Sorting game
Real French or franglais? Sort words you'll hear in France
Le parking, le footing, le pressing: sort sixteen words into everyday French, franglais that sounds English but means something else, and official French alternatives.
- B1
- 16 words to sort
- 3 boxes
- Tap to play
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
French borrows many English words, but often with a twist: un parking is a car park, le footing is jogging, un pressing is a dry cleaner's. These "fake English" words are French inventions. Official bodies also propose French alternatives, like courriel for email.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Tap a word, then the box it belongs in.
Why does French use English words?
French adopts English words that sound modern, then shapes them to its own grammar: they take an article and a gender (le parking, la start-up), and French pronunciation (le stress sounds like "stress" with a French r). The Commission d'enrichissement de la langue française proposes alternatives, but daily use usually decides: email and mail win over courriel in France.
- Je fais du jogging dans le parking du supermarché.Je fais un footing au parc.
Le footing is the usual word for a run; a parking is a car park.
- Je vais au dressing pour nettoyer ma veste.Je vais au pressing pour nettoyer ma veste.
Le dressing is a walk-in wardrobe.