Caution, False Friends! 30 French words that can get you in trouble

In this video we are looking at the worst English-French false friends. We’ll do this as a top 30, from most inoffensive to most likely to get you into some serious trouble.

What is a false friend or false cognate?

Let’s first look at why false friends even exist, because they are actually a blessing in disguise. The technical term for these words is “cognates”, and that includes not only false friends but also real friends - French words that look like English words and mean the exact same thing. Due to the shared history of our languages, there are thousands of such words.

Unfortunately the devil is in the details and the meaning of some words will slide over time. And sometimes they slide into dangerous territory! Fortunately most false friends will only earn you some harmless misunderstanding.

I’ve sorted our top 30 into 3 tiers:

1. Harmless misunderstanding 🤪

2. Will get you some laughs 😅

3. You really don’t want to say this! 😱

False friends - Tier one: harmless misunderstanding 🤪

30. Exposer, just means display, or present. No-one is getting exposed. If you really want to expose someone, you can use the verb révéler, and the noun la révélation - often in plural, cause it’s better if there’s more than one, right?

29. Un délai is in French the timespan you have to do something, basically a deadline, not a delay. A delay would be un retard. Fun fact, because of the influence of French speakers, official EU institutions have started to use the English word ‘delay’ with the meaning of ‘deadline”.

28. Un bénéfice in French is only a financial term. You cannot use it to mean any benefit other than monetary. For that you can use the word un avantage.

27. Achever doesn’t mean achieve. It actually means to complete or end something. If you mean to say achieve, you can use réussir.

26. Un car is actually a bus in French - the French word for car is une voiture, some people will also say une auto, or un char in Canadian French.

25. Un caractère in French is not a character. Un caractère refers to someone’s personality. The main character will be in French Le héros, or L’héroïne.

24. Une caution has nothing to do with caution, it actually means deposit. - caution can be translated into French as la prudence.

23. Une cave is a cellar, not a cave. A cave is in French une grotte.

22. La chance in French is slightly different from chance in English. La chance means luck. If you want to say chance or fate, you can say le destin.

21. Engagé in French does mean engaged, but not in the context of a future marriage. You can say un artiste engagé, meaning an artist who fights for what they believe in. S’engager means to get involved in something or even to enrol in the army. The French word for romantically engaged is a word you already know: fiancé.

20. Attendre is French for wait. If you mean to say attend, you can use assister à quelque chose.

19. Assister. Most often, assister (à) doesn’t mean to assist. It just means you’re there and watching. If you want to say assist someone, you can use the French verb aider.

18. La monnaie is French for currency. We also say “une pièce de monnaie”, literally a piece of currency, or ‘a coin’. If you mean to say money, you can use l’argent (m.), this is the same word as silver.

17. Quelle déception! No, you haven’t been deceived. You’re just disappointed. A good word for deceive is “tromper”, which is the same word for cheating on your partner. If you cheat, you deceive them. We would use a different verb for cheating in a game or an exam. That would be tricher.

16. La journée. Une journée isn’t a journey in French, that’s just a word for day. It’s slightly different from le jour, the regular word for day. La journée refers to the duration of a day. To say journey in French you can use le voyage or le trajet.

15. Une librairie in France is actually a book shop, not a library. The word for library is la bibliothèque.

14. La location. It’s location, location, location - well, not in French. La location means the rental or the renting of something. If you mean to say location, you can use le lieu, or l’endroit (m.)

13. Passer un examen. In French passer un examen doesn’t mean that you pass. It just means that you take that exam. If you mean pass, you can say “réussir un examen”

12. Actuellement is actually French for “currently”. If you mean to say “actually”, you can use “en fait”, or “en réalité”

11. Courant in French doesn’t mean current, that would be actuel. Courant in French means, common, wide spread, or sometimes fluent. For example, mon anglais est courant - My English is fluent.

False friends - Tier two: you’ll definitely get some laughs 😅

10. Une glace is not a glass. It actually means ice. It could be ice cream or the ice you use for ice skating. Occasionally we’ll use the word la glace to mean a mirror, even though le miroir also exists. If you want to say a glass, say “un verre”.

9. La rape. The innocent French word ‘rape’ doesn’t mean what you think it means. It’s just a grater, like a cheese grater. We also have the verb raper for grate. You can raper du fromage, raper des carottes, etc. If you’re looking for that other word, that would be in French violer as a verb and le viol as a noun.

8. Introduire. Yes, introduire means to introduce but not as in introducing yourself or someone else. It’s a strictly physical term, for example introduire la clé dans la serrure - to put the key in the lock. If you mean to introduce someone, then use the verb présenter.

7. Blesser doesn’t mean to bless. Quite the opposite in fact. Blesser means to wound or harm. The verb for bless would be bénir, it’s a 2nd group verb so same conjugation as finir. And a blessing is in French une bénédiction.

6. Les affaires. I have many thoughts about the fact that English speakers took this word and ran with it to make it mean something very specific. In French ‘les affaires’ just means business. Nothing sexual. Le français des affaires means business French.

False friends -Tier 3: You don’t want to say this 😱

5. Une exhibition - that’s not just any exhibition. I found it translated as “display” but it means specifically the display of something other people don’t want to see. You know, like private body parts. So if you’re referring to any innocent exhibition at your local museum, please use une exposition instead. We also have the verb exposer for display.

4. Un préservatif. That definitely shouldn’t be in your food. It’s a condom. If you are concerned about preservatives, use the French word “un conservateur”. This word can also be used in a political context, to refer to people who want to make sure that nothing changes.

3. Excité. For my students to remember this, I tell them that there’s only one thing that can excite the French, because not only do we not have a good word to translate “excited”, the cognate that we do have actually means sexually aroused. If you mean to say “excited” in a non-sexual context, remember that the French tend to be more toned-down with their expressions of emotions. You can use the phrase “J’ai hâte” which means “I look forward”

2. Une envie in French is not the same as envy in English. I wouldn’t say it’s innocent either. It depends on what you use the word with. If you say “J’ai envie d’une glace”, it just means you feel like an ice cream right now. But if you say “j’ai envie de toi” not only does it not mean “I envy you”, it actually is a sexual proposition. So proceed with caution. If you wanted to say “I envy you”, the correct phrase would be “Je t’envie”.

1. Prendre. It is the worst of the worst French word. I have seen so many students stumble with it. Yes it is one of the most common French verbs, and yes it does mean to take. Except when it doesn’t. If you say in French that you take someone somewhere, using the verb prendre, you haven’t innocently shared your whereabouts. You have revealed too much information about your sex life. So if you actually meant to share your whereabouts, you can use the verbs emmener or amener.

If you’re fed up with all the traps that French lays out for you, I recommend you watch this video to learn easy French hacks which will make your French instantly better!

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