{"id":118184,"date":"2017-01-11T17:13:28","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T22:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/similarities-between-english-and-french\/"},"modified":"2025-01-27T05:43:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T10:43:21","slug":"similarities-between-english-and-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/similarities-between-english-and-french\/","title":{"rendered":"French and English Similarities (80+ Cognates Included)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major\u00a0upside for English speakers learning French is that there are a lot of similarities between the two languages. But there are lots of differences too\u2014like\u00a0a bunch of words that look\u00a0<\/em>similar but mean different things.<\/p>\n

Here are several French and English similarities and differences, including over 80 French-English cognates.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why So Many Similarities Exist Between English and French<\/h2>\n

French is the most common source of borrowed words in English and vice versa. While close geographical and cultural contact between France and England over many centuries led to the intermingling of French and English, historian Bill Bryson<\/a>\u00a0tells us that things stopped being nice and started getting\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>in the year 1066 AD, when\u00a0William the Conqueror<\/a> became King of England.<\/p>\n

During his rule, Norman French became the official language of government, the church and the upper classes in general in England. English, in turn, became the language of the masses. For about 300 years, this was the state of affairs, and thousands of French words made it into the English language. Most of these words are still in use today.<\/p>\n

Most of these words are still in use today, but they don’t always mean what we expect them to mean. The best way to master these is memorization and immersion\u2014exposing yourself to real French and figuring out how they’re used in real life. You can do this easily today with a program like FluentU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p> \r\n

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n \"FluentU\r\n

\r\n