French vocabulary - tricks for English speakers

by Geoffrey Barto
English as a springboard to French. The connection between English and French becomes pretty obvious when we look at a word like "rouge". In French, it means "red"; in English it's the stu you put on your cheeks to make them red. Few English speakers have much trouble learning the French word or "red" once they've made the connection. !onnecting French and English words that are spelled identically is usually easy "though beware the alse cognates#. $ut what do you do with a word like "chat"% &ou could spend all day trying to igure out why the "chat" was chasing the mouse. $ut i you knew that a lot o words start with "ch" in French when they start with "c" in English, you could try changing the "ch" to "c" in order to get "cat". 'uch tricks are not oolproo , o course, but when they work, they give you an easy way o associating a word in French with a word you already know in English. This not only helps you igure out words giving you trouble; it gives you an association o the sort that will make learning French vocabulary easier. In the long run, o course, serious students o French will simply think o a cat when they see the word "chat" ( there will be no conversion involved. $ut on the way to having the word down pat, it's a lot easier to think "chat... that's almost like cat" than it is to look it up. )nd having the association will make it enough easier to remember that the word will come automatically with ar less e ort. This page is intended to teach English speaking students o French how to pu**le out French words that are giving them trouble and build strong associations or remembering them later. +emember, the tricks aren't oolproo , so con irm your hunch before you hand in your French homework. $ut i your hunch was right, you'll have a stronger association with the word the ne,t time you meet it and a better way o remembering it the ne,t time you meet it. ) inal note or teachers "and students# ever ear ul o doing things the easy way. These aren't really tricks. These tips represent a simpli ied, practical application or what historical linguistics has taught us about the interrelation o French and English at di erent points in history. -ur irst tip ( about the circum le, ( works because o the way medieval monks copied manuscripts to stay true to .atin while accurately representing the language o the common people. The monks put in a circum le, where the emerging French language le t out a letter that had been there in .atin or early French. 'ince English got a lot o words rom .atin or -ld French, restoring the "s" gives you the word the way it was when English took it on. Enough o theory though. -n to the tricks/

"0ote that in the e,amples, "v" represents an unspeci ied vowel.# The circumflex ( ! "/ 1ut an "s" a ter the letter with a circum le,. h2pital 3 ho'pital, p4t5 3 pa'ty -#E$T becomes -%&/ rapide6E0T 3 rapid.&, atale6E0T 3 atal.& -('((")$T becomes -'$G (-'(()$T may become -'(*'$G" / aid)0T "helping# 3 aidI07, regard)0T "watching# 3 regardI07, inI'')0T 3 inI'8I07 +* becomes + at the beginning of a ,ord/ !8at 3 !at, !8apeau 3 !ap - becomes ( at the beginning of a ,ord/ 9cole 3 'chool, 9tudiant 3 'tudent The . s and the % s/ :hen you have a vowel or vowels ollowed by "u", the "u" "and sometimes, some o the preceding vowels# becomes "l".

. becomes % / vea; 3 vea., pea; "skin# 3 pea. v/v0. becomes v/%/ !84tea; 3 !a'te. "the old spelling o castle# v.1 becomes v%(/ nationa;< 3 nationa."'#, !84tea;< 3 !a'te.'

0ote that the interplay between ; and . also e,plains why the handsome suitor is a bea;, his lovely lady is a be..e, and the two o them are possessed o bea;ty ""beaut5" in French#. -E2 and -'2 and other endings drop giving an English ,ord/ regardE+ 3 regard, =uittE+ 3 to =uit "to leave#, partir 3 part -'2 and related endings become -'(*/ ternI+ 3 tarnI'8, inI+ 3 inI'8, ravI+ 3 ravI'8 -'2 and related endings change to -E to give a French ad>ective. ?ecode the ad>ective/ brunI+ becomes brunE "brown# so brunI+ means "to brown" or "to turn brown". rougI+ becomes rougE "red# so rougI+ means "to turn red" or "blush".

-F'E2 becomes -F&/ >ustiFIE+ 3 >ustiF& G3G. becomes 4/ 7arde(robe 3 :ardrobe, 7;erre 3 :ar -E.13E.(E 5 -6.(/ dangerE;<@E;'E 3 danger-;', libellE;<@E;'E 3 libel-;'. -E.23E.(E 5 -62/ actE;+ 3 act-+, vendE;+@vendE;'E "salesperson# 3 vend-+ -2'+E 5 -2E((/ act+I!E 3 act+E'', s5duct+I!E 3 seduct+E'' -v'T3-v'2E 5 v+T/ aIT 3 a!T, conduI+E "drive# 3 condu!T "0$/ par aIT 3 per e!T, s5duI+E 3 sedu!E# For more decoding tricks, see the second lesson. +eturn to The .anguage pages at gbarto.com.