Now that we’ve explored the money-related verbs gagner (to earn) and dépenser (to spend) in an earlier lesson, it's time to discuss other useful terms such as économiser/faire des économies (to save). Even though these verbs are cognates with “economize/economy,” they have additional meanings that you may not be aware of.

Let’s start with the cognate économie, which has similar meanings to English but is much more versatile. For example, you are likely to come across the common phrase faire des économies (to save money):

Conséquence : le changement d'heure est réinstauré pour faire des économies.

As a consequence, daylight savings is reinstated to save money.

Captions 53-54, Le Monde Le changement d’heure ne sert pas à grand-chose, voici pourquoi

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By itself, faire des économies refers to saving money specifically, but you can also use it to talk about saving other things. Just use the structure faire des économies + de + noun, as in faire des économies de charbon (to economize or save up coal):

L'Allemagne, le Royaume-Uni et la France décident alors de faire des économies de charbon et de pétrole dissipés en éclairage inutile.

Germany, the United Kingdom, and France then decide to economize coal and oil squandered on unnecessary lighting.

Captions 31-33, Le Monde Le changement d’heure ne sert pas à grand-chose, voici pourquoi

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Alternatively, you can use the direct cognate économiser (to economize), which applies to any context just as in English:

Pourtant tout part d'une bonne intention : faire économiser de l'énergie.

Yet it all stems from a good intention: saving energy.

Captions 9-10, Le Monde Le changement d’heure ne sert pas à grand-chose, voici pourquoi

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In any case, économiser or faire des économies is the best way to accumulate des économies (savings):

Ils fuient le domicile familial avec pour seul bagage quelques vêtements et leurs maigres économies.

They flee the family home with, as their only luggage, a few clothes and their meager savings.

Captions 108-109, Le Jour où tout a basculé Nos enfants s'aiment - Part 4

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It is no surprise that this versatile noun, l’économie, is also used to refer to the very quality required to save money, frugality, a virtue that the famous fabulist La Fontaine exalts in his fable La Cigale et la fourmi (The Cicada and the Ant). He contrasts the behavior of the spendthrift cicada with its frugal counterpart, the ant:

tandis que la fourmi représente le travail, le mérite, la mesure et l'économie.

whereas the ant represents labor, merit, moderation, and frugality.

Captions 14-15, Le saviez-vous? La Cigale et la fourmi - Part 2

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L’économie (frugality) also involves making choices that are économiques (economical):

Cette machine n'est pas économique, je vous l'assure. Elle gaspille du charbon.

This machine is not economical, I assure you. It wastes coal.

Caption 15, Il était une fois: Les découvreurs 13. Stephenson - Part 2

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Économique also means “economic,” as in la crise économique (the economic crisis):

La crise économique nous guette, les licenciements aussi.

An economic crisis is in store for us, as well as layoffs.

Captions 36-37, Lionel L Le déconfinement

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Likewise, l’économie also refers to the economy of a country: 

En effet, l'économie s'est retrouvée à genoux pendant deux mois

Indeed, the economy has been brought to its knees for two months

Captions 38-39, Lionel L Le déconfinement

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But note that in French, l’économie also refers to the science of economics:

Euh, j'ai fait des études de... d'économie. 

Uh, I studied, uh... economics.

Caption 29, Niko de La Faye "Visages" - Part 2

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Finally, to save you from making this mistake, don’t use the cognate sauver (to save) to mean “economize." For example, you cannot say sauver de l’argent (except in Canadian French). Use the terms mentioned earlier instead.

But do use sauver (to save) in a rescue situation, as in sauver la vie (to save a life):

Puis vint le jour où le prince annonça qu'il était tombé amoureux, mais malheureusement, pas de la petite sirène mais de la jeune fille dont il croyait qu'elle lui avait sauvé la vie.

Then came the day when the prince announced that he had fallen in love, but unfortunately not with the little mermaid, but with the young girl whom he thought had saved his life.

Captions 29-31, Contes de fées La petite sirène - Part 2

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In conclusion, remember that économie is a very versatile noun with meanings ranging from "savings" to "economics," "economy," and even "frugality." And don’t forget that you can’t “save” money with sauver!

Voilà is a very common word in French, and depending on the context, it can take a number of different meanings, the most general of which is "there/here it is." In grammatical terms, voilà is categorized as a presentative, or a word that is used to introduce something. Voilà comes from the imperative phrase vois là (see there), which makes the presentative nature of the word even more apparent. At its most basic, voilà is used to present a specific object or person

Donc voilà mon super falafel, avec de l'aubergine grillée...

So here is my super falafel, with grilled eggplant...

Caption 9, Mon Lieu Préféré - Rue des Rosiers

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Ah! Ben tiens, voilà Socrate.

Oh! Well look, here comes Socrates.

Caption 9, Il était une fois: l’Homme - 6. Le siècle de Périclès

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In these two examples, we see how voilà can be used to direct our attention to both an object (Caroline's "super falafel") and a person (Socrates). But when voilà isn't literally presenting us with something, it is often used as a way of emphasizing a statement:

La poésie c'est comme l'amour:

Poetry is like love:

c'est le plus court chemin entre deux êtres. Voilà.

it's the shortest path between two people. There.

Caption 39, Marché de la Poésie - Des poètes en tout genre

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In a sense, you could say that voilà is "presenting" us here with the metaphor on poetry that precedes it. But on a slightly less articulate note, when voilà is used for emphasis, it often acts as a sort of filler word, used when someone wants to end one topic and move on to another:

Euh... voilà. Après, l'inspiration, elle...

Uh... there you are. Well, inspiration, it...

elle vient de plein de sources diverses et variées.

it comes from a lot of different and varied sources.

Caption 48, Niko de La Faye - "Visages"

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You can also use voilà to affirm another person's statement:

Voilà, vous pouvez même voir le petit bateau en photo, euh, ici.

That's right, you can even see the little boat in the photo, uh, here.

Caption 50, Arles - Le marché d'Arles

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Or you can use it to express a period of time:

Voilà près de sept ans que les professionnels du bois attendaient ça.

For nearly seven years, the lumber business has been waiting for this.

Caption 5, Le Journal - Firewood

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Because voilà can be used in so many different situations, it is often tricky to translate ("there," "here," "there you go," "there you have it," "that's it," "there you are," and so on). And since no English word can really capture voilà's breadth of meaning, sometimes it's best not to translate it at all. In fact, the difficulty of translating voilà might be why it's become an (often humorous) English exclamation as well.

Now let's take a look at voilà's sister word, voici (from vois ici, "see here"). Like voilà, voici is also a presentative, but whereas voilà can either mean "there it is" or "here it is," voici usually just means "here it is." And unlike voilà, voici isn't used for emphatic or filler purposes, but almost exclusively for introducing or presenting a specific person or thing:

Nous voici devant une des quatre Statues de la Liberté

Here we are in front of one of the four Statues of Liberty

que l'on peut trouver dans la ville de Paris.

that you can find in the city of Paris.

Captions 24-25, Voyage dans Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg

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You can get a better sense of the difference between voici and voilà when they are both used in the same sentence:

Voici ma maison et voilà celle de mon ami.

Here is my house and there is my friend's.

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As you can see, voilà is used to point out something at a distance, whereas voici indicates something close by. The difference between voici and voilà is similar to the difference between ceci (this) and cela (that). In fact, another way of translating the sentence above would be, "this is my house and that is my friend's."

You've probably heard voilà used in English before, but voici hasn't really managed to make the crossover. Besides the fact that voilà is often hard to translate (voici is much more straightforward), this could also be because voilà often acts as a standalone phrase (Voilà!), whereas voici generally doesn't. But don't underestimate a good voici when speaking French: if you want people to notice something that's right in front of them, it's the word to use!