My French vs English wordlist (on-going)

I love the French and English languages. They are an endless source of pleasure.

[Disclaimer: all these definitions and opinions are my own and cannot be considered authoritative. I realize that you can eventually explain any notion in any language--but not equally easily.]

  

French words with no real English equivalent

les acquis sociaux [means "the things that we have fought for: the 35-hour week, etc." ]

attentat   The French have a word for any kind of terrorist attack

cadre [someone who is not an ordinary employee, part of the elite; but it's fuzzy]

chômer, chômeur [to be unemployed, an unemployed person: but in French, it's somehow active]

dépaysement [the sensation of being in another country]

déroulement [unfolding, how things happen] 

doux [means so many things at once: sweet, tender, soft, gentle]

douleur [means so many things at once: pain, sorrow, grief, sadness, ache, heartache]

encadrer [to be surrounded and taken care of]

la fête, fêter  [we need a word like this in English. "Party" or "feast" are not the same.]

incontournable [something you can’t escape from or get around; not quite the same as inevitable]

le patronat [the class of bosses, as if they're separate from normal people; I find this concept very French]

le regard  It's not exactly a glance, it's a look, the expression on your face as you look; mainly going toward the looker, while English look is mostly from the looker. 

retrouvailles [meeting again after a long time, the happiness]

That sinister word social 

sortable [adjective for someone you can take places without being embarrassed]  

spectacle [a show of any kind]  

surenchère [one-upmanship, upping the ante, increasing your bid]

 

English words with no true French equivalent

block  [as in "Go two blocks"-- the French word is pâté de maisons, but the French never use it. Instead they say "two streets." In fact I don't know how they talk about a city without ever mentioning blocks!]

float  [as in a parade]  In French you call it a char, but as far as I'm concerned, that has way too many other meanings and calls up the wrong image.

friend     [Of course, the French have friends too. But a French ami/amie always has to have a sex, whereas we find it's often so convenient not to have to say.]

gentleman   [in French, seems to be more of a fashion statement than a personal quality.]

kick  [you have to say: "donner un coup de pied" which I find a bit long for a quick kick]

kind  [the French have to say “gentille” or “généreux”; the nuance of this being a deep character trait is missing]

mind  [all senses, from "I don't mind" to "have in mind" to "a beautiful mind"]

miss [as in "missing someone"; you have to say "Tu me manques" which means "You are lacking to me."]

remember  [you have to say je me souviens or je me rappelle, "I recall to myself"-- seems very long for such a basic action]

ride  [as in an amusement park; you have to say "attraction" but that can mean a stationary one]

neighborly   Hahahahah

rude   ["mal poli" does not translate the American sense: aggressively, deliberately impolite.]

tailgating   [as in a car. This is curious because almost all French drivers tailgate. Maybe it's like our not noticing gravity until Isaac Newton pointed it out.]

thorough  [you have to say profond or à fond] 

wonder  [in French you have to say, "I ask myself" to translate "I wonder," but it's not the same thing]

wrong  [you have to say "faux" or "mauvais" as in "the bad direction" instead of "the wrong way"; a nuance of wrongness is missing]

French expressions I find strange

je n’y suis pour rien [literally "I am not there for nothing":  "it’s not my fault"]

passer un savon à quelqu’un  [literally "pass a soap to someone": scold someone]

tirer les vers du nez   [literally "pull the worms out of the nose": used as in English, "getting him to talk was like pulling teeth"; people actually say this]

French words I like/think sound funny

coup de barre

galipette

gueule

polisson

racaille, pagaille, canaille, gouaille, grisaille; chatouille, rouille, bouille

zozoter [the French have a word for lisp even though en principe they don't have a "th" sound!]

tentative d’attentat   [attempted terrorist attack; say it out loud!]

trois

Vive le roi!  [Try to say “roi ” and see if it sounds like a king!]


Common French expressions whose equivalent you don't hear much in English

en principe  ["in theory"; actually means "but in reality, probably not"]

mais puisque je vous le dis   ["but because I'm saying it to you"-- someone who often seems untrustworthy says this when you doubt what they are saying. ]

faut pas vous énerver!   ["(you) must not get annoyed!" Always said by annoying people when you object to their cutting in line/queue-barging]

Common English words and expressions whose equivalent you don't hear much in French

Sorry, but I didn't make the rules!

I don't buy that!

wasting time

Comments

[Caroline]

la fête [we need a word like this in English. "Party" or "feast" are not the same.]

I like this one... I always try to explain what "C'est pas la fete" means !!

[lofrance]

We don't have "lap" in French; the bad thing is that we never have good things falling onto our laps, the good thing is that we don't have lap dancers

[Flip]

Hello Sedulia,

This is an interesting article ! Thanks for it.

I think that a french expression hard to translate is too is "Service public". Even for a french lawyer it's hard to explain, but to make short, I would say for your readers that it's a service, provided by the administration or someone working for the administration that has a state that is at a given time important enough to be in a special category, higher that the other activities.

About "le patronat", I don't know in usa, but here if you look some statistics, I would not be surprised to discover that the bosses are bosses from father to son, too, from ex-aristocratic families (with a particule devant le nom)... This sound a cliché, but here I think that the patrons are often (but not always) from the same social class : the rich.
And I don't feel that the average french is the one that think that he CAN DO IT ! Maybe in USA it's different and creating a company, even small is someone that you fear less ?

and to finish, I would translate "kick" by the slang word "latter"
"si tu m'ennuies, je te donne un coup de latte", or to be cohérent : "je te fous un coup de latte dans la gueule".
Where latte can by any part of the body, but I think more the leg.

And maybe "rude" can be translated by "grossier" but I'm not sure at all.

Regards,

-Flip-

[Marco Amans]

For "tailgaiting" we have the expression "coller au cul".

[Nellie]

I couldn't find a French word or phrase that was the exact translation of fussy. Any ideas?

[Flo]

Sure we do use "wasting time", it's "perdre son temps" in French.

I don't wanna waste my time = Je ne veux pas perdre mon temps.

^^

[Sedulia]

"Perdre son temps" means literally to lose one's time.

"Wasting" time would be "gaspiller son temps," which the French don't say.

Of course you can explain anything in any language eventually-- it's the exactness of the individual words that interests me.

Fussy... Hmm, I think you're right, Nellie. There are French words that mean that... but they also mean other things. And there is no French word I can think of that means only "fussy."

[Alexandredp]

Fussy c un peu comme "difficile", in don't be so fussy = ne fais pas le difficile.

so it does not mean difficult like in hardship but more like don't be so hard/difficult to please.

[ADP]

mais puisque je vous le dis - I me telling you SO!

Sorry, but I didn't make the rules! - c'est pas moi qui fait les regles/lois

il y a aussi: ca va etre ta fete! - you gonna cop it! or you've really done it this time!

A float in a parade est un char...

Un cadre is simply part of management either middle ou senior (cadre superieur)

I don't buy that! - je te crois pas!

Et faire la "teuf" ou la fete is exactly like partying while une petit fete ou une petite reception is like a small celebration, at work for instance.

PS: bien vu Flip, t'as tout juste avec coller au cul! ;-)

ADP

[Sedulia]

ADP, you are right about your translations, of course, but I listed these words and phrases here, not because I can't translate them, but because there is no exact equivalent, and I think the differences are interesting and often funny.

I have never heard a French person say, "C'est pas moi qui fait les regles." In English you hear this phrase all the time. And in English I have never heard anyone say, "I'm telling you so!" in the sense that in French you often hear, "Mais puisque je vous le dis!" I think that is because in English-speaking countries, it is unforgivably rude to be seen to doubt the speaker's honesty; this is not necessarily the case in France.

In English there is no one-word translation of "cadre"-- you have to explain it-- and I don't think it's an accident that in hierarchical French society it is much more common. And "I don't buy that" comes from a more commercial culture than "Je te crois pas."

"Coller au cul" is not quite the same as "tailgate" because it's rude, and tailgate is a normal word.

You are right about "char" though (funny that it also means "tank"!). I will leave it up for historical purposes.

[ADP]

Here, Down Under in Australia, Aussie english is still yet another language and local expressions are legion... My translations come from what goes around here.

If you want more Aussie english let me know.;-)

L'expression coller au cul est effectivement de l'argot, on peux le corriger politiquement en disant "arreter de me coller derriere", qui est aussi utilise et moins pejoratif peut etre mais personne que je connaisse (a part ces maudits parigots) n'aime se faire coller au derriere sur la route, ce qui est une pratique dangereuse autant qu'aggressive et qui est aussi une coutume ici bas...

[Sedulia]

You should do an Aussie website! I don't know much Aussie slang.

[William Ashley]

botter is to kick (so botte - kick)

[Wayne]

Shallow is a word that doesn't exist in French. Peu profond is what they say, but that just means "not deep".

Also "privacy" is a word that doesn't translate to French.

[Sedulia]

So true, Wayne! Also, yesterday I was trying to translate "enjoy" and realized it's hard to translate that into French. Also "excited." Both tend to have a sexual connotation when translated into French (if I'm not mistaken).

Interesting!

[Johanna]

Indeed, what a good article ! And blogs... Just got a glance at Rue Rude : really interesting. Love the way you write. I've come across your words searching for a translation to "passer sous le nez", which literally means "go past under the nose" (so funny written that way), but which is actually translated by "slip through one's fingers". It's like the idioms "rain cats and dogs"... In France, we'd rather "it falls cords" !

[angelica]

How does one describe or call a happy hour in French?

[french]

Great write up. I am beginner of learning French language. I have taken various courses to learn French. I love to learn french word everyday. I have got some ideas from you . Thanks for sharing this nice post.

[tafornow]

Ca y est
Avoir l'envie de
Ignoble!

Of course these have translations, but I am a native English speaker and these expressions don't seem to have a great English counterpart. They are much better in French.