French Lesson Discussing Fault is Chapter 23 in this free French Lesson Course for Business French. Thi is a complex and nuances lesson for discussing the varying degrees of fault or blame in different ways. Please check out the full audiobook HERE to learn even faster
“a fault”: « une faute »
“It’s my fault we’re late.”
« C’est de ma faute si on est en retard. »
Discussing Fault in French -Let’s hear some variants.
“at fault”: « une faute grave »
“Eric was at fault”: « Éric a commis une faute ».
Now a “technical fault”/ “a failure”: « un défaut » ou « une faille ».
e.g. “There was a technical fault at the factory”: « Il y a eu une faille technique à l’usine ».
So, what is the difference between those 3?
Well the standard fault, when you are guilty of something minor is going to be “a fault”: « une faute », e.g. “It’s my fault we’re late”.
A serious fault, something that can get you fired or imprisoned, will be « une faute grave ».
“Eric was at fault”: « Éric a commis une faute ».
And a technical fault as in “failure” is « un défaut ». [Note: a generic “failure” is « un échec »].
In French: 3 types and degrees of faults.
Now in the very first one, “it is my fault…”: « c’est de ma faute », why am I adding « de »?
It’s a set phrase. It’s just like that. We say « c’est de ma faute » because it is a trace of the Latin genitive case, like we’ve seen before. It indicates the origin of an event, “the origin of the fault is me”, « c’est de ma faute ».
Why am I adding « si » c’est de ma faute, « si » on est en retard » ? It is another set phrase with no specific explanation. It’s a kind of « si »: “if” that explains the consequence. “ It’s my fault if we’re late”.
It’s a false conditional because we know we’re late but we’re still adding “if we’re late” out of politeness.
What’s the difference between « on » and « nous »? Why am I using “on est en retard” instead of « nous sommes en retard »? I could actually use either.
« nous » is mostly formal, personal, I can point my finger at the group of people I’m referring to. « on » is more informal, more impersonal. So wherever you can use « nous », you may use « on » to make it more informal, more impersonal, but not the other way around.
“late”: « en retard »
It’s an adjective in English but it’s a nominal group in French, it’s a noun with a preposition. Because the adjective doesn’t exist as such in French, it doesn’t mean the same thing.
The adjective « retardé » is very different. It means “delayed” or “retarded”.
So, “we’re late” is « on est en retard »/« nous sommes en retard », “in delay”,“in lateness”.
French Grammar Quick tip: 3 nuances of faults
Be very careful about the nuances.
« une faute » is not « une erreur ». It’s basically the same difference between a fault and an error/a mistake.
So « une faute » includes a moral dimension; « une erreur » is just a mistake.
The consequences of this are: French Lesson Discussing Fault
In a legal context, you’ve got different degrees of seriousness.
For example, a dismissal notice in a company. You’ve got 3 levels:
- misdemeanour: faute simple
- misconduct: faute grave
- gross misconduct: faute lourde
Here is the full sentence again:
“It’s my fault we’re late.”
« C’est de ma faute si on est en retard. »
And so we hope you have enjoyed this Free French Lesson for Business Confidence in conversation. Please bookmark this page because it is important to study French using many resources and repetition. And check out this next lesson here.
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