As a French learner, there have been multiple instances where I have stumbled upon words in the English language and gone “Hey! I learned that in French class. It’s a French word.” This got me thinking about the two languages’ relationship: “Did the word come from the English or the French language?” “How do these two languages influence each other?” Linguists estimate that 45% of terms in both languages are similar, with up to 27% of their words sharing lexical similarities (similarity in both form and meaning). The two Indo-European languages belong to separate sub-groups; English belongs to the Lower Germanic, while French belongs to the Romance.
History of the French language
History reveals that today’s patterns of similarities are the result of centuries-long conquests, wars, mutual trading and communication.
In the Norman conquest of England in 1066, William The Conqueror invaded England and conquered the Saxons with his Norman army. He was England’s first Norman monarch to ascend to the throne. During his reign, Norman French became the official language used by the upper class, aristocrats, and as well as the government. Norman-French was the upper-class language for more than 300 years, while English remained the language of the masses and common people. As a result, the French language had a significant impact on the English language.
Similarities Between the French and English
Script
English and French share the same Latin script. Alphabetically, they have the same number of letters i.e., 26. However, the French language is replete with superscript characters (accents), depending on which the meaning can radically change. For example:
- Tâche – task vs Tache – a spot
- Maïs – corn vs Mais – but
- Marché – market vs Marche – walking, strolling
- Cote – rating vs Côte – a coast, a shore
- Ou – or vs Où – where
Vocabulary
Given the historical overview of the interaction between the two languages, it is needless to say that many of the French words found their way into the English vocabulary and vice-versa. There are more than 1,700 true cognates (vrais amis fr.) —words that are identical across the two languages. Examples: In English; Camouflage, Omelette, Sauce, Impasse, etc. In French; Éléphant, Situation, Opération, Télévision, etc. Loanwords are words adopted by a foreign language with little to no modification
Let’s look at some examples of loanwords in English and French.
French loan words in English :
- Déjà vu – a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
- RSVP – Répondez s’il vous plaît in French, it is literally translated as “Respond if you please”. This initialism is used in an invitation to request the confirmation of the guest’s presence.
- Faux pas – an embarrassing act or a blunder.
- À la mode – something that’s up to date in fashion
English loan words in French :
- Le dressing – a dressing room
- Le week-end – the weekend
- Le selfie – a selfie
- Le sandwich – a sandwich
Grammar
In both English and French, we can find auxiliary verbs, participles, active/passive voice, past/present/future tense, and so on. The syntactic principle is the same in both languages (the order or arrangement of words and phrases to form proper sentences). In sentence construction, they use the subject-predicate-object order. When it comes to the creation of more complicated sentences and varied tenses, however, there are many complexities.
Differences Between French and English
Faux amis (false cognates)
Literally translated as “false friends”, faux amis are aptly termed. They are words that sound the same or similar in both languages but have different meanings. As a French learner, one must beware of these words and be cautious of their usage. Here are some well-known faux amis:
| French | English |
| Assister – to attend something | Assist – to help |
| Formidable – great/terrific | Formidable – dreadful/fearsome |
| Amateur – someone who is passionate about something | Amateur – a beginner or non-professional |
| Envie – to wish or desire | Envy – a feeling of jealousy |
| Bras – an ar | Bras – a piece of women’s clothing worn under clothes |
Grammar
A major difference between both languages is the gender of nouns. The French language possesses gendered nouns (masculine/feminine) whereas nouns in the English language are not gendered. Only the pronouns are gendered in English. For example –
| French | English |
| La fenêtre (feminine) | Window |
| La voiture (feminine) | Car |
| Le table (masculine) | Table |
| Le livre (masculine) | Book |
In French, verbs are conjugated differently for each grammatical person while the conjugation is different only for the third person singular (he/she) in English. Example:
| French | English |
| Je parle | I speak |
| Tu parle | You speak |
| Il/Elle parle | He/she speaks |
| Nous parlons | We speak |
| Vous parlez | You (plural) speak |
| Ils/elles parlent | They speak |
Conclusion
It is clear that in the course of time and history, both languages have influenced each other significantly hence making it a tad easier for an English speaker to learn French. Knowing the nuances between English and French are key to providing high-quality, accurate, translation. With the right effort and commitment, one can excel in any language. So go ahead, overcome your inhibitions and put your English language skills to good use in learning French!
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How similar are French and English?
French and English are like distant cousins – they share a family tree but have taken very different paths! While French and English belong to different language families (Romance and Germanic, respectively), they share a significant amount of similarities due to historical and cultural exchanges.
- Many words in both languages have a common origin and often a similar meaning. For example: “hotel” in English is “hôtel” in French.
- Both languages have similar grammatical structures, such as using subjects, verbs, and objects in sentence construction. For example: “The dog eats the bone.” is “Le chien mange l’os.” in French. In both sentences, the subject (“the dog”) performs the action (“eats”) on the object (“the bone”). This is a common sentence structure in both languages!
2. What is the mix between French and English?
The mix between French and English, often referred to as Franglais or Frenglish, is a hybrid language that incorporates elements of both languages. It can involve:
- Loanwords: French words adopted into English, such as “déjà vu”, “rendezvous”…
- Code-switching: Alternating between French and English within the same sentence or conversation.
- Hybrid words: Words formed by combining elements from both languages, like “Francophone” or “Anglophile”.
3. What is the difference between English and French adjectives?
Adjectives in both English and French are used to describe nouns. However, there are some significant differences in how they are used.
Gender and Number Agreement
In French, the adjectives must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun they modify. For example: Une grande maison (a big house), des grandes maisons (big houses)
However, in English, the adjectives do not change form based on the gender or number of the noun. For example: A big house, Some big houses
Placement
While in English, the adjectives typically precede the noun. For example: A red car
That’s not the case in French, where the adjectives often follow the noun, especially for general descriptions (barring some exceptions). For example: Une voiture rouge.
