Franglish Untranslatables: matinée

Showing posts with label matinée. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

#25 - Matin & Matinée, Jour & Journée, Soir & Soirée

Matin or matinée, jour or journée, soir or soirée? The first pair mean "morning," the second pair, "day," and the third pair, "evening." So why do the French have two words for each of these things?

About Franglish Untranslatables

French and English are like step-sisters. We're not from the same branch of the language family tree, it's true, but we've grown up together and a LOT of vocabulary as been begged, borrowed, or stolen both ways across the Channel in the hundreds of years that we've known each other. Much as we might hate to admit it, we have a lot in common.

However, since I've been living in France for the past year, I've come across a lot of words and concepts between French and English that, often surprisingly, don't have a real equivalent in the other language. I thought it'd be fun to explore these and share them with you by making a kind of dictionary of these untranslatable words!

I hope you find it helpful, informative, and entertaining. ^_^