The French word trouble should not give you any trouble, right? After all, it is a direct cognate of “trouble” in English… But don’t let this air of familiarity fool you. Trouble doesn’t always mean “trouble,” exactly. And that’s the trouble. So, let’s go to the trouble of exploring this sometimes troublesome word, trouble.
To determine whether or not we have a cognate is difficult. It all depends on what types of troubles we’re dealing with, and it is best to work on a case-by-case basis. The English cognate “trouble” works perfectly in some circumstances, when talking about le trouble du comportement (behavioral trouble), for example:
Pour l'ensemble de nos résidents qui correspondent au profil de trouble du comportement, Alzheimer, et cætera.
For all of our residents who fit the profile of behavioral trouble, Alzheimer's, et cetera.
Captions 21-22, JT La musicothérapie pour les aînés
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On the other hand, and despite the similar context, we no longer have a cognate in the example below. When dealing with troubles du comportement alimentaire, it's preferable to use the word “disorders” in English:
...voire même des troubles du comportement alimentaire majeurs, type, euh, anorexie.
...perhaps even major eating disorders like, um, anorexia.
Caption 18, Le Journal Publicité anti-calories
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Sometimes trouble is equivalent to “problem” in the general sense. For instance, we talk about troubles moteurs, sensoriels ou cognitifs (motor, sensory, or cognitive problems):
À l'âge de cinq ans, quarante pour cent de ces enfants ont des troubles moteurs, sensoriels ou cognitifs
At the age of five, forty percent of these children have motor, sensory, or cognitive problems
Caption 15, Le Journal Grands prématurés
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As for the term trouble used in the sense of disturbance, it's a cognate again! In times of political unrest, for example, we talk about périodes de trouble:
Aussi même pendant les périodes de trouble comme il y a neuf mois
Even during periods of trouble, such as nine months ago
Caption 25, Le Journal Les Français de Côte d'Ivoire
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And yet, if we combine trouble with an adjective, we may end up with an idiomatic expression like troubles violents (violent unrest):
S'ouvre alors une période de troubles violents
A period of violent unrest then begins
Caption 29, Le Monde Nouvelle-Calédonie : la dernière colonie française - Part 2
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People responsible for such troubles violents might be labeled as fauteurs de trouble (troublemakers):
La police avait recensé un millier de fauteurs de troubles.
The police had counted about a thousand troublemakers.
Caption 12, Le Journal Manifestations des lycéens - Part 2
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That could spell des ennuis sérieux (serious trouble) for these fauteurs de trouble. In this animated video, the zoo animals also ont des ennuis (are in trouble). Note the French expression is avoir des ennuis (literally, "to have trouble"):
On va toutes avoir des ennuis maintenant.
We're all going to be in trouble now.
Caption 44, Les zooriginaux The Zoo Book - Part 3
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When having trouble or difficulty conducting a task, you will need to use a different expression: avoir du mal à + infinitive (to have trouble doing something):
Le Père Noël a bien du mal à finir à temps son travail.
Santa Claus is having a lot of trouble finishing his work on time.
Caption 16, Les belles histoires de Pomme d'Api Les Chaussettes du Père Noël
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Not being able to cope might mean that vous n’êtes pas au bout de vos peines (your troubles are far from over, or literally, "you're not at the end of your troubles"):
Mais bon, j'étais pas au bout de mes peines.
But, well, my troubles were far from over.
Caption 38, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mes grands-parents sont infidèles - Part 7
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When in difficulty, it’s always good to call on someone pour vous sortir d’affaires (to get you out of trouble):
On a tous besoin d’aide pour se sortir d’affaires de temps en temps
We all need help from time to time to get out of trouble.
In any event, it always pays to se donner la peine (to take the trouble) to do things right in the first place, even if it takes effort. In this example, though, se donner la peine is just a very formal way of inviting someone to take a seat (literally, "to take the trouble to sit down"):
Si madame veut bien se donner la peine.
If Madam cares to take the trouble [to go sit down].
Caption 53, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mon fils est amoureux de ma copine - Part 1
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In contrast, here is a more clearcut example where “trouble” in English is synonymous with la peine in French. Barbara wants to reward her mother for her hard work on the plumbing repair:
Pour la peine, je t'invite au restaurant.
For the trouble, I'm taking you out to the restaurant.
Caption 42, Mère & Fille C'est le plombier!
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Finally, the word trouble can also be an adjective meaning “unclear.” Such difficulty could be caused by bad eyesight, for example, as in voir trouble, which doesn’t mean “to see trouble," but “to be unable to see clearly.” Trouble is also the first-person singular indicative of the verb troubler (to trouble):
Je vois trouble et cela me trouble.
I can’t see clearly and it troubles me.
In conclusion, thank you for vous être donné/donnée la peine (taking the trouble) to read this lesson. As you may have noticed, the word trouble can be used in a variety of ways that are not always consistent. So let Yabla help you vous sortir d’affaires (get you out of trouble) with our wide range of videos featuring the word.
Sometimes, the meaning of a French word is easy to guess when it looks similar to an English word. However, for every cognate, there are just as many false cognates. And yet, il en reste encore beaucoup (there are still many more) that are worthy of our attention. In this lesson, we will look at the word rester, which—you guessed it—is un faux ami (a false cognate) and doesn’t mean “to rest." So what does it really mean?
The basic meaning of rester is “to stay/to remain.” In the example below, it means “to stay put”:
Bouge pas de là, Léon. Tu restes ici!
Do not move from here, Leon. You stay here!
Caption 5, Les zooriginaux - 3 Qui suis-je?
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A more forceful variation of Tu restes ici! is the idiomatic expression Reste tranquille! (Keep still!), which is often used to control restless children:
Restez tranquilles, les enfants!
Keep still, children!
You can also use rester (to stay) for all sorts of situations, as in rester en contact (to stay in contact):
Par ailleurs, Manon est restée en contact avec Émilie.
Moreover, Manon stayed in contact with Émilie.
Caption 30, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Nos bébés ont été échangés...
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Rester also means "to remain,” as we mentioned earlier. The tour guide at Joan of Arc's house uses rester to tell us where Joan’s family lived for a long time:
Mais le principal de sa famille est effectivement restée en Lorraine.
But the majority of her family indeed remained in Lorraine.
Caption 56, Lionel - La maison de Jeanne d'Arc
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It’s important to note that rester is one of the few verbs that require the auxiliary être (to be) in the passé composé. Patricia discusses this in a video on the subject:
Et comme tu es resté(e) concentré(e) depuis toutes ces leçons
And since you've remained focused for all these lessons
Caption 5, Le saviez-vous? - Exception dans les verbes du 1er groupe au passé composé
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Rester is also used in the present tense, of course. For example, we have the expression ça reste (that remains). In the example below, ça (that) becomes redundant in English and is therefore omitted:
Ouais, très bonne question.
Yeah, very good question.
Donc, le plat du jour c'est sûr, ça reste un produit d'appel.
So the daily special certainly remains a promotional product.
Caption 17, Alsace 20 - Grain de Sel: Au Caveau de l'étable à Niederbronn-les-Bains
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Ça reste sometimes means “it's/these are still”:
Rappeler effectivement aux gens que ça reste des produits de confiserie, c'est pas une mauvaise mesure
Indeed, to remind people that these are still sweets, it's not a bad idea
Caption 14, Le Journal - Publicité anti-calories
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On a l'impression d'être secoué, mais ça reste très agréable.
You have the feeling of being shaken, but it's still very pleasant.
Caption 16, À la plage avec Lionel - La plage
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Il reste encore (there is still) the expression il reste (there remains), which we will discuss in a future lesson. Merci d’être resté(e) concentré(e) pendant toute cette leçon (thank you for staying focused throughout this lesson)!
In her video on the famous French writer Victor Hugo, Patricia recites an excerpt from Hugo's poem "À l'Arc de Triomphe," a tribute to the city of Paris. The title of the poem means "At the Arc de Triomphe," but in another context à l'Arc de Triomphe could also mean "to the Arc de Triomphe." "At" and "to" are the most common meanings of the preposition à. But as we see several times in this video, à can also mean "from" when paired with certain verbs:
Cette science universelle
This universal science
Qu'il emprunte à tous les humains;
That it borrows from all humans;
Captions 46-47, Le saviez-vous? - La poésie de Victor Hugo
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Puis il rejette aux peuples blêmes
Then it rejects from pallid people
Leurs sceptres et leurs diadèmes,
Their scepters and their diadems,
Captions 48-49, Le saviez-vous? - La poésie de Victor Hugo
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À tout peuple, heureux, brave ou sage,
From all people, happy, brave, or wise,
Il prend ses lois, ses dieux, ses mœurs.
It takes their laws, their gods, their customs.
Captions 42-43, Le saviez-vous? - La poésie de Victor Hugo
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The verbal phrases here are emprunter quelque chose à quelqu'un (to borrow something from someone), prendre quelque chose à quelqu'un (to take something from someone), and rejeter quelque chose à quelqu'un (to reject something from someone). Though de is the more general equivalent of "from," you can't use de in verbal phrases like these–you have to use à.
The indirect object of these phrases (that is, what follows the à) is usually a person: "to x something from (à) someone."
Cacher (to hide) and voler (to steal) are two other common verbs that take à instead of de:
Je vais cacher les cadeaux de Noël à mes enfants.
I'm going to hide the Christmas gifts from my kids.
Marc a volé de l'argent à Sophie.
Marc stole money from Sophie.
Another very common verb with à is acheter (to buy). Be careful with this one though: acheter quelque chose à quelqu'un can either mean "to buy something from somebody" or "to buy something for somebody." You'll need to figure out the meaning from context:
Marc a acheté une bague au bijoutier.
Marc bought a ring from the jeweler.
Marc a acheté une bague à Sophie.
Marc bought a ring for Sophie.
But with other verbs—such as permettre à (to enable/allow), rappeler à (to remind), and coûter à (to cost)—the à doesn't translate to anything at all:
De permettre à quarante mille femmes et jeunes filles au Sénégal,
To enable forty thousand women and young girls in Senegal,
euh... d'être alphabétisées.
uh... to become literate.
Captions 3-4, Alphabétisation - des filles au Sénégal
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Rappeler effectivement aux gens que ça reste des produits de confiserie, c'est pas une mauvaise mesure.
Indeed, to remind people that these are still sweets, it's not a bad idea.
Caption 14, Le Journal - Publicité anti-calories
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Et la différence, cela ne coûte quasiment rien à Martine.
And the difference costs Martine practically nothing.
Caption 57, Alsace 20 - Alsace: les plus belles déco de Noël!
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There are a good number of other verb phrases with à where the à means "from" or just isn't translated. Here are some of the more common ones:
arracher à (to remove from)
commander à (to order)
défendre à (to forbid/ban)
demander à (to ask)
enlever à (to take away from)
épargner à (to spare)
éviter à (to save/spare)
garantir à (to guarantee)
pardonner à (to forgive)
refuser à (to refuse/deny)
souhaiter à (to wish)
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