False Friends in a Penfriend Letter
A candidate is writing a 100-word letter to a French penfriend, Camille, about a recent school trip. The draft includes these sentences:
« Actuellement, je suis à Bangalore. Demain, j'assiste à un concert de musique carnatique. J'ai demandé une question à mon professeur. Finalement, le voyage était très bien. J'ai fait une photo du groupe. Je suis très excité par ce projet. »
The teacher has marked three expressions as « anglicismes ou faux amis » but has not said which. The rubric for Vocabulaire et usage awards marks for using at least four precise expressions from the lesson (for example, poser une question, prendre une photo, en ce moment, avoir hâte de) and penalises literal translations. The candidate has 15 minutes to revise and must keep the letter friendly and in the present tense where possible.
1. Which of the six expressions need correction? Give the idiomatic replacement and explain each problem. Identify one expression that is correct as written and say why.
Read the worked answer
Needs correction:
- «J'ai demandé une question» → «J'ai posé une question». French collocates poser with question; demander takes a thing or a favour (demander un renseignement), not une question.
- «J'ai fait une photo» → «J'ai pris une photo». The standard collocation is prendre une photo; faire une photo is a literal transfer from English.
- «Je suis très excité» → «Je suis très enthousiaste» or «J'ai hâte de…». In French, excité often carries a physical or sexual charge and sounds odd about a school project; enthousiaste is the safe choice.
Correct as written:
- «Actuellement, je suis à Bangalore» is correct if the meaning is 'currently/at the moment'. The false friend trap is English actually, which is en fait; here the candidate has used the French word correctly.
- «J'assiste à un concert» is also correct: assister à means 'to attend', not 'to assist'. The preposition à is essential.
- «Finalement» can mean 'in the end/finally' and is acceptable here; if the intended meaning is 'to conclude', «Pour finir» is clearer.
A strong answer corrects the genuine errors and defends at least one flagged item that is actually fine.
2. The candidate wants to add «J'ai hâte de vous revoir» but is writing to one friend. Correct the pronoun and explain the difference between «vous revoir» and «te revoir» here.
Read the worked answer
Correct form: «J'ai hâte de te revoir.»
- «te revoir» is the informal singular object pronoun, matching tu and the friendly register of a letter to Camille.
- «vous revoir» is either formal singular (vouvoiement: an adult, a teacher) or plural (several people). Using it to one friend creates a sudden shift to a distant register and can read as a deliberate coldness.
The verb avoir hâte de + infinitive is itself idiomatic and means 'to look forward to'. The candidate should also check the rest of the letter for consistent tu forms: tu es, tu viens, ton projet. Register consistency is marked, so one stray vous can cost more than the pronoun itself.
3. A classmate suggests replacing «J'ai pris une photo du groupe» with «J'ai photographié le groupe». Compare the two for register and meaning.
Read the worked answer
Both are correct, but they are not identical in tone.
- «J'ai pris une photo du groupe» is the everyday, conversational form. It fits a friendly letter and is the collocation the lesson expects.
- «J'ai photographié le groupe» is more compact and slightly more formal or technical; it is common in written reports and photography contexts.
The meaning is essentially the same: a photograph of the group was taken. The difference is register and frequency, not grammar. In a penfriend letter, prendre une photo is the safer and more natural choice; photographier would not be wrong but may sound a little stiff beside Salut Camille. The judgment being tested is that a synonym is not automatically an improvement - appropriateness to the situation matters.