You're bilingual in French if you know these 15 difficult words

Image illustration Elisabeth newsletter

🎁 GIFT - 1h40 free lessons (videos + worksheets)

Receive two free 100% courses. You'll get 2 videos and 2 worksheets to download.

👉 300 essential French words (1 hour)

👉 24 everyday expressions to know (40 minutes)

Leave your first name and email address below ⬇️ 

🔔 I'll send you more free content (you can unsubscribe at any time).

You're bilingual in French if you know these 15 difficult words

Transcript of the video

If you know the 15 words we're going to look at in this video, then French has no secrets for you, and you speak it fluently. Don't forget that at the end of this video, you can download the vocabulary sheet with all the words, explanations and examples. Just click on the link in the video description.

Take a stroll. The verb "to stroll". I like to stroll the streets of Paris and admire the architecture. Flâner in French means to wander aimlessly, to wander without a specific goal in mind. Feel free to count the number of words you know in the list we see here and tell me in the comments at the end of the video how many words you knew.

A change of scenery. My stay in Bali was a complete change of scenery. We use this word mainly when we're abroad, on vacation for example, and the environment, culture or food is totally different from home, totally different from what we're used to seeing or eating. I've told you that it's mainly used abroad, but you can also, for example, say that if you go to a restaurant in a foreign country, where the cuisine is different from what you're used to, and it makes your taste buds travel, you can say that it was a real change of scenery.

A wild boar. We were lucky enough to see an adorable marcassin during our walk in the forest. The marcassin is the child of the wild boar. We have the wild boar and his female, the goose, and their child, their little one, is called the marcassin.

Crapoter. This word comes from the colloquial register of the French language. It's used to describe someone who smokes a cigarette, but doesn't inhale the smoke into his lungs. He's just pretending to smoke. He sputters. Instead of inhaling the smoke, you immediately reject it. He craps cigarettes all day long without realizing the dangers to his health.

Sell. Again, it's a verb. Retailers have decided to sell off prices to attract customers during the sales. To sell off means to sell something for much less than it's worth. For example, if you're in a hurry to sell your house, you can sell it. This means lowering the price of the house considerably.

The reunion. Les retrouvailles. This word is always plural in French. It's used to describe a moment when you haven't seen someone for a long time and you finally get to see them again. The reunion with my childhood friends, whom I hadn't seen for 20 years, was full of emotion.

Chilly men and chilly womenis an adjective. Someone who's cold is someone who's cold all the time. Even if it's not necessarily cold outside, if no one else is cold, that person will often feel cold. For example, if everyone else is wearing a T-shirt and I'm wearing a sweater, I can say... I'm chilly. I get cold very quickly. My grandmother is cold, she always wears a sweater, even in summer.

Shared custody. Shared custody. This word is often used to describe divorced parents, or couples who have separated and are sharing custody of their children. For example, their children spend one week with their father and one week with their mother. This is called shared custody. The parents have opted for shared custody. The children spend one week with their mother and one week with their father.

A nerd. A nerd. This word is colloquial. It's slang, but old slang. It's generally used to make fun of someone who wears glasses. It's a pejorative word, it's not very positive. There's only one boy in my class who wears glasses. Everyone calls him the nerd. That's really not very nice, so don't call anyone binoculars. If you watch movies with kids that take place at school, you might hear that word "binocular".

An intermission. It's a synonym for pause, used for cultural events, at the theater, at the cinema sometimes, at a concert, at a show. It's the break in the middle of a film or performance. During the intermission, we had a chat and a drink before the play resumed.

Deliberately. This word is an adverb meaning intentionally, voluntarily. You did something and you were aware of what you were doing. Peter consciously chose not to take part in the meeting, because he knew it would be boring.

Funny. It's an adjective, in very strong language, that means "funny". A comical situation is one that's fun and funny. The situation was so funny that we burst out laughing.

A poppy. The poppy is a red flower usually found in fields. Fields of poppies offer a magnificent display of red flowers.

An impediment. If you can't make it, it means you can't do something you'd planned to do, or you can't get to a place when you had an appointment, for example. Unfortunately, I can't come to the party tonight. Something came up. My daughter is ill. Something compels you, prevents you from doing something or going somewhere. You have an impediment.

And finally, the last one, this one you may know, but it's true that the word for this fruit in French is a long way from the words in English, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.

It's a watermelon. Watermelon is my favorite fruit. I love eating it in summer, it's very refreshing. Eating a slice of watermelon in summer is very refreshing.

We've finished looking at our 15 vocabulary words. Let me know in the comments how many words you knew. If you liked this video, put a "like".

And if you're not yet a subscriber, subscribe to the channel and activate the bell so you don't miss any of my videos. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel. Don't forget that you can also download the vocabulary sheet for this lesson to review this vocabulary in context, because I give you examples for each word. See you soon for another video.

Transform your understanding of French into 15 minutes a day

👉 The best way to feel at ease in your conversations and pass a milestone in French.

🚀 50 everyday dialogues to boost your understanding of French

✅ Understand the French, even when they're talking fast.

Enrich your vocabulary with words and expressions used in real-life situations.

Speak French with confidence in all situations.

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email

Free resources that might interest you

Definition of "beauf" in French
Slang
Mathieu

"Beauf" - Definition, French pronunciation

📖 Definition of the word "in-law" The word "in-law" has two meanings. It refers to someone's brother-in-law in a very colloquial language (c'est mon beauf = that's my brother-in-law), and it also refers to someone who is not very distinguished, who

Videos that might interest you

Image illustration Elisabeth newsletter

🎁 30% discount on my courses

Subscribe to my newsletter and receive 30% discount on my courses. 

Leave your first name and email address below ⬇️

fr_FRFrançais
Scroll to Top