Learn French words with pronunciation. Beautiful French words and phrases with translation
There are more than 2,000 French words in the Russian language, which we use almost every day, without even suspecting their ideologically incorrect roots. And, if we gave the Fifth Republic at least one word - “Bistro” (thanks to the Cossacks who reached Montmartre in 1814 and drank all the champagne there: “Get it quickly! Who did I tell? Quickly, motherfucker!”), then they took much more from them. The reason for this is most likely the incredible popularity of French in the 18th-19th centuries. Even the guardian of the purity of the Russian language, the Dane Vladimir Dahl, did not save. With attachés, lampshades and mufflers (cache-nez, by the way - to hide your nose) - everything is clear, but did you know, for example, that the words “turn” and “fairy” are also French?
Duty - from de jour: assigned to a certain day. For example, the classic French, seen by tourists in many cafes and bistros, plat de jour - “dish of the day”, has turned into a “daily dish” in our country.
Steering wheel, steer - from rouler: ride, rotate. There is nothing to explain here. Roll, yes, from here.
Nightmare - cauchemar: comes from two words - Old French chaucher - “to crush” and Flemish mare - “ghost”. This is the “ghost that comes at night and loves to gently lean against the sleeping people.”
Blinds - from jalouse (jalousie): envy, jealousy. Russians have never been comfortable with this word. Most people insist on emphasizing “a” instead of “and.” The etymology of the word is quite simple: to prevent neighbors from envy, the French simply lowered the blinds. Such subtleties of mental organization were not characteristic of the broad Russian character, so we simply built a fence higher and stronger.
Blowjob – minette: kitty. Well, what would we do without him! The French have stable expression“make a cat,” but it means exactly the opposite of what it means in Russian – literally “make cunnilingus.” One could assume that the word came from minet - kitten m.p., but it would have sounded “mine”, although who knows how our ancestors read it.
Coat - paletot: a definition of outerwear for men, almost no longer used in France: warm, wide, with a collar or hood. An anachronism, so to speak.
Jacket - from toujour: always. Just everyday, “everyday” clothes.
Kartuz – from cartouche: literally “cartridge”. Actually, meaning “bag of gunpowder,” this word appeared in Russia in 1696, but it “turned” into a headdress only in the 19th century in a way completely unknown to science.
Galoshes - galoche: shoes with wooden soles. V. Dahl's least favorite word. He suggested calling them “wet shoes,” but it didn’t catch on, it didn’t stick. Although, in St. Petersburg, probably not without the efforts of the same Dahl, the French word curb is persistently called “curb” - although even this word has Dutch roots. But that's not what we're talking about now. By the way, galoche has another meaning in French: passionate kiss. Think what you want.
Frock coat - from surtout: on top of everything. Oh, don't ask, we don't know and don't carry it. But yes, once upon a time a frock coat was truly outerwear.
Cap - from chapeau: comes from the Old French chape - lid.
Panama - panama: no need to explain. But what’s surprising is that Paris is often called Paname, although local residents in similar headdresses were not seen on the streets.
Masterpiece – from chef d’œuvre: master of his craft.
Chauffeur – chauffeur: originally a fireman, stoker. The one who throws firewood. But that was a long time ago, even before engines appeared. internal combustion. And by the way…
Podsofe - from the same word chauffer: to warm, to warm up. It took root in Russia, thanks to the French tutors, who were not averse to sipping a glass or two. The preposition “under” is purely Russian, often used to denote a state: under the influence, under the influence. Or... “warmed up”, if you like. And, continuing the topic of alcohol...
Kiryat, nakiryat - from kir: an aperitif made from white wine and sweet low-proof berry syrup, most often currant, blackberry or peach. Out of habit, you can really get high on them quickly, especially if you don’t limit yourself to one or two glasses, but, according to the old Russian tradition, start abusing them as expected.
Adventure - aventure: adventure. In French it does not carry the negative connotation that the word acquired in Russian, as, in fact,...
Scam – from à faire: (to) do, do. In general, just do something useful. And not what you thought.
Wall up - from mur: wall. That is, literally “embed into the wall.” Catchphrase“Walled up, demons!” It could hardly have existed during the time of Ivan the Terrible, but to appear in the 17th century, thanks to Peter the Great, is quite like the word...
Work - from raboter: finishing, sanding, planing, doing, in short, manual labor. What’s strange is that until the 17th century such a word was not really used in Russian texts. Don’t forget, it was during the time of Peter the Great that many architects, engineers and craftsmen from countries really came to Russia Western Europe. What can I say, St. Petersburg was conceived exactly according to the Parisian model. They designed, the Russians “worked”. We must also not forget that many talented and handy guys, on the orders of the same Peter, went to study the craft in other countries and could well “take” the word with them to their homeland.
Dozen - douzaine: well, twelve, as it is.
Equivoques - from equivoque: ambiguous. No, really, you couldn’t seriously think that such a strange word appeared in Russian just like that, out of nothing to do?
Barak – baraque: shack. From the common Roman word barrio - clay. And this is not at all an invention of the NEP times.
Throw out entrechat - from entrechat: borrowed from Latin, and means - to weave, braid, weave, cross. According to a serious academic dictionary, entrechat is a type of leaping jump in classical ballet dance, when the dancer’s legs quickly cross in the air.
Zealous - from retif: restive. It seems to be one of the oldest borrowed words from the French language. Probably back in the time of Yaroslavna.
Vinaigrette – vinaigrette: vinegar sauce, traditional salad dressing. To our traditional dish made from beets, sauerkraut and boiled potatoes, which has nothing to do with it. For the French, in general, such a combination of products seems almost fatal, just as they are not delighted with the traditional Russian borsche or, say, kvass (how can you drink this crap?).
Sausage is from saucisse, just like shrimp is from crevette. Well, it seems like there’s no point in talking about the broth at all. Meanwhile, bouillon – “decoction”, comes from the word bolir – “to boil”. Yeah.
Soup - soupe: borrowing from French in the 18th century, derived from the Latin suppa - "a piece of bread dipped in gravy." Do you need to talk about canned food? – from concerver – “to preserve”. It makes no sense to talk about the word “sauce” at all.
Cutlet - côtelette, which in turn is derived from côte - rib. The fact is that in Russia they are used to using the word cutlet to designate a dish of minced meat, while the French use it to designate a piece of meat on a bone, or more precisely, pork (or lamb) on a rib.
Tomato – from pomme d’or: Golden Apple. Why this phrase has taken root in Russia, history is silent. In France itself, tomatoes are called tritely - tomatoes.
Compote - from componere: to fold, compose, compose, if you want. That is, collect a bunch of all kinds of fruits together.
By the way, the phraseological unit “not at ease” is a literal, but not very correct translation of the phrase ne pas être dans son assiette. The fact is that assiette is not only the plate from which one eats, but the basis, the disposition of the spirit. So, in the original, this phrase meant “to be out of spirit, not in the mood.”
Restaurant – restaurant: literally “restorative”. There is a legend that in 1765 a certain Boulanger, the owner of a Parisian tavern, hung on the doors of his newly opened establishment an inviting inscription: “Come to me and I will restore your strength.” The Boulanger tavern, where the food was tasty and relatively cheap, soon became a fashionable place. As often happens with fashionable places, the establishment received a special name among the regulars, understandable only to the initiates: “Tomorrow we’ll meet again in the Restorer!” By the way, the first restaurant in Russia, “Slavic Bazaar,” was opened in 1872 and, unlike taverns, they ate more there than simply drank.
Discourage - from courage: courage, courage. Courage in the Russian language also acquired a not entirely obvious meaning. Meanwhile, having acquired a prefix, suffix and ending, the word began to mean, in fact, what was meant: to deprive someone of confidence, courage, to lead to a state of confusion.
To fade away - from toucher: to touch, touch. Mmm... I think once upon a time, decent girls blushed and were embarrassed, embarrassed, so to speak, when particularly arrogant young men grabbed them by the knees and other parts of the body.
Trick - truc: a thing, a contraption whose name they cannot remember. Well... this is... what's his name...
Routine - from route, routine: road, path, and the derived from it routine: skill, habit. Haven’t you set your teeth on edge by often walking along the same path, from work to home and vice versa? Maybe I should drop everything and start downshifting ( English word– not about him now)?
Keychain – breloque: pendant on a chain for a watch.
Furniture - meuble: literally something that moves, can be moved, moved to another place, as opposed to immeuble - real estate. Thanks again to Peter the Great for the opportunity not to indicate exactly what household items are in your property, for example the same French ones: bureau, wardrobe, dressing table, wardrobe or stool.
All-in – from va banque: literally “the bank is coming.” An expression used by card players when they suddenly suddenly began to “go overboard.” Therefore, “going all-in” means taking a risk, hoping that you can get a lot.
Slander - from clause: condition of the contract, article of the agreement. How the slander acquired such a negative meaning is difficult to say, how and why...
District - rayon: ray. Became a place on the map, not a source of light.
Gauze - from marly: thin fabric, after the name of the village of Marly, now Marly-le-Roi, where it was first produced.
Debauchery - debauche: debauchery, debauchery, revelry.
Nonsense - from galimatias: confusion, nonsense. There is a wonderful story that once upon a time there was a certain lawyer who had to defend in court a client named Mathieu, whose rooster was stolen. At that time, meetings were conducted exclusively in Latin; the lawyer, like any Frenchman speaking another language, pronounced his speech indistinctly, confusingly, and managed to mix up words in places. Instead of "gallus Matias" - Mathieu's rooster, he said "galli Matias" - that is - Mathieu of the rooster (Mathieu, belonging to the rooster).
And a few stories that you probably know:
Chantrapa - from chantera pas: literally - will not sing. They say it happened in the 18th century at the estate of Count Sheremetyev, famous for creating the first serf theater in Russia. Of course, future opera divas and “divas” were recruited from local Matren and Grishek. The procedure for creating the future Praskovy Zhemchugovs took place as follows: a French (less often Italian) teacher gathered peasants for an audition, and if a large brown bear walked in their ears, he confidently declared - Chantera pas!
Trash - from cheval: horse. Also according to legend, the retreating French troops, severely frozen by the harsh Russian winter and tortured by partisans (also a French word, by the way), were very hungry. Horse meat, which is still considered a delicacy in France, has become almost the only source of food. For the Russians, who still had a vivid memory of the Tatar-Mongols, eating horse meat was completely unacceptable, therefore, having heard the French word cheval - horse, they did not find anything smarter than to assign this name in a derogatory sense to its consumers.
Sharomyzhnik – from cher ami: dear friend. And again a story about the War of 1812. French deserters wandered through villages and villages, begging for at least a piece of food. Of course, they bent over backwards, addressing the Russian aborigines only as “dear friend.” Well, how else could the peasants christen the unfortunate half-frozen creature, dressed in God knows what? That's right - a baller. By the way, the stable idiom “sherochka with masherochka” also appeared from cher et ma cher.
But the word “puzzle” appeared from the reverse translation of the word brass knuckles (cassetete) - from casse: to break and tete - head. That is, in the literal sense.
These are just fifty words familiar to us from childhood. And you can’t even imagine how many of them there are! Just – shhh! - don’t tell the satirist-historian Zadornov, otherwise he’ll come up with something.
Any study foreign language helps in development, career and can significantly strengthen your social position. This is an excellent brain workout that allows you to maintain a healthy mind and memory at any age. French is considered a rich and analytical language, structuring thought and developing a critical mind, when conducting negotiations and discussions, the main phrases in French will serve you well.
Do you need to know them?
Knowledge of everyday phrases is necessary not only for tourists: French is an incredibly beautiful, melodic and inspiring language. People, knowledgeable about history, cannot remain indifferent to France and its heroes, in an effort to join its culture, many feel the desire to learn the language of its people. Hence the massive fascination with this language of lovers and poets, which was spoken by Maupassant, Voltaire and, of course, Dumas.
French is in the top six official languages United Nations, it is spoken in 33 countries (including Haiti and some African countries). Already for a long time knowledge of French is considered good form; it is the language of diplomats and simply educated and cultured people. Basic phrases in this language are heard at international symposia and scientific congresses.
Where will they come in handy?
If you want to work in France, knowledge of the language will be essential. Many large French corporations also operate in Russia; if you start a career in them, then knowledge French phrases on entry level will help an employee of Renault or Bonduelle, Peugeot, as well as the cosmetic leader of L'Oreal.
Many people decide to come to France for permanent residence, and knowledge of French in this case is as necessary as air. Due to insufficient language proficiency, misunderstandings may arise, new acquaintances and expanding the circle of communication are impossible, even possible conflict situations. This interferes with the well-being of those who want to make their life in France. English is held in low esteem in this country, so knowledge of French is required, at least at a minimum level. The French are a very proud nation, and they demand respect for their language and culture from everyone who comes to live here. Ignorance of everyday simple phrases can touch the local people to the core.
Another passionate dream of many of our compatriots is to receive higher education in France. This country offers many options for studying, including budgetary basis. And again - where would we be without language? As soon as difficulties arise with translation during the exam, you may be denied admission to the university. Some French universities They accept applicants without exams, only based on the results of an interview in French. This is why it is so important to know the language if you want to study in the country.
French universities are usually admitted a year in advance. school year, that is preparatory process may take quite a while long time, it is possible to learn French well, and the earlier you start your studies, the better results you will show in the entrance tests.
Table
General
| In Russian | In French | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Oui | Ui |
| No | Non | Non |
| Please (reply to thank you) | Je vous en prie | Zhe vuzan at |
| Thank you | Merci | Mercy |
| Please (request) | S'il vous plaît | Sil wu ple |
| Sorry | Pardon | Sorry |
| Hello | Bonjour | Bonjour |
| Goodbye | Au revoir | About revoir |
| Bye | A bientôt | A biento |
| Do you speak Russian? | Parlez-vous………russe? | Parle-vou………ryus? |
| …in English? | ...anglais? | ...Angle? |
| …French? | …francais? | ... français? |
| I do not speak French. | Je ne parle pas……français. | Jeu ne parle pas……francais |
| I don't understand | Je ne comprends pas | Zhe no compran pa |
| Mister, madam... | Monsieur, madame... | Monsieur, madam... |
| Help me please. | Aidez-moi, s’il vous plaît. | Ede-mua, sil vu ple |
| I need… | J'ai besoin de… | Zhe byozuen do |
| Slower please | Plus lentement, s’il vous plaît | Plyu lantman, sil vu ple |
| I'm from Russia | Je viens de Russie | Jo vien do Rusi |
| We are from Russia | Nous venons de Russie | Well, Venon de Rucy |
| Where are the toilets? | Où sont les toilettes? | Do you have a toilet? |
Transport
| In Russian | In French | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Where is…? | Où se trouve… ? | Is this true...? |
| Hotel | L'hotel | Lötel |
| Restaurant | Le restaurant | Le restaurant |
| Shop | Le magazine | Le store |
| Museum | Le musée | Le Musee |
| Street | La rue | La rue |
| Square | La place | La dance |
| Airport | L'aéroport | Lyaeropor |
| Railway station | La gare | A la garde |
| Bus station | La gare routiere | La gare routiere |
| Bus | Le bus | Le bus |
| Tram | Le tram | Le tram |
| Train | Le train | Le tran |
| Stop | L'arrêt | Lyare |
| Train | Le train | Le tran |
| Airplane | L'avion | Lavyon |
| Metro | Le metro | Le metro |
| Taxi | Le taxi | Le taxi |
| Automobile | La voiture | La voiture |
| Departure | Le départ | Le depar |
| Arrival | L'arrivee | Lyarive |
| Left | A gauche | A gosh |
| Right | A droite | A druat |
| Directly | Tout droit | Tu drua |
| Ticket | Le billet | Le Billet |
| In Russian | In French | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| How much does it cost? | Combien ça coûte? | Kombien sa kut? |
| I would like to buy/order... | Je voudrais acheter/commander… | Zhe vudre ashte / team… |
| You have…? | Avez-vous... ? | Ave wu? |
| Open | Ouvert | Sure |
| Closed | Ferme | farm |
| Do you accept credit cards? | Acceptez-vous les cartes de credit? | Accepte vou le carte do credit? |
| I'll take it | Je le prends | Jeu le pran |
| Breakfast | Le petit déjeuner | Le petit dejeunay |
| Dinner | Le dejeuner | Le dejeunay |
| Dinner | Le dîner | Le dine |
| The check, please | L'addition, s'il vous plaît | Ladisyon, sil vu plae |
| Bread | Du pain | du peng |
| Coffee | Du café | Du cafe |
| Tea | Du thé | Du Te |
| Wine | Du vin | Du Wen |
| Beer | De la bière | Do La Bière |
| Juice | Du jus | du jue |
| Water | De l'eau | Do le |
| Salt | Du sel | Du sel |
| Pepper | Du poivre | Du Poivre |
| Meat | De la viande | Do la Viand |
| Beef | Du boeuf | Du boeuf |
| Pork | Du porc | du port |
| Bird | De la volaille | Do la volay |
| Fish | Du poisson | Du poisson |
| Vegetables | Des legumes | De legum |
| Fruits | Des fruits | De fruey |
| Ice cream | Une glace | Yun Glas |
Let's start with the rules of reading. I just beg you: don’t try to learn them right away! Firstly, it won’t work - after all, there are a lot of them, and secondly, it’s not necessary. Everything will settle down over time. You can just look at this page periodically. The main thing is to read them carefully (maybe more than one sitting), look at the examples, try to do the exercises and check yourself - next to the exercises there is a sound - how the French pronounce the same words.
During the first six lessons, in a separate tab you will find a cheat sheet for all French reading rules, so you will always have all the material from this page in a compressed form at your fingertips. :)
The main thing you need to remember is that the reading rules There is. This means that, knowing the rules, you can always - almost always - read an unfamiliar word. This is why French does not require transcription (only in the case of fairly rare phonetic exceptions). The beginnings of the first five lessons are also devoted to reading rules - there you will find additional exercises to consolidate skills. Starting from the third lesson, you can download the sound and listen detailed explanations reading rules made by a professional phonetician.
Let's start learning :) Let's go!
In French, the stress ALWAYS falls on the last syllable... This is news to you, isn't it? ;-)
-s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p, -g (as well as their combinations) at the end of words are NOT READABLE.
Vowels
e, è, ê, é, ё under stress and in closed syllable read as "e": fourchette [buffet] - fork. "But there is a nuance"(c) to whom initial stage can be neglected. Reading a letter e in all its guises is discussed in detail on lesson iii from the very beginning - I must say, there is a lot there.
e V unstressed syllable reads approximately like the German "ö" - like the letter "e" in the word Möbius: menu [menu], regarder [rögarde]. In order to make this sound, you need to stretch your lips forward like a bow (as in the picture below) and at the same time pronounce the letter “e”.
In the middle of words in an open syllable, this letter is dropped completely during pronunciation (e is fluent). So, for example, the word carrefour (crossroads) is read as [kar "fur] (the unstressed "e" in the middle of the word is not pronounced). It would not be a mistake to read it [karefur], but when you speak quickly, it falls out, as it turns out to be a weak sound Épicerie (grocery) is read as [epis"ri]. Madeleine- [madeleine].
Madeleine metro station in Paris
And so - in so many words. But don’t be afraid - weak “e” will fall out on their own, because this is natural :)
This phenomenon also happens in our speech, we just don’t think about it. For example, the word “head”: when we pronounce it, the first vowel is so weak that it falls out, and we practically do not pronounce it and say [glava]. I’m not even talking about the word “eleventh”, which we pronounce as [one] (I discovered this in my son’s notebook; at first I was horrified: how could so many mistakes be made in one word, and then I realized that the child simply wrote down this word by ear - we really pronounce it that way :).
e at the end of words (see exceptions below) is not read (it is sometimes pronounced in songs and poems). If there are any icons above it, it is always readable, no matter where it stands. For example: régime [mode], rosé [rose] - rose wine.
In monosyllable words e at the end of words it is read - if it is not read there, a syllable cannot be formed at all. These are articles, prepositions, pronouns, demonstrative adjectives: le [le], de [de], je [zhe], me [мё], ce [сё].
Unreadable ending -s, forming plural in nouns (something familiar, right?) and adjectives, if it appears, the letter does not make -e at the end of the word readable: régime and régimes are read the same - [mode].
-er at the ends of words it is read as "e": conférenci er[entertainer] - speaker, ateli er[studio], dossi er[dossier], canotier, collier, croupier, portier and finally foyer [foyer]. You will find -er at the end of all regular verbs:parl er[parle] – talk, mang er[manzhe] - there is; -er is the standard ending for French regular verbs.
a- reads like “a”: valse [waltz].
i(including with icons) - reads like "and": vie [vi] - life (quickly remember "C" est la vie" :).
o– reads like “o”: locomotive [locomotive], compote[compote] - fruit puree.
u reads like the "yu" in the word "muesli". Example: cuvette is read [ditch] and means “ditch”, parachute [parachute] - means “parachute” :), the same happens with purée (puree), and c configuration(jam).
To make an open sound “u”, use the combination ou(this is familiar from English: you, group [group], router [router], tour [tour]). Souvenir [souvenir] - memory, fourchette [buffet] - fork, carrefour [carrefour] - crossroads; pronouns nous (we) read [well], vous (you and you) read [vu].
Consonants
Letter l read softly: étoile [etoile] - star, table [table] - table, banal [banal] - banal, canal [channel], carnaval [carnival].
g read like "g", but before e, i And y it is read as "zh". For example: général - read [general], régime [mode], agiotage [excitement]. Good example the word garage - read [garage] - first g before a reads firmly, and the second g before e- like "w".
Letter combination gn read as [н] - for example, in the name of a city Cognac[cognac] - Cognac, in the words champi gn ons [champignon] - mushrooms, champa gn e [champagne] - champagne, lor gn ette [lorgnette] - binoculars.
c pronounced as "k", mas ca rade [masquerade], already mentioned by us co mpote and cu vette. But before three vowels e, i And y it is read as "s". For example: ce rtificat read [certificate], vélo ci pède - [bicycle], moto cy cle - [motorcycle].
If you need to change this behavior, that is, make this letter read like [s] before other vowels, attach a tail to it at the bottom: Ç And ç . Ça is read as [sa]; garçon [garson] - boy, maçon (mason), façon (style), façade (facade). The famous French greeting Comment ça va [coma~ sa va] (or more often just ça va) means “how are you”, and literally “how is it going”. In films you can see - they say hello like that. One asks: “Ça va?”, the other answers: “Ça va, Ça va!”.
At the ends of words c is rare. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule about when to read it and when not to. This is simply remembered for each word - fortunately there are few of them: for example, blanc [bl "an] - white, estomac [estoma] - stomach and tobacco[taba] is not readable, but cognac and avec are readable.
h NEVER read. It's as if she doesn't exist. Except for the combination "ch". Sometimes this letter acts as a separator - if it occurs inside a word between vowels, then this indicates their separate reading: Sahara [sa "ara], cahier [ka "ye]. In any case, it itself is not readable. For this reason, by the way, the name of one of the most famous cognac houses Hennessy correctly pronounced (surprise!) as [ansi]: “h” is not readable, “e” is fluent, double ss is used to silence s and as double [s] is not readable (see below for the rule for reading the letter s); other pronunciations are categorically incorrect. I bet you didn't know that! :) Combination ch gives the sound [w]. For example, chance [chance] - luck, luck, chantage [blackmail], cliché [cliché], cache-nez [muffler] - scarf (literally: hides the nose);
ph read as "f": photo. th read as "t": théâtre [theater], thé [those] - tea.
p reads like a Russian "p": portrait [portrae]. In the middle of the word, the letter p before the t is not readable: sculpture [sculpture].
j- reads like a Russian "zh": bonjour [bonjour] - hello, jalousie [blinds] - envy, jealousy and blinds, sujet [plot] - plot.
s reads like Russian “s”: geste [gesture], régisseur [director], chaussée [highway]; between two vowels s is voiced and reads like “z”: fuselage [fuselage], limousine [limousine] - very intuitive. If you need to make s unvoiced between vowels, it is doubled. Compare: poison [poison] - poison, and poisson [poisson] - fish; the same Hennessy - [ansi].
The rest of the consonants (how many of them are left? :) - n, m, p, t, x, z- read more or less obviously. Some minor features of reading x and t will be described separately - rather for the sake of order. Well and n And m in combination with vowels they give rise to a whole class of sounds, which will be described in a separate, most interesting section.
Here is a list of words given above as examples - before doing the exercise, it is better to listen to how the French pronounce these words.
menu, regarder, carrefour, régime, rosé, parler, cuvette, parachute, confiture, souvenir, fourchette, nous, vous, étoile, table, banal, canal, carnaval, général, valse, garage, cognac, champignons, champagne, certificate, chance, théâtre, thé, portrait, sculpture, bonjour, sujet, geste, chaussée.