Learning Words in French With The Power of Cognates

You already know more French words than you think you do

When it comes to learning to speak French you need a few things, grammar, a decent accent, but most importantly, you need words! In this post, I’ll be walking you through unlocking the French vocabulary you already have locked away. That’s right, you already know thousands of words in French because you know English! !

The secret to multiplying your vocabulary instantly lies within the power of something called “cognates”. Merriam-Webster defines cognates as such; “of a word or morpheme : related by derivation, borrowing, or descent”, this essentially means the words were “born together” or share a common origin, so they have similarities in both languages.

Understanding French-English Cognates

English is a Germanic language, meaning its closest blood relatives are other Germanic languages such as German and Norwegian. However, even though English is Germanic, 29% of its words are borrowed from French and another 29% are derived from Latin, the parent language of French!

Why? Because French was once the main language of the government and the upper echelons of English society (click here for the full story, it’s an interesting read). This dominance of French over English left an extraordinary influence on English. Now it is important to note, that although there are more French words than Germanic words in English, they are not always the most commonly used words. French words tend to be “fancier” than English words, you’ll encounter them heavily in formal settings.

Clear French Words

The following list shows clear changes between French and English words. By getting a feel for the patterns, you’ll be able to expand your French vocab without much effort. It is important to note that just because French and English words look the same, they don’t always sound the same.

Click the play button to hear the French word pronounced.

–tion (English) ↔ -tion (French)

• nation (English)
• nation (French)

• information (English)
• Information (French)

-ly (English) ↔ -ment (French)

• naturally (English)
• naturellement (French)

• generally (English)
• généralement (French)

-al (English) ↔ -al (French)

• original (English)
• original (French)

• musical (English)
• musical (French)

-ity (English) ↔ -ité (French)

• activity (English)
• activité (French)

• reality (English)
• réalité (French)

-ous (English) ↔ -eux (French)

• dangerous (English)
• dangereux (French)

• marvelous (English)
• merveilleux (French)

-ence (English) ↔ -ence (French)

• difference (English)
• différence (French)

• experience (English)
• expérience (French)

-ant (English) ↔ -ant (French)

• important (English)
• important (French)

• elegant (English)
• élégant (French)

-ary (English) ↔ -aire (French)

• necessary (English)
• nécessaire (French)

• revolutionary (English)
• révolutionnaire (French)

-ic (English) ↔ -ique (French)

• automatic (English)
• automatique (French)

• aeronautic (English)
• aéronautique (French)

-able (English) ↔ -able (French)

• comfortable (English)
• confortable (French)

• variable (English)
• variable (French)

-ent (English) ↔ -ent (French)

• different (English)
• différent (French)

• patient (English)
• patient (French)

-or/-er (English) ↔ -eur (French)

French commonly uses the feminine variant of a noun. You may see -ice or –euse instead of -eur when dealing with a feminine noun. We’ll cover that a bit later.

• actor (English)
• acteur (French)

• instructor (English)
• instructeur (French)

• abandoner (English)
• abandonneur (French)

Feminine Variants

The following pairs are feminine variants of the above words. French commonly employs a slightly different version of a word when the person is female. This is similar to the old-fashioned usage of -ess in English, such as in the following pairs: master-mistress, actor-actress.

• actor (English)
• actrice (French Feminine)

• instructor (English)
• instructrice (French Feminine)

Hard to Notice Changes

Up until now, most of the French words have been very clear and easy to understand, allowing for quick recognition. However, the following words are a bit less obvious, presenting more of a challenge. These words have changes in spelling that make them harder to grasp at first glance.

s- (English) ↔ -s dropping (French)

The s is often dropped, and a circumflex ^ may be added to the vowel before the historical s.

• hospital (English)
• hôpital (French)

• forest (English)
• forêt (French)

Occasionally, the vowel takes ‘ instead of ^. Especially historic e before s.

• school (English)
• école (French)

• screen (English)
• écran (French)

Vowel Changes

Occasionally, the French words will differ in their vowels. This seems to be most common with “e” and “a” but can happen with other vowels.

• farm (English)
• ferme (French)

• screen (English)
• écran (French)

Consonant Changes

Sometimes, the French words will also differ in their consonants. This is most common with the hard “c” or /k/ sound in English being pronounced like “sh” /ʃ/, and the /l/ sound being vocalized to /w/ or to a vowel sound in French.

• castle (English)
• château (French) here there are two changes. The /k/ sound is a /ʃ/ and the historical /l/ sound has become a vowel.

• candle (English)
• chandelle (French)

This can also happen with words beginning with “w” and “gu”.

• William (English)
• Guillaume (French)

• wicket (English) as in a cricket arch.
• guichet (French) as in a cricket arch.

Conclusion

I hope this guide helped clarify and demystify French words for you. You already know more words in French than you thought you did. Sometimes you just have to squint your eyes and look at them funny, but by harnessing the power of cognates and loan words, you can get to using French faster than you ever thought possible.