In his new travel video on the Parisian suburb of Saint-Mammès, Daniel Benchimol uses the word face quite frequently when giving directions on getting around town:
Face aux péniches de Saint-Mammès,
Facing the barges of Saint-Mammès,
arrêtez-vous quelques instants face au numéro quarante-et-un.
stop for a few moments in front of number forty-one.
Captions 8-9, Voyage en France - Saint-Mammès
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Face à Saint-Mammès,
Opposite Saint-Mammès,
nous sommes à Saint Moret-sur-Loing maintenant.
we are in Saint Moret-sur-Loing now.
Caption 40, Voyage en France - Saint-Mammès
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Face à is a useful expression meaning "facing," "in front of," or "opposite." You can even put the verb faire in front of it to make the verbal expression for "to face," in the sense of both "to be in front of" and "to cope with":
La NASA a dû faire face à une avalanche
NASA had to face an avalanche
de données et de preuves embarrassantes.
of data and embarrassing evidence.
Caption 7, La Conspiration d'Orion - Conspiration 3/4
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The word face is used in a number of other directional expressions, such as en face (across, opposite), as the lead singer of Babylon Circus uses it when lamenting the seating arrangement of him and his love interest:
Je suis assis en face, et pas à tes côtés
I'm sitting across from you and not by your side
Caption 23, Babylon Circus - J'aurais bien voulu
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They might not be sitting close, but at least they’re maintaining eye contact by sitting face à face (face-to-face)!
Unsurprisingly, the French face is related to the English "face," but it usually doesn’t refer to the front part of your head. French actually has two words for that: la figure and le visage. (To see some incredible French faces, check out our interview with artist and master visage-painter Niko de La Faye.)
Sometimes face can in fact mean "face," mainly in a figurative sense:
Ça change pas la face du monde, mais qui sait?
That doesn't change the face of the world, but who knows?
Caption 26, Le Journal - Laurent Voulzy
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Il peut voir la face cachée des choses.
He is able to see the hidden face of things.
If you're particularly concerned about your reputation, you might make a lot of effort to sauver la face (save face) or worry that you might perdre la face (lose face).
By itself, la face generally just means "side" (synonymous with le côté). Chef Wodling Gwennaël uses face in this way when explaining his delicious recipe for fried scallops:
On va les saisir, euh, à peu près une minute sur chaque face.
We're going to sear them, uh, for about one minute on each side.
Caption 14, Les Irrésistibles - Recette: Saint-Jacques poêlées
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Face also applies to the side of a coin, namely, the "heads" side (that is, the side that usually features someone's face). So whenever you want to settle something in French with a coin toss, you can say:
Pile ou face?
Heads or tails?
Voyons les choses en face (let’s face it): the word face has many faces! In other "face"-related news, make sure to check out our Facebook page for all the latest information from Yabla.
Cet astronaute expérimenté a passé des heures à observer la Terre.
This experienced astronaut spent hours observing Earth.
Caption 11, Le Journal - La Grande Muraille vue de l'espace?
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If you have watched our video "The Great Wall Visible from Space?" you may have noticed that French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy is described as expérimenté (experienced). This adjective is formed by the past participle of the verb expérimenter (to experience). Adjectives derived from verbs are almost always placed after the noun, as we see here: astronaute expérimenté.
Native English speakers might be tempted to say that Jean-François is expériencé, but this word does not exist, nor does any such verb expériencer. Of course the noun expérience does mean "experience" and one could say, l'astronaute a de l'expérience, which would translate as "the astronaut is experienced." Note also that expérimenter can also mean "to experiment," as an English speaker might surmise.
Heading back into space, in Part 3 of our thriller La Conspiration d'Orion, we hear another type of verb-derived adjective:
La NASA a dû faire face à une avalanche
NASA had to face an avalanche
de données et de preuves embarrassantes.
of data and embarrassing evidence.
Caption 7, La Conspiration d'Orion - Conspiration 3/4
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The verb embarrasser means "to embarrass," just as an English speaker might guess, and from its present participle is formed the adjective embarrassant (embarrassing). In this case we are modifying preuves ("evidence," or more literally, "proofs"), which is feminine (so we add an e) and which is also plural (so we add an s), giving us the feminine plural form: embarrassantes.
As you continue to dive into authentic French with Yabla and other sources, keep your eyes open for more verb-derived adjectives. Verify that in most cases they are found after the noun they modify. You will want to keep this in mind when you set out to speak or write du français correct (correct French) yourself!
Have you had a look at the fascinating Le Journal piece about World War I we recently added, "Life in the Trenches"? Listening in, we hear:
Ces soldats ressemblent plus
These soldiers are more like
aux combattants du Premier Empire, des guerres napoléoniennes...
fighters of the First French Empire, of the Napoleonic Wars...
Captions 5-6, Le Journal - La vie dans les tranchées
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The adjective napoléonien (Napoleonic) is derived from the proper noun Napoléon, the famous Emperor of early 19th-century France. Guerre (war) is a feminine noun, so we must use the feminine version, napoléonienne, and guerres (wars) is plural, so it requires the feminine plural form, napoléoniennes. As is typical with adjectives derived from proper nouns, and like most adjectives, it is placed after the noun being modified.
Other examples are la théorie cartésienne (Cartesian theory) or la France chiraquienne (the France of Chirac / Chirac's France). Adjectives derived from proper names of places, such as regions, cities, and countries, behave similarly, as we already discussed in our lesson Adjectives of Color, Shape, and Origin.
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