What Did You Just Say?

20 May 2008 by French for a While

PATRICK AND JULIA were doing homework over the weekend and they happened to be studying homophones. Now, we have these in English (red v. read; straight v. strait, hoe v. ho!), but the French language takes homophones to the next level -- they are everywhere! Take this for example: in French the following words are all pronounced vair [like the English ‘fair’, but with a nice throaty ‘r’]

  • vert (green)
  • vers (towards)
  • une verre (glass)
  • une ver (worm)
  • une vers (verse)

That’s FIVE words that are pronounced exactly the same. But there are plenty of other examples. How about these words, all pronounced core [but, again, with the fancy ‘r’ sound]

  • la cour (courtyard)
  • le court (court, like tennis)
  • court (short)
  • le cours (course/class or grand courtyard)
  • courre (a conjugation of 'to run')

Or these -- again, pronounced the same:

  • vingt (twenty); le vin (wine); vain (vain); vint (a conjugation of 'to come')
  • c'est (it is, or it's); s'est (a reflexive version of it is); sais (1st/2nd person singular of 'to know'); sait (3rd person singular of 'to know'); ses (a possesive pronoun); ces (these/those), and, of course, the letter 'c'.
Kerri and I have both been having a hard time understanding the French language recently (think of it this way: we can ask someone a question, we just can’t understand them when they answer). It’s bad enough when you don’t know the idoms and figures of speech (a big part of any language), but it makes it harder when so many words sound the same.

Here's a fun link to even more French homophones (hope you caught the sarcasm there, cause I'm laying it on pretty thick).

[obscure reference guide: layng it on pretty thick]
CJS

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6 Comments From Readers:

    On 20 May, 2008 Dave Ashton said...

    I really enjoyed this post. I agree that French has more homonyms than English. The pronunciation can also be funny at times. Just keep a good supply of phlegm in your throat and whenever you need to end words pronounced like "vert", dig down deep to go get some of that phlegm. It works like a charm.

    On 21 May, 2008 Monique said...

    or what about when you begin adding in articles... this always confused me in my French lit classes as an undergrad, because most French literature(Moliere's especially) always centers around:

    la morte, l'amour, or l'humour

    Those all sound pretty dang similar to me!

    On 22 May, 2008 poppy fields said...

    We must have kids in the same grades because my girls are studying the same thing.

    On 23 May, 2008 Cassoulet Cafe said...

    Just tell a French person to say "Cheap Sheep cheese"
    Paybacks! :) lol!

    On 23 May, 2008 The Telfers In France said...

    Here I was trying to demonstrate to my husband the subtleties of pronunciation between "vingt" and "vin", and "vert" and "verre"!!

    And with so many homophones it is no wonder there is so much French poetry!!

    Try a French person on these english words:
    her
    here
    hair
    ear
    hear

    On 23 May, 2008 J Perry Stone said...

    Hey, Benjamin had to go as a "homophone" for his vocabulary parade.

    I had to make the costume. I ended up making him a knight on one side--complete with armor, crest and sword, and night on the other side--moons, stars and even a comet.

    I don't even want to think about homophones in French. Yikes.

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