10 ENGLISH WORDS THAT DON'T HAVE AN EXACT TRANSLATION IN FRENCH

[@irondasgr]

There is no "enjoy" in French? No problem. Let's make it do ourselves. *Enjoyer* it is.

[@Street_French]

haha xD

[@Street_French]

@@TheZwyz ;)

[@Kevtia]

@@Street_French Il a été remplacé par "kiffer" :))

[@Street_French]

@@Kevtia Haha ouai carrément ;)

[@MrCount84]

Je m’amuse

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

This is why English has so many "loan words". If we don't have our own word, we just use someone else's.

[@sfertonoc]

That would be American “english”. Dollar, Deli, etc... all non english words.

[@Street_French]

ah interesting :)

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

@@sfertonoc That's sorta my point. And where the hell do you think American English comes from?

[@cescargot]

Actually French also borrowed tons of words of from all the european languages : latin, greek, german, spanish, italian 👌 But modern words beeing borrowed tend to be 90% english borrowed (IT & technical terms). Some of the remaning 10% are mostly slang borrowed from arabic.

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

@@cescargot Who said anything about borrowing? You'll notice I used quote marks. We don't borrow shit. We straight up take it. Just ask the Indians. Both kinds. And the Africans. Need I say more?

[@elle_grlx6886]

Bon matin existe au Québec malgré le fait que c’est un anglicisme

[@Street_French]

Ah cool :)

[@IAmFat1968]

Pas seulement anglicisme on dit "Guten Morgen" en allemand

[@mbarello5903]

Peut-être que ça existe mais moi je me fais un honneur de ne jamais l'utiliser..... Pour moi c'est Bonjour.... tout comme le: ça la pas de bon sens (ça n'a pas de bon sens), ça l'existe, etc.... tout le monde disent ça (dis ça) mais pas moi !!!

[@shakti.rathore]

Sorry I can't write in French yet. But i just posted a similar comment..i was wondering why good morning can't be BON MATIN..So your comment just made me feel like I am learning a little 😂😂.. Thanks/ merci

[@Xerxes2005]

@@IAmFat1968 L'allemand n'a aucune influence sur le français parlé au Québec.

[@SuperLn1991]

The french word I miss the most in english is "chez". Chez moi" or "chez ma tante" is much more practicle than saying "At my place" or "at my aunt's place".

[@Street_French]

ah yeah interesting!

[@stephenolan5539]

That is almost like saying that English does not have a word for "souffle". English does not just borrow words, it rapes and pillages entire languages and takes what it wants. Admittedly and English speaker saying "chez moi" is going to sound pretentious.

[@SuperLn1991]

@@leod-sigefast haha, when did I get pretentious??! All I say is that for me to say for ex "at your grandmas" or at your oncles, pronouncing the s is difficult that's why I miss "chez". I was never pretentious.

[@SuperLn1991]

@@leod-sigefast At what moment I was prententious? Don't be so insecure.

[@Tina06019]

Oh yes! “Chez” is a great word.

[@skyeralbert461]

I'm a french acadian and we do say ''Bon matin''

[@Street_French]

ah ok cool, I guess I'm talking more about the French in France, where I'm from :)

[@ThirdPointInLine]

Yeah we have bon matin in Québec too, mais genre il y beaucoup d'anglisismes au Québec haha

[@yan_afrukh]

I do that too, and it seems that everyone accept it :)

[@skyeralbert461]

@@yan_afrukh Yes :D

[@philv3941]

Pure anglicisim. At the very beggining "jour" is the light and the morning (attendre qu'il fasse jour, l'Aube = "le petit jour") and if you really whish a good whole day you can leave him with a "bonne journée " That's why i think "bon matin" will never grow in european french.

[@jamiexxjamie]

Yeah, I've often noticed that "sibling(s)" is missing in French. It's a bit awkward to say frère(s) et soeur(s) each time you want to express that concept. I guess there are lots of missing terms in English too. I like this one: l'esprit de l'escalier (stairway wit). It’s said when you think of the perfect reply too late, after the fact...when you're halfway down the stairs.

[@Street_French]

ah yeah interesting :)

[@ablc2007FR]

Siblings : fratrie

[@JustinCase99999]

@@ablc2007FR "Avez-vous une fratrie?" 😄

[@leslienassar6829]

Jamie You mean a “comeback”?

[@jamiexxjamie]

@@leslienassar6829 Sort of, but the French term implies after the fact...when it's too late: "I wish I had said this or that, but I didn't think of it in time." A comeback is a timely response.

[@ml6279]

A totally different language but in turkish I love the fact that grand-father and Grand-mother, aunties ans uncles is a different word depending if it is from your mother's side or father's. This way you straightaway know to Who you are referont to!

[@Street_French]

ah so interesting :)

[@am4d3us-od-46]

I'd say "enjoy" is "apprécier" and "creepy" is "flippant" personally 🤔

[@Street_French]

:)

[@thetruth156real3]

Creepy is not scary, and you can appreciate something but not enjoy it. Example, I appreciate the work but do not enjoy it. Example 2. The old man in the house did not scare me but I found him very creepy.

[@PLASMA0492]

@@thetruth156real3 "Flippant" works perfectly but I think that in frenc se have many other words that are more precise for "enjoy", or you could use "s'enjailler" or "s'enjoir" except they are both not really used, because old or vulgar

[@kriss581]

Mais j'utilise "bon marché" et pourtant je ne suis pas vieille 😢

[@paranoidrodent]

(stuck on an English keyboard) It is better translated as "a bargain" or "a good deal" than cheap and it is not obscure in Canadian French. I've heard it in advertisements.

[@McDuck94]

Bon marché est une bonne traduction française du mot "cheap"

[@Street_French]

aww c'est pas grave haha :) c'est peut être une habitude, peut être que ça dépend de la région :) C'est vrai que je parle des choses que je sais sur cette chaîne et autour de moi les gens de mon âge disent pas trop ça^^

[@Street_French]

ow no it's not obscure in France either, I just don't hear people, my age around me in Paris, use it as often or ever anymore. but of course it's going to be used on TV, advertisements, literature, tv shows etc... anything that is scripted and that's not everyday spoken French I guess

[@anniejolu7641]

StreetFrench.org ça c’ est VRAIMENT ton point de vue. N oublie pas non plus la double négation dans tes réponses.

[@Maximetony]

"Malaisant" est un équivalent de cringy, en tout cas en ce moment.

[@IcedFingers]

Sauf que le mot "malaisant" n'existe pas

[@Nemerides]

@@IcedFingers Le mot existe dès lors que les usagers l'utilisent

[@Maximetony]

@@IcedFingers C'est pour cela que j'ai bien precisé "en ce moment"

[@Street_French]

oui c'est vrai, ce mot est nouveau et les gens commencent à l'utiliser.

[@symphony960]

J'aurais plutôt dit "flippant" étant donné que le mot "malaisant" n'existe pas.

[@marie-angeboddele9358]

Another one, in French we don’t have a word to say « both », you just say « les deux » which means « the two of them »

[@Street_French]

:)

[@mist9798]

Old French had the word "ambe" though, but it disappeared

[@alexandrelct826]

"both" = "la paire"

[@ricoltmetric8156]

@@alexandrelct826 To English speaker that sounds like a pair, which means 2 similar objects or persons that usually comes by 2. Where 'both' means 2 no matter matching, the same, or not.

[@alexandrelct826]

@@ricoltmetric8156 Yes you absolutely right, thank you to help me in my english level 😉🙏😊

[@aubreeswart2206]

Prospère sounds more like prosperous just by the sound of the word.

[@bonafontciel]

sleepy is somnolent and in spanish "Somnoliento/a"

[@Street_French]

ah yeah somnolent is the correct word but we just never use it :) that's why we like to make those videos on streetfrench. if you only use a dictionary, you'll end up speaking a very old fashioned French that'll sound a bit off and awkward :)

[@gregorybrian]

StreetFrench.org So now the question is, how would YOU say “I’m sleepy?”

[@Street_French]

@@gregorybrian it's in the video :)

[@censusgary]

In Spanish, for “I’m sleepy,” you can say, “Tengo sueño.”

[@paranoidrodent]

@@Street_French I wouldn't call it old fashioned but it is a stiff and formal term. It's something a doctor would use to describe a patient but not something you would say in casual speech.

[@JonathonV]

When I was living in France, an English teacher I worked with said she loved the connotation of “will” as a future-tense auxiliary in English. English and French both have ways to say “I will” or “I'm going to” (future antérieur et futur proche), but she felt that “will” in English carries more of an intentionality to it, as if the person is more determined to do something. That connotation comes from Old English, when “will” and “would” were used as action verbs meaning “to wish”, which no one says anymore (“I will that my mother is well”/“I would that she leave me alone”). You'd only ever hear that in Shakespeare plays and other classic literature from centuries ago. You very occasionally see “will” as an action verb meaning “to bequeath” (“My late grandfather willed me his war medallion”) but that's a different usage. Anyway, back to the idea of “will” and “going to” talking about the future: I'd guess that most Anglophones would say the two are interchangeable. It might be something very subtle that we don't notice, something we think is the same but that actually makes us think someone is still learning the language if they choose the wrong one. I'm not sure. I just thought it was an interesting observation.

[@marwaalqatari8988]

I just finished the 4th french class i take in university and I just found your channel and I’m learning so much in this one hour of me scrolling through youtube at 3 am, and maybe it’s even more than I’ve learned in class. I’m going to France in spring break and I’m so exciting now that I’m learning more spoken french! ❤️

[@Street_French]

aw cool thanks for you comment! it means a lot to know that we're helping ! :)

[@CarlosCastilloproactivos]

1:06 We only have "cher", "pas cher". That explains the prices in France and Switzerland XD.

[@Street_French]

haha :)

[@_hexes_]

"Bon matin" doesn't exist in France? It's as ubiquitous as "good morning" in Canadian French...

[@miriamhenry140]

It doesn't exist in France though...just "bonjour". Interesting she doesn't say that it means "good day".

[@cameleonfleuri]

In Quebec province, we do use BON MATIN (and also use bon après-midi ou bonsoir) and it is pretty common to say that!!!!!

[@pyral514]

@@cameleonfleuri It's common but you always get grammar nazis telling you it's not proper French. lol

[@miriamhenry140]

@@pyral514 "bon matin" makes perfect sense to me! I have cousins in Montreal and they certainly say that. I'm not sure this is about grammar nazis - its really just a question of different uses in different places - not about right or wrong.

[@clovismarin8421]

@@pyral514 Bonsoir is a french word and bon matin is also a French word I us it a lot in Switzerland

[@houdaakkouche8165]

I was looking for someone that teaches french like you and finally I found you 😌 thanks ur way is really good.

[@Street_French]

Happy to help!☺☺

[@benjamindurrington1812]

One word that my Parisian friend and I were talking about is skyline. Because in French you would say « l’horizon », but that doesn’t really get at the artificial nature of the word. So we came up with « le découpé de gratte-ciels » :)

[@Street_French]

haha interesting :)

[@mannymachete5622]

Paysage urbain

[@Womanwithblackdog]

This is lovely. It is very good for amplifying a student's understanding as they try to learn a language. Also the instructor speaks beautifully. I just enjoy listening even though I am not French! 😂

[@Street_French]

ah cool thanks for this comment :)

[@cchang604]

I personally found it hard to find a french equivalent for “awkward”. In Canada/North America, the word “awkward” can be applied to a variety of situations and personalities - even in an endearing manner. I just haven’t quite found a similar word for that in French :(.

[@Street_French]

Yeah I love that word! Sometimes I say "gênant" but it's not quite the same xD

[@ericofthegarden1500]

Chiant !

[@OAnIncurableHumanist]

@@Street_French On social media I have seen people use "malaisant" for cringeworthy/awkward but I'm not sure how commonly people actually use it in real life. I like that word though, I think it gets pretty close to the meaning of "cringeworthy"

[@Mr17Strangelove]

I would have used ‘Bizarre’ but it depends on the context

[@maten146]

There is not just one word but plenty of word in function of the situation : Bizarre, gênant, maladroit, malaisant, ... And other words more formal such as embarrassant, peu commode, ....

[@simonmunger3389]

Il existe cependant plusieurs traductions aux mots que tu as mentionnés, en voici quelques unes: Good morning: Bon matin Cheap: Bon marché, abordable, économique Sleepy: Somnolent Successful: Fructueux, prospère, efficace Creepy : Sinistre, Glauque To Cringe: Grimacer Enjoy: Apprécier, jouir, aimer, bénéficier, savourer, déguster, profiter Est-ce que vous êtes d’accord ?

[@sharengy]

The verb “to floss” doesn’t exist either in French.

[@helenamondragon8817]

Sebastien Hareng that’s because we don’t floss haha

[@sebastienhareng9899]

@@helenamondragon8817 Indeed. I live in the US and it's for sure more common practice than in France.

[@Street_French]

haha yeah I guess we don't floss in France haha but we say fils dentaire :)

[@sebastienhareng9899]

@@Street_French Exactement!

[@liolio7545]

Sebastien Hareng vu ton nom et ta gueule c'est pas étonnant

[@Picturesque-ob1fw]

Whenever i do the french R pronunciation, my acid reflux worsens lol. But I really like their R .

[@Street_French]

hahaha xD

[@julietenh5560]

That's funny... Ahahaha..

[@Voltaireooooo]

It is a uvular R.

[@creatifetudes8553]

🤣🤣

[@georgesotiroff5080]

@@Voltaireooooo You have taught me a new word! I have always taught English speakers that the French “r” is just a gargle. If one can gargle one can say a French “r”. Uvular does sound a bit like medical speak to me.

[@melissalyons6936]

You don’t have the word “ to like”. In French we can only love everything, lol!!! What a good strategy, way to think positive, France!

[@Street_French]

haha yeah I guess it's true^^

[@am4d3us-od-46]

We can say "j'aime bien" which is different from "j'aime", so when you "like" something, tu "l'aime bien" :)

[@lucasdkdkdj3526]

I love you = je t'aime I like you = je t'aime bien

[@NetAndyCz]

@@lucasdkdkdj3526 there is j'adore as well, keep it complicated:)

[@Syl75]

There is a word for "to like" in French. It's "apprécier".

[@ohnonotthevampire7191]

Holy crap, you're the second French channel that I actually like. You're up front about modern french terms that exist and don't exist. Unlike some other channels.

[@weatheranddarkness]

The one that really bugs me is "brittle". You're stuck with "fragile" which doesn't describe things that are strong but can snap. Whereas fragile things are necessarily not strong at all.

[@ludoviclagouardette7020]

You have "Friable" for brittle

[@leoren5128]

@@ludoviclagouardette7020 Not quite, brittle is only saying things can break. But even bullet proof body armor can be described as brittle (if you push it over its limit, the metal will break instead of bend or tear). I don't see how "Friable" can say the same.

[@travissmith2848]

@@leoren5128 Don't know French, but looking at the formation I'd guess that "Friable" is either fragile or breakable. As typically used in my experience "fragile" means something is easily broken while "brittle" means that something is prone to cracks and coming apart rather than deforming. Glass can be described as both. A Hard Drive or postage stamp sized doll house is fragile, very little force is needed to break them/cause them to stop functioning as intended. Cast iron or thick ceramics are brittle, the force may be little or big but when the strength of the material is exceed cracks will propagate turning a single piece into many.

[@MRoch1308]

« Fragile » means that something is easily breakable, strong or not Une statue est fragile tout comme un vase est fragile ;)

[@francismarcoux8944]

Cassant

[@pauljburgin340]

Thanks very much. Yes, I'll subscribe. Your content and presentation is very good.

[@Street_French]

ah cool glad you like it :)

[@specialmag7]

Au Québec, en plus de “bon marché”, nous utilisons le terme “abordable” pour dire “pas cher”.

[@carpelinguae9097]

Mais abordable se traduit mieux comme "affordable" , non ?

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

"Pas cher" existe en Québec.

[@specialmag7]

Carpe Linguae C’est vrai. Mais la différence entre “pas cher” et “abordable” est mince.

[@specialmag7]

Jeff Kardos Jr. Biensûr que ça existe. Je parlais des alternatives à “Pas cher” pour dire “cheap”.

[@thecrazyjoe250]

Abordable s'utilise aussi en métropole

[@Nekoowoo]

"creepy" peut se dire flippant je pense ? idk

[@philipwittamore]

Malaisant?

[@choco1971]

Glauque?

[@ethelanderson255]

Nous les Franco-Ontariens on dit c'est cringe.

[@jgurtz]

Je me demande qu'il soit traduire comme: c'était louche et un peu menacent

[@vivienpandart]

Creepy c'est effrayant

[@JustinCase99999]

C'est drôle, j'avais commencé une liste de mots anglais "intraduisibles" ou difficilement traduisibles. En voici quelques uns. Pour certains il s'agit de certains emplois particuliers de ces mots. Stalker Bully Badass Self-righteous Patronising (quand on cache sa condescendance derrière un compliment par exemple) Feature (le verbe) Care Sake Loose (à ne pas confondre avec lose, perdre) Sassy Challenging Upset (qui recouvre tellement de sens!) Rewarding Fancy Embrace Credit (give him credit)

[@Street_French]

aah cool merci ! :))

[@JustinCase99999]

@@Street_French De rien. 😊

[@Zamoksva]

Nous au Québec on utilise ces mots ou expressions comme traduction, je ne sais pas si c'est de l'ancien français ou non, ou encore si ils sont utilisés en Europe, mais ils sont très utilisés au Canada Bully = intimidateur to care = se soucier Challenging = demandant to be upset = être contrarié Rewarding = gratifiant/récompensant Fancy = chic/élégant to give credits / donner de la reconnaissance

[@maten146]

On a des traductions pour tout ça. Stalker : harceleur Bully : brute Badass : puissant/ dur a cuire Self-righteous : bien pensant Etc ...

[@JustinCase99999]

@@maten146 Ce ne sont pas des traductions qui rendent le sens exact. Un stalker est un harceleur d'un genre bien précis. Les harceleurs ne sont pas forcément des stalkers. Même chose pour les autres mots. Harceler en anglais c'est harass. Bully n'a pas de traduction exacte. Les bullies peuvent ne pas être des brutes, toutes les brutes ne sont pas des bullies. On peut être bullied à l'école sans être brutalisé. Et on peut être brutalisé sans avoir été bullied. Ce n'est pas le même sens. Etc. etc.

[@drmichaelelinski6992]

Tu m’as bien surpris avec des mots qui existent en anglais, mais qui n’ont pas d’équivalent en français. J’ai trouvé ce sujet vachement inter. Merci beaucoup encore une fois...

[@Street_French]

ah cool ^^

[@Syl75]

Maybe someone already mentioned it but there's also the word "both" which doesn't have equivalent in French. According to the sentences, we will translate it by "à la fois" or "les deux".

[@Street_French]

good one! thanks :)

[@佳诚高]

As a French learner this video definitely helped me a lot when It comes to these words especially “enjoy, sounds like and shallow” . Merci pour cette vidéo pour que les mots ne me dérangent plus!

[@Street_French]

de rien ! :)))

[@christiankramer5678]

Excited! As in “I’m excited to go to the park” or something like that. It’s such a common mistake for English speaking students to say “je suis excité” and not realize that that does NOT mean what they think it means. I’ve not heard a word that can concisely sum up the feeling of being excited in a non sexual manner-does anyone else have a translation for this word?

[@Street_French]

no but we can say it differently like "j'ai hâte d'aller au parc" : I can't wait to go to the park

[@JonathonV]

My French teacher always told me to say “enthousiaste” instead; not sure how common it is, but apparently it doesn't have a sexual connotation like “excité(e)” does.

[@leslienassar6829]

Christian Kramer That was going to be my choice! No good way to say excited....

[@mackenziedillon295]

Je suis franco-ontarienne et j'avais entendu 《Bon matin》 plusieur fois.

[@Street_French]

cool :)) oui c'est utilisé au canada mais pas en France

[@RickP2012]

The word I miss in English is a gender specific word for cousin.

[@lucienkuhn8069]

Or friend

[@hynesie11]

Or everything

[@dorothypaul4642]

Another interesting video. I wish I knew about you when I was still teaching French. I'm now retired after 30 years.

[@Street_French]

ah thanks :)

[@robadr13]

The odd thing about not having a French word for 'enjoy' is that basically it IS a French word :-).

[@Street_French]

yeah it comes for French but we just stopped using it. and I don't know if it had the exact same meaning. but it is odd you're right about that^^it's interesting to see languages evolve!

[@et7992]

Enjoy: late Middle English: from Old French enjoier ‘give joy to’ or enjoïr ‘enjoy’, both based on Latin gaudere ‘rejoice’.

[@Madeleine852]

It sounds like a mean joke: "There's no word for 'enjoy' in French." No, really! 😄

[@philv3941]

For enjoy and successfull. Could explain something about us.

[@jessierocket8227]

We can actually have a simple word too depending on the way you use the "Enjoy". We can say "Profite" (or "Profite bien").

[@ivetterodriguez1994]

And the closest thing in Spanish is "gosarse" but you can't say "gosarse" without saying what you're trying to enjoy specifically. And I'm pretty sure no one says "gosarme".

[@Street_French]

haha

[@ivetterodriguez1994]

Wait nevermind. Spanish does have a word for enjoy. It's "disfrutar".

[@milletrad8871]

Thank you for the pertinent video. Since you asked.... American hippie slang sometimes features the adjective "heavy," which can be understood to mean "serious" or "important" (or "consequential"). Soon after I moved to a Francophone society, I learned that trying to communicate the American hippie adjective "heavy" by saying "lourd" is awkward and misleading. Still slightly awkward--but, likely, not misleading--could be to say, "avoir des conséquences," or, "à ne pas ignorer."

[@by.yanabarus]

How about the word "full" as in "I'm full" after eating? I've always said it "j'ai bien mangé" which translates to "I have eaten well" which sounds more polite than "I'm full".

[@Street_French]

Yes that totally works :)

[@herrfriberger5]

Yes, full is kind of vulgar. (Im my language you are _mätt_ = saturated after a meal. To us, that sounds better than full.)

[@leieau]

I've had many foreigners say to me"Je suis pleine" after a meal, never say that! This is what you said of a pregnant dog for exemple "Elle est pleine".

[@alstonasuqua2926]

I am full after eating in English is wrong. Better still say am feed-up. I am full comes from Africa and is a kind of childish way (mostly used by children).

[@TrucSale]

"J'ai les dents du fond qui baignent"

[@witheram2623]

This is so helpful! I moved to France and had not been able to figure out how to translate several of these things properly from English. At least now I know it's not just me.

[@beneu95]

Hi Maia, I would love to thank you for all you do here in your awesome channel trying to teach us French the way it is spoken in France. I really appreciate it. I just wanted to point out a little misspelling on this video for the synonym of the word cheap.There is no English word as "unexpensive"; I think there has been a misspelling there. It should have been spelled as "inexpensive." Thanks again for your excellent channel. Merci.

[@Street_French]

ow oops ! thank you so much! and thanks for you very nice comment!

[@olioliwoo]

These are so true! Both English and French were my first languages, but because most of the people I speak French with also speak English, we jump back and forth between them, so it's hard to notice these 'missing' words. I wish there was an English word closer to démodé. Like you can say 'oh that shirt was so last season' but it's not really natural to say that a shirt is outdated/old fashioned in English, especially if the shirt isn't at least 10+ years old. My mom and I always use démodé, even if the rest of the conversation is in English.

[@Street_French]

ah that's a good one! thanks for sharing :))

[@shadessalvatore7778]

Do you have a word equivalent to manager / supervisor in French? Curious...

[@Street_French]

Hmmmmm you could actually just say "manager" or "chef de produit/department, dirigeant, responsable, etc..." :)

[@shadessalvatore7778]

@@Street_French merci bien.

[@Street_French]

@@shadessalvatore7778 De rien ;)

[@maryjayl9823]

Manager = gérant Supervisor = superviseur

[@rocoroco15]

Au Québec on dit "gestionnaire" et "surveillant" et on dit aussi "gestion" au lieu du désagrable "management"...

[@2eleven48]

All this was fascinating, but I happened to glance to the right and saw the cushion cover which is exactly like the two I have in my little bungalow in England. Ikea? Incroyable!

[@Street_French]

haha yeah everyone has a little bit or a lot of ikea stuff in their house haha ^^

[@taufiqahmad7769]

Love your videos! I still can’t accept the fact that in French, the words “mother-in-law” and “stepmother” are both translated as “belle-mère”. Every time my (English speaking) French friend tells me a story (in French) and the word “belle-mère” comes up, I would have to confirm back with him, whether he was talking about his stepmother or his mother-in-law (because he has both). Ça me gêne un peu 🤔

[@Street_French]

ah ouais je comprends, we are used to asking who the person's talking about but usually they have just one of them and we know them so we don't have to ask

[@itsacarolbthing5221]

I find you really engaging to watch!

[@Street_French]

oh great to hear that :)

[@lourila]

1:39 want to sleep = somnolente 2:57 A word used by young = Flippant (idk why) 3:25 In French we used a word “not specific” but “specific” idk how to describe it >~< Avez vous des proches ? Do you have some family/friends ? Pour Cringy a new word is used by young (yes French use/create actually new word) It’s too cringy now C’est trop malaisant (This word is used to say you don’t feel good ;-;) And yes we need to create a word for Enjoy but I don’t feel it will create because people love variety in there word then if you have 1000 ways to say enjoy it good ? That stupide 😅 Pour répondre à certain mots qui n’existe pas ou n’ont pas de précision précise on utilise dés expressions (que je déteste toujours autant >~

[@nolanc.1559]

J'aurais pas dis mieux ! En effet j'ai déjà entendu quelques personnes utiliser le mot "malaisant", du coup on l'adopte aussi. Même si ce n'est pas un mot présent dans le dictionnaire, je pense qu'il y fera son apparition d'ici quelques années.

[@joegurski8745]

this reminds me of my French colleagues when I asked them what the word for "food" is in French and it took them a good five minutes to figure it out, because "nourriture" is used so rarely compared to "to eat" etc.

[@Owlandpie]

In Dutch "cheap" is "goedkoop" its pretty much a direct translation of "bon marché"

[@Street_French]

ah ok cool :)

[@OleJoe]

A couple of English universal words that don't seem to exist are "off" and "on". Every context for "off" and "on" seem to have a different word. The save with the verb "to get". "Get" is kind of a "catch all" word. I've also seen where English words are adopted into French, like "Stop, Parking, Weekend, etc." Once on a French cop show a cop was talking on the radio and she said, "Ok, standby". And when chasing a suspect the cop yelled "Stop!" instead of "Arrêtez!"

[@Street_French]

ah cool !

[@aburg10s]

Je devine “recevoir” “comprendre” “avoir” ca depend la situation. We use get as future tense all the time too.

[@varmelith8941]

I've been told it's funny we don't have a word for ''to bake'' since we (french people) bake a lot^^... cuire au four? faire des gâteaux? ''hang out'' ?? passer du temps avec quelqu'un ? se voir? ''design''... il a bien ''concevoir /conception'' mais il y a moins cette idée d'esthétisme ''cheekbones''.. euuh des os de joue? des pommettes? mais les pommettes c'est pas les os en tant que tels ''to ride'' ... chevaucher ? lol.. ça marche pas pour un vélo ou une moto..

[@anastasia10017]

for cheekbones I think they say os malar or os zygomatique

[@samcraft7573]

Je suis en retard pour la fête mais on dit "bon matin" en louisiane depuis longtemps. Le #1 mot en anglais que j'ai du mal à traduire c'est AWKWARD. Bonne continuation !

[@Street_French]

ah cool^^

[@jeremyjean13]

In Québec, we sometimes say "malaisant" to translate "awkward"

[@jeremyjean13]

@Sandra A I can't tell you you're wrong, but gênant is "embarrassing", which is not the same feeling as "awkward" to me. It definitely comes close, though.

[@jeremyjean13]

@Sandra A I'd say "ça m'a mis mal à l'aise" is the most accurate translation. The others don't really fit the feeling of "awkward" or have other words already. Like I said before, "embarrassant" and "gênant" have "embarrassing" as a translation. However, "mal à l'aise" describes the person. That's why we have "malaisant", to describe the situation. I don't think any of these are bad translations. I just think they're not as accurate as they could be; which is why we kinda made up this new word; to be more accurate.

[@jeremyjean13]

@Sandra A Yeah, "malaisant" is not recognised by most dictionaries. Also, I did say that those were not bad translations, just not as accurate as "malaisant"

[@johnandrez]

I think it's so funny that enjoy is such an English word now, and there is no modern French equivalent, when Middle English borrowed the word "enjoy" from Old French enjoier/anjoier/enjoer and also the word "joy" from French "joie."

[@Street_French]

yeah interesting right? it's cool to see how languages evolve :)

[@Robob0027]

@@Street_French The word enjoy, as a stand alone word, is relatively new in English and has only come into use in the last 20 years or so. Up until about 2000 we would say "enjoy yourself" or "have a good time". Never just "enjoy".

[@brysondan376]

Incroyable, merci beaucoup 😍😊

[@Street_French]

de rien ! :)

[@MrPip9999]

How do you say "My little baby is crawling at five months" in French ?

[@DevVyaslnmiit]

I have struggle finding an equivalent for "Regarding" as in while writing subject for an email, like: Regarding Next Appointment, Regarding Recent Application, Regarding Voldemort's Missing Nose etc.

[@Street_French]

You could say "concernant" :)

[@DevVyaslnmiit]

StreetFrench.org aah cool! Merci Beaucoup 🙂

[@Street_French]

@@DevVyaslnmiit de rien!

[@ghjuvincenti]

Voldemort missing nose 😂😂

[@MrBigpilsky]

A propos. En Ontario de toute façon.

[@ladelicieuse9725]

J'ai réfléchi à la remarque sur ressembler. En effet on utilise ressembler dans toutes les situations mais c'est parceque la définition du mot nous le permet. Tu as donné les exemples des situations visuelles et sonores mais c'est valable pour tout ! On va dire ça ressemble à du poulet (alors qu'en anglais it tastes like chiken) ou ca ressemble à de la fourrure (pour le toucher) etc. Encore une fois il s'agit d'une façon de s'exprimer. Il y a des qui utiliseraient d'autres mots exemple: ça à le même goût que du poulet, etc.

[@laurak1545]

But enjoy comes from old French 'enjoier' (to give joy)!

[@SuperLn1991]

our word for enjoy is jouir, but now it only mean to cum so... we use other words for that

[@philipwittamore]

@@SuperLn1991 Hmm, yes but what about "jouir des connaissances" for example, or "jouissance". Enjoy is "Jouir de" something. I don't know why the word has been sectioned off nowdays by pornography and solicitors, but it does indeed exist, just that it's not used correctly.

[@SuperLn1991]

@@philipwittamore exactly, we don't use it a lot anymore because of that.

[@paranoidrodent]

@@philipwittamore It's a bit like how gay has faded out of use in English as a term to mean happy. Meanings can change or get added over time.

[@philipwittamore]

@@paranoidrodent Agreed, sometimes usage makes a language poorer by restricting a words meaning. Right now gay and jouir have left gaps in their languages. It would be interesting to discover how in the past similar gaps were filled later on in the evolution of the language.

[@TijeyR]

You can use frangin(e) for sibling

[@TheVidzgamez73]

are there words in french that don't exist in english?

[@Street_French]

ah of course :) we'll get on that!

[@erinc9672]

I haven't found a good equivalent of the wonderful "n'importe quoi", like if someone is doing something ridiculous and you just shake your head and say "n'importe quoi"

[@melcomc19]

@@erinc9672 "Whatever"

[@pintpot]

@@Street_French Jouir! :)

[@aburg10s]

Depaysment, nothing even comes close in English. Davantages aussi

[@mickeyrube6623]

As far as sound verses appearance thing goes, in English people often say “look” when they want to clarify something. When talking on the phone you might hear “look, I want it sent to my business address, not my home”, when the interjection should be “listen”.

[@HaroldHivart]

"To sound like" on peut dire "sonner" exemple : ce mot sonne un peu comme un mot anglais...

[@Street_French]

Ouai ça marche ;)

[@willcwhite]

The word I hoped would make the list, that I can not find an equivalent for in almost any other language is "care". As in "I care about you" or "I don't care about that"

[@SuperLn1991]

in french it's "se soucier de": Je me soucie de toi: I care about you. but it's not used that much. You can also sais: the tient à toi: I care about you. Tient come from the verbe tenir (the hold/keep). The first one with soucier is more about I worry about you, I care about your happiness/wellbeing etc.. The second one is more "You are important to me".

[@Street_French]

yeah I guess we say these 2 sentences with different words and verbs and you can't translate directly with "care". but thanks for the example i'll talk about it in the part 2 :)

[@Voltanaut]

If you want these, you can have them. That's what makes English so powerful: if it wants a word, it just takes it. The pronunciation and spelling are slightly modified, and that's it; new word. French should start doing this too.

[@creatifetudes8553]

Spanish still has more verb tenses and less figurative words so more accurate than English and French. As in English but with more extent we can also create new adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs from any word. It's not showing off but I wanted to share it its really awesome. I speak 4 languages.

[@hughmungus99]

English also has a very bizarre orthography with only minimal rules for spelling and unlike most languages, you can end a word in english with every single letter except for q and j and there a lot more sounds that can end a word as well. And due to vowel shifting English has such a different sound In general that pretty much any word can be adapted and the original spelling is often kept. The confusing amalgamation of different languages that is English is a credit to how easy it is to adopt loan words. In many other languages the sounds and orthography are quite strict and its not as easy.

[@Voltanaut]

@@hughmungus99 I'm learning a little Japanese, and they are downright obsessed with making any new word Japanese-ified. I'm glad they're acquiring new words, but it does seem like a lot of effort for something quite simple.

[@hughmungus99]

@@leod-sigefast you my friend would be very interested in the Anglish Conlang. It aims to replace all latin/french loan words and loan words from other languages (i. e. safari from Swahili safari, gauze from arabic قزّ "qazz", etc.). Its pretty neat and while all it really does is replace vocabulary there are a couple of other changes that make it more germanic

[@gregoryh3270]

I'm not surprised, as I've struggled with some concepts when speaking French. 'Enjoy' is one, and 'profitez bien' to me doesn't carry the same sense of fun. FUN! There's no exact noun or adjective 'fun', as in 'did you have fun, let's go somewhere fun, etc. It was fun. He's a fun guy. I guess you'd use 'amusant/amusé'. A French colleague had already pointed out that there's no word 'sibling' in French. So is the phrase 'sibling rivalry' from psychology translated as "la rivalité des freres et des soeurs?" Thanks for your video - really enjoyable.

[@Street_French]

ah yeah I don't know about the psychology concept name, probably :)

[@nicoleisabelle3012]

What really bothers me is that in French there is no word for nuts. You alsways have to say the specific kind of nut like noisette or noix or cacahuète but you cant say nuts in general. Of course there is fruits sécs/ séchés but that also includes litteral dried fruit like raisins. (I really don’t even get why nuts are considered fruits sécs in the first place) Anyway this annoyed me quite often when I was living in France

[@Street_French]

Haha yeah it's kinda tricky ;)

[@jeremyemilio9378]

What about nuts as in testicales?😅

[@leieau]

You can call them nuts in general we have "noix" or "graines", and you can also call them "Oléagineux" too.

[@aburg10s]

En Quebec, on utilise des “gosses” mais c’est un enfant en France. Comment sont tes gosses? Hahahaha

[@MymyLemieux]

Actually noix is nut. Noix is any fruit with a hard shell and IS the general term (noix is not a specific kind of nut). If you want to talk about a specific kind, you will either add to the generic term like noix de cajou (cashew) or noix de grenoble (walnut) OR use the unique word like amande, pistache or noisette. But all of those are nuts. Bonne soirée du Québec!

[@wastelandrummer]

-Pour cheap il y a un mot en français mais on ne l'utilise plus depuis trèèès longtemps car il a une double signification péjorative , c'est "vil" qui signifie , à l'origine, avoir peu de valeur morale OU marchande "acheter à vil prix" mais personnes ne dit ça à moins de faire partie de l'académie française haha. -"sleepy" c'est somnolent en français ;) -pour "successful" il peut y avoir prospère ou fructueux (une fructueuse carrière) mais dans le parlé de tous les jours c'est très rarement utilisé (par contre utilisé à l'écrit dans les livres/journaux etc... ) -"siblings" c'est le mot "fratrie" en français (probablement vouer à disparaître ou être modifier avec l'écriture inclusive) - "enjoy" vient d'un ancien verbe français "enjoir" qui a été remplacé par "apprécier" au fil du temps , on a tout simplement supprimé de notre vocabulaire ^^ (bien que ces derniers temps un dérivé de ce mot ai fait sont apparition : "enjailler" lui même argot ivoirien emprunté de l'anglais, emprunté du français puis récupéré par certains . Inception)

[@VeroseS]

Siblings = fraterie J’avoue qu’on utilise très peu fraterie/sororité au jour le jour !

[@Street_French]

ah oui ces mots existent mais on les utilise jamais dans la vie courante c'est vrai ^^

[@CaptainDangeax]

@@Street_French Pas d'accord, on utilise fratrie assez souvent.

[@VoOrT3xX]

Nan c'est pas le même mot, personne va demander si tu as une fratrie :p

[@STohme]

Vidéo sympathique et intéressante. Merci.

[@Street_French]

cool merci :)

[@christiancharest1298]

I had the same reaction you did when I started working as a translator and realized there was no French word for "successful". It's the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of your video and I'm glad to see you mentioned it.

[@varmelith8941]

''hard-working'' is also hard to translate

[@Street_French]

ah cool glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@Street_French]

@varmelith ah yeah I guess we would say "il/elle travaille dur" but we don't have an adjective

[@acousticsong-guitarco964]

Christian Charest the word is réussi / réussie

[@christiancharest1298]

@@acousticsong-guitarco964 "Will Smith is a successful actor" = "Will Smith est un acteur réussi"??? I don't think so. I understand there are ways to convey the same meaning in French, but you have to twist the sentence around, i.e. "L'acteur Will Smith a une carrière réussie." There is no single adjective in French that has the same meaning as Successful.

[@kiacarter93]

I think this was a great videos because not a lot of people know that. The first word that i was confused about and didnt know that was not used or unheard of was bonne matin.

[@Street_French]

ow cool glad you enjoy our videos :)

[@WireSniffer]

Omg, Bonmarché is a clothes shop in UK. Lol.

[@Street_French]

ow cool :)

[@bensilicate]

Merci, j'ai appris plein de choses.

[@Street_French]

ah super :))

[@SuperDrducky]

Hi. I really enjoy :) your videos! And my question is: doesn't "jouir de quelque chose" means "to enjoy"?

[@Street_French]

Bonjour! Yeah it does, but no one really speaks like that anymore :) thanks for watching!

[@maximepaccalet4449]

"jouir" is mainly used as a sexual term, that's why it feels really awkward to use it outside that context.

[@G4MMABA3]

I was SUPER surprised!! 😮

[@MrChielens]

Hey, great video but just so you know: - "it sounds like" --> "ça sonne comme" is generally accepted for songs and music - "to cringe, cringy" --> grimacer, grimaçant Also, "bon matin" should exist and I even say it all the time :)

[@williamgeorgefraser]

In Bourgogne, people say "Bonjour" when you go into a baker's or other shop at 7 am and then say "Bonsoir" as you leave 2 minutes later. I've never understood why but it is a regional trait.

[@Street_French]

ow ok never heard that either. yeah must be a regional thing

[@bourdutuxedo2082]

Hi ! For "creepy", i would translate "flippant".

[@alexysq2660]

Ah, bah ouais; je pensais le meme bail en vrai...!

[@Street_French]

mais flippant = scary :)

[@bourdutuxedo2082]

@@Street_French That also, but there's more to it. www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/flipper/34173 Dans la façon dont je l'utilise moi, "flippant" c'est quand quelque chose est perturbant, troublant au point qu'on se sent bizarre. :)

[@milopainbeurre5734]

Tu m'apprend beaucoup de choses :) merci beaucoup :D

[@Street_French]

de rien :))

[@lpr5269]

We have the word "siblings" but we usually say the same thing you do. "Do you have any brothers and/or sisters?"

[@Street_French]

ah interesting :)

[@stephenolan5539]

If there was some way to check, I bet in general usage more than half the time "sibling" is followed by "rivalry".

[@hanslidenbrock7266]

Me gustan los vídeos que apareces sola, son mis favoritos.

[@Street_French]

ah cool :))

[@hanslidenbrock7266]

😘

[@fredp664]

traduction i miss you : c'est inversé : tu me manques

[@daphunkyzzindahouse]

Je me souviens que j'avais tellement de mal au début haha ;)

[@amoranimo7381]

Très utile ❤merci

[@Street_French]

de rien :):)

[@thegoodlydragon7452]

Creepy means that you’re both weirded out and a afraid or nervous at the same time.

[@thegoodlydragon7452]

A doll that looked almost human, but not quite might be creepy.

[@thegoodlydragon7452]

It’s because things that creep might instill this feeling.

[@Street_French]

ah yeah interesting thanks

[@2005paultremblay]

I also like your "it sounds good" example. In Québec I have heard the anglicisme "ça sonne bien." Mais it's wrong, of course. "Sounds good" has no really French equivalent, it's true.

[@catherinerobilliard7662]

"I'm getting a new cousin" when gender is unknown or doesn't matter

[@JCloyd-ys1fm]

Fascinating. Thanks!

[@Street_French]

you're welcome :)

[@Springxnich21]

In french, there's no word for "quaint." It's such a weird mix of traits that makes something quaint, and it's frustrating to try and describe a quaint thing with synonyms

[@Tina06019]

Springxnich21 I just heard yesterday that “quaint” in Middle English could mean clever, attractive, well made by someone who knew what they were doing. (Ref.: podcast “The History of the English Language.)

[@EwanChung]

"Curieux" would be the closest I can think of for "quaint."

[@alexandrepeltereau-villene80]

Good evening. Thanks for your instructive and funny video. I have deep (ha ha ha) conversation with francophone and anglophone relatives - being francophone myself. I'm looking for an exact and accurate french equivalent for hug. "Câlin", "étreinte", "accolade"... not so bad, but not exact. One suggested "embrassade" ; that's a good suggestion but too long, too heavy, too scholar... and related to "embrasser", a verb that everyone hears as to kiss nowadays (do see what I wrote about "jouir", too). Well. The quest for a french hug goes on.

[@Street_French]

"étreinte", "accolade" are way too old fashioned and not used anymore. It's "Câlin" :)

[@stumccabe]

In England the word "dear" also means expensive, like "chere" which is almost "cher".

[@paranoidrodent]

Dear and cher are clean translations in both senses (dear in cost and dear to one's heart). The version ending in e is just the feminine form. Mon cheri translates literally to "my cherished" but figuratively to "my dear" or "dearest".

[@jeff__w]

I think in French there isn’t an equivalent for the word _available_ as in when a product is in stock and can be bought. It seems like a pretty useful word.

[@Street_French]

there's is, it's "disponible" :)

[@avatarprime7562]

The word "Home" is also not found. This world is my home. It feels like home.

[@MrBonners]

domicile

[@Syl75]

Home = maison

[@MrBonners]

@@Syl75 I don't think 'domicile' is of english origin. English of 'maison' is 'mansion' which is an aristocratic large home. I think.

[@Syl75]

@@MrBonners I didn't understand your reply. "Maison" is the French word for "Home".

[@MrBonners]

@@Syl75 'Maison' That is very close to 'mansion' which is english for a large rich home on a large piece of land covered in gardens. No french word for that? 'Home' in english is very general and could mean anything from a tent to a mansion. 'domocile' is the english legal word for where you live, same thing. Usually used in forms and applications and such. House number, street address, country. etc. 'Domicile' has a more french origin sound, not english. Having a legal element it's origin maybe latin or roman law.

[@tims4966]

This cleared up a lot of things for me. Merci!

[@Street_French]

Oh great! So glad you enjoyed it ;)

[@Le7emeChat]

Il n'y a pas de traduction pour le mots "bully"

[@nobodyinterestingyou]

un Intimidateur?

[@Le7emeChat]

@@nobodyinterestingyou nope, c'est un autre terme qui existe pour celui-là.

[@nicoc6387]

That's right - "bullying" is increasingly being rendered as "harcèlement" in the media. Harcèlement au travail, harcèlement à l'école… but I haven't heard 'harceleur' much, if at all.

[@Le7emeChat]

@@nicoc6387 harceleur is either harasser or stalker. Bully is a general attitude and behavior not included in french language. There is word to describle aspect of it, but bully as a societal entity ins't french.

[@Street_French]

non, sometimes we say "la brute", like a brutal person

[@Street_French]

Check out our Instagram for DAILY French posts :) Instagram: @street_french instagram.com/street_french/ FREE French e-Course: street-french.teachable.com

[@theguru97]

There are French words that don't exist in English. eg--- Terroir. Associated primarily about wine. In English it requires a long sentence or even a book. LOL

[@Street_French]

ah yeah great one!

[@theguru97]

@@Street_French I think your piece on these English words was very good. I like the selection of "cringe" and "creepy". They are words of "sensation and feeling". I wonder why they exist in English....LOL Must be a reason.

[@ayntmamiagaag]

My French teacher told me in the past that French doesn't really have the word "food", which is really interesting considering that France is so well known for their cuisine. :D

[@Street_French]

yeah I guess we have the word "nourriture" but it sounds so weird and we don't really use it. It's like saying "nourishment" haha

[@wulfhardoftoxandria7680]

There's also the word "bouffe", even if it's quite vulgar

[@varmelith8941]

I guess the best translation would be ''à manger''. example : I brought food. --> j'ai apporté à manger.

[@jfmorin3448]

I guess your french teacher did not really speak french then.... :)