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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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
Play Caption
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!
Play Caption
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.
If you’ve studied our recent lesson on French numbers, you should theoretically be able to count to a billion (compter jusqu’à un milliard) in French. But since no one has time to do that, let’s focus on some other, more practical uses of the verb compter.
Counting doesn’t always involve numbers. For example, if you’re relying on someone to do something, you’re counting on (compter sur) them, as this Parisian chef is counting on us to visit his restaurant:
À vous aussi de venir ici, on compte sur vous.
Up to you to come here too, we're counting on you.
Caption 42, Cap 24 - Découverte d'un restaurant parisien
Play Caption
You can also count on a future event to happen (or not happen). Bertrand Pierre is an extremely talented singer-songwriter, but for some reason he doesn’t expect to make it big. He expresses his pragmatism with the construction “compter + infinitive”:
Je compte pas devenir une, une star internationale,
I'm not expecting to become an, an international star,
c'est pas ça que je veux dire.
that's not what I mean.
Caption 25, Bertrand Pierre - Autre Chose
Play Caption
Sometimes compter refers not to counting numbers, but containing them. If the subject of the verb compter is an inanimate object, it’s most likely describing contents:
Après un peu de lecture,
After a bit of reading,
dans une bibliothèque qui compte quarante mille volumes...
in a library that contains forty thousand volumes...
Caption 39, Canal 32 - Mesnil-Saint-Loup : moines artisans
Play Caption
Quite a few expressions are based on the noun form of compter, compte, which can mean “count,” “total,” or “account.” If you’re a Yabla subscriber, for example, you have un compte (an account) with us. Un compte can also mean “account” in a more figurative sense, as in the expression prendre en compte (to take into account):
Tous ces éléments-là sont importants aussi à prendre en compte...
All those elements there are also important to take into account...
Caption 19, Le Journal - Grands prématurés
Play Caption
A very common expression with compte is se rendre compte, which means “to realize” or “become aware” (literally, “to give an account to oneself”). In the latest installment of our Il était une fois episode on Scottish explorer James Bruce, a shipmate reflects on the crew's recent discovery of Abyssinia:
Tu te rends compte, Luigi, nous repoussons les limites de l'inconnu.
You realize, Luigi, we're pushing the limits of the unknown.
Caption 1, Il était une fois - les Explorateurs - 15. Bruce et les sources du Nil
Play Caption
Don’t forget that se rendre compte is a reflexive expression, and its meaning changes completely when you remove the se: instead of giving an account to yourself, you’re giving an account to someone else, i.e., reporting to them:
On y va? Oui, mais d'abord, on rend compte à Oméga.
Shall we go? Yes, but first we report to Omega.
Captions 24-25, Il était une fois... L’Espace - 3. La planète verte
Play Caption
We’ll end with a compte expression that deals with endings: en fin de compte (literally, “at the end of the account”), which can be translated as “ultimately,” “at the end of the day,” or “when all is said and done”:
En fin de compte, un bateau qui est propulsé par
Ultimately, a boat that's propelled by
une motorisation cent pour cent électrique.
one hundred percent electric power.
Caption 5, Bateau sport 100% électrique - Le Nautique 196 E
Play Caption
Compte tenu de (taking into account) all of the different ways of using compter and compte, you might feel overwhelmed when trying to remember them all. But don’t worry if you can’t master them right away: c’est l’intention qui compte (it’s the thought that counts)!
To wrap up our series of lessons on adjectives, we want to show you a few examples of multiple adjectives qualifying the same noun.
Native speakers of a language know instinctively how to order multiple adjectives. For example, Anglophones know that we say a "big old black truck" rather than "black big old truck." The rules that govern this ordering process are somewhat cumbersome to explain, and are often a bit flexible. (It's not exactly "wrong" to say "black big old truck"; it just doesn't sound quite as good—don't you agree?)
We won't delve into too many nitty-gritty details governing multiple-adjective order today. We'll leave that to the linguistics PhDs. Since, to most of us, it's simply a matter of what sounds good, we thought we'd give you a sense of what sounds good in French by taking a look at some examples and offering you a few simple pieces of advice.
Let's start out where many lessons do: in a classroom. In French, the teacher at the front of the room will write on un grand tableau noir (a big blackboard)—ordered this way because we say: un "grand" tableau (a big board), and because we say: un tableau "noir" (a blackboard). (Adjectives like grand are explained in this lesson, and color adjectives are explained in this lesson.)
Ready for some more examples? Off we go to the land of fashion. Even if you aren’t a celebrity or your pockets aren’t lined with gold, you can still check out the Chanel collection in Le Journal's fashion show videos:
La fameuse petite robe noire.
The famous little black dress.
Caption 4, Le Journal - Défilé de mode
Play Caption
Notice how each adjective takes its usual place in this phrase. The adjective petite (which, like grand, is discussed here) comes before the noun robe. It turns out that fameuse is also an adjective that tends to come before the noun in French. And color, as we established in our blackboard example, comes after the noun. So, we place each adjective in its proper place and we get fameuse petite robe noire.
Of course, sometimes you'll see multiple adjectives on just one one side of a noun (either before or after). Take a look at the story of little Morgane, who was, at two pounds, a greatly premature baby who grew up to be a perfectly healthy and cheery child.
À quatre ans, Morgane est une enfant gaie et vive
At four years old, Morgane is a happy and playful child
sans aucun problème de santé.
without any health problems.
Caption 2, Le Journal - Grands prématurés
Play Caption
Here the two adjectives describe the same type of quality—the little girl's pleasant disposition—so the conjunction et (and) is appropriately positioned between them. And, of course, both adjectives come after the noun they qualify, as they would if they were used alone: We say une enfant gaie (happy) and we also say une enfant vive ("playful" or "vivacious").
Let's look at another example, this time love-related:
Comme deux jeunes mariés, nos destins sont liés
Like two newlyweds, our destinies are linked
Caption 5, Ina-Ich - Âme armée
Play Caption
Perhaps this is just common sense, but when you have a common expression in French that's made up of an adjective-noun combo, and is then modified by another adjective, keep that common expression together. In Ina-Ich's song lyrics above, we have the common adjective-noun combo jeunes mariés (newlyweds—literally "young marrieds"). And as newlyweds typically come in pairs, we see this expression quantified by the numerical adjective deux (two), which, because it is a number, appears in front of the noun phrase, as seen in this lesson.
Here's a final point to leave you with, and perhaps the most important thing to take away from our series of adjective lessons. As is wisely written in one of Pierre Larousse's famous language books:
C’est le goût et surtout l’oreille qui déterminent la place que doivent occuper les adjectifs!
"It’s taste and especially sound that determine the place that adjectives must occupy!"
Keep taking your daily dose of Yabla video vitamins and you'll get more and more of that native-speaker sense of how to season your phrases with multiple adjectives!
Spanish
German
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
