“French words” that French people never use

Do French people eat french fries? Use a French press? Have French windows in their homes? Learn the truth from a real French person.
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Have you ever wondered whether or not French fries are actually French? What about French manicures, or French windows? And then, of course, there's those French-sounding expressions that have made their way into English, such as “la piece de resistance”. Would a REAL French person use them in everyday conversation? And, if not, what would they say instead? I'm setting things straight with today's lesson. I'll explain which of these words we actually use in France, versus which are “fake” French words that are rarely (or never) used by French people. You'll learn which French words are making it very obvious that you're a tourist or a non-native French speaker, and I'll give you some new vocabulary to replace them so you can sound more authentically French! Did you learn something new in today's lesson? Did I help you expand your French vocabulary? Let me know in the comments! Take care and stay safe. 😘 from Grenoble, France. Geraldine

[@donnacarrere8652]

An American friend once wrote me: " At last, I'm sitting on a sidewalk terrace in Montmartre with my croissant and cafe olé.

[@pnsails]

😂

[@edwarddodge7937]

I hear they sell that coffee in Barcelona as well!

[@ivanscottw]

You'd be place du Tertre,or rue Norvin or rue du Mont Cenis.. and would say ... Enfin, j'étais assis en terrasse à Montmartre avec mon croissant et mon petit crème ! . But actually you wouldn't ! I live a rock throw out of place du Tertre and you would certainly not want to get your latte there - it's a tourist trap ! You really want the experience, you're better off going down the 'funiculaire' (or the 222 steps down, yes I counted them) and take your favorite caffeinated beverage from 'Le Ronsard' which is not that hyped, comes maybe with a little premium, but it's reasonable, with a pretty nice view on the hill and the sacré coeur ! (I am in no way affiliated, advertising or recommending any commercial venture)

[@hasafienda]

I believe it. Unfortunately 😔

[@hayati6374]

I am from Hamburg and I associate Café Olé with a Danish hygge cafe by the North Sea beach for some reason haha 😆

[@alanonym8972]

As a french (by nature someone that likes to contradict), there is a correction I'd like to make : While brunette is not very used, it can be used, but it is not respectful. It is used sometimes to talk about a little girl (it is quite rare). But more often than not, it is used to talk ABOUT a young attractive woman behind her back when talking between friends. Our equivalent of "dude, look at that chick over there" but for women with dark hair would be "Mec, mate moi cette petite brunette là bas", and it is almost never used used outside of that context. I watch my series in english and I was shocked when I heard it in a casual discussion at the character's workplace, it is a word that would never be used in that context in France.

[@SamitchB]

Yeah it would be like "rouquin(e)" for a red haired person, it's pretty rude. The worst being "blondasse" for a blond woman, which is extremely rude, like most words ending with -ard (male) or -asse (female).

[@Fe_lix]

I would not classify it as rude as blondasse, more like blondinette. I think brunette is quite used, originally from the seduction register but now in a lot of contexts. It's familiar but nowadays even at work in a decontracted office you could hear something like "Sandra, c'est la brunette là-bas" without anyone being shocked.

[@groovemoustache]

@@Fe_lix Yeah I agree with that. Same for "Rouquin(e)," if anything it's more endearing than rude or shocking.

[@maximeteppe7627]

I never heard "brunette"... is it regional, or has it come back from english speaking countries through the back door? (presumably via american culture and... well, maybe porn?).

[@alanonym8972]

@@Fe_lix Yeah it is the only case outside the one I mentionned I can see this word being used (still behind the woman's back but it is does not the same connotation). And yes, it is less rude than "blondasse" (blondasse is basically an insult). In the series I was talking about, it was shocking enough so I remember being triggered, but not enough for me to remember the exact context.

[@xenotypos]

"Brunette" is sometimes possible, just to add a "cute" connotation, for example for a child. The same way "blondinette" is kind of possible for a blonde little girl, very informally and rarely though. Probably better if foreigners forget about this kind of useless vocabulary lol.

[@selinane2Seli-zw3pz]

"Petite brune" (little brunette girl) is used, but brunette is really rare in spoken and written French, although "blondinette" (little blonde girl) is sometime used for child and young girls.

[@xenotypos]

@gerard dearie I meant useless to learn for an English speaker learning French. I refered to the French word brunette.

[@Bloobz]

Honestly, has a french, the only times I saw "brunette" it was on porn site.

[@ArgantaelAlaouret]

Humm even though op is right about brunette (as a person in my 20's) I associate it with porn, so I'd rather avoid it.

[@pscm9447]

You're right, it adds the "cute" aspect of it... but it is not that rare in Quebec and can also be applied to adults in a flirty mood. Ex: you say to your friend that you like a girl in a group, he ask you "which one?" and you answer "la petite brunette". It's kind of playful. But most of the time we would just say "cheveux bruns" "brown hair".

[@gabrielabatista6016]

Ooooh so "bien fait" is like the "bem feito" we have in portuguese! In a literal translation, it means well done, but when use directed to a person (specially using this alone) is more of a "I told you so" sort of thing, like when someone makes something that it was obvious that it was a bad idea, or that someone warned beforehand, or both. Example: Menino! Desce daí antes que você caia! (Boy! Get off there before you fall down!) *he falls down* Ta vendo? Bem feito! (You see? Told you!)

[@nicolasherman6487]

yep your right if you use "bien fait" alone the exact translation is I told you so, and like in portuguese its used in same situation. It's funny to see that closed expression have often litteraly translation in different roman languages.

[@maxence1866]

Exactly

[@lealf996]

But "bien fait" is like you wished the bad thing to happen it's more than "told you so" it's meaner

[@nicolasherman6487]

@@lealf996 y

[@gg4333]

Same in Spanish, “bien hecho” (we changed the F for a silent H) means either “well done” or a very sarcastic “I told you so”. Especially when you see whoever you say it to, get instant bad karma, after you warned them.

[@raggeddolls]

"I'm an American but I have a Canadian Aunt" "Oh me too, in my closet" HAS ME DEAD

[@mahaylahuff2026]

This person is good for teaching French online and also ruling out the stereotypes. Merci pour votre travail.

[@vipagamage6746]

French usually don’t thank people « for their work ». You’d say just « merci », or « merci bien », you can add « très utile ». You might thank someone for their work when it’s a colleague and it’s his last day, or something.

[@TheGwouella]

@@vipagamage6746 Ah bon?! Ne généralisez pas tout le monde s'il vous plait. Beaucoup de français remercient les gens pour leur travail, surtout quand le travail est bénévole et demande du temps et de la recherche, ou un partage de culture. ;)

[@davidbyers-jones3224]

The name French window describes a window that opens inward, which is common in France but not in the UK or North America, nearly all windows opening to the outside. So in this case the use of French window seems appropriate.

[@PrScandium]

I'm French and can confirm I've only ever seen windows that opened inward.

[@TheCrambel]

​@@PrScandium I have never seen window opening to the outside. Like ???

[@TheCilou6]

Window manufactures and sales person will use "Ouverture à la française" (opening the French way) as opposed to "coulissants" (sliding windows) for instance. But we don't use it in everyday life

[@TheCilou6]

Funnyly sewers use the term"French seam" whereas here in France we use "couture anglaise" which literally is English seam 😅

[@wanderlust16]

I can confirm that in Canada (at least in Ontario) windows open inwards as we have bug screens blocking windows from going the other way.

[@bluesapphire170]

Ahh this reminds me of my middle school days, this is literally one of the first things our French teacher taught us. I think it’s super important to put this in foundation for beginners as they learn to build a Vocabulary.

[@Kaiso54]

Un autre faux ami incompréhensible : "entrée" aux USA est utilisé pour parler du plat principal. Contre sens total, qui peut créer des quiproquos pour un touriste américain dans un restaurant français.

[@davebirkett6219]

Je me demande si notre tendance à dire "mon ami" vient de Hercule Poirot. C'est comme ça qu'il s'adresse à tous ses amis. "You need to use the little gray cells, mon ami." Il faut dire qu'il est Belge, pas Français.

[@georgeadams1853]

Et c'est l'écrivaine anglaise Agatha Christie qui l'a créé.

[@18CC]

Certains disent mon ami à des inconnus. Les mendiants ou les racailles.

[@selinane2Seli-zw3pz]

@@18CC C'est un truc de blédard maintenant "mon ami" mdr

[@danroro1722]

And created by a English author!

[@Xerxes2005]

I believe "mon ami" is rather dated. It may have been used more in the time Agatha Christie created Hercule Poirot. Like people used to say "mon brave" a lot a hundred years ago or so. Someone calling another that way today would sound rather snobbish.

[@clydecessna737]

I once asked for a "chien chaud" in a cafe; the waiter just did not get it. More interestingly, I offered to split my "mille feuilles" by offering him "cinq cents feuilles"; after we had a laugh he said he had never thought of the cake that way.

[@maeglow]

We say “hot dog”, seems fair to not translate thing that aren’t belonging to our culture haha. But, unless your accent was terrible, this waiter sucks, he could understand it easily…

[@amberjones5871]

I found this so interesting - I am part French, but grew up in England ... so help with pronunciation from a native speaker of the language is very useful! Merci!

[@WeyounSix]

For the French Bread example, as an American, I find there is a difference between what people call french bread, and what is sold as french bread. There are tons of soft breads you can buy in the stores here labeled "French bread" but when I say "french bread" or anyone else around me does, we are usually trying to specify we want bread that has a nice crispy crust, that comes in a long loaf. Most bread here in america is pretty soft, so the people i know use french bread to speak about bread that is nice and crispy, even if that is not how products are sold to us.

[@cabri358]

I loved that le pain de campagne picture you showed is just what we call "pan de campo" in my country. I'm a spanish speaker from south america and work with french people remotely, and all of our conversations are in english, its quite the challenge between my poor pronunciation and their own poor pronunciation, we always get a good laugh. Only heard "sacrebleu" once in 4 years.

[@XxBeatexX]

Yeah , latin ppl believe their accent is chevere , but it is horrible. Same for frenches who believe to have good pronunciation , while we can hear pure french tipical accent. Im french living in south america , so i know the situation you describe very well.

[@sandrad3346]

Loved this lesson. I'm going to France in the future and it was good pronunciation practice!

[@frenchandspanishforall6154]

GROW YOUR FRENCH VOCABULARY WITH THIS VIDEO ON OUR KZbin CHANNEL kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3m8fXiHZdiensU

[@mignonthon]

dont be afraid to go to france, like anywhere there is retards, but most of people are caring, its a pleasure to learn to someone our culture/ language + we learn about your culture. I hope you dont go to paris if its the case, they are stupid. (not all), and we talk when we want to, its rare the sweet talking if we are in metro etc, but otherwise its no problem( metro is a stressfull environment, we do not know if the person is stupid/drunk/wantmoney etc..., but in otherplaces its common. please visit france not just Paris.

[@ubizmo]

For most of us, no matter what we say it'll be obvious in seconds that we are not native speakers, but it's still useful to avoid saying things that are just weird or archaic. Maybe saying "sacre bleu" would be like saying "Zounds!" in English. But if "mon ami" isn't right, it would be helpful to know what to say as a friendly way to address someone, the way the British might use "mate" and Americans might say "buddy" or something similar. Didn't you also say in another video that "cafe au lait" is not usually said?

[@martinwallace5734]

"mon pote", perhaps; "Gros", "ma guele" , "mon reuf", "mon poto", frérot ... if you are a teenager. It's more difficult to find the right word as an adult. There's "mec", I suppose. All very informal. Otherwise, there's always "monsieur".

[@RemplacementTV]

@@martinwallace5734 arrête de leur apprendre du vocabulaire de débiles

[@thoryr]

Café au lait ? Never used that. However mon ami can be used i don’t understand all the fuss

[@s.p.8803]

@@thoryr People who drink café au lait use it! How else would you call it?!?

[@thoryr]

@@s.p.8803 haha i didn’t get it, I thought it was a slang

[@berndtnording4856]

I've never heard of "French Beans" - but I have heard "French Cut Green Beans" (julienne). French Bread -> Any bread that isn't a horrible tasteless sponge.

[@panareasy6749]

Purée = mashed something pas forcément potato. On part du principe que c'est une purée de patates parce que c'est la plus souvent préparé mais le mot purée ne fait pas forcément référence à la purée de pommes de terre

[@Estawn]

Surtout ne parlons pas ici "d'envoyer la purée " 😀

[@enzodemarquet6088]

XDDDD c'est une autre histoire 😉

[@thugisathegiraffe9072]

C’est toujours intéressant de voir les différences entre le Français Européen et Canadien. Par exemple, nous disons « mon ami » et « bien fait » quotidiennement d'une manière contraire à l'Europe. Très géniale!

[@lechatrelou6393]

"bien fait" comme qqc est bien fait ou bien fait pour toi ?

[@Cinetiste]

​@@lechatrelou6393 Au risque de répondre pour l'auteur du commentaire, vivant aussi au Canada... Nous utilisons ces mots dans leur sens le plus simple, pour désigner un travail, une chose bien faite. En disant par exemple des trucages d'un film, de la confection d'un vêtement, d'un objet bien réalisé: "C'est bien fait !". L'idée péjorative viendrait plutôt en désignant une personne, comme dans l'expression: "Bien fait pour lui !", ce qui est rare, car nous sommes plutôt gentils et ne souhaitons pas le malheur d'autrui... 🙂 Au sujet de l'expression "Mon ami", nous l'utilisons dans le sens littéral, pour désigner "un ami à moI". "Je te présente mon ami...", "C'est mon ami...", "Je vais rejoindre mon ami au restaurant...", etc. Il est difficile de comprendre en quoi c'est unusuel... Il est plus rare que nous utilisions ces mots directement pour nous adresser à un ami, mais cela peut arriver naturellement: "Bonjour, mon ami !", "Comment vas-tu, mon ami ?", etc... Cela me semble plus rare du fait que ce n'est pas couramment employé à la légère, c'est à dire en dehors d'une réelle amitié, sinon cela semblerait ironique, ou utilisé afin d'amadouer, ce qui paraitrait factice.

[@lolabohico]

@@Cinetiste En France ça arrive de dire mon ami en fin de phrase aussi. Par exemple "comment vas-tu mon ami ?", c'est plus courant chez les adultes mais ça se dit encore. Et "c'est bien fait" ça peut vouloir dire qu'une chose est bien exécutée ou qu'une personne mérite ce qui lui arrive. Par contre "bien fait" tout seul sans rien autour, c'est juste négatif

[@increaseabout3085]

@@lolabohico fonction du contexte si on te montre un objet et que tu dis juste "bien fait" on comprend du positif et on se dira que tu dois avoir la flemme de parler

[@victoire4592]

@@increaseabout3085 😂😂😂 Mais oui carrément! J’aime beaucoup! Analyse courte mais efficace!!! Plus sérieusement, c’est tout à fait çà, tout est une question de contexte.

[@Marcpapi]

Thank you :) this was more helpful than I would have expected !!

[@shaunmckenzie5509]

It works in reverse too. The French use many English words weirdly too :)

[@epinoke4168]

More and more, it's called franglish

[@shaunmckenzie5509]

@@epinoke4168 or franglais

[@jmat910]

Like "shampooing". It's shampoo in English (an indian word originally). Adding the english suffix "-ING" is crazy in this situation because it would make it a verb but the french use it as a noun 🤔

[@selinane2Seli-zw3pz]

@@jmat910 Yeah but with logic it wouldn't be beautiful, absurd and French.

[@jmat910]

@@selinane2Seli-zw3pz I'd argue that these words are making french less beautiful as they aren't even french words but ok

[@ylmaren]

French people incorporated sarcasm into the whole language. Often we mean the opposite of what we say. Like the "Bien fait" exemple we say that to someone who fucked up or hurt themselves.

[@mignonthon]

yeeah( bien fait) often means you deserved it, the bad thing

[@Estawn]

On peut remplacer le "bien fait" par "karma". Je crois que les anglophones utilisent ce dernier.

[@brentbaumgartner1198]

Some of these I wasn't aware of. Touché.

[@steelcrown7130]

"Maitre d'hotel" in full (sorry about the lack of accents) was the common phrase in non-US English until relatively recently. In Australia I grew up using the whole phrase at least until the late eighties. The influence of Americans saying "Maydr dee" on television turned the tide, and now most Australians say "Maita d' " ... although to be honest we would usually say "head waiter/waitress"... that is, if we are posh enough to be eating at a place that even HAS a head waiter!

[@danielaf1487]

I'm Italian but travel to France regularly for work and have several French friends. One thing I hear constantly when listening to French people speak, is "du coup". It's an ubiquitous phrase! :-D

[@talleuxraphael4679]

It's True. It is often used to express a consequence : "Je n'ai rien à manger, du coup je vais au restaurant !" -> "I have nothing to eat, so I go to the restaurant!"

[@danielaf1487]

@@talleuxraphael4679 - Yes, I noticed. 😁

[@robinlabaune4542]

Actually, french joiners do use indeed the term "ouverture à la française", wich kind of means "french opening", to name the classic style opening we have for windows in France. It's sort of like the vertical openings with two panels you have on the american continent, but it instead opens toward the interior.

[@im8pass229]

Yeah we don't build windows as guillotines lol.

[@loreleiocarolain2209]

Mais ce ne sont pas des porte-fenêtres, juste un type d'ouverture à 2 battants vers l'intérieur, qui peut être utilisé pour des fenêtres en hauteur.

[@lorrainevlambert]

Wonderful channel, I will brush up on my French... such a wonderful language!

[@elysianemily]

I cracked up at the "tente canadienne" / "tante canadienne" part

[@TheAnnez0r]

I'm Québecoise and we use "Portes française". It's the official word in the industry for such doors.

[@kayceegreer4418]

If I ever make it to France or even the French part of Canada, I'm going to try my best at parroting you and compliment the food a lot. Maybe then, they'll like me, as they did Julia Childs. You can bet I'm going to try to ingratiate myself and learn some cooking while I'm there!

[@cybermangaka]

Je viens de découvrir ta chaîne ! Alors je n'ai pas besoin d'apprendre le français mais il faut absolument que je vois tes autres vidéos parce que celle-ci est géniale ! Et aussi que je sache si dans l'une d'entre elles tu parles de ce truc bizarre qui fait qu'en anglais on écrit aussi "lingerie" mais qu'on prononce ça "laungerie", parce que ça me rend folle depuis longtemps 🤣

[@fazerandpecomusic]

Pareil 😂😅

[@racheluhl8328]

Great lesson!

[@KurissuSenpai]

I'm French and still love her videos.

[@georgeadams1853]

Curiously, the "h aspiré" of haricot became "h muet" in Louisiana (Cajun/cadien) French. There apparently was a popular Cajun musical group that called themselves "Les Haricots" (IPA: [lezarico]). Many English-speaking Americans hear the trilled (not uvular) r in Cajun French as a d; thus the term "Zydeco" came to be used for the musical style popularized by "Les Haricots" because of the mishearing of their name by English speakers.

[@musiqal333]

Also, this applies to québécois. So it sounds interesting to hear in Québec «leZ haricots» (liaison highlighted) while in France you would say «les _aricots». Regional variations are interesting.

[@georgeadams1853]

Also, the entry for "haricot" in the Dictionary of Louisiana French cites a native Cajun speaker: "On dit pas les haricots verts, on dit les haricots." Where did we hear that before? 😄

[@ez8546]

Does one make the liaison with the word "hotel"? "unotel" or is it "un otel"?

[@musiqal333]

@@ez8546 The full word is l'hôtel (masc). So the pronunciation is «un hotel» like "unotel"(liaison).

[@roelmartinvandervelde9407]

I think I have found my stage name.

[@jon590]

I'm new to your channel and love it!

[@lauralaladarling3775]

Bravo! I have just found your channel. You are wonderful. I shall subscribe and follow. Thank you. Xxx

[@fredericjuliard4261]

Dans la même veine , je suis plusieurs youtubeur U.S et je les ai entendus dire plusieurs fois : coup de GRA a la place de Coup de grâce. Coup( prononcer presqu'en Français mais de manière un peu aristocratique) de GRA (dire GRA en forçant le plus possible "l'accent Français") Ce qui est étrange puisqu'il existe le même mot en Anglais : grace , qui se prononce presque de la même manière. Au lieux d'avoir l'air très cultiver en sortant coup de GRA, ca me donne a chaque fois l'impression d'entendre Hit of Fat (coup de GRA)... .. . Ca m'a fait aussi penser a Voldemort en Fr et Voldemorte en Anglais/U.S. Merci. ;)

[@bernhardwall6876]

Here in Canada, there is a verb that the Québécois use, called "frencher."

[@pascha4527]

Ca vient de "French-kiss". Haha Qui est un mot anglais pour dire frencher. Ca vient pas de nul part tho.

[@amnesicstranger]

French fries actually originated from a Parisian street, a historian recently cleared the debate, "It was born in the Parisian street, it was born in the hands of the fry sellers of the Parisian street. And they are the ones who made the fried potato the emblematic popular Parisian dish of the 19th century before this fry was exported to Belgium. So, it is clear that the French fry is of French origin".

[@starrystarrybee]

Un grand merci. Excellent topic

[@californiahiker9616]

Adding to your collection…. There is the French braid, a way to braid hair, and the French Defense, a series of opening moves in a chess game. I found this lesson very interesting! I only know a little French. But having grown up in Germany, I know of a lot of cringe worthy expressions that Germans made up that sound English but are virtually unknown here in the US. (A „Handy“ is a cell phone). And vice versa. Americans are quite fond of German chocolate cake, a cake that’s unknown in Germany! Don’t even get me going on Der Wienerschnitzel! As for haricot vert…. I thought French beans refers to the way they are cut, not straight, but at an angle. Some packages or cans even say „French cut beans“. In the last decade or so packaged fresh veggies have been labeled in English and in French. I picked up a lot of French words that way!

[@MargaritaOnTheRox]

German chocolate wasn't named after Germany. It was named after the guy who invented it, Samuel German. German chocolate cake was named that because the person who created the recipe used German's chocolate (brand) for the recipe. There are actually a few foods named after people but sound like they're named after places.

[@ulamgexe7442]

Looking chess, I'm disappointed on how Queen's Gambit (the netflix show) was translated in french, they named it "Le jeu de la dame" which is the name of the checker game. "Gambit" exits too in french with the exact same meaning as in english by the way (the 't' is quiet). The opening is called "gambit dame" in french. About the french defense opening, I always heard it being called "la française" in french.

[@californiahiker9616]

@@ulamgexe7442 it seems obvious the translation came from somebody who doesn’t seem to know the diff between checkers and chess. That’s a rather glaring mistake, how did that slip by the editor?!

[@litchtheshinigami8936]

I think most of these aren’t all just french in origin.. especially seeing as dutch also uses alot of french “loan words” however we also use the word brunette so i think words like those are just labeled as french when even though they sound french they aren’t or at least are old

[@pscm9447]

-ette is a very common suffix in french for "small"... (table+ette=tablette (little table) maison+ette=maisonnette (little house) cigare+ette=cigarette (little cigar) camion+ette=camionnette (little truck) fille+ette=fillette (little girl).... And brun+ette=brunette(little brown(one)). It's absolutely french.

[@Fixmer-O-Tayl]

Iam from north of France and we say brunette quite often.

[@NaudaBase]

As a belgian with both english and french as birth languages, I find your videos very intesteresting to watch, especially for tips on how to inform and advise non-native speakers. And I once again really agree with your video! There is one part however that I found myself intrigued by ; I actually use "mon ami" ( 4:18 in the video) fairly often when adressing either friends or acquaintances, and sometimes "mon frère" (my brother) as well with friends, and I know some other people which use "mon ami" fairly commonly as well. I wonder, is this more generational? I am in my twenties, and I do believe it is more used among people of my age range than others (without certainty tho). Is it more regional to Belgium? I dont feel like it is, because I'm pretty sure I've heard similar in France and Switzerland. Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack, and thanks for your work!

[@maeglow]

I could have heard “mon ami” in Paris but I think it’s used in a funny way or to simulate a foreign speaker. We never use it otherwise. Maybe it exists to make fun of Belgium people tho! 😂

[@susiex6669]

Your description of bien fait is quite accurate. I grew up and still live in Montreal and have never used it on its own. It is like a taunt. In Portuguese, another Latin based language like French, bem feito (bien fait) is what people say, especially to children, when they are told to listen, continue to misbehave, and get hurt. Your parent will not run over and make sure youre ok, but say bem feito/bien fait first, rather annoyed, like my mother. :D

[@visionpiping1048]

Will Geraldine’s lessons apply to French spoken In Québécois?

[@clockworkharvester2663]

So fun hearing what things other people name with nations such as "American kitchen."

[@kiorodjirane8517]

We also have Frigo Américain (American Fridge) for the one that have double door and can make ice cube. Pizza américaine is also a thing when the 'bread' (I dont know how to say it) is fluffy and large.

[@FrenchDinosaur]

Growing up, I've always wondered where did we get the name "french fries". I guess it's the same case with "Hawaiian pizza", it was not made on Hawaii, nor was it made by a Hawaiian person. It actually originated on Canada, and was made b ay Greek immigrant, who for some reasons unknown to me, tried to make an Italian dish. Very nice video. It was very accurate tho I'd also like to mention that "brunette" can sometimes be use to refer to a cute young girl. Also, me and a couple of friends still sometimes uses "sacrebleu", mostly on in-game chat logs as a means of exaggerating something.

[@rnglillian8081]

The French part of French fries as far as I know more refers to how they are cut and presented instead of the country itself. The site foodrepublic defines it as so, "The term frenching refers to cutting food in a particular way to ensure even cooking and maintain an attractive appearance". I'm assuming they orginally started out as frenched frites and somewhere along the line the -ed was dropped off frenched and the t was dropped out of frites

[@bytheway1031]

Great Video!!

[@msumohamed8490]

Super Bonne continuation

Amateur du café, j'ai pensé tout de suite au "French press", c'est-à-dire, une "cafetière à piston". C'est vrai que je n'ai quasiment jamais entendu dire "maître d'hôtel". Cependant, "maître d'œuvre" et "maître d'ouvrage" m'ont posé toujours des soucis pendant mes études.

[@maeglow]

Et pour la cafetière à piston, on ne dit cafetière à l’italienne aussi ? 😂

[@JanPBtest]

I think "double entendre" is never used in France. (The word "double" is also mispronounced in the English version.)

[@maeglow]

At first, it doesn’t mean anything in French. It’s like saying “double to hear”. But to actually mean “a sentence that has 2 meanings” we say “un double-sens” (a double-meaning) or “un sous-entendu” (an innuendo)

[@woofiedacouyon]

You should tackle some Cajun french, that's a trip right there! I find it very fascinating how different how accents are My Cajun French accent and our pronunciations compared to Standard France French accent and pronunciations.

[@clairedesrosiers7398]

C est amusant de vous écouter! Merci pour ces précisions D une Canadienne du Québec!

[@dusksoldier]

I was always under the impression that "French doors" referred to two doors that swing open. Nothing to do with having windows. Interesting that all the examples you showed fit both criteria.

[@tomfields3682]

Same here. I think the appliance manufacturers appropriated French doors from French windows to indicate refrigerators with side by side doors.

[@oriane5398]

I thought the same, but it's true that we never call these doors like that in France

[@st-ex8506]

"mon ami" ... alone, as an address... is also used, although rarely... and tends to say a bit of the opposite, in a condescending tone! Having said this, I am a French-speaking Swiss (although living in France), and in Switzerland, older French words and expressions, which have almost totally disappeared from "hexagonal" French, are sometimes still in use.This is also true (but for different words and expressions) in Belgium and in. Canada. I guess it is because those French speakers have been less submitted to the "gravit pull" of Paris. TBD

[@fdterritory]

I just randomly discovered your channel today (thank you YT algorithm!)...have you ever done a video on the pronunciation of the French r? I've been learning/speaking French for a while and my r is still trash. :D

[@maxlefou81]

As a first grade teacher taught us, to learn how to pronounce "Rr" you can imitate the lion, make a face and roar: RRRrrrr! While making the gesture. It worked on us when we were 6 anyway. ✌

[@maxlefou81]

And sing! This is always the best way to learn the pronunciation of a language.

[@hibanukiarchimenuki7537]

oh punaise il y avait des lunes que je n avais pas entendu le mot sacrebleu lol très intéressant pour apprendre l anglais. magnifique travail

[@aldbgbnkladg]

Une porte française est également utilisé ici, au Québec, pour désigner une porte-fenêtre. J'ai jamais entendu le terme porte-fenêtre. Mais, mon ami, on est entouré d'anglo-saxons ici 😉

[@victoire4592]

Moi je suis française, et je confirme, on dit « une porte-fenêtre ». C’est assez logique en fait, pourquoi dire une porte française en France??? Çà n’aurait aucun sens pour nous. Mais je comprends tout à fait que ce soit utilisé dans d’autres pays si ce type d’ouverture n’est pas courant, ou importé. Cela-dit, ce n’est plus vraiment d’actualité. Çà correspond plutôt aux constructions anciennes et on peut trouver ces ouvertures partout en Europe… Disons que c’était courant jusque dans les années 90’ je pense. Dans les constructions modernes, les gens se tournent plutôt vers des « ouvertures coulissantes ».

[@musiqal333]

Moi aussi je suis américain et j'ai une tante canadienne qui habite au Québec. Quelle coïncidence 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@josselinhanel6327]

Une tante à piquer ?

[@musiqal333]

@@josselinhanel6327 Non. Pas une tante à piquer 😂

[@ericr4b]

I’m enjoying teaching my french friends how to speak French like an Englishman. One is really enjoying the sarcasm.

[@hopelessone15]

I had never heard of French beans. I live in Texas, USA and would call those green beans or string beans. After some googling, it looks like this refers to a variety of green beans that are thinner than regular green beans. Thanks for making the video. It was very informative.

[@caragarcia2307]

French style green beans are often used in green bean casserole because they heat faster and have a different texture. I've never seen them anywhere but in canned green beans. I also live in Texas and they almost always have French style in the canned goods. I've bought them for years for casseroles. I believe it refers to the way they are cut.

[@zzzut]

Bravo pour cette intéressante vidéo! Ça m’étonne combien les nasales françaises diffèrent des nasales québécoises. Le son « un » français est très près du son « in » et le son « an » s’apparente au son « on » chez certains Français. Chez nous, les quatre nasales sont très différentes les unes des autres.

[@billroyal942]

Comme je l'écrivais plus haut, je ne fais pas la différence mais d'autres Français la font.

[@joeldumas5861]

Il y a bien 4 nasales en Français ”académique” : an, on, in, un. Mais en effet on assiste à une convergence des nasales. - in-un plutôt dans le nord (bien que mêmes voyelles de base que dans ”pair” et ”peur”), - an-on plutôt dans l’est Mais il n'y a pas de frontières bien définies. Le Québécois semble en posséder une de plus, les 2 ”an” de ”enfant” par exemple étant légèrement différents. Cf l’interview de maprofdefrançais sur la chaîne de innerFrench kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6SpdICrgZp5gKM vers 9:00

[@zzzut]

@@joeldumas5861 C’est exact, mais le léger déplacement du second « ɑ̃ » du mot enfant vers le son « ɛ̃ » semble être attribuable au fait que la personne prononce le mot isolément. Je ne crois pas que la dame prononcerait deux sons « ɑ̃ » distincts si elle disait « les enfants de ma sœur », par exemple. Ce genre de déplacement occasionnel est courant au Québec, mais il varie beaucoup d’une personne à l’autre et surtout d’un mot à l’autre.

[@renaudfabre4791]

Je vous assure en tant qu'enseignant dans le Sud de la France, en histoire-géographie et en FLE, on apprend toujours les quatre voyelles nasales. Les québécoises sonnent un peu différemment certes. Après si je m'écoutais j'apprendrai bien à mes élèves certains traits québécois, notamment la différence e/eu bien pratique.

[@zzzut]

@@renaudfabre4791 Vous devez être un excellent professeur.

[@davebirkett6219]

Tu m'as fait penser à tous les steaks-frites que je mangeais en France.

[@torbjornkallstrom2316]

In Sweden we jokingly call haricots vertes "herr kuvert" meaning "mr envelope" :)

[@frydafourn]

😂😂😂 trop bien ta vidéo!!

[@g.p.4973]

Très intéressant! Merci. Brunette est beaucoup utilisée au Québec.

[@malvaashdown]

Beaucoup, je pense pas, mais on le dit, oui, ainsi que portes françaises ha ha! Peut-être sous l’influence anglaise…

[@arianeparadis6439]

C'est ça que j'allais commentée.

[@erin_3569]

je pense pas que ce soit des termes qui existent pas, mais plus qu'ils sont aujourd'hui désuets en France

[@addzay3135]

@@erin_3569 Nan plutôt dû à l'influence anglaise

[@duanebidoux6087]

I noticed that when you used "les haricots verts..." in a phrase you made no "liaison " between end of "les" and beginning of "haricots..." I am an English speaker who has spoken French for a very long time and have always made a liaison there. Is this mistaken? Now 5 minutes later and I just heard your explanation. It's bizarre because I've never pronounced the "n" at the end of "un" and before "haricot" (apparently correct) but HAVE always made the liaison between "les" and "haricots." (apparently incorrect). Thanks.

[@josselinhanel6327]

It's because a lot of french people does the mistake also, when I was younger I was saying "les zaricots vets" "tu veux des zaricots verts ?", I had to learn to say it correctly because it can gets on people nerves lol

[@duanebidoux6087]

@@josselinhanel6327 I might have picked it up from my French family then.

[@alanonym8972]

@@duanebidoux6087 Don't worry about it, a lot of french people do that mistake. It is not technically correct but it will probably become the normal way of saying it since it is much more natural (the "h" is taught to be useless in a lot of cases).

[@depassage5202]

You make a liaison with words of Latin origin (homme, herbe...), but don't with words of Germanic origin (hameau, hache...). Children tend to say "les z' haricots", but then you hear the parent/teacher saying "on dit pas z'haricots, on dit haricots!" 😅

[@brittakriep2938]

. The french baguette was in Germany called often ,Franzosenbrot' ( frenchman' s bread) up to 1970s. The word Baquette was mostly unknown in Germany, and a Croissant was a ,Hörnchen' . Many french words had been used by elderly people ( from the time, French was international language) , but in a strange way. For example Plafond became Blaffo, Pot de Chambre became Boddschamber, Sousterrain became Suttrai. One of the few cases, in which a french word in written german survived in germanised version is Büro - Bureau.

[@lorisleroy2360]

Ça, c'est vrai ! Les mot complexe sont pas souvent utilisé, sauf dans certains contexte ^^

[@antoinevs7201]

I do use "Sacrebleu" every once in a while, but more as a joke than anything else.

[@ulamgexe7442]

Saperlipopette !

[@caroleanderson4020]

Been living in France for 12 years now. I've never heard a French person say "zut"

[@johannaeyooo6980]

Really? 😂People always says that or « Merde » (« sh*t »)

[@caroleanderson4020]

@@johannaeyooo6980 ya. I'm a California expat and I'm the only one among my French proches who says 'zut!'...but I'm in rural soFrance, maybe they say zut in Paris? My friends also use the word 'bonnard' (spelling?). I asked about it & I laughed out loud when they answered that it's an old word that isn't used anymore...they did not even notice that they used it regularly! 😂

[@st-ex8506]

Come on! "Zut" is used very often to avoid using the, admittedly, more ubiquitous "merde", especially before young children...

[@caroleanderson4020]

@@st-ex8506 that's what some people are saying here, I believe it, and I learned 'zut' in my college French class. I've just never heard it from any of my French proches.

[@sandraguidemann8924]

@@caroleanderson4020 I am a german expat living in France for 13 years and I have either never heard any french people pronouncing "zut" ...

[@fds1805]

Great video. As a French-speaking person who lived in the US for 33 years I've never heard of French beans. Where I lived Americans said green beans. And when I was a child we called them haricots princesses or just princesses.

[@jd3422]

You mentioned "French press" for the way to make coffee, but never had a chance to explain it. I once took out my "French press" coffee maker, showed it to a French visitor, and asked him what French people called it. He said, "Italian."

[@maeglow]

True story ahah, in France, coffee is always better when it’s Italian, I don’t know why

[@billroyal942]

There is also " un maître d'oeuvre" ( general or prime contractor, or project manager), un maître-nageur (swimming manager or teacher or coach). Btw, as far as I am concerned, I don't hear any difference between " brun" ( brown) and " brin" ( balade, esprit, strand). There is also the problem of the local word, the most famous being "chocolatine" (southern France) vs "pain au chocolat (northen France). Still worse un sac en plastique is called " un pochon" in Brittany "une poche" in the South-west at lest near Bordeaux and " un cornet" in Lorraine.

[@serge747b]

in France they don't make the difference anymore, but in Québec 'in' and 'un' are still very distinctives.

[@gloipsdegalerf2104]

I've pronounced them out loud a few times, there are indeed no differences between "brin" and "brun"

[@billroyal942]

@@serge747b Well, the topic is word that French people do not use, so my comment concerns what French people say, not about what other French-speaking people say. And anyway, I write "as far as I am concerned" thus so French people may hear a difference but I don't.

[@vacafuega]

i'm a french weirdo apparently because I do pronounce brun and brin differently... but I grew up in the south so maybe that's why

[@gloipsdegalerf2104]

@@vacafuega Yeah it depends on the place you live, I guess where I live we lost this nuance (that's a shame, to be honest)

[@frozenraspberries-]

As a proud Belgian, I thank you for addressing the fact that 'french fries' are from Belgium. Some people think that it got lost in translation. They think that it was named 'fresh fries' and that it accidentally turned into 'french fries'. I'm from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, and I learn French in school, and I must say that this very much helped. Merci pour cette leçon instructive. :)

[@Thunderworks]

French fries are from France, yes. From Paris. The belgian claiming is pure nonsense. It was debunked by a Belgian historian. The first to put a stick of potatoes in a oil bath, it was the French, in Paris in 1830 (the year of Belgium's birth...).

[@frozenraspberries-]

@@Thunderworks "The question remains: is it French in origin? The answer is: no one will ever know. Adam and Eve probably already fried something tasty in fat. Frying in fat is as old as the kitchen. So no one can claim that principle. But for good fries, you need specific fry potatoes. And where were they first grown? In Belgium. Not in France. If they were frying sticks of potato in grease in Paris in the eighteenth century, they will never have been as good as the fries we fry with our potatoes in Belgium."In Belgium, we have been eating fries since independence in 1830. That was a rich period with many celebrations. And that always included fries. A tradition we have never let go of. We continue to eat fries even outside the festive period. "Nowhere in the world is the concentration of frites so large. That alone gives us the right to say: frites are Belgian".

[@brittakriep2938]

@@Thunderworks : Basicly the territory, nowadays called Belgium, was in HRE times after 1648 first ,spanish' after 1700 ,austrian' Netherlands, to be not confused with independent Netherlands.

[@samhaucward3633]

No, now people find their origin and it's from France. Désolé mais cela vient de France.

[@loreleiocarolain2209]

@@Thunderworks Non, à cette époque les pommes de terre étaient sous forme de rondelles et non de bâtonnets. Donc difficile de dire que ça a une origine française. Ils appelaient ça des "frites", mais d'après les descriptions dans les recettes de l'époque (coupées en fines rondelles, cuites au four jusqu'à être croustillantes et saupoudrées de sel), cela ressemblait plus à des chips qu'à des frites !

[@jan-toreegge9252]

I love cuisses de grenouilles, escargots (to the point that I have a wine tasting group called Les Escargots), andouilles, andouillettes, ris de veau, langue de boeuf, cervelle d'agneau and more. What I find more challenging (although I will try it occasionally) is tripes, especially tripes à la mode de Caen, which contains stomach from all four chambers.

[@katesims2346]

My neighbour in Adelaide a french speaker from Mauritius used to say "sacred bleu".

[@ugolino453]

In the same vein, some other "French expressions" that only exist in English and really puzzled me at first, as a native French speaker: - "Plus ça change...". - "Vive la différence !" Not that people would never happen to use it, of course, but these are certainly not what we can call common expressions such as "C'est la vie !".

[@pascha4527]

There is the famous expression "Plus ca change, plus c'est pareil" no? At least, we have that in french canadian.

[@ugolino453]

@@pascha4527 If you say the whole thing “Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil”, people will of course understand then, but if you just say or write “plus ça change…” without the rest of the phrase, as it is mostly used in English from what I could see, I seriously doubt that French people would know what it implies, for it is not such a commonly used expression. As for French speaking Canadians, this I cannot say…

[@jeffreysommer3292]

Sacrebleu was created by Louis XIV, who got tired of hearing his courtiers saying "Sacre Dieu!" He said, "If you are going to invoke something, invoke my dog Bleu." So, "Sacrebleu!" and "Parbleu!" arose. But like any slang, it fell out of favor...

[@danroro1722]

It might show my age, but sacrebbleu is definitely part of my vocabulary, although not as frequently as parbleu. Parbleu tends (or perhaps tended) to be used as an adverb meaning something like indeed or actually. Not easy to get the feel of it for newer students of the French language.

[@jeffreysommer3292]

@@danroro1722 I heard an elderly French woman say it about 40 years ago.

[@st-ex8506]

@@jeffreysommer3292 "sacrebleu", "parbleu", " de bleu" are still in use locally.

[@GiniLeeRedSquirel]

Il manque "Par sang bleu!"

[@xoSilverSurfer]

Un pain francais?! qui a dit ca 🤣🤣🤣 hahaha loved this, love your videos!!

[@SnabbKassa]

Another mangling of a French root is the word centre, which you will see spelled CENTER on signs everywhere in Europe except in Britain, France and Ireland.

[@MrBlaxjax]

That's not a mangle. Centre and center are both correct, but centre is British and is usually used in Ireland and commonwealth countries too. Center is American and usually used in Canada too. Non English speaking countries are free to use either version.

[@MrBlaxjax]

Actually, Canada being french speaking too probably mainly uses 'centre'.

[@mmaybrown]

@@MrBlaxjaxCanadians spell it Centre

[@kath6720]

Actually French fries were invented in Paris!!!! In the 19th century r stands used to sell them to warm people us and the Belgian tourists took to it and went home to made it popular!!! Et oui! Les frites are définitivement French! ☺️

[@loreleiocarolain2209]

Non, à cette époque les pommes de terre étaient sous forme de rondelles, pas de bâtonnets.

[@a1nelson]

“French fries” is a fairly modern misspelling of “frenched fries”, similar to donut instead of doughnut. ‘Frenched’ being a proper, long-standing culinary term meaning to “cut into strips, often square”. French [style] green beans are the same - they’re ‘frenched’ into strips. These errors make the whole “Freedom Fries” movement even _more_ embarrassing for Americans with half a clue. Where the culinary term originated, I do not know.

[@McGhinch]

Neither does Merriam-Webster know the origin, in a similar sense it was apparently first used around 1895, I was going to write something similar but checked, if I was first, since the post is already a couple of hours online.

[@WildBillTurkey]

Geraldine, a quick thought on the French Beans/ Haricots Verts, since you mention no one knowing how Americans came to call them French Beans. I believe they are more popular in the southern part of the US than they are in the rest of the country. They are also one of the main components of Cajun cuisine, from Louisiana. In fact the music of this French region is called Zydeco, which is an early attempt to spell "'s haricots, or les haricots" by people who had only heard the word. A very, very common lyric in many cajun songs is " 's haricots sont pas sallé" describing that times are so hard there's no salt for the green beans.Since the lyric was so iconic, the whole style of music was named for it. If people throughout the South of the US began to associate those beans with the French Louisiana culture, it would be possible that the whole region began to think of them as French beans. I have nothing but my own thinking to blame for this idea, and would not quote it as fact.

[@lizgc3210]

Fascinating! I discovered that les haricots comes from the word "harigoter" (couper en morceaux)! Yet they are often shown to be full length if you buy them canned in the USA. Les haricots verts are often called "Green Jews" in Spanish: Las judías verdes!

[@davidsmith3263]

Do normal people really say “mince” and “purée” or is it better to just use “merde” and “putain”?

[@georgeadams1853]

Kind of like using "shoot" and "fudge" in American English.

[@afirewasinmyhead]

My French profs in uni were fond of “mince” lol. And I hear it when speaking to French speakers at work.

[@martinwallace5734]

Oh, have I been missing something saying "Sapristi !" all these years ? 😂

[@SLRModShop]

Not sure about parisians (they are uptight...) but the rest of France uses... both at the same time actually ^-^ 'Putain de merde, fait chier' is probably the sentence I used the most in my life Non-French people see the word 'putain' as a very nasty word when it's really not in practice. You should avoid it during interviews but in any other situation, it's pretty much open season

[@ez8546]

I generally use "zut" or "mince" and almost never say "putain" or "merde". It's considered low-brow.

[@susanegley4149]

As an American, I would never minimize someone's attempt to learn English. If a person is attempting to use a new language in a foreign land, they're trying, and that takes bravery, especially since there's no shortage of eye-rolling, judgemental twats. 🤷‍♀️

[@manumig8066]

We use "purée" or "punaise", like "mince" in the same manner English speakers use "fudge", "shoot" or "dang it". They just replace expletives with a similar first syllable.

[@FeliceChiapperini]

Maitre d' is usually pronounced "maytruh dee" and refers to the person in charge of seating at a restaurant. In French "le smoking" has nothing to do with the English word "tuxedo", so it works both ways

[@vanghard]

in my experience : Brunette existe toujours, mais c'est considéré comme vulgaire, voire graveleux ou mysogine.

[@aplllddisd4955]

Bah non Avec Les enfants c'est juste mignon. Il faut avoir l'esprit tordu pour Voir le mal partout.

[@infinitylord08]

Thank you for the video. How do you say , "Smiling makes people happy"? thank you.

[@ulamgexe7442]

The word-per-word translation would be "Sourire rend les gens heureux", but I'd cut "people/gens" and just say "Sourire rend heureux". "rend" from the verb "rendre", we wouldn't use the verb "mettre" for emotions. The 'd' is quiet.

[@ivanscottw]

Je ne connaissais pas cette youtubeuse.. C'est pas mal, a part, qu'il va falloir travailler l'accent anglais ;) Je suis bilingue (accent parigot à deux balles et accent amerloque SAE à couper au couteau).. Mais c'est sympa ces clips, des émissions qui permettent aux anglophones d'avoir une introspection dans la culture française et sa langue si particulière (parce que c'est clairement orienté du côté français et pas d'une manière francophone en général).. I wasn't aware of that youtuber.. It's actually pretty good although you are going to have to work on that English accent. I'm bilingual (rough Parisian accent and a deep southern 'murican' accent when I speak English). But I have to admit it's pretty neat to have those snippets, those YT broadcasts that allow English speakers to have an insight into French culture and its all so peculiar language (because its obviously geared towards the French part of it rather than the global French speaking community at large). Bon - et bien madame, vous avez un nouvel abonné ! Well - ma'am You got yourself another subscriber ! PS : Il me semble que selon l'académie française, la liaison est maintenant autorisée même avec un h... on peu dire : un naricot, les zaricots... (même si, mais je ne suis qu'un vieux tromblon, ça m'écorche les oreilles à chaque fois).. Ou voir écrire nénufar.. Oh.. P.... Punaise ! ça me f... met en rogne, ça me fait saigner des yeux !

[@HaohmaruHL]

I don't speak French and it's funny this was recommended. But some of these words a loan words in russian (thanks to Peter 1 and history stuff I guess) and people use them on daily basis without even realizing. There are actually a ton of French loan words in russian and they mostly kept the pronunciation as is too. French sounds beautiful and i even did some lessons on duolingo. Alizee is very loved in russia and I also love milene farmer too. Visited France like fifteen years ago or so. Loved the castles and cuisine.

[@SheaMF]

In Québec, brunette is used on a somewhat regular basis.

[@CleetusTheBun]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Thank you!

[@LeGnomeEnVadrouille]

Bonjour ! Juste, pour les frites, j'ai vu un documentaire Arte où des historiens expliquent qu'elles ont été inventé à Paris. C'est donc bien français :)

[@julien95434]

Et ça a été ramené par un allemand en Belgique de mémoire.

[@johnkarapita437]

As a Canadian, I didn't know "Canadian Tent" was a thing! Never heard of that before. Quite amusing. I think we used to say "pup tent" years ago and now we would just call it a tent or a two-person tent etc.

[@LadyDecember]

I don't care that it's not something modern French people say, Sacrebleu will always be one of the funniest exclamations of shock to me. I laugh every single time I hear it in a cartoon or movie. _Sacrebleu!_

[@BigMamaDaveX]

👍🏻 I came, I saw, I liked, and SUBBED! ✌🏻

[@willsoralis2313]

On that matter, I once read a story where the character, a french maid, interjected a lovely " Victor Hugo !" when surprised x)

[@baronvoom9891]

tres sympa :)