Mind Your Own Affaires!

By Marie-Claire Lander

Drop the e in affaire and you have the English word “affair,” right? Indeed, affaire is sometimes a direct cognate of "affair." But don't be fooled by the similarity. Une affaire can also be a false cognate that has many meanings that differ from the English, namely “case," "things," "incident," "story,” "business," and more.

Let's begin with the most obvious pitfall, the expression “to have an affair." In French this is NOT avoir une affaire but avoir une liaison, as Nelly points out in her video on faux amis (false cognates):

En [anglais] ça signifie avoir une liaison avec quelqu'un

In [English] this means to have an affair with someone

Caption 13, Français avec Nelly Les faux amis - Part 2
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Interestingly, the expression avoir affaire à (to deal with) does exist, but make sure you drop the indefinite article une. Avoir affaire à quelqu’un often implies having unpleasant dealings with someone, like the poor zoo animal in this video:

Si vous lui touchez une plume, vous aurez affaire à moi.

If you touch one of his feathers, you'll have to deal with me.

Captions 29-30, Les zooriginaux 6. Tiger Minor - Part 2
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How else can you use the word affaire in French? The plural form des affaires simply means “things,” as in “belongings,” or else “business,” as Nelly explains in her video:

Alors qu'en français, "les affaires" tout simplement, c'est tes objets, par exemple, ton téléphone, ton sac ou bien le business.

While in French, "les affaires" quite simply are your things, for example, your phone, your bag, or else "business."

Captions 16-18, Français avec Nelly Les faux amis - Part 2
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Indeed, faire des affaires means “to do business”:

Est-ce qu'il est plus facile de faire des affaires en France ou au Québec?

Is it easier to do business in France or in Quebec?

Caption 26, Le Québec parle aux Français - Part 7
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Speaking of doing business, faire une bonne affaire means “to get a bargain”:

On fait toujours de bonnes affaires au marché.

You always get great bargains at the market.

As for private business, if you want someone to keep out of your affaires, you can say:

Mêle-toi de tes affaires !

Mind your own business!

Affaire is a direct cognate of "affair" when it's used to mean "matter":

Chez les Marchal, le bac c'est une affaire de famille.

At the Marchals', the bac is a family affair/family matter.

Caption 23, Le Journal Le baccalauréat - Part 1
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Si l'on en croit les déclarations de Xavier Plot, cette affaire ne serait qu'un quiproquo.

If we are to believe Xavier Plot's statement, this affair/matter is supposedly just a misunderstanding.

Captions 25-26, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience: Détournement d'argent dans le couple ? - Part 4
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In fact, like "affair," affaire can refer to any event or sequence of events that have occurred. Daniel Benchimol mentions one of the most famous and controversial affaires in French political history, l'affaire Dreyfus (the Dreyfus affair):

"J'Accuse...!" est considéré comme le tournant de l'affaire Dreyfus.

"I Accuse...!" is considered the turning point of the Dreyfus affair.

Caption 45, Voyage en France Médan - Part 3
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Not every affaire is as dramatic as the Dreyfus affair. In this example, cette affaire (this affair) simply refers to a public matter that has previously been discussed:

Un mois plus tard, tous les protagonistes de cette affaire se retrouvent dans la salle d'audience.

One month later, all the protagonists of this affair meet again in the courtroom.

Captions 22-23, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience - Escroqué par une "marieuse" ? - Part 7
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If the affaire in question is a specifically legal matter, we usually call it “a case” in English:

Derrière chacune de ces affaires, des victimes

Behind each of these cases, victims

Caption 26, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience: Détournement d'argent dans le couple ? - Part 1
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When l’affaire does not refer to anything specific other than "what happened earlier," the word often does not have a direct translation, as in the expression lâcher l'affaire (to drop everything):

Ils ont dû lâcher l'affaire et ont évacué la zone en catastrophe.

They had to drop everything and evacuate the area in a panic.

Caption 9, La Conspiration d'Orion Conspiration 4/4
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Speaking of "what happened earlier," une affaire can also be "an incident":

Suite à cette affaire, Patricia a été rétrogradée et mutée en province.

Following this incident, Patricia was demoted and transferred to the provinces.

Captions 49-51, Le Jour où tout a basculé Ma collègue veut ma place - Part 8
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Or it can be “a story”:

C'est une affaire de diamants volés à Paris.

It's a story of diamonds stolen in Paris.

Caption 42, Extr@ Ep. 9 - Du boulot pour Sam et Nico! - Part 6
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Indeed, we could replace une affaire with une histoire in the sentence above:

C'est une histoire de diamants volés à Paris.

It's a story about diamonds stolen in Paris.

Finally, here is another interesting way to use affaire. When a company talks about its area of expertise, what it does best, you may come across the expression c’est notre affaire (it’s what we do best). Here is an example with an interesting interpretation of the phrase:

« Transport de fret, entreposage et distribution, solutions de chaîne logistique - c'est notre affaire».

“Freight transportation, warehousing and distribution, supply chain solutions - we cover it all.”

Here at Yabla, helping foreign-language learners c’est notre affaire (is our business, what we do best)!

Topics Vocabulary