Le français interactif - French Accent Magazine

Nr 28 – December 2010 - January 2011
Le français interactif — How to Speak
Like a French Person, Not Like a Foreigner,
Part 2
The essential key phrases, verbs and words
In issue Nr 25 (June-July 2010) of French Accent Magazine, we provided a list of “Say’s” and
“Don’t say’s” of typical mistakes that are the result of translating directly and literally from
English to French.
These common errors are what differentiate a French native speaker from a foreign French
speaker. In this issue, we continue with a second list of some of these useful verbs and
expressions. As was the case last time, we carefully chose those we hear most often which
make a difference to the French native’s ear.
1) Feeling
Here is a tricky one! When you wish to express that something feels good, we cannot use the
reflexive verb se sentir. We use instead the verb faire followed with du bien.
Example:
Taking a nap feels good = Faire la sieste fait du bien.
That feels good = Ça fait du bien.
When you wish to tell someone how you feel, then you can use the verb se sentir:
Examples:
I feel good = Je me sens bien.
I feel sad = Je me sens triste.
If you wish to express your feeling about a situation you’ve seen or experienced, then you will
mostly hear avoir l’impression (to have the impression that) or penser (to think).
Examples:
1.- I have the feeling that Jill will leave tomorrow = Je pense que Jill partira demain.
In this example, it’s a feeling which comes from analyzing the situation – perhaps Jill is
looking into train schedules. It’s a thought more than a feeling.
2.- I have a feeling that you don’t like this picture = J’ai l’impression que tu n’aimes pas cette
photo.
In this example, it’s a feeling triggered from an image – perhaps the person who was looking
at the picture made a face.
2) Looks good/looks bad
Another one which cannot be literally translated; in this situation, the French will use the
phrase avoir l’air.
Examples:
This picture looks good on this wall = Cette photo a l’air bien sur ce mur.
The film doesn’t looks interesting = Le film n’a pas l’air intéressant.
Note that the verb regarder is used when you are looking at something.
3) To attend something
This is a typical false friend. Depending on the situation, the verb "to attend" in French is
assister or aller. Let me remind you that the verb attendre in French means to wait.
Examples:
I attended La Sorbonne for one year in 1985 = Je suis allé à la Sorbonne pendant un an en
1996.
The Manager attended the staff meeting = Le directeur a assisté à la réunion des employés.
In these 2 examples, the first one expresses a place a person has been to for a certain period of
time, therefore the French will automatically use aller. The second one informs us that the
Manager attended a punctual event which calls for a more specific verb such as assister.
4) Actually
Another big false friend – it is an easy mistake to make.
Actuellement means “cur-rently” (next point on this list) and “actually” is translated into the
following small phrase:
En fait (make sure you pronounce the ‘t’).
Example:
Actually, I was not born in Lyon, I was raised there but I was born in Paris = En fait, je ne
suis pas né à Lyon, j’ai grandi là-bas mais je suis né à Paris.
5) Currently
If you’ve read point number 4, at this point you already know that actuellement means
“currently”.
Example:
Currently, I am not working but I am looking for a job = Actuellement, je ne travaille pas
mais je cherche un travail.
2
6) Driving/going to a place
In English, we use the verb “to drive” more often and for more situations than we do in
French. Yes, conduire is the verb “to drive” but we only say it when we want to specifically
express that the mode of transportation we took to go to a place is a car. Otherwise, we just
use the verb aller or the verb faire when speaking about the distance we’ve travelled.
Example:
This week-end, we’re going up to Paris = Ce week-end nous allons à Paris.
Really?
How are you getting there? = Vraiment ? Vous y allez comment ?
We’re going to drive ; it’s long because we’ll drive for 7 hours= On va conduire; c’est long
car on va faire 7 heures de route.
In this example, the English person would have most probably said “this week-end, we’re
driving up to Paris” as the French would use the verb aller.
Same idea with driving someone to a place; the French would use the verb amener (to
bring).
Example:
I am driving my daughter to school = J’amène ma fille à l’école.
7) Best wishes
A quick clarification needs to be given on how to end a letter or an email, we have often read
Meilleurs voeux or even Félicitations from our English speaking students, expressions which
don’t translate into “Best wishes”.
Meilleurs voeux = is written only around Christmas Season in Christmas Cards or different
advertisements around that time of the year.
Félicitations = Congratulations.
What can we say at the end of a letter? It's best to write:
Cordialement (quite formal) or:
Amicalement (if you’ve had a few friendly exchanges with this person).
8) Having an affair
This one definitely needs clarification! If someone is having an affair, we don’t use the word
“affaires” but we use the word un amant ou une maîtresse which really means a lover.
The word affaires does exist but it is used in 2 completely different contexts such as:
- business;
- one's personal belongings.
Examples:
Patrick, my neighbour, is having an affair = Patrick, mon voisin, a une maît-resse.
Don’t take my personal belongings! = Ne prends pas mes affaires!
I do business with the French = Je fais des affaires avec les Français.
3
9) Having an argument, not a discussion
Here is another interesting false friend. If two French people are having an argument, they’re
having a dispute; the verb is se disputer.
Not to confuse with the French word argument which is used very differently, it means
“making a good case” or “deciding factors”.
Examples:
Last night, I argued with my sister = Hier soir, je me suis disputée avec ma sœur.
What are the deciding factors to change the retirement age? = Quels sont les bons arguments
pour changer l’âge de la retraite ?
10) To earn money
This last one on the list also deserves clarification, as you’ve probably heard the French verb
“gagner” when speaking about earning money! Indeed, the French will use 2 verbs in money
making situations: gagner or faire (to make).
Examples:
At Siemen’s, I earn more than (I did) at IBM’s = Chez Siemens, je gagne plus que chez IBM.
At the moment, I don’t make much money = En ce moment, je ne fais pas beaucoup d’argent.
Note that the verb gagner is also used for winning a game or at a lottery:
Séville won the game against Paris Saint-Germain = Séville a gagné le match contre Paris
Saint-Germain.
Céline Anthonioz
4
Scénario : Les affaires, ça va...
Deux vieux copains se retrouvent par
hasard dans un café.
Two old friends bump into each other in a
café.
Paul : Salut Greg ! Quelle surprise de te voir
ici ! Tu as l’air en pleine forme.
Greg : Eh Paul ! En effet, quelle surprise !
Tu fais quoi actuellement ?
Paul : Je suis à mon compte ; je suis
maintenant dans le monde des affaires. Je
suis un consultant.
Greg: Ah bon, et ça marche ? Tu gagnes
bien ta vie ?
Paul : Oh oui ! Je gagne 2 fois plus qu’avant
et je me sens bien plus motivé !
Greg: Tu travailles depuis chez toi ?
Paul : Eh oui, plus besoin d’aller faire des
kilomètres en voiture car la plupart de mes
réunions se font par ordinateur.
Greg : Ah c’est bien ! Je me rappelle
qu’avant tu faisais 50 kms pour aller au
bureau !
Paul : Maintenant, je vais seulement 3 fois
par mois assister à une conférence à Paris.
Greg: Alors tu es heureux ? Tout va super
bien pour toi ?
Paul : En fait, non pas tout ! Les affaires, ça
va mais ma vie personnelle, pas du tout !
Greg : Tu veux dire avec Carine ? Ah mince,
et pourtant vous aviez toujours l’air heureux
ensemble.
Paul : Moi aussi, je pensais qu’on l’était,
mais j’ai appris qu’elle a un amant.
Greg: Oh non !! Tu dois te sentir bien triste.
Écoute, je suis actuellement en pause
déjeuner. Tu veux manger un morceau ?
Paul : D’accord - c’est une bonne idée ! Ça
me fera du bien de parler un peu avec
quelqu’un.
Paul: Hi Greg! What a surprise to see you
here! You look great.
Greg: Hey Paul! Indeed, what a surprise!
What are you doing now?
Paul: I am working for myself; I am now in
the business field. I am a consultant.
Greg: Oh really? And is it working out?
Are you making a good living?
Paul: Oh yes! I make twice as much as
before and I feel a lot more motivated!
Greg: Are you working from home?
Paul: Yes, no need to drive many kms,
because most of the meetings take place via
the computer.
Greg: Oh that’s good! I remember that
before you had to drive 50 km to get to the
office.
Paul: Now, I only drive to Paris 3 times per
month to attend a conference.
Greg: So you’re happy? Everything is going
well for you?
Paul: Actually, not everything ! Business is
going well but my personal life, not at all!
Greg: With Carine you mean? Oh shucks!
But you always seemed so happy together.
Paul: Me too, I thought that we were, but I
found out that she's having an affair.
Greg: Oh no!! You must feel really sad.
Listen, I am currently on my lunch break.
You want to have something to eat?
Paul: Ok - that’s nice! It will make me feel
good to speak with someone.
5
Media Wordplay: De bons retours
It is not often the case that a word that already has several meanings gains two new ones, used
in parallel. However, this has happened recently to the word retour (return). Retour meant
various things already.
The most usual are: 1) returning to one's starting point - that is the flip side of the coin for the
word aller; if your parents or husband give you only un billet aller to go somewhere, and not
un billet aller-retour, it is not necessarily a very good sign…; 2) the repetition of something ex: le retour du cirque chaque automne - the return of the circus every fall; 3) sending
something back to someone - for example if you return something to a store that you don’t
like or that doesn’t correspond to what you ordered online.
But now, more and more journalists have begun using retour to mean that they go back, in an
article, to the history, the background or the previous occurrences of any type of event. It has
become so tendance (trendy) that some French newspapers, such as the daily Libération, have
even created a special column called Retours… This single word meaning, in journalistic
terms: retours sur les faits d’un sujet d’actualité (a look back at the facts or background of a
news story), in which it is explained, clearly and in depth, what has brought about such or
such an event.
And retour also garnered yet another new meaning: the response by someone you have
contacted in the hope that he will do something with what you sent him. Or, more recently,
simply the reaction of the public. For example when a journalist from a French newspaper
asks one of his colleagues: Tu as eu des retours de ton article ? he means: “Did you get any
reaction to your article by the readers?”. The same is true in the world of adverts: si une pub
n'a pas de bons retours, c'est raté (if an ad doesn't result in any positive reactions, it's a
failure). And now it is increasingly used with this meaning by the general public. Such as the
student who is encouraged to have had un bon retour to his PhD. dissertation. Having a
retour of something you have written, composed, created, has, therefore, become at least as
important as having your billet retour when you are on the go!
Céline Anthonioz
Le coin des branchés
The language of politics in France is both complex and fascinating. Here are a few
examples:
Un homme d'appareil = a political person strongly attached to his party and identified as
such.
Un cumulard = a political official who holds several important offices at the same time (see
article pages 17 & 19).
Etre une vraie girouette = to change with the weather/to be fickle (une girouette = a
weathervane).
Etre dans les petits papiers de quelqu'un = to be in someone's good graces, such as Interior
6
Ministor Brice Hortefeux and his relationship to President Sarkozy, for example.
Faire cavalier seul = to go it alone, to run for election without any party backing.
Une grosse légume = a very important or powerful person.
Jouer des coudes = to elbow one's way through the crowd.
Jouer de la flûte/du pipeau = to say anything charming or persuasive to try to convince
someone of something wrong, or not so promising. A Pied Piper reference.
Prendre un bain de foule = to mingle with the crowd - what all political officials need to do
from time to time.
Ramasser une veste = to lose badly (in an election).
Retourner sa veste = to change one's political allegiance; from right to left or vice-versa good examples are Frédéric Mitterrand who was from the right in his youth before becoming
socialist, or Bernard Kouchner, a socialist who agreed to be a minister in the Sarkozy
Government.
Tirer la couverture à soi = (lit.: to hog the covers) to take all the credit. Somewhat what
Sarkozy has tried to do with his Prime Minister François Fillon, without much success.
Tirer dans les pattes de quelqu'un = to try, with some violence, to impede or stop someone
from doing something.
“Tout ça pour ça” (lit.: all that for that) = an expression widely used during the last cabinet
reshuffle in France in November 2010 to mean that a lot of noise was made for nothing (Much
ado about nothing) (the Prime Minister stayed the same, and not so many important changes
were made).
Un zozo = used to describe a man who is a bit stupid. This was actually a little outdated until
it was recently uttered by Prime Minister François Fillon in referencde to Jean-Louis Borloo
(when he was still Minister of the Environment and was competing with Fillon to replace him
as Prime Minister): Borloo est un zozo. Il m’a fait passer pour un con ! What happened is that
Borloo had made a public statement that was contrary to what Fillon had declared to the
media about the possible shortage of petrol during the recent strikes…
Etre en Sarkozie = to live under Sarkozy's regime.
L'omniprésident = The omnipresident.
Sarkozyste = a follower of Sarkozy.
Villepiniste = a follower of Villepin.
The language is also rich in abbreviations:
démago (démagogue) = a demagogue.
facho (fasciste) = a fascist.
macho (machiste) = a macho.
mégalo (mégalomaniaque) = a megalomaniac.
7