Common mistakes
Concurrence, compétition or concours? Translate competition in French
Choose concurrence for market rivalry, compétition for a sporting event and concours for a judged or selective contest. Practise the patterns.
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In short
Use la concurrence for rivalry between businesses or providers, une compétition for a competitive event, especially in sport, and un concours for a judged contest or selective examination. Look at what participants actually do: seek customers, compete in an event, or submit to a selection process.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
- la concurrenceevery organised competitionmarket rivalry or the state of competing
La concurrence entre les fournisseurs peut faire baisser les prix.Competition between suppliers can bring prices down.
For an organised sporting event, une compétition is usually the useful choice.
- une compétitionautomatically a recruitment examinationa competitive event, especially in sport
Elle participe à une compétition de natation.She is taking part in a swimming competition.
For a competitive recruitment examination, say un concours de recrutement.
- un concoursonly a sporting competitiona judged contest or selective examination
Il prépare un concours de recrutement.He is preparing for a competitive recruitment examination.
For business rivalry, use la concurrence. For a contest, name the kind: un concours d’éloquence, for example.
| What happens | French label | Useful construction |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses seek the same customers | la concurrence | être en concurrence avec |
| One business rivals another | la concurrence | faire concurrence à |
| Athletes compete in a scheduled event | une compétition | participer à une compétition |
| Applicants sit a selective examination | un concours | passer un concours |
| A jury ranks speeches | un concours d’éloquence | remporter un concours |
être en concurrence avecto be in competition with
Focus: the rival relationship between providers
Notre entreprise est en concurrence avec deux grands groupes.
Our company is in competition with two large groups.
participer à une compétitionto take part in a competition
Focus: participation in a scheduled competitive event
Les nageuses participent à leur première compétition nationale.
The swimmers are taking part in their first national competition.
réussir un concoursto succeed in a competitive examination
Focus: the result of a selection process
Elle a réussi le concours et commence sa formation en septembre.
She passed the competitive examination and starts her training in September.
Passer un concours means taking the examination; réussir un concours tells you the successful outcome. A candidat may take part in a contest, while a concurrent is someone competing against others. These words overlap across contexts: compétition can describe rivalry more broadly, and concurrent can describe an athlete. The event’s usual name and the stated activity guide the choice.
- Je passe une concurrence pour devenir fonctionnaire.Je passe un concours pour devenir fonctionnaire.
The person is taking a selective recruitment examination, so passer un concours is the natural construction.
- Notre entreprise fait concours à deux grands groupes.Notre entreprise fait concurrence à deux grands groupes.
Business rivalry uses faire concurrence à. The object follows à.
- Elle a passé le concours, donc elle l’a forcément réussi.Elle a passé le concours ; nous attendons encore les résultats.
Passer states participation. Only réussir states a successful outcome.