something like “where”. Là où il y en a pour un, il y en a pour deux = where there’s enough for one there’s enough for two (meaning I’ll share with you). Là où on élève du bétail = where livestock is raised
Bonjour, Geraldine.
What is the English equivalent to the French expression “là où”?
One day at lunch at my house my French friend asked for the recipe. I proceeded to tell her that you take a sein de poulet,,,, and she burst out laughing and asked if it wore a 36 B or C. I quickly learned it was a chicken chest not a chicken breast!
You just put a BIG smile on my face, Judy!
Hi Geraldine
In England we call people who are small and slim, usually women, think Kyle Minogue, Vanessa Paradis. Is there a French word which equates to this ‘ mince, mignon” do not quite cut it. Anyone any ideas ?
Bonjour Yvonne,
How do call these people in English: you mean petite?
To qualify their physical appearance, we say “menue” (=slim and often small). But “Petite’ doesn’t translate in French with the meaning you have in English.
Personal story: I had NEVER heard of “petite” before entering a Top Shop a few years ago. In France, there’s only “Grande Taille” et “Femme enceinte” but not such “tall and petite” in shops.
Thank you Geraldine, yes that’s exactly what I meant ‘petite’. For some reason I omitted the word ! It’s just some time ago I wanted to say to a French friend, whose daughter was dainty and pretty that she was petite. I had to stop myself because I thought that instead if taking it as a compliment she might have thought I was insinuating that she was too small for her age or something ! I now know the correct word to use !
Coming from New Orleans, the phrase “Laisez les bon temps roulez!” (let the good times roll).
My Parisian friend has informed me, “we wouldn’t say that!”
Absolutely. It is a badly translated American expression that is totally foreign to French.
En Anglais il y a une figure de rhétorique “double entendre”. Je connais qu’il n’est pas en usage en Français mais je me demande s’il découle de “à double entente”! Est ce-que vous connaissez l’origine Géraldine?
Pardon! Est-ce que vous savez?
Bonjour Maurice,
Double entendre = double sens (en français)
Je ne connais pas l’origine, par contre.
Peut être aussi ” double discours” terme souvent utilisé en psychologie
A woman who lives just along the street from us (in France) routinely adds 8 ‘la la’s’ to her ‘oh’ – I’ve counted them. My belle-mere often used 4, but less for ‘wow’ than for ‘oh dear’. My French cousine would often drawl her one ‘la’, as in ‘Oh laaaa !’
Bonjour Geraldine,
I’m wondering if you can identify an expression an old boyfriend’s French Mauritian Grand Mere used to use. It sounded something like “eye-yoh”. She was a very sweet old lady who used to give me a handkerchief with the initial “D” on it for birthdays and Christmas. One day I decided to ask why the letter “D”…. She replied it’s for your name…. “Dudy”. So cute!
Bonjour Judy,
I’m sorry I don’t know…
I hope you kept this wonderful and super funny Christmas present!
In Italy we use the word “mignon” for something small. It’s not the same in French, I guess it means “cute”.
Merci pour les vidéos, Geraldine. Je les utilise assez souvent dans mes classes FLE aux EU. Bon, j’ai une question au sujet de la phrase “Oh la vache!” Est-ce que c’est vrai qu’on la dit plus en France? et si oui, qu’est ce qu’on dit à sa place? Merci encore.
Bonjour Kim,
J’utilise “Oh la vache”. 🙂
Kim, c’est vrai qu’on dit moins “oh la vache” qu’auparavant. Je le dis souvent, mais j’ai 56 ans, et mon fils de 22 ans ne s’en sert pas tant que moi. Ce n’est pas complètement obsolète mais on l’entend moins. Les jeunes diront souvent, à la place… wow (!)
Plus personne ne dit ça lol !
L’exclamation la plus usuelle reste (sorry) “merde !”‘
Merci bien , je suis alors une nouvelle étudiante chez vs :).. j’étudie la langue française je suis encore au 2eme année universitaire , mais je trouve des difficulté en parlant en revanche je comprend bien ,
Jacques, “voilà” est utilisé, notamment chez les 20-30 ans, comme une sorte de ponctuation, sans réel sens. Normalement, on dit “voilà” pour expliquer quelque chose ou en donner le résultat, as you do in English using “et voilà” (there you are, precisely, etc). On doit donc dire par exemple “Je n’irai pas à cette fête parce que je ne supporte pas ta bande de copains, voilà.” (ie that’s why). Mais l’emploi le plus courant chez les jeunes sera plutôt : “Voilà, moi je pense qu’ il y a des gens qui, voilà, n’ont pas vraiment réfléchi avant de, voilà, voter , et du coup voilà après ils se retrouvent, voilà, avec des élus qui ne leurs plaisent pas, voilà, alors voilà il vaut mieux se renseigner avant, voilà”. Bien sûr c’est surtout à l’oral, et, “voilà”, ça sert de gap-filler.
Ha ha ha! Yes, similar affliction in English (UK) where (usually young) people insert the word ‘like’ throughout their speech – adding nothing to the meaning of the sentence at all!
The “parfait” is the name for a layered yogurt dessert/breakfast. When I told my (french) husband I was having a parfait he had no idea what I was on about.
Wow! Thanks Joy! I didn’t know this one. 🙂
Les Américains servent la tarte “à la mode”: c’est-à-dire garnie d’une boule de glace. Du jamais vu, ni entendu, en France.
Moi non plus, Manon ! 😉
Si vous allez en France, il faut savoir utiliser Voilà ! dans toutes ses déclinaisons. Si vous entendez une conversion entre deux Français, vous pourrez compter facilement jusqu’à 15 voila !. Parlez-nous en un peu , Géraldine. Les sens qu’ils peuvent avoir.
In the US “brunette” has no connotation of beauty, its just a quick way of saying someone has brown hair. Its even written out on some official forms/IDs depending on the state. It would be perfectly correct and understood to point someone out as “the troll-faced brunette over there” – horribly mean, but no conflict of connotation. The only hair color descriptor we use with any connotation of general attractiveness is using “ginger” for redheads (which we only recently stole from Harry Potter) and indicates light red hair, pale skin, freckles, and light blue or green eyes.
With our friends in France, I’ve often heard them say “oh la la la la”. With the la’s all said very quickly together. The first time it made me giggle with the unexpected amount of la’s!
Absolutely Susie!
There is NO limit to the number of “la la” you can use. 🙂
I’ve heard it only with many la’s as well. When something is REALLY emphasized!
What about “sacre-bleu!” I am pretty sure it is not used, but my students heard it in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and they think it is French.
Bonjour Victoria,
“Sacrebleu” est un mot français mais c’est très ancien.
“deja vu” and “menage a trois”! (apologies for lack of accents, useless American keyboard)
I use the former all the time and, though it certainly does have meaning in France, I’ve been told it doesn’t have the same meaning as what we anglophones use it for. Same for the second, though I don’t use it as often in conversation 😉
True, Kate.
We say “une impression de déjà-vu” not just “un déjà-vu”.
Ménage à trois is almost never used. (i wouldn’t use it much neither, anyway 😉 )
Never, ever use n’est-ce pas at the end of a sentence 🙂 there is no equivalent to the English isn’t it.
J’adore ces petits lecons, Geraldine — merci tant! Une petite correction en anglais svp: c’est “we tend to…”, pas “we tent to…”
J’ai entendu “n’est-ce pas?” en France. “C’est joli, n’est-ce pas?” On l’utilise comme ça, non?
I have heard “Ooh la la” used a few times in France (which surprised me – I thought no one ever really said it) and it seemed to mean pretty much what we think of it meaning in the US – which is probably closer to “wow” or “how crazy is that”? What I haven’t ever heard is the term “N’est-ce pas?” at the end of a sentence. In school, we were taught to use this all the time. Is it just that it’s older and maybe more formal?
Bonjour Kate,
Yes, “oh là là là” is “wow” / “how crazy is that?”.
“N’est-ce pas ?” is indeed a little bit too formal.
I remember when I first heard “Ooh, la la.” It was at the Monoprix when the cash register went crazy. It seemed to express the cashier’s response to this perfectly!
In Canadian French, “n’est-ce pas” is not formal.
I was visiting a museum in Belgium last week when I heard a man say “Allons-y” to his young children to move them through the room. He was speaking French to his other family members also, so I believe it was his native language. I was surprised because I remembered a previously made video where you mentioned that this expression was not normally used.
I only use “allons-y” when talking to the kids. Otherwise, I use “On y va” ou “c’est parti”.
Bonjour Cyn,
It is not much used in spoken French.
Maybe he wanted to be more formal than usual, I don’t know. 🙁
He could have been Canadian… We say allons-y
Yes, in Canada “allons-y” is common and not formal.
My Funny,haha story. My first visit to Paris 35 years ago, I asked “Où est la salle de bains?” in a restaurant ! The patron looked at me strangely and pointed downstairs. I found the Turkish hole! Later, I realized that I should’ve said, “Où sont les toilettes?”
😀
Cul de Sac et Sangfroid. I have never heard these in France, are they used?
For ‘cul de sac’ the French use ‘impasse’.
Cul de sac exists… In the code de la route mostly 🙂 impasse is better. I think we tent not to use the expression because of the cul part of it (arse/a$$).
Did you know that the bottom of a bottle of wine is called un cul de bouteille?
Sang froid (2 words) exists as well. Garder son sang froid “to stay cool under pressure”
The dent in the bottom of Champagne & Burgundy bottles is called a punt.
Bonjour Amanda,
Oui tout à fait. “Cul de Sac” is a “dead end” and also the name of this sign: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wik… (also called “impasse” or “voie sans issue”)
And “sang-froid” is used in “Perdre son sang-froid”: loose your temper
Americans don’t really say Oh là là! They say Ooh la-la!
Thanks for your posts, ever so informative! I was very surprised about ‘no brunette’. Not from an American, but a German perspective. ‘Brünett’ is the usual expression for a petite brune. Drôle! And allons-y was common, when I was young … you know, dans l’âge des ténèbres.
Brunette could be use when talking about a child. Never for an adult. We sometimes use blondinette for a blonde child and both for girls only (no equivalent for a boy with brown hair and blondinet for a little boy).
Hi Claudia,
Thanks for your German input!
Another French word mis-used in English (at least in American English) is “Entree” on a menu. In the US, an entree is the main course, le plat, while of course in France l’entree is the appetizer.
Bonjour Alice,
Thanks! I didn’t know that!
Yes, the entrée is the main course in Canada also. Before this is the appetizer.
I think it’s ridiculous, as the word “entrée” means “beginning”… So it HAS to be the first thing in a meal.
Oh la la isn’t used in UK to mean it’s daring – it means “oh WOW” or ” oh sexy”
Thanks Chris!
I don’t know anyone here in the U.S. using “oh la la” to mean daring. It is used in the same manner in which you have stated. Many pronounce the phrase incorrectly, however.
BTW: Spiderman = SPYderman, WiFi = WHY-fY. Long “I” sound.
In Canada it’s also pronounced (in English) as “ooh la la” and almost all the time is used to mean “sexy” (for example, if a woman wearing a sexy dress walked by, someone might say “ooh la la!”
Bonjour Géraldine,
Aux Etats-Unis, il y a une publicité pour Danone (chez nous c’est Dannon) où une femme mange le yaourt… la publicité continue en disant “C’est si bon…” , et puis ils disent en anglais “It is so good…”. Une amie française m’a dit que cette expression n’existe pas. C’est vrai?
Also, what is the best expression when being briefly introduced to someone? We are taught in school here to say “enchantée”, but it feels so formal to me because in my head it feels like I’m saying “Enchanted”. I tend to just smile politely and move on to the conversation…
Pour la publicite de Danone, oui c’est vrai. C’est si bon n’est pas du tout usitee maintenant. On dira “c’est trop bon” plutot.
I hear you about enchantė(e)/enchanted. However it is the polite way to answer. If you haven’t said it yet, just say “bonjour X”. I’d recommend to say something to aknowledge the introduction before moving on with the conversation.
Bonjour Susie,
Je ne dirais jamais “C’est si bon”, en effet. C’est correct au niveau grammatical mais c’est bizarre à dire.
I would say “C’est tellement bon” if you want to keep the same “So good” effet.
But ads and movies don’t care at all if it is “true French” or just “sounds French”.
Recently, we were at the cinema (can’t remember the movie, one in English) and the character starts “speaking French”: the entire audience laughed. 😉
“Enchantée” is little bit formal but is ok.
If it’s not formal, just say “Bonjour” or “salut” (not formal at all).
Very formal: “Ravie faire votre connaissance” / “Ravie de vous rencontrer”
Thank you Severine et Geraldine!
Salut Géraldine!
Une autre cliché est ‘sacré bleu!’
J’ai dit ça quand j’étais en France et mon frère d’accueil a ri beaucoup!
Bonjour Myra,
Oui “Sacrebleu” est un peu désuet. 😀
Je n’ai pas compris cette expression C’est déc. Pouvez -vous l’expliquer un peu plus.Merci
Je crois qu’il y a un melange de 2 expressions
Sans dec’ (abreviation de sans deconner) qui veut dire “really”
Et c’est deg’ (abreviation de c’est deguelasse) qui veut dire “it’s nasty”
C’etait vraiment tres intreressante! Merci
Bonjour!Merci beaucoup pour m’envoyer ce video. C’était très intéressant.
En ce qui concerne des autres expression, au Canada, on dit “De rien” ou “pas de problème” pour “your welcome” (des fois on entend “bienvenue” aussi). Ici j’entends “je vous en prie” et “pas de souci”. Y a-t-il des autres façons de dire ” your welcome”
J’ai une question à propos du usage du mot “quoi”. Souvent je l’entends à la fin d’une phrase, même si il ne s’agit pas d’une question. Est-ce ça fonctionne comme “eh” ou “huh” à la fin d’une phrase en anglais?
Le term “quoi” a la fin d’une phrase est souvent utilisé comme “you know!” en anglais. Par example “C’est ennuyant quoi!” = “It´s annoying you know!”
Merci! Je essayerai de m’en servir maintenant que je le comprends!
Bonjour Helen,
A la fin d’une phrase, je dirais que “quoi” se traduit par “you see” / “tu vois”.
Il n’a pas cette traduction littérale mais il a cette connotation de “tic de langage” qui n’apporte rien au propos.
mais je vous en prie
Hi Geraldine. I would love to know the intricacies f the word CONFUSION in French.
In English we say the roads signs are confusing, was confused, his speech was confused, your explanation was confusing.
How exactly do we say these equivalents in French?
The use of Confusion in French is very limited. There are no verb or adjective that derve from it, unlike in english. Although you could hear “confusionnant” sometimes on the street, it is by no mean correct.
We say “ne pas etre clair” in many cases and it can be applied in all the examples you provided. Les panneaux ne sont pas clairs, son discours n’etait pas clair/etait confus (in that case, his speech, the actual words, could not be understood), ton explication n’etait pas claire.
You can also say “je suis confus/e” to appologize but it’s not very common and slightly old fashion
Can the verb mêler be used to signify confusion?
Bonjour Helen,
Embrouiller would be better.
Merci Séverine pour toutes ces réponses ! 😀
Bonjour Kate,
Here are a few translations : http://www.wordreference.co…
Roads signs are confusing: I’d say “Les panneaux embrouillent plus qu’ils n’aident” (par exemple)
His speech was confused : “Son discours était confus”
Your explanation was confusing : “Ton explication était confuse”