Yet it works both ways...a French friend asked me "comment dit-on si en anglais?" Without thinking too much I said "if". A while later he was trying out his English and I asked, "aren't you coming with us?" His response was "If! If!" Of course he was thinking of the si meaning yes to a negative question. We all had a good laugh.
so we were learning about "bisous" in my french class one time and we had to learn how to properly use "Faire une bise". My teacher didn't tell us what "baiser" by itself meant (I suppose because she didn't want us to learn how to use it just yet lol). Anyways, after she gave us the lesson, we had to write a short love story in a few sentences in french that involved a kiss or une embrasse somewhere and then we had to present it to the class... Well.. me trying to be cute and mushy, I wrote about this guy who went on a date with a girl and I ended the story with "ils ont baiser". None of the other students thought anything of my ending, but my teacher shrieked and pulled me aside and cleared up that I have to use "faire" next time because (though the rest of the class hadn't noticed) my made up date ended with "they fucked".
My best mistakes: trying to tell somebody where I live and confusing "j'habite" and "ma bite"(mydick). Trying to get direction to "la gare" but pronouncing it "guerre" (war)the man replyed " le guerre ?! Le guerre?!? Boom! Boom! Le guerre! , c'est la gare" that scared the crap out of me because i didnt know what i had said. Oh at then there was the time i asked to "pet" some ones dog.... She said no. Pet means fart in french...
jazzyisme Once I said "Moi, m'habite" (ma bite) au Brésil, lol. My french friend laughed at me and said that it'll always be "J'HABITE", never M'habite, cuz "ma bite" means "my dick". Well, I think La gAre and La GuErre sound very different.
At a soirée (YEARS AGO, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details) I was telling a story (in French) about our family ranch back home. I was trying to communicate that there were wild turkeys that lived in the woods around my house. I said "Il y a des dindes faroche dans les forêts près de chez nous" to which the room erupted in laughter. Apparently I said some about sexually ferocious women inhabiting the nearby woods. All the men were asking where (exactly) I lived!
The literal English translation of "Je suis pleine" is "I am full," but in French it means "I am pregnant." My friend made the mistake of saying it to her Parisian boyfriend's parents over dinner. Zut alors!
I asked a friend of mine what the word for "cellphone" was in French... He told me it was "godemiché." A few days later, I asked a stranger, "Puis-je utiliser votre godemiché, s'il vous plaît?" Talk about awkward...
I went into a cafe with my friends once and ordered 'du chocolat chaud avec la creme foutue...', when I was actually wanting to ask for whipped cream! My friends laughed so much, and even the waitress thought it was funny.
Vicky Watson Dear Vicky, I just burst into tears, laughing not because it was a ridiculous thing to say but because it is actually terribly funny. French people are rather spontaneous, they do not realize it can be considered as offensive, we do not intend to hurt someone's feelings. We are not being rude- at least- we simply are not aware we are. You probably felt embarrassed but believe me people who laughed never thought you were ridiculous. Hope I managed to explain the way we react. Anyway if you picked the wrong word it is probably because the word you needed was pretty similar (fouettée instead of foutue) and terribly difficult to pronounce. Love from a French woman who has very often made a fool of herself while speaking English.
My son is almost bilingual, we live in the US. As a teenager he used to tie his hair in a pony tail. He is now corporate and therefore clean cut . We were visiting France and an ex summer girl friend looking disappointed asked him in front of every one “ mais qu’est ce qui est arrivé à ta queue de cheval”. He blushed like crazy as he thought she was complaining about the break up and talking about their past intimacy.
Hahaha I'll never forget the first time I said "Je suis excitee!!" To my French teacher as a kid! (Not a native speaker but in French immersion since grade 1). So funny. She set me straight and saved me future embarrassment!!
My French teacher, who was the most wonderful woman, told us some of her funny memories with such mistakes. One was that she said "Le repas est très bien assassiné!" and everybody fell silent because she mixed up 'assassiné' and 'assaisonné', the latter meaning "seasoned" and the first one meaning "murdered". ;) And the other thing I remember was a student trying his absolute best to describe that his friend had "beautiful blue eyes" and ended up saying "il a des jolis œufs bleus" instead of "il a des jolis yeux bleus", "œufs" means "eggs" and in German (we're German), "eggs" means "nuts", so to speak, I think you catch my drift. ;D In going to be a teacher too and I'm honestly so looking forward to these things happening in class. 😂
When I was enrolled in a Parisian school of architecture, we often pinned up our work for group critique. As the prof went around the room, he accidentally skipped over my work and went to the next student. Afterwards, I complained to another student that "le professeur m'a sautée." The look I received made me realize what I must have actually said.
Once an American colleague of mine told me "j'ai fait le cul pendant une heure". I took me a while to stop laughing and then to understand that she meant "J'ai fait la queue pendant une heure"
My mother, who used to be s french teacher, told me of this funny mistake. The student wrote a paper about a man visiting a tribe in Africa. The tribe was clearly happy and content with their simple life. The student therefore wrote "Les Africains vivant heureusement en Afrique". It became a bit racist ;)
I just came back from France two weeks ago and had two embarrassing experiences. I've been speaking French more or less proficiently for 40 years, but most of my practice has been in the states. In Montpellier, I bought some books at the FNAC in the Centre Polygone. At the caisse, the attendant asked me about their frequent-buyer program. That's one of those things in which you receive a card with a bar code and gain points for each purchase. I had absolutely no vocabulary for that. I figured out what she was talking about but had no idea how to respond. I must have looked mystified, because the woman said, in very accented, very slow English, "Do...you...speak...French?" I explained, in French, that I spoke French, but had no idea what she was talking about. She dismissed me with "Vous êtes de l'étranger, alors." I hope I received some points for at least speaking French. My other situation was in Bordeaux. One of my high school students left her brick back in Montpellier. That's the word she used for the cube that plugs into the outlet and you plug the USB charger cord for your cell phone into it. I had no idea what the French word was for that thing. We went into an Orange or some place like that. I should have known what I was getting into when I first spoke to a man who listened to me, then asked me to wait for a "spécialiste." First, I used the French word, "cube" to no effect. Then I explained, in French, what the device did. The "spécialiste" looked at me with hooded eyes and said, "un réchargeur?" I was totally embarrassed. Of course, I knew the word for charger. I just wanted the cube. Apparently either thing is the same word in French. I've made five trips to France in the last five years. I know I make mistakes all the time in my speech. But I know I speak better French than 99% of Americans who visit France. And the vast majority of French people I meet are just happy I can communicate in their language. Many offer corrections to my spoken French, in a very kind way. But every once in a while you come across people who are bored with their job and unhappy, or they are pretentious pricks. All in all, I'd have to say there a much higher percentage of those kind of people here in the states than in France (mostly the bored and unhappy sort). Give me a pretentious French prick over an American asshole any day.
Michael Heitz franchement j'aurais galéré à expliquer aussi pour le chargeur, faudrait dire "donnez moi un chargeur mais pas la partie qui va dans le téléphone, genre juste la partie qui va dans la prise" et encore c'est pas sûr qu'ils comprennent à Orange
I mixed up vous and vu. The sentence i was trying to say was..."I would like a room with a view" The roaring laughter made me realise something was wrong. For me quite often it is my pronunciation that gets me in trouble... "chiot and Chiottes"
haha the Vaseline thing was so strange to me. when my friend asked what brand my Chapstick was and I said Vaseline his face was like 😳🙊🙊🙊. but why would you use that...?! hahaha.
I'm fluent in Spanish and some years ago was just beginning to learn French. I was at a family party and was dancing with my best friend's mother, who was about 65 at that time. I accidently stepped on her foot and I said, "Pardon, je ne volais pas te pisser le pied. LOL. I had translated from "pisar" in Spanish, to step on. You can imagine the look I got. En fin...
I have Vaseline for lips care in France in my bathroom. It's normal for me and my french boyfriend understands. But each time, we invites our french friends to our place, he has to hide it well. He mentioned this, but I've just got it clearly from this video. Merci !!
One day when I was speaking with the House Keeper for the family I au pair for I wanted to say "Je suis en colère" but on accident I said "Je suis enculer" Thankfully french is not her first language either, so she laughed at me and taught me the correct pronunciation
My worst gaff was when I told my French guests that I had visited the house of the young girl Bernadette at Lourdes, & that she had seen the "VERGE" when I should have said "VIERGE" very little difference in pronunciation!
My apologies for such a nit-picky comment, but I feel that I should point out that the 'h' in 'honest' is not pronounced. Most times, the letter h is, but not in this case. Thank you for your fine work, Madame.
I don't blame you a bit, Madame; English is a highly irregular language, particularly in pronunciation. However, I expect your English is better than my French.
A little French accent is more charming than being perfect. I did notice that "h" in honest, too. Didn't occur to me to comment; it just made me think how she was probably trying to pronounce all the h's even tho they don't in French, and ironically, that h is silent! English is a hard language.
Well I find it funny when French people pronounce the word "focus." I was watching a French person give an American some tennis lessons and he kept saying what sounded like "f*** us, f*** us." It wasn't the WRONG word, just an interesting pronunciation!
Oh my goodness. I visit France every year and talk to many non English speaking friends of my mother's. They are wonderfully patient and correct me, but I guess they have sat tittering under their breath with some of my gaffs. I have made some of these mistakes you've mentioned, every time I've been. It's amazing I haven't been barred from the country! Thanks for the tips. :)
Geraldine, common usage in ANY language is a minefield! English (as used in England, and possibly;y in Australia) is FULL of this sort of thing. Being an old (80) student of colloquial as well as correct English I'd be happy to help you try to get around them, if you find a problem BTW (apart from any interpretation of "tu es chaud") I enjoy your posts. :-D I fell foul of this sort of thing when I first went to study Architecture in England. I wanted to rub out (another one!) a pencil line and asked my fellow students if they had a rubber. Turns out the Poms call it an "eraser". A "rubber" is a condom.
When I was seventeen I participated in a work/study program in Paris for a summer. When my work was finished I did a little traveling and stayed with a wonderful Belgian family in Mons-Bergen. At dinner the first evening I was asked if I wanted more of something. I replied, "Non, je suis plein." They all burst out in laughter and then explained to me why. I was embarrassed but couldn't help laughing at myself, too.
That's why I see a lot of French teachers in their introductory video say in English: I am going to present myself, instead of the more natural I am going to introduce myself.
I was with my French boyfriend and he said "Allons-si!" So just because I was excited [the french language really needs a word for being excited in the English way] I shouted "Allons Si Si" & he looked at me in shock and said not to say that, it had a sexual meaning, though he never explained what it was!
Haha, the video was very fun to watch! As for me, I did a silly mistake where I tried to describe my French teacher only in French, and I said that she had "les yeux blancs (white eyes)." Because the word "blanc" sounds like "black," I mixed them up. Her reaction was priceless as she repeated, "Blanc? Les yeux blancs?"I then laughed and said "les yeux noirs."
Excellent. You might be amused by an anecdote from many years ago but which we never let my sister forget: After a meal at our French friends' house they asked her if she wanted some more to eat. "Non merci" she said "je suis pleine" mdr ;-)
When trying to remove a splinter from my hand I once told somebody "je dois chercher une tenaille, j'ai une pine dans la main". I now know it is an "epine", with an accent aigu on the first e, not a "pine", which is a male sexual organ.
I was in Paris and I would often say "Je suis excité..." until my friends starting laughing at me and correcting me. Once I understood the meaning I was cracking up at myself too! LOL.
Whenever I visit France, I always enjoy drinking Pernod. On my first visit, as a student, my mate I was with (who didn’t speak French) discovered what he christened “the hand grenade”. I had a bit of French, and called it a “Pernod grenadine”. A few years later, on holiday with my then boyfriend, we were in a bar and I asked for a Pernod grenadine, and the barmaid had difficulty understanding what I wanted. After a bit of pointing and speaking slowly etc, she understood and made me my drink. But as she put it in front of me, she said, “Voila, un Pernod avec de la grenadine.” I’ve never forgotten, and I’ve never thought the French are rude for correcting people. I’m a retired teacher, and it’s in my blood to correct people. It isn’t to make them look like an idiot or to reprimand, it’s so that if someone was in a similar situation again, they’d know what to do. As in the case of this barmaid, who was being kind by correcting me, so I’d know how to ask again. I’ve never forgotten. I even go out of my way to find out the word I need. I went into a shop to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste, and after asking for, “Une brosse à dents,” I asked, “Qu’est-ce qu’on appelle l’étoffe qu’on met sur la brosse, j’ai oublié le mot.” The assistant replied, “dentifrice”. I then asked le or la, to which she replied, “le dentifrice”. The French have a bit of a reputation in the UK for being a bit offhand and moody, but they really are not. They are simply very proud of their language, and however badly a foreigner speaks it, they love it when people make the effort, and will bend over backwards to help.
I once made the mistake of saying to a native „j'ai trompé" instead of "je me suis trompé", and he was like, "noooon, j'ai trompé es trop gênant!". He was cool, though. And I will never forget that french class when I was twelve and we talked about the middle ages. I understood later why was the teacher so horrified when she heard me saying "verge de fer" instead of "vierge~.
Years ago I was taking a tour of the château de Versailles which was conducted in French. While touring the hall of mirrors, the tour guide turns and asks me directly in French, what do you think? First thing I could think of to say was the colors were beautiful....les couleurs sont jolies. Unfortunately, in my rush to spit something out, my words slurred and couleurs sounded more like culé as in enculés. Everyone in the group gasped at first and then chuckled. Evidently, instead of saying the colors were pretty, I boldly proclaimed that the ass fuckers were pretty. After that time I made my French friend teach me each and every French curse word perfectly so that way I would know how they sounded/were pronounced and I would never make an innocent mistake like that again. To this date it has helped and saved me further embarrassment.
Oh my god I made mistake number 2 in one of my French lessons last year. My teacher pointed it out and we were both pissing ourselves- we couldn't stop laughing and its something I'll remember forever 😂
Les Québécois, on fait souvent l'erreur de dire "Je suis excité(e)" pour dire qu'on a très hâte à propos de quelque chose. Même à la télévision, c'est une expression que les gens disent beaucoup...J'essaie vraiment de sortir ça de mon vocabulaire :D
I'm a Francophone Belgian and we say in French Belgian : "Donner une baise" means : "Kiss somebody" in French of France! In Belgium, the word " une baise" is very commonly used without any wrong back thought! But it's true, be carefully when you use this term in Belgium because sometimes that makes the situation awkward!
Hello professor Bonjour professeur Thank you so much for your interesting courses l follow you attentivelly in order to improve my English and my French. I love your way of teaching and excellent explanation. I wish you peace and happiness under the sky of prosperity. Your Student from Algeria.
Hahaha...the first time I stayed at my boyfriend's (now my husband) holiday home I made a mistake with "preservitif".We were talking about une baguette...and I said the reason they go stale so quickly is because they don't have preservatives! I didn't know the right word then....so it was a source of many laughs...and still is now...fortunately my French is a bit better now...although, by no means good....but I am taking lessons with you Geraldine!....😂
The one that got me for long time is not obscene: in English, we say Entrée to mean the main course, which would be 'plat' in French. Entrée in French would be 'appetizer' in English.
no until now , because I do not have some one to practice french with (I do it with my self ) but I belive I will make thousands of mistakes through my journey into learning
Years ago, in France, my boyfriend and I had just finished a meal and since there was no dessert at home, I proposed to go out for a walk and get a "gâterie". His facial expression alone told me there had been a miscommunication of some sort. I am French speaking from Québec and up to that time, I had never heard the word used for anything other than to mean 'sweets' of some sort (from the verb gâter which means to treat yourself). He pulled out the Robert-Collins translation dictionary and we both had a good laugh. It runs out that "gâterie" in France is mostly used to mean a bj.
Une fois, quand j'allais à l'université, une fille de ma classe m'a prêté ses notes pour une matière, et je lui ai dit : merci beaucoup, t'es très bonne ! Elle a rit et m'a dit qu'elle comprenait ce que je voulais dire mais que j'aurais du dire plutôt « gentille »...
I do agree with u that making mistakes is a necessary step in developing one's language, but there are also some problems. the first one is that u should know how to pass this stage because if u believe that making mistakes is totally natural, then it'll be fixed and fossilized and it'll be hard to change the habit. The second main problem i can find is that these mistakes leave a bad impression of people about u and might lower down ur social confidence. How would u propose to solve these problems?!
+pourya yahyaee There is no bad impression, i mean if you talk with a strong accent and said to a french "Je peux te baiser?" it's different than a french man said that to a french girl, with foreigner the girl will probably laugh (because she understand the mistake) with a french guy it's not the same thing.
Not as embarrassing but I used A vos souhaits to mean as you wish and ca vous fait mal to mean does it bother you . But it is totally ok to make mistakes I am now more comfortable with them and as a result I’ve improved quite a bit.
Run through the comment section and learnt a lot. I feel equally embrassed even by reading those embrassing moments you had. Thanks for sharing though. This is a very good comment section, thank you all.
I’ve only just found this website - it’s excellent, well done Geraldine. I have two stories of things like these ! Even today my French isn’t brilliant but many years ago I wanted to ask how much something was. I said something like “Qu’est que c’est la coute” which, with my awful pronunciation, did not sound good. Another time was when my wife was feeling very unwell whilst on holiday in France. She thought she might be pregnant and I had to go to a pharmacie and try to buy a pregnancy test kit - not very easy with poor French !!
I speak French...And When I chat with English people, sometimes they try to talk to me in French...I've seen MANY funny mistakes xD But it's okay c: Even me, in English, I make mistakes c:
Raphaëlle Dion yep, that's right... I am learning french in French institution... best way to learn a new language is to speak with someone who speaks well in that language or native speaker... I am searching for one to learn french ... ;) hope I will get one ..
I recently started to watch your videos, currently taking french on school, and find your videos very useful ! keep up the work, they are really entertaining !
In any country, it's very iffy when asking how to say something. Most pull pranks on you. People can be downright untrustworthy. Thank you for these very helpful tips. Many years ago I was living in London, working in a restaurant. A girl worked there who was French. I've always wanted to learn the language. Back then you didn't have much help. I asked her to tell me how to tell our French clients how to go downstairs. What she told me was the directions to the bathroom for a bath. Needless to say I was highly embarrassed when I found out. It was cruel. I was a kid. I've never forgotten it.
I'm given to understand that "savoir" means "to know how to do something" and "connaitre" means to know a person and if you use "savoir" with a person, it means you know them in the Biblical sense (which could give you a black eye)!
R52177 nope, it's the opposite ! The use of "connaître" with a person means you know them in the Biblical sense ;) In fact you can't use "savoir" with a person at all. We always use "connaître" when talking about somebody but it's hard to tell when it has the regular or the Biblical sense :)
"je te baise" is actually right. It has a sexual meaning as well but if you want to sound old-fashioned... i guess you can use that. But still, i wouldn't recommend saying it on the streets or to a friend. my point is you can find this type of sentence in a book for example, like "il baisa sa main"
I made a small mistake when writing about my cat in French class. I became unsure if it was feminine or not so I thought I'd spell it as it it was feminine because it's a female cat. So when I got the test back my teacher told me how this one mistake could create a completely different meaning. And I've laughed at it ever since.
Haha! I didn't know about the "Vaseline" one. I was sitting next to a French guy on a recent university field trip (he's super good-looking, by the way), and more than once I applied Vaseline to my lips, as I would in the UK, because my lips were dry, and that's all. So I'm not sure whether to be embarrassed or not, now that I know "Vaseline" means "lubricant" in French. Yes, I'm embarrassed, but on the other hand, it could be seen as unintentional flirting XD
+B Holt (ベス) Vaseline (in bad way) is more used in sarcastic sentence for example when two team playing a game and someone of the red team said to someone of the blue team "do you have your vaseline?" which mean "you are ready to be fu**?" in normal life if you use it or ask for it in a pharmacy nobody laugt. In your example if you have asked to the french guy if he want some vaseline maybe he will smile (because he know the double meaning) but it's not so rude.
True story: a group of 8-year-olds studying French at school were set to your France for a couple weeks with their French teachers. The father of one of the kids, who owned a shirt store, inspired by the "Kiss me I'm..." trend in the USA, had printed up a bunch of tee-shirts for all the kids that were supposed to mean, "Kiss me, I speak French" but he of course put "Baisez-moi, je parle français." Not a good thing for little kids to be wearing while touring France.
My French is not great bc I haven’t really tried, but my knowledge from high school helped me learn Romanian. Early on, while staying with a host during a mission trip, I was trying to as for an Iron for my shirt (Pot avea un fier de CALCAT (iron of ironing) pentru cămașa mea?) but used the term CACAT instead. The mom of the family was embarrassed and mad. I was mortified. Merci beaucoup pour vos videos, elles sont tres utiles.
Un moment, ma sœur petite à l’époque a dit directement et tout haut " ohla je suis toute en chaleur !" juste pour dire qu'elle avait chaud ! moment embarrassant pour les parents ! ^^
My best mistake in french arose because I'd been given a log impregnated with mushroom spores. Just leave it outside and you may get some shitake mushrooms. Two years later some sprouted! So I said excitedly to my neighbours "j'ai des champignons qui poussent sur ma bûche! " But I pronounced it "bouche". So they heard "I have a fungal growth on my mouth", and were understandably puzzled as to why that made me happy.
I can't cope with this accent. However, I have a really embarrassing mistake in French. Some years ago I was about to buy a derelict 3 storey property in SW France. It had been a grocer's. At the meeting with the notaire, it was admitted that it had been difficult to contact the 33 inheritants, some of whom lived now in Australia. I made my pitch exhorting the pecksniff lawyer to make more effort to contact "les hérissons." I thought I was saying "the inheriters" when of course I was saying, "the hedgehogs." So, polite, they never pulled me up on it.
I think one that maybe could be interesting is the "Je me couche", Which as I have understood just is, "Il go sleep, lie down". However, when someone else is involved - it is not just sleeping anymore.. Dont know the good example but something like "tu peux/veux coucher avec moi /chez moi?"
I’m finding as a general rule that in French you don’t say “I am” something (je suis) as often as we do in English. It’s more often j’ai. So if the phrase is “I’m feeling some way” in English (ie hungry, thirsty, tired) and not “I am such and such quality” (tall, English, weird) then it’s a safer bet to go with avoir.
I had a French friend who was learning English and I do my best to help her. The other day she tried to write to me in English « Désolé pour le message retard » and she said in English “sorry for my retard message.” While it was funny I had to warn her that “r*etard” is an offensive slur toward people with learning disabilities. You would say “sorry for my late message.”
My middle school French teacher taught us to never say "Je suis chaud" but she didn't tell us why, how funny! I was just under the impression it was grammatically wrong, like a mistake a child may make.. So she made us practice "J'ai chaud, j'ai froid, j'ai faim, etc." she taught us passe compose very strictly (sorry no accents on my keyboard.)
It's not a french example but when I, an Englishman, first went to the US I marched into a office supply store and asked in a loud voice where I could find a "rubber". I was politely and quietly told that I could buy one only in a pharmacy.
Yet it works both ways...a French friend asked me "comment dit-on si en anglais?" Without thinking too much I said "if". A while later he was trying out his English and I asked, "aren't you coming with us?" His response was "If! If!" Of course he was thinking of the si meaning yes to a negative question. We all had a good laugh.
so we were learning about "bisous" in my french class one time and we had to learn how to properly use "Faire une bise". My teacher didn't tell us what "baiser" by itself meant (I suppose because she didn't want us to learn how to use it just yet lol). Anyways, after she gave us the lesson, we had to write a short love story in a few sentences in french that involved a kiss or une embrasse somewhere and then we had to present it to the class...
Well.. me trying to be cute and mushy, I wrote about this guy who went on a date with a girl and I ended the story with "ils ont baiser". None of the other students thought anything of my ending, but my teacher shrieked and pulled me aside and cleared up that I have to use "faire" next time because (though the rest of the class hadn't noticed) my made up date ended with "they fucked".
Doesn't the ending make the story more realistic. She should give you A+.
No joke. I made the exact same mistake. She just said: This means something different, but I‘m not going to translate it. 😂
ATTHS 😂👍🏻
A+ content!
I'm honestly so looking forward to teaching classes. I'll probably hear a lot of funny mistakes!
Good to know this, I’m going to take french in my sophomore year so now I know not to accidentally say “they fucked”
It’s certainly what could have happened. :-)
My best mistakes: trying to tell somebody where I live and confusing "j'habite" and "ma bite"(mydick). Trying to get direction to "la gare" but pronouncing it "guerre" (war)the man replyed " le guerre ?! Le guerre?!? Boom! Boom! Le guerre! , c'est la gare" that scared the crap out of me because i didnt know what i had said. Oh at then there was the time i asked to "pet" some ones dog.... She said no. Pet means fart in french...
jazzyisme Once I said "Moi, m'habite" (ma bite) au Brésil, lol. My french friend laughed at me and said that it'll always be "J'HABITE", never M'habite, cuz "ma bite" means "my dick". Well, I think La gAre and La GuErre sound very different.
I had only seen la gare written down so was guessing the pronunciation
+jazzyisme in french the pronunciation of an "a" is always like in "la gare".
+jazzyisme gare à la gare dare dare ;)
+jazzyisme hahahh this is hilarious, learn from you
i made the error about "preservatifs", saying "je ne peux pas manger des preservatifs" in a speaking exam. my examiner looked like he wanted to die...
MDR! mais je crois qu'on vend des preservatifs qu'on peut manger dans des magasins specialises! XD
😂🤣😂🤣😘
It is correct isn't it? You don't eat preservatifs unless you bought the edible ones.
@@da96103 "preservatifs" means "condoms" in French, not "preservatives"
At a soirée (YEARS AGO, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details) I was telling a story (in French) about our family ranch back home. I was trying to communicate that there were wild turkeys that lived in the woods around my house. I said "Il y a des dindes faroche dans les forêts près de chez nous" to which the room erupted in laughter. Apparently I said some about sexually ferocious women inhabiting the nearby woods. All the men were asking where (exactly) I lived!
The literal English translation of "Je suis pleine" is "I am full," but in French it means "I am pregnant." My friend made the mistake of saying it to her Parisian boyfriend's parents over dinner. Zut alors!
I asked a friend of mine what the word for "cellphone" was in French... He told me it was "godemiché."
A few days later, I asked a stranger, "Puis-je utiliser votre godemiché, s'il vous plaît?"
Talk about awkward...
You need better friends.
Excellent. I soo could have done such a thing.
It's wrong, but funny.
***** googled godemiché... I'm so sorry
😂 omg I can't stop laughing
+Ceaser Madrazo Maybe your friend uses cellphones like that. Advice: don't borrow his cellphone LOL
Ughhhh no wonder when I was videochatting with a French person she smiled when I said je suis excitee...........
Ahah Bea !
@Max Norbeau 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I went into a cafe with my friends once and ordered 'du chocolat chaud avec la creme foutue...', when I was actually wanting to ask for whipped cream! My friends laughed so much, and even the waitress thought it was funny.
Vicky Watson Dear Vicky, I just burst into tears, laughing not because it was a ridiculous thing to say but because it is actually terribly funny. French people are rather spontaneous, they do not realize it can be considered as offensive, we do not intend to hurt someone's feelings. We are not being rude- at least- we simply are not aware we are. You probably felt embarrassed but believe me people who laughed never thought you were ridiculous. Hope I managed to explain the way we react. Anyway if you picked the wrong word it is probably because the word you needed was pretty similar (fouettée instead of foutue) and terribly difficult to pronounce. Love from a French woman who has very often made a fool of herself while speaking English.
Vicky Watson Just picture yourself the obeying waiter saying "Yes ,madam" and f...ing the cream in front of you before serving it ! loooool!
felix25ize | Lmao, I never laughed so hard due to a comment. That’s comedy gold! 🤣🤣🤣
Speaking in French is difficult because at least half the words have some kind of sexual connotation
^^
Very funny.
My son is almost bilingual, we live in the US. As a teenager he used to tie his hair in a pony tail.
He is now corporate and therefore clean cut . We were visiting France and an ex summer girl friend looking disappointed asked him in front of every one “ mais qu’est ce qui est arrivé à ta queue de cheval”. He blushed like crazy as he thought she was complaining about the break up and talking about their past intimacy.
A friend of mine used excité when he sent his first email to his host mother XD
I'm learning SO MUCH from the comment section! 😂
Hahaha I'll never forget the first time I said "Je suis excitee!!" To my French teacher as a kid! (Not a native speaker but in French immersion since grade 1). So funny. She set me straight and saved me future embarrassment!!
melissastorn lol ;)
My French teacher, who was the most wonderful woman, told us some of her funny memories with such mistakes. One was that she said "Le repas est très bien assassiné!" and everybody fell silent because she mixed up 'assassiné' and 'assaisonné', the latter meaning "seasoned" and the first one meaning "murdered". ;)
And the other thing I remember was a student trying his absolute best to describe that his friend had "beautiful blue eyes" and ended up saying "il a des jolis œufs bleus" instead of "il a des jolis yeux bleus", "œufs" means "eggs" and in German (we're German), "eggs" means "nuts", so to speak, I think you catch my drift. ;D
In going to be a teacher too and I'm honestly so looking forward to these things happening in class. 😂
I spent my junior year of high school in France. When asked what topic I was planning to present for science class I said: "les preservatives!"
DAMMIT ... i've been using that sense of 'introduire" for a long time .. no one ever corrected me. Good video.
If you like to "introduire" your friends, it's your right. Who are we to judge you.
When I was enrolled in a Parisian school of architecture, we often pinned up our work for group critique. As the prof went around the room, he accidentally skipped over my work and went to the next student. Afterwards, I complained to another student that "le professeur m'a sautée." The look I received made me realize what I must have actually said.
So funny.
Yup - I guess the right thing to say would be "le professeur m'a sechee"
Once an American colleague of mine told me "j'ai fait le cul pendant une heure". I took me a while to stop laughing and then to understand that she meant "J'ai fait la queue pendant une heure"
wow. I am SHOCKED at this video. I’ve made some of these assumptions and mistakes, thankfully not in public. Thanks so much for this!
My mother, who used to be s french teacher, told me of this funny mistake.
The student wrote a paper about a man visiting a tribe in Africa. The tribe was clearly happy and content with their simple life.
The student therefore wrote "Les Africains vivant heureusement en Afrique".
It became a bit racist ;)
I just came back from France two weeks ago and had two embarrassing experiences. I've been speaking French more or less proficiently for 40 years, but most of my practice has been in the states. In Montpellier, I bought some books at the FNAC in the Centre Polygone. At the caisse, the attendant asked me about their frequent-buyer program. That's one of those things in which you receive a card with a bar code and gain points for each purchase. I had absolutely no vocabulary for that. I figured out what she was talking about but had no idea how to respond. I must have looked mystified, because the woman said, in very accented, very slow English, "Do...you...speak...French?" I explained, in French, that I spoke French, but had no idea what she was talking about. She dismissed me with "Vous êtes de l'étranger, alors." I hope I received some points for at least speaking French.
My other situation was in Bordeaux. One of my high school students left her brick back in Montpellier. That's the word she used for the cube that plugs into the outlet and you plug the USB charger cord for your cell phone into it. I had no idea what the French word was for that thing. We went into an Orange or some place like that. I should have known what I was getting into when I first spoke to a man who listened to me, then asked me to wait for a "spécialiste." First, I used the French word, "cube" to no effect. Then I explained, in French, what the device did. The "spécialiste" looked at me with hooded eyes and said, "un réchargeur?" I was totally embarrassed. Of course, I knew the word for charger. I just wanted the cube. Apparently either thing is the same word in French.
I've made five trips to France in the last five years. I know I make mistakes all the time in my speech. But I know I speak better French than 99% of Americans who visit France. And the vast majority of French people I meet are just happy I can communicate in their language. Many offer corrections to my spoken French, in a very kind way. But every once in a while you come across people who are bored with their job and unhappy, or they are pretentious pricks. All in all, I'd have to say there a much higher percentage of those kind of people here in the states than in France (mostly the bored and unhappy sort). Give me a pretentious French prick over an American asshole any day.
Michael Heitz franchement j'aurais galéré à expliquer aussi pour le chargeur, faudrait dire "donnez moi un chargeur mais pas la partie qui va dans le téléphone, genre juste la partie qui va dans la prise" et encore c'est pas sûr qu'ils comprennent à Orange
I mixed up vous and vu. The sentence i was trying to say was..."I would like a room with a view" The roaring laughter made me realise something was wrong.
For me quite often it is my pronunciation that gets me in trouble... "chiot and Chiottes"
Thanks for the two new words.
haha the Vaseline thing was so strange to me. when my friend asked what brand my Chapstick was and I said Vaseline his face was like 😳🙊🙊🙊. but why would you use that...?! hahaha.
I'm fluent in Spanish and some years ago was just beginning to learn French. I was at a family party and was dancing with my best friend's mother, who was about 65 at that time. I accidently stepped on her foot and I said, "Pardon, je ne volais pas te pisser le pied. LOL. I had translated from "pisar" in Spanish, to step on. You can imagine the look I got. En fin...
How si you say “step on” in French?
I have Vaseline for lips care in France in my bathroom. It's normal for me and my french boyfriend understands. But each time, we invites our french friends to our place, he has to hide it well. He mentioned this, but I've just got it clearly from this video. Merci !!
I have said many many times (at school, in my French class) "Je suis chaud" I'm so embarrassed now haha xD I'll never do it again xD
Hahahaha x)
One day when I was speaking with the House Keeper for the family I au pair for I wanted to say "Je suis en colère" but on accident I said "Je suis enculer"
Thankfully french is not her first language either, so she laughed at me and taught me the correct pronunciation
My worst gaff was when I told my French guests that I had visited the house of the young girl Bernadette at Lourdes, & that she had seen the "VERGE" when I should have said "VIERGE" very little difference in pronunciation!
My apologies for such a nit-picky comment, but I feel that I should point out that the 'h' in 'honest' is not pronounced. Most times, the letter h is, but not in this case. Thank you for your fine work, Madame.
Merci Jeffrey. I try to work on my pronunciation but some words remain very difficult. :)
I don't blame you a bit, Madame; English is a highly irregular language, particularly in pronunciation. However, I expect your English is better than my French.
A little French accent is more charming than being perfect. I did notice that "h" in honest, too. Didn't occur to me to comment; it just made me think how she was probably trying to pronounce all the h's even tho they don't in French, and ironically, that h is silent! English is a hard language.
Well I find it funny when French people pronounce the word "focus." I was watching a French person give an American some tennis lessons and he kept saying what sounded like "f*** us, f*** us." It wasn't the WRONG word, just an interesting pronunciation!
Oh my goodness. I visit France every year and talk to many non English speaking friends of my mother's. They are wonderfully patient and correct me, but I guess they have sat tittering under their breath with some of my gaffs. I have made some of these mistakes you've mentioned, every time I've been. It's amazing I haven't been barred from the country! Thanks for the tips. :)
Hahaha my dad told me when he went to france he made half of the mistakes that were talked about in this vid!! xD
BriannasPlanet :D That happens A LOT.
Comme une Française
c'est parce qu'on n'est pas habitué avec les coutumes françaises :) lol
+Comme une Française So it is common enough that people will understand what you mean? Or some may be in shock still?
Geraldine, common usage in ANY language is a minefield!
English (as used in England, and possibly;y in Australia) is FULL of this sort of thing.
Being an old (80) student of colloquial as well as correct English I'd be happy to help you try to get around them, if you find a problem
BTW (apart from any interpretation of "tu es chaud") I enjoy your posts. :-D
I fell foul of this sort of thing when I first went to study Architecture in England. I wanted to rub out (another one!) a pencil line and asked my fellow students if they had a rubber. Turns out the Poms call it an "eraser". A "rubber" is a condom.
When I was seventeen I participated in a work/study program in Paris for a summer. When my work was finished I did a little traveling and stayed with a wonderful Belgian family in Mons-Bergen. At dinner the first evening I was asked if I wanted more of something. I replied, "Non, je suis plein." They all burst out in laughter and then explained to me why. I was embarrassed but couldn't help laughing at myself, too.
Most these things are the exact same as in Portuguese, love how our languages are more similar than I imagined.
I just subscribed today and love your videos. Packed with valuable lessons. I’m so grateful I found your channel. Merci encore! 🇫🇷
That's why I see a lot of French teachers in their introductory video say in English: I am going to present myself, instead of the more natural I am going to introduce myself.
I was with my French boyfriend and he said "Allons-si!" So just because I was excited [the french language really needs a word for being excited in the English way] I shouted "Allons Si Si" & he looked at me in shock and said not to say that, it had a sexual meaning, though he never explained what it was!
Salut! Une fois j'étais avec mon copain et ses parents sur la plage à Fréjus. J'ai voulu dire mais pour quelque raison ma bouche m'a trahi. J'ai dit
Je suis un français qui apprend l'anglais, et j'approuve totalement ce message !!
Haha, the video was very fun to watch! As for me, I did a silly mistake where I tried to describe my French teacher only in French, and I said that she had "les yeux blancs (white eyes)." Because the word "blanc" sounds like "black," I mixed them up. Her reaction was priceless as she repeated, "Blanc? Les yeux blancs?"I then laughed and said "les yeux noirs."
Narata "je comprends pas, vous me dites que votre prof à les yeux blancs ?" "Hé les gars ! On cherche une prof de français aveugle !"
Excellent. You might be amused by an anecdote from many years ago but which we never let my sister forget: After a meal at our French friends' house they asked her if she wanted some more to eat. "Non merci" she said "je suis pleine"
mdr ;-)
:)
The same actually works in English on the other side of the pond. You don't say "I am full" in the UK, it means "I am pregnant" .... lol ;-)
Richard Holaday Not that I am aware of, not in the UK, .... it just means I've eaten enough.
+Margaret Menlove "J'ai assez mangé" is more common
+Richard Holaday It's Ok in England to say "I'm full" ... it just means you've had enough to eat.
When trying to remove a splinter from my hand I once told somebody "je dois chercher une tenaille, j'ai une pine dans la main". I now know it is an "epine", with an accent aigu on the first e, not a "pine", which is a male sexual organ.
so funny, really !!! lol
My favorite Hollywood actor at the moment is Chris Male-Sexual-Organ.
He played Captain Kirk, in the newer 'Star Trek' movies! 🖖
I was in Paris and I would often say "Je suis excité..." until my friends starting laughing at me and correcting me. Once I understood the meaning I was cracking up at myself too! LOL.
Whenever I visit France, I always enjoy drinking Pernod. On my first visit, as a student, my mate I was with (who didn’t speak French) discovered what he christened “the hand grenade”. I had a bit of French, and called it a “Pernod grenadine”. A few years later, on holiday with my then boyfriend, we were in a bar and I asked for a Pernod grenadine, and the barmaid had difficulty understanding what I wanted. After a bit of pointing and speaking slowly etc, she understood and made me my drink. But as she put it in front of me, she said, “Voila, un Pernod avec de la grenadine.” I’ve never forgotten, and I’ve never thought the French are rude for correcting people. I’m a retired teacher, and it’s in my blood to correct people. It isn’t to make them look like an idiot or to reprimand, it’s so that if someone was in a similar situation again, they’d know what to do. As in the case of this barmaid, who was being kind by correcting me, so I’d know how to ask again. I’ve never forgotten.
I even go out of my way to find out the word I need. I went into a shop to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste, and after asking for, “Une brosse à dents,” I asked, “Qu’est-ce qu’on appelle l’étoffe qu’on met sur la brosse, j’ai oublié le mot.” The assistant replied, “dentifrice”. I then asked le or la, to which she replied, “le dentifrice”. The French have a bit of a reputation in the UK for being a bit offhand and moody, but they really are not. They are simply very proud of their language, and however badly a foreigner speaks it, they love it when people make the effort, and will bend over backwards to help.
Comment as tu réussie à garder ton sérieux ?? 😂😂😭 merci aux anglophones pour nous faire autant rire. On vous aimes 😊
I once made the mistake of saying to a native „j'ai trompé" instead of "je me suis trompé", and he was like, "noooon, j'ai trompé es trop gênant!". He was cool, though. And I will never forget that french class when I was twelve and we talked about the middle ages. I understood later why was the teacher so horrified when she heard me saying "verge de fer" instead of "vierge~.
I thought this would be one of those useless videos that you find on blogs, but this was so helpful and funny!!!! Thanks!!
so helpful please make more of these
Years ago I was taking a tour of the château de Versailles which was conducted in French. While touring the hall of mirrors, the tour guide turns and asks me directly in French, what do you think? First thing I could think of to say was the colors were beautiful....les couleurs sont jolies. Unfortunately, in my rush to spit something out, my words slurred and couleurs sounded more like culé as in enculés. Everyone in the group gasped at first and then chuckled. Evidently, instead of saying the colors were pretty, I boldly proclaimed that the ass fuckers were pretty. After that time I made my French friend teach me each and every French curse word perfectly so that way I would know how they sounded/were pronounced and I would never make an innocent mistake like that again. To this date it has helped and saved me further embarrassment.
That one made me laugh out loud.
Oh my god I made mistake number 2 in one of my French lessons last year. My teacher pointed it out and we were both pissing ourselves- we couldn't stop laughing and its something I'll remember forever 😂
Les Québécois, on fait souvent l'erreur de dire "Je suis excité(e)" pour dire qu'on a très hâte à propos de quelque chose. Même à la télévision, c'est une expression que les gens disent beaucoup...J'essaie vraiment de sortir ça de mon vocabulaire :D
I'm a Francophone Belgian and we say in French Belgian : "Donner une baise" means : "Kiss somebody" in French of France! In Belgium, the word " une baise" is very commonly used without any wrong back thought! But it's true, be carefully when you use this term in Belgium because sometimes that makes the situation awkward!
Hello professor
Bonjour professeur
Thank you so much for your interesting courses l follow you attentivelly in order to improve my English and my French. I love your way of teaching and excellent explanation. I wish you peace and happiness under the sky of prosperity.
Your Student from Algeria.
Hahaha...the first time I stayed at my boyfriend's (now my husband) holiday home I made a mistake with "preservitif".We were talking about une baguette...and I said the reason they go stale so quickly is because they don't have preservatives! I didn't know the right word then....so it was a source of many laughs...and still is now...fortunately my French is a bit better now...although, by no means good....but I am taking lessons with you Geraldine!....😂
The one that got me for long time is not obscene: in English, we say Entrée to mean the main course, which would be 'plat' in French. Entrée in French would be 'appetizer' in English.
In french, you can also say "plat principal", literally "main course" in english.
I had no idea you used «entrée» for the main course in english
Salut! Madam
Your very good teacher.
I just want to say thank you very much.
I have made several of these mistakes. My students LOVE those stories, and they will remember the "funny" phrases all year.
The first sentence I said in French (to french people) was: J'aime ma chatte.... Yep, basically I just love my vag xD
OMG, I hadn't heard that one before. Hilarious!
Cat is chat!
no until now , because I do not have some one to practice french with (I do it with my self ) but I belive I will make thousands of mistakes through my journey into learning
Years ago, in France, my boyfriend and I had just finished a meal and since there was no dessert at home, I proposed to go out for a walk and get a "gâterie". His facial expression alone told me there had been a miscommunication of some sort. I am French speaking from Québec and up to that time, I had never heard the word used for anything other than to mean 'sweets' of some sort (from the verb gâter which means to treat yourself). He pulled out the Robert-Collins translation dictionary and we both had a good laugh. It runs out that "gâterie" in France is mostly used to mean a bj.
Une fois, quand j'allais à l'université, une fille de ma classe m'a prêté ses notes pour une matière, et je lui ai dit : merci beaucoup, t'es très bonne !
Elle a rit et m'a dit qu'elle comprenait ce que je voulais dire mais que j'aurais du dire plutôt « gentille »...
I do agree with u that making mistakes is a necessary step in developing one's language, but there are also some problems. the first one is that u should know how to pass this stage because if u believe that making mistakes is totally natural, then it'll be fixed and fossilized and it'll be hard to change the habit. The second main problem i can find is that these mistakes leave a bad impression of people about u and might lower down ur social confidence. How would u propose to solve these problems?!
+pourya yahyaee There is no bad impression, i mean if you talk with a strong accent and said to a french "Je peux te baiser?" it's different than a french man said that to a french girl, with foreigner the girl will probably laugh (because she understand the mistake) with a french guy it's not the same thing.
Not as embarrassing but I used A vos souhaits to mean as you wish and ca vous fait mal to mean does it bother you . But it is totally ok to make mistakes I am now more comfortable with them and as a result I’ve improved quite a bit.
Run through the comment section and learnt a lot. I feel equally embrassed even by reading those embrassing moments you had. Thanks for sharing though. This is a very good comment section, thank you all.
You look like Anne Hathaway. 🙈
yes, she does!!!
I’ve only just found this website - it’s excellent, well done Geraldine.
I have two stories of things like these ! Even today my French isn’t brilliant but many years ago I wanted to ask how much something was. I said something like “Qu’est que c’est la coute” which, with my awful pronunciation, did not sound good.
Another time was when my wife was feeling very unwell whilst on holiday in France. She thought she might be pregnant and I had to go to a pharmacie and try to buy a pregnancy test kit - not very easy with poor French !!
I speak French...And When I chat with English people, sometimes they try to talk to me in French...I've seen MANY funny mistakes xD But it's okay c: Even me, in English, I make mistakes c:
Raphaëlle Dion yep, that's right... I am learning french in French institution... best way to learn a new language is to speak with someone who speaks well in that language or native speaker... I am searching for one to learn french ... ;) hope I will get one ..
I recently started to watch your videos, currently taking french on school, and find your videos very useful ! keep up the work, they are really entertaining !
In any country, it's very iffy when asking how to say something. Most pull pranks on you. People can be downright untrustworthy. Thank you for these very helpful tips.
Many years ago I was living in London, working in a restaurant. A girl worked there who was French. I've always wanted to learn the language. Back then you didn't have much help. I asked her to tell me how to tell our French clients how to go downstairs. What she told me was the directions to the bathroom for a bath. Needless to say I was highly embarrassed when I found out. It was cruel. I was a kid. I've never forgotten it.
Oh, so "la salle de bain" versus "les toilettes"
So helpful, funny. It’s all about culture.
I thought the word "con" in French had to be an Americanism for a convict. My assumption proved wrong.
I'm given to understand that "savoir" means "to know how to do something" and "connaitre" means to know a person and if you use "savoir" with a person, it means you know them in the Biblical sense (which could give you a black eye)!
R52177 nope, it's the opposite ! The use of "connaître" with a person means you know them in the Biblical sense ;)
In fact you can't use "savoir" with a person at all. We always use "connaître" when talking about somebody but it's hard to tell when it has the regular or the Biblical sense :)
"je te baise" is actually right. It has a sexual meaning as well but if you want to sound old-fashioned... i guess you can use that. But still, i wouldn't recommend saying it on the streets or to a friend.
my point is you can find this type of sentence in a book for example, like "il baisa sa main"
I made a small mistake when writing about my cat in French class. I became unsure if it was feminine or not so I thought I'd spell it as it it was feminine because it's a female cat. So when I got the test back my teacher told me how this one mistake could create a completely different meaning. And I've laughed at it ever since.
Oliver Kårehag it's funny cause even French people are sometimes afraid to use "chatte"
Chat is a masculine word.
La Vendetta well I know. I didn’t know that five years ago so thanks for the heads up.
@@oliverkarehag9883 I am still learning French. It's getting harder to learn if words have "genders".
Equivalent to us saying "pussy cat" which might be acceptable, but the P word by itself raises eyebrows.
you are a unique person. thanks for the headsup :)
Living in france for a good many years i've made most of these mistakes. I'm going back to miming. Much safer!
Haha! I didn't know about the "Vaseline" one.
I was sitting next to a French guy on a recent university field trip (he's super good-looking, by the way), and more than once I applied Vaseline to my lips, as I would in the UK, because my lips were dry, and that's all.
So I'm not sure whether to be embarrassed or not, now that I know "Vaseline" means "lubricant" in French. Yes, I'm embarrassed, but on the other hand, it could be seen as unintentional flirting XD
+B Holt (ベス) Vaseline (in bad way) is more used in sarcastic sentence for example when two team playing a game and someone of the red team said to someone of the blue team "do you have your vaseline?" which mean "you are ready to be fu**?" in normal life if you use it or ask for it in a pharmacy nobody laugt. In your example if you have asked to the french guy if he want some vaseline maybe he will smile (because he know the double meaning) but it's not so rude.
True story: a group of 8-year-olds studying French at school were set to your France for a couple weeks with their French teachers. The father of one of the kids, who owned a shirt store, inspired by the "Kiss me I'm..." trend in the USA, had printed up a bunch of tee-shirts for all the kids that were supposed to mean, "Kiss me, I speak French" but he of course put "Baisez-moi, je parle français." Not a good thing for little kids to be wearing while touring France.
Je découvre tout juste ta chaine je suis tombée ici par hasard. Je suis Française mais j'aime bien tes explications ^^
Merci Alysone S. Watermelon :)
Thank you 😂 funny and very clear. I’m Russian, living in France the 4th year.
My French is not great bc I haven’t really tried, but my knowledge from high school helped me learn Romanian. Early on, while staying with a host during a mission trip, I was trying to as for an Iron for my shirt (Pot avea un fier de CALCAT (iron of ironing) pentru cămașa mea?) but used the term CACAT instead. The mom of the family was embarrassed and mad. I was mortified. Merci beaucoup pour vos videos, elles sont tres utiles.
"Je dois ranger ma chambre. C'est le bordel." This created a bit of a stir as in "Alors, c'est quoi ce Bordel !!!". I'd like to know why!!!!!
Un moment, ma sœur petite à l’époque a dit directement et tout haut " ohla je suis toute en chaleur !" juste pour dire qu'elle avait chaud ! moment embarrassant pour les parents ! ^^
+skyhacker6 J'espère qu'elle ne savait pas ceux qu'elle disait!
Michael Heitz
heureusement non ^^
I think petite needs to be in front of the noun. Only three adjectives in French is placed in front of the noun: grand(e), petit(e) and beau/belle.
Je voudrais que vous vlog in completly in french! please please please!!!!
My best mistake in french arose because I'd been given a log impregnated with mushroom spores. Just leave it outside and you may get some shitake mushrooms. Two years later some sprouted! So I said excitedly to my neighbours "j'ai des champignons qui poussent sur ma bûche! " But I pronounced it "bouche". So they heard "I have a fungal growth on my mouth", and were understandably puzzled as to why that made me happy.
Imagine that a French guy walks into a UK pharmacy and sees some Vaseline
When I was in Liverpool, I saw a shop called "SIDA".
In French, this word means "AIDS".
Léa ! En fait Penneys c'est Primark
I can't cope with this accent. However, I have a really embarrassing mistake in French. Some years ago I was about to buy a derelict 3 storey property in SW France. It had been a grocer's.
At the meeting with the notaire, it was admitted that it had been difficult to contact the 33 inheritants, some of whom lived now in Australia.
I made my pitch exhorting the pecksniff lawyer to make more effort to contact "les hérissons."
I thought I was saying "the inheriters" when of course I was saying, "the hedgehogs."
So, polite, they never pulled me up on it.
Thanks for the warning. My mom was right next to me.
merci Geraldine!
You’re hilarious but very reserved, a French character.
I think one that maybe could be interesting is the "Je me couche", Which as I have understood just is, "Il go sleep, lie down". However, when someone else is involved - it is not just sleeping anymore.. Dont know the good example but something like "tu peux/veux coucher avec moi /chez moi?"
je me couche = I lie down, I'm going to bed (or I fold, if you are playing poker)/ je couche avec = I have sex with
Whoops! I have made a couple of these errors! So glad you cleared these up, merci!
I’m finding as a general rule that in French you don’t say “I am” something (je suis) as often as we do in English. It’s more often j’ai. So if the phrase is “I’m feeling some way” in English (ie hungry, thirsty, tired) and not “I am such and such quality” (tall, English, weird) then it’s a safer bet to go with avoir.
Very good explanation.
I had a French friend who was learning English and I do my best to help her.
The other day she tried to write to me in English « Désolé pour le message retard » and she said in English “sorry for my retard message.” While it was funny I had to warn her that “r*etard” is an offensive slur toward people with learning disabilities. You would say “sorry for my late message.”
Super utiles ces vidéos, merci
My middle school French teacher taught us to never say "Je suis chaud" but she didn't tell us why, how funny! I was just under the impression it was grammatically wrong, like a mistake a child may make.. So she made us practice "J'ai chaud, j'ai froid, j'ai faim, etc." she taught us passe compose very strictly (sorry no accents on my keyboard.)
It's not a french example but when I, an Englishman, first went to the US I marched into a office supply store and asked in a loud voice where I could find a "rubber". I was politely and quietly told that I could buy one only in a pharmacy.
Love it! I heard a similar anecdote happen in an office. "Do you have a rubber?"