18 French false friends English speakers should know

English and French have been borrowing from each other for nearly a thousand years. After the Norman Conquest, French words flooded into English, which is why you can read a French menu or a news headline and recognise half the vocabulary before you've opened a textbook.

But a thousand years is a long time, and words drift. Many French words that look like English ones have wandered off in a different direction. These faux amis are behind some of the most common mistakes English speakers make when they learn French. Here are 18 worth learning now, before they catch you out.

Words about time

• Actuellement means currently or at the moment. Il travaille actuellement à Lyon. (He's currently working in Lyon.) For "actually", say en fait or en réalité.
• Éventuellement means possibly or if need be. On pourrait éventuellement partir plus tôt. (We could possibly leave earlier.) For "eventually", use finalement or à la fin.
• Journée means day (the whole day, as a span of time). Bonne journée ! is "Have a nice day!" A journey is a voyage or a trajet.

Everyday things

• Librairie is a bookshop. A library is a bibliothèque.
• Coin means corner. Il y a une boulangerie au coin de la rue. A coin is a pièce (de monnaie).
• Monnaie means change (the coins you get back) or currency. Vous avez de la monnaie ? means "Do you have any change?" Money in general is argent.
• Chair means flesh. A chair is a chaise. (You'll rarely confuse them in context, but it's a fun one to know.)
• Raisin means grape. If you want the dried ones, ask for raisins secs.
• Location means rental. Une voiture de location is a hire car. A location (place) is an endroit or emplacement.
• Crayon is a pencil. A child's wax crayon is a crayon de cire or crayon gras.
• Lecture means reading. J'adore la lecture. (I love reading.) A university lecture is a cours (or cours magistral), and a public talk is a conférence.

Verbs that lead you astray

• Attendre means to wait (for). J'attends le bus. To attend an event is assister à.
• Assister à means to attend or to be present at. J'ai assisté à la réunion. To assist (help) is aider.
• Rester means to stay. Je reste à la maison ce soir. To rest is se reposer.
• Blesser means to injure or to hurt. Il s'est blessé au genou. (He hurt his knee.) To bless is bénir. Not a mistake you want to make at a wedding.
• Prétendre means to claim. Il prétend qu'il n'était pas là. (He claims he wasn't there.) To pretend is faire semblant.

Feelings and judgements

• Déception means disappointment. Quelle déception ! Deception (trickery) is tromperie.
• Sensible means sensitive. Elle est très sensible. A sensible person is raisonnable or sensé(e).

Two bonus warnings

These aren't strict false friends, but they cause enough awkward moments to deserve a mention:

• Excité(e) can mean agitated or, in some contexts, sexually aroused. To say you're excited about something, try j'ai hâte (I can't wait) or je suis ravi(e) (I'm delighted).
• Préservatif is a condom. A food preservative is a conservateur.

Why French false friends are so common

Many of these pairs come from the same Latin or Old French root and simply specialised differently. English library comes from Latin liber (book), just like French librairie, but French uses bibliothèque (from Greek) for the place you borrow books. English attend once had the sense of "waiting on" someone, which survives in "attendant", while French kept the waiting sense as the main one.

Knowing this helps in two ways. First, it explains why your instinct isn't completely wrong: the words are related. Second, it can help you remember: rester is about remaining where you are, which is staying, not resting.

How to keep them straight

1. Learn the pair, not the single word. Librairie (bookshop) / bibliothèque (library). Attendre (to wait) / assister à (to attend).
2. Collect example sentences. Bonne journée and j'attends le bus are phrases you'll hear every day, and they carry the right meaning with them.
3. Watch the gender too. French nouns have a gender, so learn la librairie, le coin, la monnaie with their articles from the start. It saves you double work later.
4. Read a little every day. You'll meet actuellement and éventuellement constantly in French news, and seeing them in context fixes the meaning faster than any list.

In Parlumi's French course, explanations are written for English speakers and false friends are flagged when they first appear, which is exactly when a warning is most useful.

Don't let this list put you off. For every faux ami there are dozens of vrais amis, from information to restaurant to possible, quietly helping you along. A little caution with the tricky ones, and you can enjoy the head start English gives you.