Why is "Reading **librairie** as 'library'" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: It looks almost identical to 'library', and cognate habits make look-alikes feel safe. How to avoid it: Memorise the pair: **librairie** = bookshop, **bibliothèque** = library. This is one of the most-tested faux amis at IGCSE. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports

Why is "Translating **actuellement** as 'actually'" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: The shared Latin root makes them look like twins. How to avoid it: **actuellement** = currently / right now. 'Actually' = **en fait**. Substitute 'currently' and check the sentence still makes sense. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports

Why is "Using or reading **sensible** to mean 'sensible'" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: Identical spelling to the English word. How to avoid it: **sensible** = sensitive (easily affected emotionally). 'Sensible' (level-headed) = **raisonnable**. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports

Why is "Writing cognates without their French accents (e.g. *telephone*, *francais*)" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: English has no accents, so beginners copy the English form. How to avoid it: Treat accents as part of the spelling: **téléphone**, **français**, **université**. A missing accent is a spelling error in Paper 4 (Writing). Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports (Writing)

Why is "Reading **attendre** as 'to attend' (and **assister à** as 'to assist')" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: Both look like their English near-twins, so the meanings get swapped. How to avoid it: **attendre** = to wait for; **assister à** = to attend. Remember the swap: the 'attend-looking' word means WAIT, and the 'assist-looking' word means ATTEND. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports

Why is "Pronouncing cognates the English way in Speaking" a common mistake in Cognates and false friends?

Why it happens: The word is spelt almost identically, so the English sound feels natural. How to avoid it: French pronunciation differs sharply: **restaurant** = res-toh-RAHN, **important** = an-por-TAHN. Learn the French sound separately from the meaning. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports (Speaking)

Language FoundationsCambridge IGCSE French (0520)

Cognates and false friends

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Cognates and False Friends — Cambridge IGCSE French 0520 (2025-2027)

Learn how French cognates (vrais amis) let English speakers read French fast for free, and how to dodge the false friends (faux amis) that trap beginners in the Reading paper. A complete beginner-friendly guide with vocab tables, spelling-shift patterns, and exam strategy.

At a glance

A cognate is a word that looks (almost) the same in French and English and means the same thing — e.g. table (table), animal (animal), important (important).
French and English share thousands of cognates because much of English vocabulary came from French — so you already 'know' more French than you think.
Spelling-shift patterns are predictable: English -tion/-sion words are usually identical in French (nation → la nation, decision → la décision).
Near-cognates change a little but stay guessable: e can become é (state → état), and a final consonant may drop.
Watch the accents. French adds accents English never uses: étudier (to study), téléphone (telephone). Accents are part of correct spelling.
False friends (faux amis) look English but mean something different: librairie = bookshop (NOT library), sensible = sensitive (NOT sensible).
In the Reading paper (Paper 2) cognates are your superpower for guessing meaning — but never guess a faux ami; learn the trap words by heart.
Rule of thumb: trust a cognate for gist, but slow down and check if a word is doing something odd in the sentence — that is often a false friend.

What you’ll learn

Mapped to the Cambridge IGCSE 0520 syllabus (2025-2027).

Recognise true cognates (vrais amis) shared by French and English and use them to read unfamiliar French.
Apply predictable spelling-shift patterns (e.g. English -tion/-sion → French -tion/-sion) to decode near-cognates.
Identify and correctly interpret the most common false friends (faux amis) at IGCSE level.
Use surrounding context and grammar to decide whether a familiar-looking word is a true cognate or a false friend.
Spell cognates correctly in French, including the accents English does not use.
Deploy cognate-spotting as a controlled strategy in the Reading paper without being misled by faux amis.

What is a cognate? (Your free head-start in French)

A cognate is a word that is the same or nearly the same in both languages — and means the same thing.

The big shared zone is your free vocabulary — but a few words in it are traps.

Here is some genuinely good news for an English speaker learning French: you already recognise a huge amount of French vocabulary, because English borrowed enormously from French after 1066. Words that are the same (or almost the same) in both languages, with the same meaning, are called cognates — in French, les vrais amis (the true friends, lay VRAY za-MEE /le vʁɛ.z‿a.mi/).

Identical or near-identical cognates (same spelling, same meaning):

French	Pronunciation	English
la table	la TAH-bluh /la tabl/	the table
un animal	un a-nee-MAL /œ̃ a.ni.mal/	an animal
important	an-por-TAHN /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/	important
la nation	la na-SYON /la na.sjɔ̃/	the nation
le train	luh TRAN /lə tʁɛ̃/	the train
le restaurant	luh res-toh-RAHN /lə ʁɛs.to.ʁɑ̃/	the restaurant
possible	po-SEE-bluh /pɔ.sibl/	possible

Notice two things straight away. First, the meaning transfers perfectly — a table is a table. Second, the pronunciation does not: French important is said completely differently from English "important" (no hard final -t sound; the -ant is a nasal -AHN). So a cognate helps you read and understand, but you must still learn the French pronunciation separately.

A cognate = a word that looks the same AND means the same in both languages.
French calls them les vrais amis (the true friends).
Cognates transfer MEANING for free — but NOT pronunciation.
You already recognise thousands of French words without realising it.

Predictable spelling shifts — decode words you've never seen

Many French words follow a regular rule for turning into their English twin (and back). Learn the patterns and you can guess thousands of words.

Most French–English cognates are not identical — they shift in a predictable way. Once you know the patterns, you can decode words you have never met before.

Pattern 1 — English -tion / -sion = French -tion / -sion (almost always feminine, la). These are the easiest free marks in the language. The spelling is usually identical; only the pronunciation changes (-tion is said -SYON /sjɔ̃/).

French	English
la nation	the nation
la information	the information
la décision	the decision
la situation	the situation
la télévision	the television

Pattern 2 — English -ty = French -té (feminine, la). The English ending -ty becomes -té in French (note the é).

French	English
la liberté	liberty
la université	university
la société	society
la qualité	quality

Pattern 3 — English -ly = French -ment (adverbs).

French	English
rapidement	rapidly
normalement	normally
généralement	generally

Pattern 4 — French often adds an accent where English has a plain vowel. A French é at the start often corresponds to an English s + vowel or just a missing letter:

French	English
l'état	the state
l'école	the school (é = the lost 's' of 'school')
l'étudiant	the student
l'épice	the spice

Pattern 5 — a final English consonant may simply drop in French.

French	English
parfait	perfect
le concert (t silent)	the concert
différent	different

Mini-decode practice. You see the unknown French word la communication. Apply Pattern 1: -tion = English -tion. So it means communication. You see la beauté — apply Pattern 2: -té = -ty, so it means beauty. You can do this in the exam in real time.

-tion/-sion is the single most useful pattern — nearly always identical, nearly always la.
-té ↔ English -ty (liberté = liberty).
-ment ↔ English -ly (rapidement = rapidly).
Front é- often = a dropped English s (école = school, état = state).
Apply the pattern live in the Reading paper to decode unseen words.

False friends (faux amis) — the words that betray you

A faux ami looks like an English word but means something different. These are the classic IGCSE traps — learn them cold.

Left: trust vrais amis for meaning. Right: memorise faux amis — they look English but betray you.

A false friend — in French, un faux ami (un foh za-MEE /œ̃ fo.z‿a.mi/, literally "a false friend") — is a word that looks like an English word but means something different. Faux amis are dangerous precisely because cognates have trained you to trust look-alikes. Here are the ones Cambridge loves to test.

French (the trap)	It does NOT mean	It actually means
la librairie	library	bookshop (a library is la bibliothèque)
actuellement	actually	currently / right now (actually = en fait)
sympathique	sympathetic	nice / friendly / likeable
assister à	to assist	to attend (I attended the concert = j'ai assisté au concert)
sensible	sensible	sensitive (sensible = raisonnable)
la journée	journey	day (a journey = un voyage)
la location	location	rental / renting (location = l'emplacement)
rester	to rest	to stay / to remain (to rest = se reposer)
la monnaie	money	change / coins (money = l'argent)
passer un examen	to pass an exam	to sit / take an exam (to pass = réussir)

Why these matter. Read this sentence: "Hier, j'ai passé une bonne journée à la librairie." A beginner who trusts the look-alikes reads: "Yesterday I passed a good journey at the library." That is wrong on three words. The correct meaning is: "Yesterday I had a good day at the bookshop."

passé here = spent (passer une journée = to spend a day), not "passed".
journée = day, not journey.
librairie = bookshop, not library.

A single sentence, three faux amis — and the entire meaning flips. That is why you cannot rely on cognate-guessing alone.

A faux ami looks English but means something else.
librairie = bookshop · bibliothèque = library.
actuellement = currently · en fait = actually.
sensible = sensitive · raisonnable = sensible.
journée = day · rester = to stay · location = rental.
One sentence can hide several faux amis — learn the trap list by heart.

Partial false friends — right family, wrong shade of meaning

Some words are 'half friends': they overlap with English in one sense but drift in another. Context decides.

Not every tricky word is a full faux ami. Some are partial false friends — they share one meaning with English but carry an extra or shifted sense that catches beginners out. With these, context is everything.

French	The 'friendly' meaning	The trap meaning
large	(can suggest large)	actually means wide / broad, not big (big = grand)
demander	(looks like demand)	usually just to ask (for), not to demand forcefully
rester	—	to stay/remain (covered above — never "to rest")
attendre	(looks like attend)	means to wait (for) (to attend = assister à)
achever	(looks like achieve)	means to finish / complete (to achieve = réussir / accomplir)
éventuellement	—	means possibly, not "eventually" (eventually = finalement)

Worked mini-example. You read: "J'attends le bus." If you trust the look-alike "attend", you get the nonsense "I attend the bus". Pause — does "attend the bus" make sense? No. Use attendre = to wait for: "I am waiting for the bus." The context (a bus) tells you which meaning is right.

The habit to build: when a familiar-looking word produces a sentence that sounds slightly odd in English, treat that oddness as a red flag for a faux ami. Re-check the word rather than forcing the English meaning.

Partial false friends overlap with English in one sense only.
attendre = to wait for (NOT to attend) · assister à = to attend.
demander = to ask for (NOT to demand) · large = wide (NOT big).
éventuellement = possibly · finalement = eventually.
If the English guess sounds slightly off, suspect a faux ami and re-check.

Accents and spelling — getting cognates RIGHT, not just close

Cognates help you read, but to score in Writing you must spell them with the correct French accents.

Recognising a cognate is only half the battle. In the Writing and Speaking papers you must reproduce French spelling and sounds accurately — and French uses accents that English never does. A missing or wrong accent is a spelling error.

The five French accents you must know:

Accent	Name	Example	English
é	accent aigu (acute)	la télévision	television
è	accent grave (grave)	le problème	the problem
ê	accent circonflexe	la fête	the party / festival
ç	cédille (cedilla)	le français	French
ë / ï	tréma (diaeresis)	Noël	Christmas

Why the accent changes everything.

é vs e: étudiant (student) needs the acute accent; without it the word is wrong.
ç (c-cedilla) makes a soft "s" sound before a, o, u: français (French) is frahn-SAY, not frahn-KAY. Drop the cedilla and you've mis-spelt and mispronounced it.
à vs a: à (to/at) vs a (has) are different words — il a (he has) vs il va à Paris (he is going to Paris).

A reassuring note for reading: in the Reading paper you do not lose marks for accents you only need to recognise — a cognate like décision is still obviously "decision" with or without you noticing the accent. Accents matter most when you are producing French (Writing, Speaking). So: relax about accents when reading, but be meticulous about them when writing.

Worked mini-example. Spell "the university" in French. It's a Pattern 2 cognate (-ty → -té): l'université — note two acute accents (é...é) and the l' because université starts with a vowel sound. Writing "luniversite" with no accents and no apostrophe would lose accuracy marks.

Five accents: é (aigu), è (grave), ê (circonflexe), ç (cédille), ë/ï (tréma).
Accents are part of correct spelling — etudiant is wrong, étudiant is right.
ç gives a soft 's' before a/o/u: français.
Reading: accents rarely block comprehension. Writing/Speaking: accents are essential.
Start vowel-sound words with l' (l'université, l'école, l'animal).

Reading-paper strategy — cognates as a controlled tool

Use cognates to get the gist fast, then verify anything that sounds odd against the faux-ami list.

Here is a practical, exam-ready routine for using cognates safely in Paper 2 (Reading).

Step 1 — Skim for cognates first. On your first pass, let your eye catch the look-alikes: important, nation, restaurant, possible, télévision. They instantly give you the topic and tone of the text — often 30–40% of the words.

Step 2 — Build the gist from the easy wins. You usually understand the sentence skeleton from cognates plus a few known small words (et = and, mais = but, avec = with, très = very).

Step 3 — Flag the odd ones. When a cognate-looking word produces a meaning that is slightly weird, stop. "I passed a good journey at the library" is weird — flag passé, journée, librairie.

Step 4 — Apply the faux-ami list. Replace the flagged words with their true meanings: spent / day / bookshop → "I spent a good day at the bookshop." Now it makes sense.

Step 5 — Use grammar and context to confirm. If you're unsure between two meanings of attendre, the object (le bus) confirms "wait for", not "attend".

Worked mini-example (full sentence). Text: "Marie est très sympathique et elle assiste à tous les concerts."

très = very (known small word)
sympathique → looks like "sympathetic" but it's a faux ami → nice/friendly
assiste à → looks like "assist" but it's a faux ami → attends
concerts = concerts (cognate) Correct reading: "Marie is very nice and she attends all the concerts."

A pure cognate-guesser would write "Marie is very sympathetic and she assists at all the concerts" — close, but wrong on the two words that carry the personality and the action. The controlled routine catches both.

Skim for cognates first — they hand you the topic and ~a third of the words.
Build the gist from cognates plus tiny known words (et, mais, avec, très).
If a guess sounds odd, flag it and check the faux-ami list.
Confirm the final meaning with grammar and surrounding context.
Never let a single look-alike override a sentence that doesn't make sense.

Quick recap

Cognates (vrais amis) are look-alike words with the same meaning — your free French vocabulary.
Spelling shifts are predictable: -tion/-sion stay the same, -ty → -té, -ly → -ment, front é- often = a dropped English 's'.
False friends (faux amis) look English but mean something else: librairie=bookshop, actuellement=currently, sensible=sensitive, journée=day, rester=to stay, location=rental, assister à=to attend.
Partial false friends overlap in one sense only — attendre=to wait for, demander=to ask for, large=wide.
Accents (é è ê ç ë/ï) are part of correct spelling — essential in Writing/Speaking, rarely blocking in Reading.
In the Reading paper, use cognates for gist, then verify anything odd against your faux-ami list.
If your English guess makes the sentence sound weird, suspect a false friend and re-check.

How it’s examined

Cognate awareness and faux-ami control help across all four papers, but the payoff is biggest in reading.

Paper 1 (Listening): cognates are harder to catch by ear because French pronunciation differs sharply (important sounds nothing like English). Listen for the shape of cognate words, but never assume a heard look-alike is a true friend — journée and librairie sound nothing like 'journey' or 'library'.
Paper 2 (Reading): this is where cognates pay off most. Multiple-choice and matching questions often hinge on whether you decode a near-cognate correctly — and distractor answers are frequently built around a faux ami (e.g. an option that assumes librairie means 'library').
Paper 3 (Speaking): use cognates to expand what you can say, but pronounce them the French way (restaurant = res-toh-RAHN). Mispronouncing cognates the English way costs communication marks.
Paper 4 (Writing): spelling accuracy is assessed. Cognates only earn marks if spelt correctly with the right accents (téléphone, français). Using a faux ami wrongly (e.g. sensible to mean 'sensible') is a vocabulary error.

Examiner reports for 0520 repeatedly note that candidates lose comprehension marks by trusting false friends — especially librairie, actuellement, journée and assister à — so these are high-value words to memorise.

Sources: Cambridge IGCSE French 0520 Syllabus 2025-2027; Cambridge 0520 Paper 2 (Reading) Specimen 2026; Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports 2022-2024. Last reviewed 2026-06-02.

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Worked examples, formulae, definitions and the mistakes examiners flag — everything you need to push from a pass to an A*.

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Step-by-step worked examples — Cognates and false friends

Step-by-step solutions to past-paper-style questions on cognates and false friends, written exactly the way a tutor would explain them at the board.

1Decode an unseen word using the -tion pattern
Getting started• cognate, reading
Question
You meet this unseen French word in a reading text: la pollution. You have never been taught it. Work out what it means, with no dictionary.
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Spot the ending. The word ends in -tion. This is the most reliable cognate pattern in French.
2. Step 2
  Apply the rule. French -tion almost always equals English -tion, with the same spelling. So pollution → 'pollution'.
3. Step 3
  Confirm the gender (bonus). -tion nouns are nearly always feminine, which is why it is la pollution, not le pollution.
Answer
la pollution = pollution. (Feminine, because -tion nouns take la.) You decoded an unseen word for free using the pattern.
Examiner tip
In Paper 2 (Reading), -tion/-sion words are the lowest-risk cognates — spelling is identical and the meaning transfers reliably. Trust them for gist.
2Translate a sentence and avoid two false friends
Building confidence• faux amis, reading
Question
Translate this sentence into English: « Actuellement, je travaille dans une librairie. »
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Take the cognates first. je travaille = I work (travailler = to work); dans une = in a. Skeleton: 'Right now, I work in a ___.'
2. Step 2
  Flag actuellement. It LOOKS like 'actually' — but it is a faux ami. It means currently / right now. (Actually = en fait.)
3. Step 3
  Flag librairie. It LOOKS like 'library' — but it is a faux ami. It means bookshop. (Library = la bibliothèque.)
4. Step 4
  Assemble correctly. Replace both traps with their true meanings.
Answer
“Currently, I work in a bookshop.” — NOT 'Actually, I work in a library', which gets two words wrong.
Examiner tip
Both actuellement and librairie are classic 0520 distractors. A multiple-choice option built on 'library' is the wrong answer designed to catch cognate-guessers.
3Unpick a sentence with three false friends
Stretch• faux amis, reading
Question
Read and translate: « Hier, j’ai passé une bonne journée et j’ai assisté à un concert. »
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Cognates first. Hier = yesterday; une bonne = a good; un concert = a concert. Skeleton: 'Yesterday, I ___ a good ___ and I ___ a concert.'
2. Step 2
  passé (passer une journée). Not 'passed' — passer une journée = to spend a day. So j'ai passé here = 'I spent'.
3. Step 3
  journée. Not 'journey' — it means day. (A journey = un voyage.)
4. Step 4
  assisté à (assister à). Not 'assisted' — assister à = to attend. So j'ai assisté à = 'I attended'.
5. Step 5
  Assemble. Put the true meanings together into natural English.
Answer
“Yesterday, I spent a good day and I attended a concert.” — three faux amis (passé, journée, assisté à) all correctly decoded.
Examiner tip
This single sentence contains three of the most-tested faux amis at IGCSE. Candidates who trust look-alikes write 'I passed a good journey and assisted at a concert' — wrong on all three. Always pause when a guess sounds odd.
4Sort the words: true friend or false friend?
Building confidence• cognate, faux amis
Question
For each word, decide if it is a true cognate (means what it looks like) or a faux ami (means something else): important · sensible · table · sympathique · animal · rester.
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  important → TRUE friend. Means 'important'. Safe to trust.
2. Step 2
  sensible → FALSE friend. Means sensitive, not 'sensible'. (Sensible = raisonnable.)
3. Step 3
  table → TRUE friend. Means 'table'.
4. Step 4
  sympathique → FALSE friend. Means nice / friendly, not 'sympathetic'.
5. Step 5
  animal → TRUE friend. Means 'animal'.
6. Step 6
  rester → FALSE friend. Means to stay / remain, not 'to rest'. (To rest = se reposer.)
Answer
True friends: important, table, animal. False friends: sensible (sensitive), sympathique (nice), rester (to stay).
Examiner tip
The skill examiners reward is not blind trust OR blind suspicion — it is knowing WHICH look-alikes are safe and which are traps. Memorise the trap list so the safe ones can be trusted at speed.

Model Answers — Cognates and false friends

High-scoring sample answers for cognates and false friends on the Cambridge IGCSE 0520 paper, with examiner-style notes mapping each response to the mark scheme and assessment objectives.

Question 1
A reading text contains the unfamiliar phrase « une décision importante ». Explain, as you would in your head during the exam, how you work out its meaning.
Model answer
« une décision importante » = "an important decision."

Reasoning: décision ends in -sion, a near-identical cognate pattern, so it means 'decision'. importante is the feminine form of important (a true cognate) — it agrees with the feminine noun décision, which is why it gains a final -e. Both words are vrais amis, so I can trust them for gist with confidence.
Why this scores
Scores because it (a) names the -sion pattern, (b) recognises adjective agreement (importante agreeing with the feminine décision), and (c) correctly classifies both as true cognates — showing controlled, not blind, cognate use.
Question 2
In a reading text you see « Je reste à la maison aujourd’hui. » A classmate translates it as 'I rest at home today.' Correct them and explain.
Model answer
The correct translation is "I am staying at home today."

rester is a faux ami: it looks like 'to rest' but actually means to stay / to remain. (To rest = se reposer.) The tell-tale sign is context — à la maison (at home) + aujourd'hui (today) fits 'staying home' naturally, while 'I rest at home today' sounds slightly off, which is the red flag for a false friend.
Why this scores
Scores because it gives the correct meaning, names rester as a faux ami, supplies the true French for 'to rest' (se reposer), and uses context as the verification step — exactly the controlled routine the mark scheme rewards.
Question 3
Write these three cognates correctly in French, with all accents: 'the television', 'French (the language)', 'the university'.
Model answer
la télévision (television), le français (French), l'université (the university).

Note the accents: télévision has two acute accents (é...é); français needs the cedilla on the ç to give the soft 's' sound; université has two acute accents and takes l' because it begins with a vowel sound.
Why this scores
Scores in Writing because every accent is correct. Dropping the cedilla (francais) or the acute accents (television) would each count as a spelling error — recognising a cognate is not enough; you must reproduce it accurately.

Key Definitions and Keywords — Cognates and false friends

Definitions to memorise and the exact keywords mark schemes credit for cognates and false friends answers — sharpened from recent examiner reports for the 2026 0520 sitting.

Cognate (vrai ami)
Examiner keyword
A word that looks the same (or nearly the same) in French and English AND has the same meaning, e.g. table, animal, important.
Example
la nation = the nation; possible = possible.
False friend (faux ami)
Examiner keyword
A word that looks like an English word but means something DIFFERENT in French.
Example
librairie looks like 'library' but means bookshop.
Near-cognate
Examiner keyword
A cognate whose spelling shifts in a predictable way between the languages (e.g. an added accent or changed ending).
Example
English 'state' → French état; English 'liberty' → French liberté.
-tion / -sion pattern
Examiner keyword
The most reliable cognate pattern: French words ending -tion/-sion are usually spelt the same as English and are feminine (la).
Example
la décision = decision; la situation = situation.
-té = -ty pattern
French nouns ending -té correspond to English nouns ending -ty, and are feminine.
Example
la liberté = liberty; la qualité = quality.
Partial false friend
Examiner keyword
A word that overlaps with English in ONE sense but drifts in another; context decides the correct meaning.
Example
attendre = to wait for (not to attend); demander = to ask for (not to demand).
Accent aigu (é)
The acute accent on e, part of the correct spelling of many cognates. Omitting it is a spelling error in Writing.
Example
téléphone, université, étudiant.
Cédille (ç)
The cedilla under c, giving a soft 's' sound before a, o or u.
Example
français (frahn-SAY), ça (that).
la bibliothèque
Examiner keyword
The French for 'library' — the word you actually need when librairie (bookshop) is the trap.
Example
J'emprunte un livre à la bibliothèque (I borrow a book from the library).

Common Mistakes and Misconceptions — Cognates and false friends

The traps other students keep falling into on cognates and false friends questions — taken from recent Cambridge IGCSE 0520 examiner reports and mark schemes — and how to avoid them.

✕Reading librairie as 'library'
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports
Why it happens
It looks almost identical to 'library', and cognate habits make look-alikes feel safe.
How to avoid it
Memorise the pair: librairie = bookshop, bibliothèque = library. This is one of the most-tested faux amis at IGCSE.
✕Translating actuellement as 'actually'
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports
Why it happens
The shared Latin root makes them look like twins.
How to avoid it
actuellement = currently / right now. 'Actually' = en fait. Substitute 'currently' and check the sentence still makes sense.
✕Using or reading sensible to mean 'sensible'
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports
Why it happens
Identical spelling to the English word.
How to avoid it
sensible = sensitive (easily affected emotionally). 'Sensible' (level-headed) = raisonnable.
✕Writing cognates without their French accents (e.g. telephone, francais)
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports (Writing)
Why it happens
English has no accents, so beginners copy the English form.
How to avoid it
Treat accents as part of the spelling: téléphone, français, université. A missing accent is a spelling error in Paper 4 (Writing).
✕Reading attendre as 'to attend' (and assister à as 'to assist')
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports
Why it happens
Both look like their English near-twins, so the meanings get swapped.
How to avoid it
attendre = to wait for; assister à = to attend. Remember the swap: the 'attend-looking' word means WAIT, and the 'assist-looking' word means ATTEND.
✕Pronouncing cognates the English way in Speaking
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports (Speaking)
Why it happens
The word is spelt almost identically, so the English sound feels natural.
How to avoid it
French pronunciation differs sharply: restaurant = res-toh-RAHN, important = an-por-TAHN. Learn the French sound separately from the meaning.

Past paper style quiz

Get a report showing which sub-topics you've nailed and which ones still need work.

French

Pronunciation

English

la table

la TAH-bluh /la tabl/

the table

un animal

un a-nee-MAL /œ̃ a.ni.mal/

an animal

important

an-por-TAHN /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/

important

la nation

la na-SYON /la na.sjɔ̃/

the nation

le train

luh TRAN /lə tʁɛ̃/

the train

le restaurant

luh res-toh-RAHN /lə ʁɛs.to.ʁɑ̃/

the restaurant

possible

po-SEE-bluh /pɔ.sibl/

possible

French

English

la nation

the nation

la information

the information

la décision

the decision

la situation

the situation

la télévision

the television

French

English

la liberté

liberty

la université

university

la société

society

la qualité

quality

French

English

rapidement

rapidly

normalement

normally

généralement

generally

French

English

l'état

the state

l'école

the school (é = the lost 's' of 'school')

l'étudiant

the student

l'épice

the spice

French

English

parfait

perfect

le concert (t silent)

the concert

différent

different

French (the trap)

It does NOT mean

It actually means

la librairie

library

bookshop (a library is la bibliothèque)

actuellement

actually

currently / right now (actually = en fait)

sympathique

sympathetic

nice / friendly / likeable

assister à

to assist

to attend (I attended the concert = j'ai assisté au concert)

sensible

sensible

sensitive (sensible = raisonnable)

la journée

journey

day (a journey = un voyage)

la location

location

rental / renting (location = l'emplacement)

rester

to rest

to stay / to remain (to rest = se reposer)

la monnaie

money

change / coins (money = l'argent)

passer un examen

to pass an exam

to sit / take an exam (to pass = réussir)

French

The 'friendly' meaning

The trap meaning

large

(can suggest large)

actually means wide / broad, not big (big = grand)

demander

(looks like demand)

usually just to ask (for), not to demand forcefully

rester

—

to stay/remain (covered above — never "to rest")

attendre

(looks like attend)

means to wait (for) (to attend = assister à)

achever

(looks like achieve)

means to finish / complete (to achieve = réussir / accomplir)

éventuellement

—

means possibly, not "eventually" (eventually = finalement)

Accent

Name

Example

English

accent aigu (acute)

la télévision

television

accent grave (grave)

le problème

the problem

accent circonflexe

la fête

the party / festival

cédille (cedilla)

le français

French

ë / ï

tréma (diaeresis)

Noël

Christmas

Here is a practical, exam-ready routine for using cognates safely in Paper 2 (Reading).

Step 2 — Build the gist from the easy wins. You usually understand the sentence skeleton from cognates plus a few known small words (et = and, mais = but, avec = with, très = very).

Step 4 — Apply the faux-ami list. Replace the flagged words with their true meanings: spent / day / bookshop → "I spent a good day at the bookshop." Now it makes sense.

Step 5 — Use grammar and context to confirm. If you're unsure between two meanings of attendre, the object (le bus) confirms "wait for", not "attend".

Worked mini-example (full sentence). Text: "Marie est très sympathique et elle assiste à tous les concerts."

très = very (known small word)
sympathique → looks like "sympathetic" but it's a faux ami → nice/friendly
assiste à → looks like "assist" but it's a faux ami → attends
concerts = concerts (cognate) Correct reading: "Marie is very nice and she attends all the concerts."

Cognates and false friends

Detailed Notes

What you’ll learn

How it’s examined

1Decode an unseen word using the -tion pattern

2Translate a sentence and avoid two false friends

3Unpick a sentence with three false friends

4Sort the words: true friend or false friend?

Cognate (vrai ami)

False friend (faux ami)

Near-cognate

-tion / -sion pattern

-té = -ty pattern

Partial false friend

Accent aigu (é)

Cédille (ç)

la bibliothèque

✕Reading librairie as 'library'

✕Translating actuellement as 'actually'

✕Using or reading sensible to mean 'sensible'

✕Writing cognates without their French accents (e.g. telephone, francais)

✕Reading attendre as 'to attend' (and assister à as 'to assist')

✕Pronouncing cognates the English way in Speaking

Past paper style quiz

Cognates and false friends

Detailed Notes

What you’ll learn

How it’s examined

1Decode an unseen word using the -tion pattern

2Translate a sentence and avoid two false friends

3Unpick a sentence with three false friends

4Sort the words: true friend or false friend?

Cognate (vrai ami)

False friend (faux ami)

Near-cognate

-tion / -sion pattern

-té = -ty pattern

Partial false friend

Accent aigu (é)

Cédille (ç)

la bibliothèque

✕Reading librairie as 'library'

✕Translating actuellement as 'actually'

✕Using or reading sensible to mean 'sensible'

✕Writing cognates without their French accents (e.g. telephone, francais)

✕Reading attendre as 'to attend' (and assister à as 'to assist')

✕Pronouncing cognates the English way in Speaking

Past paper style quiz