French Word for Happening Again Revere

No one likes to get caught in an embarrassing language blunder.

Mixing up words that sound alike, confusing your tenses, losing your accent…we've all been there!

Although at that place's no need to panic if this happens, familiarizing yourself with some of the most common mistakes can assistance you lot perfect your French and avoid social awkwardness.

Before we go into those common mistakes, let's have a wait at what areas of French are generally the almost challenging for learners.

Contents

• Tricky Parts of French That Might Trip Y'all Upward
• • False friends
  • Gender agreements
  • Trying to interpret from English to French
• Was Information technology Something I Said? 9 Common French Mistakes Learners Make
• • 1. Translating "I miss you" directly
  • 2. Maxim "ma amie"
  • 3. Mixing up rencontrer and retrouver
  • iv. Confusing pour and pendant
  • 5. Jumbling up c'est and il/elle est
  • vi. Non understanding penser à vs. penser de
  • vii. Misplacing adjectives
  • 8. Using visiter to talk about paying someone a visit
  • 9. Using attendre for "to attend"

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Tricky Parts of French That Might Trip You Upwards

False friends

When you're learning French, it'due south likely that you lot'll hear a lot almost "imitation friends," only equally a beginner, you might not be certain what these actually are.

Faux amis , or false cognates, are words that look the same as their English equivalents, just actually have completely different meanings. Information technology tin be easy to presume that, by applying a French accent, we tin communicate the same matter, but some of the time, this just isn't the instance.

There are many common false friends to look out for, such as monnaie (alter), librairie (bookshop) and coin (corner).

You'll pick up on the majority of these over time, so don't worry if yous brand a mistake earlier on!

Gender agreements

One of the biggest differences between the French and English languages is the use of gendered words. While the English language only applies genders to people identified as having a gender, the French language uses information technology alongside all nouns and articles.

For example, singular indefinite articles un(a/an) and une(a/an) in French refer to an unspecified person or affair, and must concur with the noun they are modifying.

If yous're talking nearly a single amount of something, such as un livre(a book) or une pomme(an apple), yous'll apply the singular indefinite article.

The masculine indefinite article unis used before nouns that are masculine in this form while the feminine indefinite unepresents nouns that are feminine.

As well as this, possessive adjectives like "my," "your" and "his/her" have a gender that must agree with the nouns they modify. In the masculine grade, these are written as mon/ton/son (my/your/his), and in the feminine course equally ma/ta/sa(my/your/her).

At the same time, nouns besides have masculine, feminine and plural forms, which are nigh easily detected when they're written down.

The noun "cousin" in French appears in its masculine grade as cousin,its feminine form as cousine and its plural grade every bit cousins.

So depending on the gender of your cousin, you would utilise either the masculine or feminine article to draw them, alongside the matching masculine or feminine substantive.

Therefore, a female cousin would be described as "ma cousine" (my cousin) or "une cousine"(a cousin).

These rules by and large apply to about French nouns and articles, but in some instances, the gender of the articles or possessive adjectives used can alter: Generally, when a feminine give-and-take starts with a vowel, information technology will take the masculine commodity or adjective instead. More than on this below!

Trying to interpret from English to French

Direct translations from English to French work from time to fourth dimension, but more often than not, they tin end up sounding a little clunky to French natives. While using a literal French translation of an English statement can work if you're really in a bind, for the most part it pays to really remember about how wording might differ between the languages.

For example, while French and English apply the verbs avoir (to accept) and être (to be) in many like cases, in that location are some which differ. For case, when describing your historic period in English, yous tin say "I'm 30 years sometime." Merely in French, you would say "J'ai thirty ans" (I accept 30 years).

Although French people will exist able to empathize what y'all're saying either way, learning differences like these at an early on stage can really pay off and make the linguistic communication much easier downward the line.

If yous're learning French and are worried about making mistakes, don't be! When learning anything new, everyone makes mistakes of some kind. Having perfect control over the language is something that volition only come to you over fourth dimension. Sometimes, making errors is the only way to really progress, and increasing your awareness of the almost common mistakes that learners brand is one of the best ways to improve your agreement of French.

It besides helps to mind to real conversations between native speakers to minimize mistakes. You lot can do this by engaging in a language exchange or consuming authentic French media, such equally the videos on the language learning program FluentU. Each video comes with interactive subtitles that explain words and their proper usage in context.

Proceed all these concepts in mind as we now dive in to some specific French errors learners are prone to falling for. Watch your step!

Was It Something I Said? 9 Mutual French Mistakes Learners Make

1. Translating "I miss you lot" directly

If you're staying in France as a greenhorn, then it's likely you're going to miss something or someone from dwelling house at some indicate. When saying "I miss ___" in French, however, y'all need to accept care.

The verb manquer (to miss) uses a unlike sentence structure in French, and saying "Je te manque"  actually means "you lot miss me" rather than "I miss you."

To our English-language minds, manquer messes with the give-and-take order in a sentence. It switches effectually the bailiwick and the speaker. If you want to say "I miss you" in French, you would say "Tu me manques."

While getting to grips with the discussion order tin be difficult, at that place'due south an like shooting fish in a barrel way to think this:"Tu me manques" can be translated equally "You are missing to me," which puts the speaker and the discipline in the correct positions.

Putting your nearest and dear in the prime spot in the sentence will help you to no end; they are the nearly important affair, after all!

2. Maxim "ma amie"

Talking well-nigh a friend in French might seem like one of the easiest things you can do, but information technology actually messes with the gender agreements more than you would think.

In many cases, words that begin with a vowel audio are preceded with a consonant in French. While saying "ma amie" might seem like the grammatically correct way to describe a female friend, when spoken aloud, it just doesn't sound right.

To describe a male friend in French, yous might say "monday ami"  (my friend). It would therefore make sense to employ the feminine possessive describing word ma (my) when describing a female person friend, only for this word, something dissimilar happens.

Running two vowel sounds together does not happen oftentimes in the French linguistic communication. In order to flow when spoken aloud, feminine nouns that offset with a vowel actually take the masculine possessive adjective (mon).

And so in social club to talk nigh a female person friend (amie), y'all would say "mon amie,"  running the terminal consonant sound into the first vowel. While the feminine nounamierefers to the gender of the person being spoken about, the masculine possessivemondayis put information technology place in lodge to create a liaison between the words when they are spoken aloud.

Regardless of gender, you must use mon to mean "my" in forepart of the word ami(e). Y'all can't hear the difference in spoken French, but you lot can come across it when information technology'southward written down: A male friend will be written as "mon ami," rather than the feminine"monday amie."

The French language might be gender-specific, but when it comes to your buddies, information technology's spread-out!

3. Mixing uprencontrerandretrouver

The verb rencontrer (to see) might seem simple enough, but in fact, it'southward used just in very specific circumstances. While y'all might be tempted to use it in all examples of "meetings," it specifically describes bumping into someone on the street, meeting someone past take chances or meeting them for the showtime time.

If you desire to talk about meeting up with your friends on purpose, and so y'all must use the verb retrouver (to find).

The best fashion to retrieve the difference between the 2 words is to activate your inner detective and imagine every coming together equally a sleuth-like mission. When you make your style out to come across your friends, you must observe them in the oversupply and pinpoint their location. Reunited, you can have your meeting or appointment!

4. Disruptive pour and pendant

In English, we typically describe periods of time using the word "for." When talking about how long we have lived in a city, for example, we will say "I have lived hither for 5 years."

Although the give-and-take pour (for) in French is deceptively similar to its English counterpart, it isn't always used in the aforementioned way. The French language does non use "for" when describing periods of time, instead relying on pendant (during) to do the talking.

When y'all accept listened to French people speaking English, it's probable that yous have heard them say something like "I was in Paris during 5 years." This is a groovy way to sympathize how they utilise pendant and an interesting insight into literal translation in reverse.

While pendant can be used to draw the majority of fourth dimension frames, there'southward one crucial anomaly: If you want to refer to a future time frame, y'all can use pour.

For instance, to say "I'm leaving for iii weeks," you would say "Je pars pour trois semaines." It might seem a lilliputian confusing at offset, but after a few goes at it, y'all'll be correctly using cascade andpendant without a 2nd thought!

five. Jumbling upwardc'estand il/elle est

In French, information technology's all nigh the piffling details and even though unproblematic phrases similar "information technology is" can seem simple, it pays to take care when describing specific things.

Both c'est and il/elle est tin can be used to say "information technology is" or "he/she is," but are practical in very different circumstances.

Typically, c'est can be used in ii situations:before masculine adjectives to depict general weather and before articles similarun(a/an) orle(the).

In the first instance,c'estcould exist used if you lot desire to describe how something looks or feels. For instance, past proverb "C'est fellow ici"(It's cute here). As boyfriendis the masculine form of "beautiful," you lot tin can use c'est when making the statement.

Also every bit this,c'estcan be used earlier articles likeun/une (a/an) or le/la/les (the). If describing a specific object or person using an commodity, you can use c'estbeforehand. For case, you might say "C'est united nations bon professeur de français"  (He's a practiced French teacher) or"C'est une bonne amie à moi" (She'south a good friend to me).

On the other hand,ilandellecan be used when at that place's no article in the sentence. To say "She is cute," you would say "Elle est belle,"or to say that something is broken, y'all might say "I 50 est en panne."

6. Not understandingpenser à vs. penser de

When you're learning French, you might yearn for the ability to transport your nearest and dearest long, heartfelt letters, penned in one of the near romantic languages in the world.

Maxim that yous're thinking near someone, in French, can be a actually touching thing to do, but unless you get your grammar right, you could be making a big error.

While in English language, we would say "I'm thinking of you," the French linguistic communication doesn't work in the same fashion. In social club to express the same sentiment, you would need to say "Je pense à toi"(I'yard thinking at yous).

On the other hand, if yous wish to ask what somebody thinks about you lot, y'all tin can ask, "Qu'est-ce que tu penses de moi?" (What do you recollect of me?)

7. Misplacing adjectives

1 of the first things we learn in French is that when using adjectives, the word lodge is changed.

We're taught that while English places adjectives before nouns, French does the opposite.

It turns out, however, that it's not quite so clear cut! In some instances, the French linguistic communication follows the aforementioned give-and-take order rules equally English language.

While most French words use the traditional judgement structure of placing a noun before an describing word, at that place are a number of French adjectives that appear before the noun they modify. The most common adjectives that come before the noun are:

Bon — good

Mauvais — bad

Petit — small

Grand — big

Joli — pretty

If you want to draw a pretty girl, then, you lot're perfectly correct to say "la jolie fille,"  rather than "la fille jolie."

While these are exceptions, rather than the dominion, it's of import to remember which adjectives come before a noun. As soon as you lot meet one in a text, or hear one spoken out loud, endeavor to brand a notation of it and remember information technology for the future. Doing so will improve your French to no terminate!

viii. Using visiter to talk about paying someone a visit

Paying a visit to someone in French republic might simply exist the best way to improve your conversational skills, but yous accept to brand sure you know how to describe the act itself! While you might exist tempted to say "Je vais visiter ma grand-mère" for "I'k going to visit my grandma," it won't get you very far in French.

Instead, you would exist much amend off using rendre visit à (to pay a visit to) in order to communicate the aforementioned thing. Visiter can simply be used in specific circumstances, such as when you're visiting a identify or attraction, rather than a person.

9. Using attendre for "to nourish"

If yous're lucky enough to attend a conference in French, then you'll probably want to brag about it. The trouble is, simply saying "J'ai attendu une conférence"  doesn't communicate "I attended a conference."

While it might audio like to the English give-and-take, in French, attendre is really another false friend that means "to await." If you want to say that you attended something, you must say "J'ai assisté à…"

Making a fault in French might seem similar the end of the world, but when it comes to your comprehension, it tin can be incredibly useful.

Embarrassing conversational blunders can stick with us for much longer than the best French lessons, reminding the states to pay attending to specific parts of the language.

Then while taking note of the in a higher place will definitely help you get your French right, it's too important to remember that everyone slips up from time to fourth dimension.

The best thing is to correct yourself, pick yourself back up and get back on that language learning road!

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Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/common-french-mistakes/

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