{"id":11,"date":"2026-09-28T08:57:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fluenchy.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/28\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T08:57:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:57:45","slug":"actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fluenchy.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/28\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\/","title":{"rendered":"Actuellement doesn\u2019t mean actually: 12 faux amis"},"content":{"rendered":"

French and English share thousands of words, which is great news for learners. The bad news: some of them look identical but mean something completely different. They are called faux amis<\/em>, false friends. Here are twelve that catch almost every English speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
French word<\/th>\nReally means<\/th>\nNot\u2026<\/th>\nFor that, say<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
actuellement<\/td>\ncurrently<\/td>\nactually<\/td>\nen fait<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e9ventuellement<\/td>\npossibly<\/td>\neventually<\/td>\nfinalement<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
une librairie<\/td>\na bookshop<\/td>\na library<\/td>\nune biblioth\u00e8que<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sensible<\/td>\nsensitive<\/td>\nsensible<\/td>\nraisonnable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
un pr\u00e9servatif<\/td>\na condom<\/td>\na preservative<\/td>\nun conservateur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
assister \u00e0<\/td>\nto attend<\/td>\nto assist<\/td>\naider<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
attendre<\/td>\nto wait (for)<\/td>\nto attend<\/td>\nassister \u00e0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
blesser<\/td>\nto injure, to hurt<\/td>\nto bless<\/td>\nb\u00e9nir<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
une location<\/td>\na rental<\/td>\na location<\/td>\nun lieu, un emplacement<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la monnaie<\/td>\nchange (coins), currency<\/td>\nmoney<\/td>\nl\u2019argent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
rester<\/td>\nto stay<\/td>\nto rest<\/td>\nse reposer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
une d\u00e9ception<\/td>\na disappointment<\/td>\na deception<\/td>\nune tromperie<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The three that cause the most trouble<\/h2>\n

Actuellement<\/h3>\n

Actuellement, j\u2019habite \u00e0 Lyon<\/em> means \u201cI currently live in Lyon\u201d. If you want to say \u201cActually, I live in Lyon\u201d, say En fait, j\u2019habite \u00e0 Lyon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Pr\u00e9servatif<\/h3>\n

Asking whether a jam contains pr\u00e9servatifs<\/em> will get you some very strange looks. Food preservatives are des conservateurs<\/strong>: Il y a des conservateurs dans cette confiture ?<\/em><\/p>\n

Sensible<\/h3>\n

Il est tr\u00e8s sensible<\/em> means \u201che is very sensitive\u201d. A sensible person, someone with good judgement, is raisonnable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two that are easy to mix up<\/h2>\n

Attendre<\/em> and assister \u00e0<\/em> look like \u201cattend\u201d and \u201cassist\u201d, but they trade places: J\u2019attends le bus<\/em> (I\u2019m waiting for the bus), J\u2019ai assist\u00e9 \u00e0 la r\u00e9union<\/em> (I attended the meeting).<\/p>\n

A good habit<\/h2>\n

When a French word looks exactly like an English one, enjoy the shortcut, but check it once in a dictionary. Most of the time it\u2019s a real friend. Sometimes it\u2019s an actuellement<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Librairie, sensible, pr\u00e9servatif\u2026 the false friends that trip up English speakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"atk_mot":"actuellement","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faux-amis"],"yoast_head":"\nActuellement doesn\u2019t mean actually: 12 faux amis - Fluenchy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fluenchy.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/28\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Actuellement doesn\u2019t mean actually: 12 faux amis - Fluenchy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Librairie, sensible, pr\u00e9servatif\u2026 the false friends that trip up English speakers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fluenchy.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/28\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fluenchy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-28T08:57:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"martin_bcn_79\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"martin_bcn_79\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/28\\\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/28\\\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"martin_bcn_79\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c76efd892d1fd22a300adeec2e942f90\"},\"headline\":\"Actuellement doesn\u2019t mean actually: 12 faux amis\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-28T08:57:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/28\\\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Faux amis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/28\\\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fluenchy.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/28\\\/actuellement-doesnt-mean-actually-12-faux-amis\\\/\",\"name\":\"Actuellement doesn\u2019t mean actually: 12 faux amis - 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