Seeking meaning to a French word from a family member

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Kingfisher on July 26, 2009 at 2:38am

actuellement?? Meaning actually?

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Schmidt on July 26, 2009 at 4:34am

Thanks, it certaily sounds similiar to what I was told.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on July 26, 2009 at 3:41am

actuellement doesn't mean actually (it's a common mistake). It means "at present", "at the moment", or also "nowadays", "currently".

With those phonetics, that the only word I can think of, indeed.

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Schmidt on July 26, 2009 at 4:38am

Thank you, for your clarifiaction especially with the definitions. The only other bit of information I have is the word was used around her chilren with a raised voice when they were rambunctious.

Best Regards!

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on July 26, 2009 at 12:05pm

"The only other bit of information I have is the word was used around her chilren with a raised voice when they were rambunctious."

Well, then "actuellement" doesn't fit the context at all, does it?

Another word I could think of is "absolument" (meaning absolutely), which doesn't fit the context neither :-s

....

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Permalink Reply by Frank on July 26, 2009 at 12:23pm

Oh yes, thanks for pointing this out Marc, "actuellement" is indeed a big bad faux ami.

"Actuellement" is slightly more formal than "en ce moment".

Right off the bat, "actuellement" makes me think about cover letters. When we need to introduce ourselves during a job interview or in a cover letter, the first word is almost always "actuellement", followed by a description of your current position.

Or if you're stuck in a traffic jam and you call your boss to tell him that you're likely to be late, you'd tell him something like "Actuellement, je suis coincé dans un embouteillage, mais je fais aussi vite que possible".

Or a switchboard operator would say "Mr. Smith est actuellement indisponible" to a customer. It sounds very formal.

"Actuellement" is also used in documentaries, documentation and formal articles. "Actuellement, la planète est en danger".

But in a casual conversation, "en ce moment" / "pour le moment" is what you're likely to hear most of the time.

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Kingfisher on July 26, 2009 at 3:29pm

Oh mon DIEU! je suis mordu par le faux ami!! Oh lalalalala!
Good Grief!
Merci Frank et Marc pour les traductions et explications.

(BTW I meant to say "I am bitten by the false friend" and not "I bit the false friend".
Hopefully I at least said that correctly! Pam

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on July 26, 2009 at 3:55pm

Hi Pam,

It would rather be "je suis mordue" ;)
And actually, it doesn't make much sense in French ^_^ (even if it's grammatically correct)

Nevertheless, "je suis mordue" means that you're getting bitten over a long period of time. "Je suis mordue par un chien" means that the dog is still biting you at the moment! You would rather say "Je me suis faite mordre par un chien". So, in this case, "Je me suis faite mordre par un faux ami" (which really sounds weird in French). We'd rather say: "Je me suis faite avoir par un faux ami", or "Je me suis fait piégée par un faux ami".

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on July 26, 2009 at 4:59pm

Marc-- for what it's worth, I think in Canadian French it is used to mean "actually".

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