La pâte, les pâtes, la patte. Le pâté, la pâtée. How can a slight variation in spelling make such a difference in meaning? Which one of these homophones has legs? Which one is of the edible kind? Which one is a spread and which one is pet food? Can you guess? So many questions that we are about to answer in this lesson.

Let's begin with a homophone of the edible kind, les pâtes. This is the French word for "pasta," and unlike its English translation, it's always in the plural. You can learn how to make some delicious pâtes alla putanesca (pasta alla putanesca) in this cooking video:

Le temps de faire chauffer l'eau des pâtes et de les faire cuire suffit à préparer la sauce.

The time to heat the pasta water and cook them is sufficient for preparing the sauce.

Captions 31-33, Whoogy's Une recette italienne iconique, rapide et pas chère - Part 1

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When you make pâtes singular, la pâte, you get the word for "dough," "pastry," and "batter." You will have to rely on context to guide you as the culinary term la pâte will have different translations in English depending on the type of mixture. For instance, the word pâte can mean “bread dough,” which gave birth to a popular expression, mettre la main à la pâte, back when people mostly kneaded bread by hand. It literally means “put your hand in the dough” or “get to work”:

Je suis prête à me salir les mains et à mettre la main à la pâte.

I'm ready to get my hands dirty and to put my hand in the dough [get to work].

Captions 4-5, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 17

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And now for a different kind of pâte, we have pâte à crêpe (crêpe batter). In her cooking video, Sophie explains that the consistency of pâte à crêpe is not as thick as pâte à pain (bread dough): 

Tu mélanges, tu mélanges et là t'en rajoutes jusqu'à ce que tu obtiennes une pâte qui soit assez épaisse, moins que la pâte à pain, mais assez épaisse pour faire un ruban

You mix, you mix, and then you add some until you obtain a batter that is quite thick, less than bread dough, but thick enough to make a ribbon

Captions 29-33, Sophie et Patrice Les crêpes

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Still in the kitchen, we have yet another type of pâte, “pastry." How do we know it’s pastry? Because we are making pâte à choux (choux pastry), as Asma explains in her cooking video: 

...en attendant de faire notre biscuit pâte à choux.

...while waiting to make our choux pastry sponge cake.

Caption 51, Asma Le roulé mangue, vanille et fruits de la passion - Part 1

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There's another type of pastry called pâte feuilletée (flaky pastry or puff pastry), which is what the delicious pain au chocolat is made of:

C'est constitué d'une pâte feuilletée avec à l'intérieur du chocolat.  

It's made of a puff pastry with chocolate inside.  

Captions 11-13, Leïa Le petit déjeuner

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Moving on to more savory flavors, how about une pâte (paste) to go on top of your pâte (dough)? Une pâte de tomate (tomato paste) is the perfect topping for une pâte de pizza (pizza dough), as Lionel demonstrates in his video:

Donc la garniture, on a commencé par tapisser la pâte de tomate.

So the topping, we started by covering it with tomato paste.

Captions 30-31, Claude et Lionel La pizza

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Note that une pâte can refer to any kind of paste including the non-edible kind. You can find more of its meanings here.

If we add an accent to the e in pâte, we get the masculine noun le pâté, as in pâté de foie gras (goose liver pâté). This is a French favorite during Christmas time:

Le pâté de foie gras est une spécialité gastronomique française.

Goose liver pâté is a French delicacy.

While un pâté de foie gras may be a delicacy, its feminine counterpart, la pâtée, is not for human consumption! This is the word for “pet food,” or “swill” for pigs. It usually comes in a mushy wet mix sold in cans at the supermarket. 

Le chat a mangé la pâtée du chien, et il n’est pas content !

The cat ate the dog’s food, and he is not happy! 

Speaking of animals, let's take a look at our final word, la patte, a feminine homophone of pâte but spelled with a double T and no accent. We are now talking about an animal part, the paw:

Piggeldy plongea sa patte avant droite dans l'eau.

Piggeldy dipped his right front paw into the water.

Caption 33, Piggeldy et Frédéric Le ciel

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Did you know that les pattes d’éléphant (literally, "elephant paws") were once a fashion item? These are known as "bell bottoms" in English, though the word can refer to any type of long pant:

Avec un beau jean pattes d'eph [d'éléphant], et tout, tu vois.

With nice elephant paw [bell bottom] jeans and everything, you see.

Caption 62, Elisa et Mashal Les fringues

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Now that you've familiarized yourself with the various meanings of the words pâte(s), pâté(e), and patte, you will be able to make safe choices at the supermarket and have a better grasp of French recipes. Thank you for reading!

In our previous lesson, we learned that Paris is divided into districts called arrondissements, numbered one to twenty. While arrondissements have definite boundaries, quartiers (neighborhoods/districts) all have names instead of numbers and can span over several arrondissements. Each quartier has its own distinctive character. Let's explore some of the most significant ones, starting from the first arrondissement onwards to discover le Louvre-Rivoli, Montmartre, le Marais, le Quartier Latin, and farther afield, Montmartre.

We will start with le quartier du Louvre-Rivoli, which stretches over the first three arrondissements of Paris and includes—you guessed it—the Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum), where Yabla guide Mathilde is standing:

Alors nous sommes donc au cœur du premier

So we are in the heart of the first

arrondissement de Paris,

arrondissement of Paris,

à deux pas du Louvre.

two steps away from the Louvre.

Captions 1-2, Mathilde - La Comédie-Française

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Still in the first arrondissement, Mathilde takes us to La Comédie-Française (French National Theater). Founded in 1680, it is the oldest state theater company in Paris that is still active today:

Et euh... plus précisément, là, je me tiens Place Colette,

And uh... more precisely, I am standing here in the Place Colette,

donc du nom de la très célèbre écrivain française

so named for the very famous French writer

du vingtième siècle,

from the twentieth century,

devant la Comédie-Française.

in front of the Comédie-Française.

Captions 5-7, Mathilde - La Comédie-Française

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In the second arrondissement and still in Louvre-Rivoli, we meet a local resident, Aldo, who shares some of the darkest secrets about his quartier (or his street, to be more precise). An infamous empoisonneuse (poisoner) lived just a few doors from his home. Thankfully, that was in the 17th century! Find out the fate of this infamous empoisonneuse in Aldo’s video:

Et au vingt-trois habitait, euh...

And at number twenty-three lived, uh...

une des empoisonneuses les plus fameuses de Paris.

one of the most famous poisoners of Paris.

Captions 9-10, Aldo - L'empoisonneuse du 2e

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Walking from the second arrondissement toward the third and fourth, you will find one of the oldest quartiers in Paris, Le Marais (literally, "The Swamp"), so named because it was originally a swamp that was later drained and developed. Over time, the once prosperous Le Marais became a poor and unsanitary district, which Swiss architect Le Corbusier set out to raze as part of his ambitious and controversial Plan Voisin (Neighbor Plan) in the 1960s. André Malraux, President de Gaulle's Minister of Culture, put a stop to this and saved the Marais from destruction in order to preserve its historic flavor:

Le quartier historique du Marais serait quant à lui, entièrement rasé

As for the historic district of the Marais, it would be entirely leveled

Caption 29, Le Plan Voisin - Le projet fou auquel Paris a échappé

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Today the Marais district is famous, among other things, for its Place des Vosges, a perfect square of 140 by 140 meters. Our trusty guide Daniel Benchimol tells us about its history:

La place des Vosges,

The Place des Vosges,

qui était autrefois l'ancienne place royale d'Henri Quatre...

which was once the former royal square of Henry the Fourth...

Caption 5, Voyage dans Paris - Le Marais - Place des Vosges

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Moving on to the fifth and sixth arrondissements on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) you will come across le Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter), called “Latin” because the students living there once used Latin as a study language. Dating from the Middle Ages, the Quartier Latin boasts one of the oldest universities in Paris, the Sorbonne, which is still active today. Sorbonne students like to wander in the nearby public garden, Jardin du Luxembourg:

Les étudiants de la Sorbonne et des autres universités avoisinantes

Students from the Sorbonne and the other neighboring universities

aiment se donner rendez-vous ici

like to get together here

Captions 11-12, Voyage dans Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg

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The Quartier Latin has another surprise in store: a Roman amphitheater right in the middle of Paris! Daniel Benchimol will take you to the city's one and only amphitheater, les Arènes de Lutèce (the Lutece Amphitheater):

Ce sont les seules arènes qui n'aient jamais existé

This is the only amphitheater that ever existed

dans l'histoire de la ville de Paris.

in the history of the city of Paris.

Caption 11, Voyage dans Paris - Quartier Latin

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Moving farther afield to the north of Paris, toward the 18th arrondissement, we arrive at Le Quartier de la Butte Montmartre (or "Montmartre" for short), on which sits the 19th-century Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart Basilica), which is quite recent by European standards. Find out what Amal and Caroline have to say about it in their video:

Montmartre est un haut lieu de culte.

Montmartre has been a hotspot of worship.

Le Sacré-Cœur fut érigé

The Sacré-Cœur [Sacred Heart] was erected

vers la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.

toward the end of the nineteenth century.

Captions 8-10, Amal et Caroline - Montmartre

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Walking a mile or so toward the 19th arrondissement, you will climb toward the Butte Bergeyre (une butte is a mound/knoll), one of the dozen or so hills of Paris. From there you will be able to see the Butte Montmartre as well as enjoy a magnificent view of the city, as shown in Daniel's video:

Cette butte Bergeyre est un endroit

This Butte Bergeyre is a location

qui permet d'avoir un panorama exceptionnel sur la capitale.

which allows you to enjoy an exceptional panorama of the capital.

Vous pouvez bien sûr découvrir

You will of course be able to discover

le Sacré-Cœur et la butte Montmartre

the Sacré-Coeur [Sacred Heart] and the Butte Montmartre

Captions 6-8, Voyage dans Paris - Butte Bergeyre

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Thank you for taking part in our discovery of a few of Paris's many quartiers. Feel free to explore more of them through our Paris-themed Yabla videos. Happy traveling!