22 Embarrassingly Awkward English-French Translation and Pronunciation Mistakes
The most hair-raising French mistakes & how you can avoid them. Click to get all the essential tips & pointers to save yourself from the trouble of silly errors.
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1.“Je suis chaud(e)” or” Il/elle est trop chaud(e) “ does not mean what you think it means.2. Preservative is not préservatif in French3. Don’t say “Il/elle est bon(ne)” or “Tu es bon(ne)”…unless you know exactly what you’re doing (*wink*wink*)4. “Introduire” does not really mean “introduce”5. “Je suis excité(e) !”6. “C’est excitant! “7. “Je veux jouir “8. Prendre son pied9. Envie is not always the same as envy10. Un baiser the noun isn’t the same as baiser the verb11. Chatte means two different things12. Cochonne has another meaning, too13. ça/il suce !14. Je suis tellement pleine !15. Queue could mean something else entirely16. Baisser vs. Baiser17. Quand vs Con18. Cou vs. Cul19. Beaucoup vs. Beau cul20. Branly vs. Branler21. Canard vs. Connard22. En couleur vs EnculerHave you ever had an embarrassing translation faux pas that is so cringe-worthy it made you want to duck to the nearest restroom and hide there forever?
Or probably pronounced a French word so inappropriately that it made everybody snicker?
French words, with their subtle nuances and undertones, are quite easy to bungle.
You might be saying something that you think is totally innocent, but the word you choose or a slight error in your pronunciation could all too easily make you sound like a horndog pervert…or even highly rude and offensive.
“Did I just say THAT?!”
Don’t worry, you’re definitely not alone. Stuff like this happens to the best of us. Pronunciation mistakes are common in the French language especially if it is not your native language. But to avoid awkwardness from happening ever again, you should take a look at this list of words and phrases we compiled.
So without much ado, let’s get on with the list of common pronunciation mistakes in French.
1.“Je suis chaud(e)” or” Il/elle est trop chaud(e) “ does not mean what you think it means.
You probably mean you’re not feeling well and your temperature is hot. After all, Je suis chaud = I am hot. Right???
Nope. “Je suis chaud” can have a sexual connotation suggesting you’re feeling horny (what?!), though it can also mean you’re keen or ready for something. To say you feel hot, use “J’ai chaud” instead. Similarly, “il est trop chaud” can suggest that he is very eager or sexually aroused; it does not mean that you have the hots for him. Which could still be weird in the wrong context!
2. Preservative is not préservatif in French
Imagine you’re sitting at a table with your French-speaking friends, and you’re giving a completely impassioned speech about organic food and the use of too many preservatives in food nowadays. You use the French word préservatif because of course, what else could the word be?
Sorry to rain on your parade, but while preservative and préservatif may sound alike, it’s one of those back-stabbing “false friends”. Préservatif actually means condom in French. When you need to talk about food preservatives, use the French word “conservateur” instead. Otherwise, you’d ruin your perfectly sensible tirade by suddenly including condoms in your conversation.
3. Don’t say “Il/elle est bon(ne)” or “Tu es bon(ne)”…unless you know exactly what you’re doing (*wink*wink*)
English speakers usually say “she’s good” or “you’re good” in a general, offhand way, without having to specify what the person is good at. Like when someone shows off his/her talent and you just blurt out, “wow, you’re good!” French can work this way too when the context makes the skill clear, but an isolated compliment may be ambiguous.
When speaking French, be specific about what the person is good at if the context isn’t clear. Depending on the wording and situation, bon(ne) can suggest being good in bed; elle est bonne can also be a crude way of saying she is sexually attractive.
4. “Introduire” does not really mean “introduce”
This is another one of those two-faced false friends to watch out for. Though introduire looks like introduce, their uses do not always match. Introduire means “to insert” or “to bring in,” and can also mean admitting someone into a group or introducing a subject. For introducing yourself or presenting one person to another, présenter is the usual verb.
Let that sink in for a while.
Now can you imagine how awkward it would be if you ask a group of French people to introduce themselves to each other using the reflexive verb “s’introduire”? Depending on the wording, the idea of inserting or penetrating could create an unintended sexual joke. Yikes!
When you need to introduce someone or ask people to introduce each other, use the verb présenter.
5. “Je suis excité(e) !”
You’re excited. We get it. When you’re speaking in English, it’s perfectly fine to just squeal, “I’m so excited!” In French, excité(e) can mean agitated or excited as well as sexually aroused. An isolated “Je suis excité(e)” could therefore create the wrong impression.
Instead, you need to include in the sentence what you are excited about to avoid any raised eyebrows and incredulous looks around you.
6. “C’est excitant! “
In relation to #5, “c’est excitant !” can mean “it’s exciting!” or “it’s stimulating!” But in an ambiguous context, it could also suggest sexual excitement.
7. “Je veux jouir “
Let’s say you’re out with friends for a night around town. During dinner you declare that tonight, you would like to enjoy yourself. You say, “je veux jouir !” thinking it means, “I want to enjoy!” Everyone smothers their laughter and thinks how brazen you are.
Well, it seems like just another harmless sentence, right? Jouir de can mean “to enjoy,” as in jouir de la vie (to enjoy life), but used by itself, jouir commonly means “to have an orgasm.” For enjoying a night out, say je veux m’amuser instead.
*awkward*
8. Prendre son pied
This is an idiomatic expression that literally means “to take one’s foot.” It means “to get a lot of pleasure out of something,” and that pleasure can be sexual or nonsexual. Be careful with the context: it can mean “to have an orgasm,” but it doesn’t always carry a sexual meaning.
9. Envie is not always the same as envy
When you say “J’ai envie de toi”, you’re not really saying that you envy someone. Instead, you mean you desire or you want him/her. So you should just say you are envious (envieuse/ envieux) or say instead “je t’envie”.
10. Un baiser the noun isn’t the same as baiser the verb
Since the word kiss in English can work both as a noun (a kiss) and as a verb (to kiss), it’s easy to think the same thing with its French counterpart. After all, the word baiser can both be a noun and a verb too, right?
Oh, you sweet summer child. In everyday modern French, un baiser means “a kiss,” while baiser as a verb usually means to shag or to f*ck. You can still find the older “kiss” sense in literary language or formal expressions such as baiser la main (to kiss someone’s hand), but it’s a risky choice for an ordinary “kiss” today.
If you need to say “to kiss”, as in the verb, use the verb embrasser instead. You can also use its reflexive form s’embrasser which means to kiss each other.
Other words related to “kiss” are: un bisou (a slang term for kiss), une bise (the kiss on the cheek the French use for greeting people), and un patin (kiss that uses tongue, or what English speakers refer to as French kiss).
11. Chatte means two different things
Chatte is just a harmless female cat, right? Well, yes, but it’s more than that, too. Like the English word “pussy,” chatte can also be a vulgar word for the female private parts. Context matters!
12. Cochonne has another meaning, too
Cochonne can mean a female pig in French. Like “pig” in other languages, it can also describe someone who is dirty or acts like a slob. But it can have a sexual meaning too: cochonne can be a vulgar term for a woman portrayed as sexually dirty-minded or uninhibited.
13. ça/il suce !
It’s quite easy to mistakenly translate the English expression “it sucks” or “he sucks” literally into French. But doing so can sound weird or vulgar. Sucer ordinarily means “to suck,” as in sucer un bonbon (to suck a sweet) or sucer son pouce (to suck one’s thumb). It can also have a sexual meaning, and it is not the usual French equivalent of “sucks” meaning “is bad.”
To say something is lame, you can say “c’est nul !” To tell someone he is lame, say “t’es nul/chiant”. To point out that something sucks, say “ça craint !”
14. Je suis tellement pleine !
Let’s say you had a huge lunch with your French friends. You want to tell them you’re so full, so you say it in French as “Je suis tellement pleine !” They all stare.
Why? What’s wrong with what you just said?
Well, my dear, pleine can mean pregnant, especially when describing an animal, and can sound crude when used about a woman. In France, to avoid that ambiguity after a meal, you can say “j’ai trop mangé” (I ate too much) instead. But pleine does not automatically mean pregnant: the sense depends on the wording and context, as in avoir le ventre plein (to be full after eating).
15. Queue could mean something else entirely
Queue in French has different meanings: 1) a waiting line; similar to how the word is used in English, 2) an animal’s tail… or 3) the more vulgar slang term for the male private part.
So be very, very careful when using this term.
Let’s check out a rather awkward scenario between two girls, as an example.
Non-French girl: I went to see the concert.
French girl: How was it?
Non-French girl: Il a une grosse queue.
French girl: “eyes widen, jaw drops*
The non-French girl wanted to say that the line was very long: Il y avait une longue queue. But she left out y, used the present tense, and said grosse instead of longue. As a result, her sentence could instead be taken to mean that the guy in the concert was well-endowed.
We have just listed 15 different translation mistakes. But what about those wrong pronunciations that could land you in hot water? Here let’s take a look at those as well.
16. Baisser vs. Baiser
They both look and sound almost the same but baisser means to reduce or to lower, and baiser means… you already know what it means.
To distinguish between the two and to make sure you use the right one, remember the following rules:
Baisser (double S): pronounced with an S as in beh-Say
Baiser (single s): pronounced with a Z as in beh-Zay
There. That should keep you from hair-raising embarrassment.
17. Quand vs Con
Be careful in pronouncing these two as you don’t want to mix up a simple “when” (quand) and “idiot” (con). Can you imagine how awful it would be if you thought you’re only saying quand but the person you’re talking to thinks you just called him con?
To avoid any misinterpretations, take note of these pronunciation differences:
Quand: pronounced /kɑ̃/, with a nasal vowel and no final d sound when said alone. In a liaison such as quand il vient, the linking consonant is /t/.
Con: pronounced /kɔ̃/, with a different nasal vowel. There is no final “ng” consonant; nasal vowels are not the same as a vowel followed by an English ng.
18. Cou vs. Cul
This one is another common facepalm-inducing mistake. They sound somewhat similar but are two very different body parts. Cou is neck and is pronounced /ku/, approximately “koo”; cul is ass and is pronounced /ky/. For the French /y/, say “ee” with rounded lips: don’t add the English “y” consonant heard in “kew.”
19. Beaucoup vs. Beau cul
Another pair of terms that could land you in trouble when you pronounce them wrong, so once again, be very careful. The first one—beaucoup—means “a lot” or “much.” The other means “nice butt” or “nice ass.” To avoid saying “thanks! nice ass!” when you say merci beaucoup, remember that beaucoup is /boku/ (approximately “bo-koo”), while beau cul is /boky/, with the rounded French /y/ explained above.
20. Branly vs. Branler
It’s easy to slip up and erroneously pronounce the famous museum Musée du Quai Branly. Branly is /bʁɑ̃li/ and branler is /bʁɑ̃le/: the last vowel is the key difference, and an is nasal in both. Branler has several meanings, including the vulgar “to masturbate someone”; se branler means “to masturbate yourself.”
So, can you see? A small mistake in pronunciation would give an altogether different meaning when you ask for directions to Branly.
21. Canard vs. Connard
Canard means duck and connard is a vulgar term that means asshole, jerk or schmuck. Be very careful not to confuse the two. Otherwise, you’d think you’re simply discussing what to order while the people around you would think you’re muttering invectives.
To avoid this error, try to remember the following pronunciation differences:
Canard is pronounced as kah-nar.
Connard is pronounced as ko-nar.
22. En couleur vs Enculer
This one was submitted to the Talk in French Facebook page by a lady named Paulette. One of her fears is when the printers in her office would break down and she would have to explain to technicians that there is a problem with colored printing.
It’s a legitimate fear, and we’d have to agree! While en couleur is a rather innocuous term that means “in colour,” enculer is anything but. It is a vulgar verb meaning “to sodomize.” The related word enculé can be used as an offensive insult; enculer itself is not a noun meaning “motherf*cker.” Avoid this mix-up with the following pronunciation tip.
En couleur: /ɑ̃ kulœʁ/, with the final vowel and r in couleur.
Enculer: /ɑ̃kyle/, with the rounded French /y/ and a final /e/.
Please note that this phonetic pronunciation for this last one is not very spot on. But you can listen to the pronunciation in audio in the article 30 Difficult French Words to Pronounce: Part 2.
