Fifty False Friend Favorites in French

Native English speakers often have enough problems when learning the French language as it is. There are the complex grammatical rules, the obstinate pronunciation problems, abstruse accents, confounding gender patterns and those fickle French adjectives, just to name a few of the challenges to overcome. But then, in addition, to add insult to injury so-to-speak, there are also those multifarious and treacherous vocabulary landmines that no self-respecting Francophile can ever avoid stepping on; the infamous faux amis.

Faux amis or "false friends" are words or phrases in both languages that look or sound the same but quite simply are not. What you see is not what you get. Because of the French word's obvious similarity to its English cousin, the English-speaking student of French naturally and falsely assumes that these words have the same meaning. And when they don't, the confusion is complete. This unfortunate so-called linguistic interference has always been a great cause of frustration for students of French and, unfortunately, the only way to surmount this problem is to recognize these false friends for being just that and to memorize the different meanings accordingly. By the way, it is only fair to note that the French have this same problem when learning English as well.

So why all the confusion? What's with all this deception, you ask? History wanted it that way, it seems. For one thing, both French and English took many of the same words from Latin and Greek long, long ago, but their spelling and meaning then developed differently with the passage of time. More recently, linguistically speaking--after William the Conqueror's invasion of England in 1066 and the 300 years of Norman occupation that followed--many French words were lent to English and well, quite francophonely, never given back. And here too, of course, their meaning changed with time.

But blaming William the Conqueror won't help you very much when you see the word "librairie" and assume it means library only to find out later it means bookshop instead. It would be better for all of you French students out there to finally accept the grievous fact that your two languages are occupied by a small army of deceptive false friends who will have to be defeated in arduous hand-to-hand combat. And like it or not, you will have to fight every battle single-handedly. So are you ready? Here's your first round of fifty false friends.

French = English

caution = guarantee

cave = cellar (wine cellar)

coin = street corner

compétence = expertise

commodité = convenience

conducteur = car driver

conférence = lecture

consistant = solid, thick

contrôle = check

costume = suit

déception = disappointment

essence = gasoline

extra = first-rate

figure = face

finalement = eventually

gentil = nice, kind

grave = serious

habit = clothes

hasard = chance

indulgence = leniency

injurier = insult

ignore = not to know

isolation = insulation

issue = exit

itinéraire = route

large = wide

lecture = reading (what you are reading)

location = renting, lease

nurse = nanny

médecin = physician

monnaie = change (coins)

parents = relatives (in addition to father and mother)

photographe = photographer

physicien = physicist

prétendre = to claim

propre = clean, decent

queue = tail

raisin = grape

retard = delay

roman = novel

route = road

rude = hard, rough

sensible = sensitive

séparation = partition

supplier = to beg

susceptible = touchy

tape = slap

timide = tentative

tour = stroll, drive, turn

wagon = car