How do you say child in french

How to Say Child in French

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Child in French is enfant

Example Sentences

Je suis la plus jeune enfant.

I'm the youngest in the family., I'm the youngest child. Source
Ma fille est encore une enfant.

My daughter is but a child. Source
Nous sommes prêts à tout pour envoyer notre enfant dans une bonne université.

We'll go to any length to send our child to a good university. Source
J'ai vu un homme avec un enfant.

I saw a man with a child. Source
Elle est simple comme un enfant.

She is as simple as a child. Source
Cet enfant s'est mis à pleurer à la vue du chien.

The child began to cry at the sight of the dog. Source
L'enfant, à tout âge, doit honneur et respect à ses parents.

A child should pay honor and respect to his parents at every age. Source
Je ne suis pas le seul avec un enfant.

I'm not the only one with a child. Source
L'enfant d'aujourd'hui est l'homme de demain en formation.

The child of today is the man of the future in the making. Source
Même un enfant peut le faire.

Even a child can do it. Source
Elle a acheté un jouet pour son enfant.

She bought a toy for her child. Source
Je suis enfant unique.

I am an only child. Source

More Examples of

Child in French

J'ai été au Canada quand j'étais jeune.

I went to Canada when I was a child. Source
Ce gosse veut un ami avec lequel jouer.

That child wants a friend to play with. Source

Looking for something a bit more visual? Check out our infographic on Child in French with example sentences and translations.

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Practice "Child" and thousands of other words and phrases in French on Clozemaster!

Age in French - A Complete Guide 👶🧓🏻

Expressing Age in French is tricky both grammatically and vocabulary wise: I’ll explain the differences between “grandir” and “vieillir”, the different life stages, the tricky French adjectives for old and young, how to ask someone’s age in French, and the difference between “an” and “année”.

How to say your age in French?

How To Say “How Old Are You” in French?

Asking A Woman Her Age in French – A Big Faux-Pas

How To Say “How Many + Age Notion” in French?

How To Say Year in French – An versus Année

How To Say Getting Older in French?

How To Say Old in French?

How to say Young in French?

30 French Words For Age Stages

How to say your age in French?

First of all, there is a big grammatical trap. In English, to talk about how old someone or something is, you use the construction: “to be + number”.

He is 5.
No need to say you’re counting years.

In French, we don’t use the verb to be (“être” in French). We use the construction “to have (so “avoir”) + number + whatever you are counting”

Il a cinq ans – He/it is five (years old)
Il a cinq jours – He/it is five days old.
Il a cinq semaines – He/it is five weeks old.
Il a cinq mois – He/it is five months old.

We always specify whatever it is that we are counting, even when it’s years.
You cannot say in French “il a cinq”. You would always say “il a cinq ans”.

To master French numbers, I suggest you study with my free French numbers audio lesson (with plenty of exercises). And for off-line studying, I suggest you take a look at my French number audiobook – study at home or on the go!

Mastering French Numbers

Master All Numbers From 0 To 999 999 999! The most in-depth audiobook about French numbers anywhere

(23 Reviews)

More Details & Audio Samples

How To Say “How Old Are You” in French?

To ask someone’s age, you would say:

Quel âge avez-vous ? How old are you, using vous.
Tu as quel âge ? How old are you, using tu and a street French colloquial question form.
Quel âge a-t-il ? How old is he (formal way of asking)
Elle a quel âge ? How old is she (casual street French way)

Asking A Woman Her Age in French – A Big Faux-Pas

Asking a woman her age is considered quite impolite in French, especially if you are a man. If you are curious and still want to know, be delicate about it: “est-ce que je peux me permettre de te demander ton âge ?” – this translates literally into “may I allow myself to ask for your age” but it would be the polite way to ask a woman her age in French.

How To Say “How Many + Age Notion” in French?

If you wanted to ask precisely how many week, months… someone or something was, you would say:

Combien de semaines a le bébé d’Anne ? How many weeks is Anne’s baby (watch out, remember to use “avoir”, not the verb to be in French: “être”)
Ce fromage a été affiné pendant combien de mois ? How many months was this cheese aged?

Learn more about question making with my downloadable French audio lesson (formal way, street way, complex interrogative expression such as “depuis combien de temps” (for how long) etc… asking question is more complex in French than you think, and will unlock your conversation skills).

How To Say Year in French – An versus Année

This is tricky for French students.

“Un an” (masculine, strong liaison with the N making it sound like “un Nan”) and “une année” both translate as “a year”. But they are not interchangeable.

Books will tell you “une année” is a year span, it’s about the duration. I don’t think it’s clear, so I’ll tell you something else, that works most of the time :-)

With a number (except one) use “an” for year.

Il a trois ans – he is three.
Tous les deux ans – every 2 years.
J’y suis allée il y a cinq ans – I went there 5 years ago.

“Année” is mostly used in expressions that you need to learn by heart

L’année dernière – last year
L’année prochaine – next year
Toute l’année – All year long ≠ tous les ans – each year
Les années quatre-vingts – the eighties
L’année scolaire – the school year
L’année d’avant / d’après – the year before / the following year

Memorize these expressions, and this won’t be a problem for you any longer.

How To Say Getting Older in French?

We use specific verbs to say to get older in French:

Les enfants grandissent (grandir) – to grow up. – children grow up.
Les adultes vieillissent (vieillir) – to grow old. – adults grow old.

Both can also “rajeunir” – to become/look younger.

How To Say Old in French?

The French adjective for ‘old’ is “vieux (m), vieille/s (f), or vieil”… which I’ll explain below.

Now, even the French adjective for old is problematic. It’s very irregular.

The French adjective “old” goes BEFORE the noun, when most French adjectives go after the noun.

Vieux + masculine noun, singular and plural (the x is silent)
un vieux chien, deux vieux chiens – an old dog, 2 old dogs
Vieille + feminine noun (add an S to make it plural)
une vieille chienne, deux vieilles chiennes – an old female dog, 2 old female dogs
Vieil + masculine noun starting with a vowel or a silent h = the mutant form!
un vieil immeuble – an old building
un vieil ordinateur – an old computer
Watch out! “Un vieil ami” means an old (time) friend. Say “un ami qui est vieux” if you want to say “a friend who is old”…
The pronunciation of “vieil” is the same as the feminine “vieille”.

Be careful that the noun “les vieux” to talk about old-people is pejorative in French. Use instead “les personnes âgées” or “les séniors”.

Instead of calling someone “old”, it may be more delicate to call them “not very young” = pas très jeune, or “of some age” = d’un certain âge.

Anne est une femme d’un certain âge. Elle n’est plus très jeune mais elle est restée très jeune d’esprit
Ann is a mature woman. She is no longer young, but she remained young at heart (notice we say “young in spirits”in French)

4 generations French family: my husband Olivier, our daughter Leyla, Olivier’s mom Cristine and grandmother Geneviève ❤️

How to say Young in French?

The French adjective for “young” is also irregular, since it too goes before the noun, but at least it has only one form:

Jeune + masculine or feminine noun. Add an S to make it plural.
Un jeune chien – a young dog
Trois jeunes chiennes – three young female dogs.

Here also, you’ll use into expressions. “Un jeune-homme” is a young man, so he is young for sure, but it’s also an old fashion greeting : “bonjour jeune-homme”…

Same goes for “une jeune-femme”.

30 French Words For Age Stages

La Naissance – birth

Un bébé – a baby – always masculine. We then talk about “un bébé fille” (girl) ou un bébé garçon (boy)”
Un nouveau-né – a newborn, masculine.
Il est né / elle est née – he/she was born

L’enfance – childhood

Un/une enfant – a child – mostly used in the masculine, but can be used in the feminine as well. No e at the end though.
Une fille – a girl
Un garçon – a boy
Grandir – to grow up and also to grow in size

L’adolescence – teenage years

Un adolescent, une adolescente – a teenager
Un jeune-homme – a young man
Une jeune-fille – a young woman
Un ado – a teen
Mûrir – to become more mature

L’âge Adulte – adulthood

Un / une adulte – an adult
Un homme – a man (strong liaison un Nomm)
Une femme – a woman (pronounced fam)
Vieillir – to grow old(er)

La Vieillesse – old age

Une personne âgée – an elderly person (une personne being feminine, this expression may refer to men but is feminine)
Un ancien, une ancienne – an elderly person, very old-fashioned.
Un vieux, une vieille – an old person – pejorative
Un sénior – a senior
Mourir – to die
La mort – death, t silent
Il est mort – he is dead / died (t silent)
Elle est morte – she is dead / died (t pronounced)

For more French death related vocabulary and how to express your sympathy in French, read my article.

Note, in France we talk about “le premier âge” for infancy, and then “le troisième âge” is for retired but physically active people, and we now talk about “le quatrième âge” for people who are old and ill. But we never talk about “le deuxième âge”…

Voilà, I hope this lesson on how to express age in French will be useful to you. You may also like my audio lessons on French numbers.

I post new articles every week, so make sure you subscribe to the French Today newsletter – or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Russian children abroad - Newspaper from ServiceAzur

How to preserve the native language, native culture, if their sources are far away? This question worries many parents whose children have moved or were born in France. Honored teacher of Russia Alla Saraeva, who now teaches Russian on the Cote d'Azur, knows the answers to these questions.

My son was born in France. His father is French, and I, my mother, are Russian. Even before she was born, Leo
imagined how my child would be fluent in two languages. As expected, dad speaks only French to him, and I speak Russian. When Leo was two years old, he went to the nursery and at the same time began to try to speak. That's just one Russian word he had four French. Then I realized that my dreams were starting to crumble, and instead of being bilingual, I had a child who preferred one language. The book “Russian Children Abroad, or “Put a Tiger in Your Gas Tank!” Came to the Help! Alla Sarayeva, as well as a personal meeting with the author. The fact that such a manual exists (however, the author insists that the genre of her book is conversations with parents and teachers), I found out quite by accident on the expanses of social networks. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that Alla Saraeva lives in the small Italian town of Bordighera, on the border with France. After contacting, we arranged a meeting, during which the author told in detail why she decided to write this book. In it, Alla gives practical advice to parents who dream that their child knows the Russian language, native history and literature.

How to resist the active offensive of a foreign language
If your baby began to prefer French (or Italian) instead of Russian, then
is a sign that the struggle has begun. But is it a fight? It may seem paradoxical, but
is only at first glance: there is no need to oppose the “offensive” of a foreign language, there is no need to fight
. You must not allow the child to have the feeling that you want to prevent him
from mastering the language of a new environment for him. On the contrary, do not hide your joy at the fact that he speaks fluently with his new friends in their language. At the same time, gradually, but convincingly, it is necessary to inspire that the Russian language does not encroach on his French, but that by developing his Russian, the child wins, new opportunities open up for him,
which peers do not have.

“We are silent, gritting our teeth”
Surely you are familiar with the situation when you ask something in Russian, and your child begins to answer in French. And, unfortunately, we allow it. And it's not necessary. The author insistently
: Be silent and let the child understand that such an answer is unacceptable. You can even conclude an agreement with your child, for example: we only speak Russian at home, and don’t be offended if I don’t answer you when you speak French with me. A bargain is a bargain! (Don't forget to explain this Russian proverb to him.) Sometimes it won't be easy, but you have a goal!

Do not leave your child alone to watch cartoons
I know that some parents, including cartoons for their child, leave him alone with the TV, trying to use the quiet time for their, as they think, more important things. In vain! Because watching a cartoon in Russian together can be turned into an unobtrusive, but quite effective exercise in developing speech. Sitting next to even a very young child, react to what is happening on the screen: laugh, get upset, worry with the baby.
Don't teach Russian as a foreign language

In many Russian-speaking schools abroad, children are taught Russian as a foreign language using textbooks labeled "Russian Language and Reading for Foreign Schools". According to Alla
Sarayeva, no matter how good these textbooks are, the child, before opening them, is already tuned in to the fact that he will learn Russian as a foreign language, which means that he himself is not as “Russian” as his Russian peers. This psychological barrier must not be allowed to dominate the child. It's hard for him anyway. Therefore, it is better to use educational materials designed for children in Russia.

Let's make a course and then take the bus
Sound familiar? I think they noticed. But such phrases do not at all indicate that you speak French. Not! Such turns in your speech show that you are using a "half-language" or even a half-language called "surzhik". You string Russian words on foreign constructions. An example like this is very, very bad for your children. After all, it is your speech that will become the reference for the child. So watch how you speak.

And finally: what does the tiger in the gas tank have to do with it, and what else can you find interesting in the book?
After reading Alla Sarayeva's book, besides sensible advice, I found a lot of practical information. For example, about how to read fairy tales and how to explain to a child what a teremok, a hut and other Russian archaisms and historicisms that we practically do not use in modern speech are. There is also a whole section devoted to spelling rules. And there are very useful tips on how to explain the most difficult of them to a child in an accessible way. The list of books that children need to read turned out to be valuable. By the way, the author's advice concerns not only how to preserve and develop the Russian language of kids. Special chapters are devoted to teenagers. And now back to the title of the book - "Put a tiger in your gas tank!". Intriguing? Me yes! This was the first question I asked Alla: “What does the tiger have to do with it?” But I received the answer only in the book itself. So find the answer to this question yourself.

Maria Minovich, sales consultant, lives in France 20 years old, son Kirill
8 years:

Our son grows up in a Russian-speaking family, me, his dad, grandparents only speak to him in Russian. He began to absorb French in kindergarten, then at school. When I was very young, I spoke only Russian. But when the school started, we began to notice that it is sometimes more convenient for him to use French, including at home. Then, at the family council, it was decided to always speak only one language in front of the child and not answer if he asks in French. Now the situation has stabilized. But, despite this, Kirill makes mistakes in Russian speech, sometimes inflecting words incorrectly. We are fixing it, of course. And at home we teach him to write and read. We watch cartoons, films and any programs in Russian. I really hope that my son will be able to preserve Russian culture and love it.

Lena Loechko, artist-designer, lives in France for 4 years, brings up 5-year-old Dmitry and 3-year-old Adelia:

I am from Belarus, my husband is French. Before the birth of our son, we lived in my homeland, and when 90,009 children were born, we moved to a small town 14 km from Nice. It so happened that for the first two years I spent 24 hours a day with my son. Our dad was constantly on business trips, and the town where we live is quite small, and during this time I did not make friends. Besides, she didn't speak French at all. Perhaps because of this isolation, the son did not speak at all until the age of three. I was very worried, I even took him to a psychologist. But the doctor said that everything was fine with the child. And then we went to my parents in Belarus. And there they decided to leave the city. My mother put Dima in a child seat, fastened it with a belt, but did not fasten the seat itself well. And when turning, it fell along with the child. We immediately stopped, and I asked: "Dima, is everything all right?" And my baby answered: "Mom, I'm in trouble! Help!" It was a shock. No, Dima was not hurt. But he spoke the first words. Phrase. I cried with happiness. So the son began to speak Russian. A few months later, French was added. Now we are attending a Russian school, where Dima communicates with his Russian-speaking friends. It is interesting that the son and daughter communicate with each other in different ways: if I am nearby, then they use Russian, and if dad, then French.

Aleksandra Moroz, photographer, lives in France for 1 year. Has two daughters:
12-year-old Sophia and 9-year-old Maria:

My children were born on the French island of St. Barts. I am Russian, my husband is Italian, but we communicate in English. From birth, the girls heard three languages, and then they went to the French kindergarten and began to speak French. A few years later we moved to the Bahamas, where Sophia and Maria went to an English school. Here difficulties began, at first they did not understand, there were tears. Learning from children and adaptation were difficult. Nevertheless, they joined the new English environment for them. All this time, I did not stop talking to Maria and Sophia in Russian. A year ago, a new move broke out, this time to France. And again tears, difficulties and problems. We hired French tutors for the children. Plus there is a Russian teacher. When I say that my children speak 4 languages, I hear admiration. But few understand what it costs my children and us parents. It is very difficult to maintain every language at a good level. Indeed, children
s learn a new language very easily, but they forget it just as easily if they don't practice. We spend a lot of money on tutors, but we hope that all this will be useful for girls in adulthood.

Alesya Grinevich, assistant director at the Felicity Riviera Tour family company, has been living in France for 14 years. Raises 5-year-old Felicia:

Our daughter grows up in a Russian-speaking family and speaks Russian at home. She first encountered French when we gave her to a French nanny. Nevertheless, at that time she chose Russian in communication with adults, and even avoided French a little. Everything changed at the age of three, when she went to school. There, the daughter began to learn more and more French with her peers and become more and more interested in it. Now Felicia asks, if we are together at school, to speak French in front of her teachers and classmates. Of course, I want Felicia to be fluent in Russian, so we go to extra classes at school.0009 Lou "Matryoshka" in Nice, watching educational cartoons, reading Russian fairy tales. Both my husband and I are involved in the process of teaching the Russian language
. Dad reads a primer with her, and I help. It is important for us that the child learns the culture of the country where she was born and the country of her ancestors. In addition, we communicate with Russian-speaking families and my daughter has many friends, both French and Russian. It is very valuable for us that our child's childhood is happy and exciting.

Anastasia Codreanu, lives in France for 6 years, brings up 3-year-old Vladimir:

My husband and I are from Chisinau. We have two languages in our family - Romanian and Russian. Since the birth of Vova, we have spoken exclusively in Romanian. The son was not yet two years old when he began to speak his first words. And then more and more often we began to meet with children from Russia, and Vova began to speak Russian words. And it was clear that he really liked it. Then my husband and I decided to sometimes speak Russian at home. Now we have two languages in our family. Sometimes Vova mixes them. And recently, the son went to school, where, naturally, he heard French. And there were no problems for him. He adapted easily. Now he understands with whom in what language he needs to speak. In the future, I plan to send him to a school where he can learn to read and write in Russian. Moreover, we plan to open our own educational institution, where each child would have an individual approach.

Natalya Kopaeva - Rebbe

The art of grumbling. How I Learned to Complain in French

Emily Monaco
BBC Travel

20 September 2020

Image copyright, Getty Images

In France, complaints about life are perfectly acceptable and commonplace starters of a conversation. However, it is a subtle art to know when, to whom and what to complain about. And is it a complaint? The French have a special word for them.

Many conversations among the French begin with sighs and lamentations: the weather is bad, the grape harvest is worse than last year, politicians are incompetent and stupid...

When I first came to France more than ten years ago (I was 19-year-old American, looking at the world through rose-colored glasses), I was very unnerved by this constant stream of complaints.

Why, I puzzled, are the French always in such a bad mood? But when I finally plucked up the courage to ask a French friend about it, he protested: the French are not whiners, he said. They are râleurs , grumblers.

In French, a few words for "complain": there is "se plaindre" which is used for good old complaints; there is "porter plainte" for more formal complaints. And finally - "râler" : complaining just for fun.

" Râler means something informal, even peevish (something like English "grumble" , "grumble" or "grouch" , "grumble")," Gemma King, Senior Lecturer of French, explained to me. at the Australian National University and editor of the blog Les Musées de Paris ("Museums of Paris").

"You can râler about the need to do something, but still do it (albeit reluctantly), while porter plainte means that you are not going to do something and explain to someone , why".

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a real Frenchwoman and without an official document confirming this, because every morning I wake up with an uncontrollable desire to complain.

As a preparation for the fateful day, I pretended to complain to everyone who was ready to listen to me: the soup was already cold, the salad was too warm, the neighbor did not say “bonjour” to me ...

My friends laughed at my attempts to complain about life as real French, and now I think it was like a child who has not yet mastered the ability to communicate, pretends to be talking on the phone.

I still had to learn this subtle art - to understand when, to whom and what it is appropriate to complain.

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

The French love to complain - it's not whining, it's a way of communicating

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In France, complaining, grumbling is a perfectly acceptable conversation starter. You can discuss a restaurant, starting by complaining about poor service (while still enjoying a well-prepared meal). You can, when discussing your new apartment, rest on the fact that the windows face east and now you have to buy blackout curtains.

But, as Julie Barlow, Canadian journalist and co-author of The Bonjour Effect, points out, for Americans, making a negative assessment looks like you want to end the conversation, while in France, such comments are perceived as a way to invite others to speak.

North Americans, she says, are not as comfortable as the French in conversations where points of view clash, where there is a lot of criticism.

The French grumbling complaint therefore looks like something more intelligent, meaningful than a naive look at things through rose-colored glasses, Barlow believes.

Anna Polonyi, Franco-Hungarian-American writer and dean of writing at the Paris Institute for Critical Thinking, believes that this difference may stem from an inherent American fear of being seen as a loser.

"There is simply no such word in France," she says. "To be a loser, you need the world around you to be fixated on victories. And I'm not sure that people here view everyday communication from this point of view."

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption,

Conversations can be compared to fights in which the interlocutors compete in intelligence

According to Barlow, in France, conversations can rather be compared to duels, fights in which the first blow struck can be a complaint about something then. During such a duel, intelligence is demonstrated, which makes a person look critical, thinking, and not overly gullible.

Polony experienced this first hand when she moved from France, where she was brought up, to America, in the state of Iowa. She immediately drew attention to the fact that people try not to allow themselves critical remarks and resort to complaints only when it is no longer possible to endure.

"It's not grumbling as we understand it here [in France], it's more like blowing off steam," she says. "It felt like people didn't allow themselves to complain in a way that actually creates understanding between people. " , brings them closer. They just didn't do it until it was no longer possible to remain silent."

Polony even got infected by the Americans, beginning to add an optimistic conclusion to her complaints: "When I grumble in English, I get the feeling that at the end it is necessary to say something like: but I can handle it anyway!"

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In French, on the contrary, there is no need for any peppy conclusions. "I feel that the more I complain in detail, the more I incline the interlocutor to sympathize with me, to share with me all the horror of what I'm complaining about," she says.

Many English speakers feel uncomfortable in the French whining-grunt atmosphere because they believe that negativity breeds negativity. However, according to some experts, the French approach may actually be healthier.

A 2013 study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry found that attempts to manage negative emotions may be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A 2011 study from the University of Texas at Austin found that suppressing negative emotions can make people more aggressive.

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

In France, it's important to know when, to whom, and what to complain about. grumbling here is an art

This, of course, does not mean that complaining is always good. If you do this too often, you can be pulled into a vortex of negativity, reprogramming your brain to only focus on black.

However, French grumblers can easily avoid this danger - partly because they rarely complain about their own lives, and tend to grumble about external circumstances.

According to one study, 48% of French people surveyed said they complain the most about the government. Which is not surprising, since, as a recent article in Politico suggests, the vast majority of the French are negative about the way President Emmanuel Macron is handling the pandemic.

But the French rarely complain about personal problems. According to the same survey, 23% complain that people don't call them back, 33% complain that they can't find their keys or phone, and only 12% complain about problems with their children.

"I think that the French remain optimistic about their own lives, but they are very critical of their country," Barlow notes. "God forbid you praise France at a party - you will be laughed at."

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption,

In France, many conversations start with a sigh and a complaint.

According to Margot Basten, a researcher at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, the fact that the French focus on issues that have nothing to do with their personal lives is really good for the psyche.

But, as her research has shown, the periodic release of steam also helps and becomes harmful only when it happens too often and excessively.

However, the French as a whole are not prone to catastrophic thinking. And, as Pologny points out, their complaints are rarely intended to achieve anything.

While there is no shortage of Americans who are willing to "talk to the manager" to correct wrongs, and the British sigh loudly and defiantly when someone tries to get out of line, in France complaints are not seen as a means to put something is over.

"I don't think they're complaining because they want to change something," Barlow points out.

Like many other conversational habits (for example, asking how you are without being in the least interested in the answer), grumbling in France is primarily a means of establishing interpersonal relationships. And a very useful tool.

A study by the University of Oklahoma (USA) has shown that complaining in conversation can have a positive effect on bringing people together, it is a useful tool for finding common interests.

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

Complaining is a way for people to get closer

"You complain to another person, you feel understood, you feel connected to that person," Bastin says.

So, I have never felt more French than when I went through all the hell of the French prefecture of police trying to extend my residence permit.

After an absolutely Kafkaesque wandering through the insides of the bureaucratic machine, I complained right and left - to everyone who agreed to listen to me, describing the incompetence of superiors, obsolete and meaningless requirements for documents provided ...

And although my French friends did not have to go through this, they used my complaints as a starting point for their own complaints - at the tax office, at other bureaucrats who do nothing but put spokes in the wheels. So my complaint is quite fit into what is customary to complain about.