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Faux Amis
The following is a list I've made of French words that resemble English ones but in reality are different. I'm not interested in words (such as "poison" and "six" and "fiancé") that are the same in both languages. Would you care to add to this list?
as
assist
attend
bless
bras
but
cave
chair
chat
choir
chose
comment
figure
fin
four
irons
laid
lit
main
met
on
or
ours
pain
pays
pour
sale
sang
seize
smoking
son
sort
store
tape
tire
ton
tour
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lauris on -
Be careful, in French, "Bien fait" is used after someone says something bad happened to him, and you think he deserved it :
'j'ai descendu les escaliers en courant, et je me suis cassé la jambe en tombat'
'- bien fait!'
But I guess (I hope...) you wanted to say "well done" =)
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Permalink Reply by Dwayne Roberts on
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Precisely. Thank you. So, how would one say "well done" in French as I had intended, above ?
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Permalink Reply by lauris on
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You can say "Bien joué" but I think this is quite casual. (but in our context, it would be perfect)
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Permalink Reply by Charlie's French Factory on
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Exactly. You would say "bien joué!" instead. That means "well done!".
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Permalink Reply by Sandra Rose on
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So, I guess that "bien fait" would be more like sarcasm then...
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crayon
divers
Roman (maybe. In English it must be capitalized; in French, not.)
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champ
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former
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Key StudentPermalink Reply by Peter En on -
utilise (if you use as part of a british syntax - without the z)
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It would seem to me that utilise would be un vrai ami. Aren't the meanings in the two languages similar if not identical?
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pin
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Key StudentPermalink Reply by Peter En on -
woops, sorry I misread the original transcript-
I then propose the word
'supporter'-although they both have quite similar meanings (fr:to put up with/to bear, eng:to bear or hold up), I believe that they have completely polar canotes...
the meaning for 'supporter' in french gives the impression that its a 'burden' or something that has to be 'put up with', whereas 'supporter' in english generally has the lighter canotes of being something thats akin to a 'savour' or someone who has to 'bear' someone else's burden.
You would not use the word 'supporter' in english to describe someone as being annoying, a burden, or a dead-weight.
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