AIE! AIE! AIE! THOSE FALSE FRIENDS!
There are a lot of them around – and sometimes it feels as if some words were specially invented to confuse French language learners!
When we see a French word that’s spelt the same as an English word, we assume it will have the same meaning don’t we? Mais non! These ‘faux amis’ or false friends are full of trickery and can often fool you into saying something you definitely didn’t mean!
One of the most common false friend ‘faux pas’ is asking if a food product contains ‘préservatifs’ (Est-ce que ça contient des préservatifs?). Not only would it be unpleasantly chewy, but we all know now that it’s French for condom!
Here are a few more false friends. Can you pick out their real meaning?
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