Quatrième Jeu de Mots Trivia Quiz

Answer: carte

"Une carte à puces" is a smart card which requires a passcode. "Une carte bancaire", is closer to what Americans would call an ATM card, but which does not give you credit. It's a bit complicated and constantly evolving, yet most French people have the kind of card which instantly debits your account, and the other which gives you a credit. "La carte de séjour" is for foreign residents. "Une pancarte" is a poster or sign. "Donner carte blanche" means you may do as you like with all the resources you require.

Answer: encre

Faire couler de l'encre, means some story in the press that makes ink run or that many people are writing about it. "Une tache d'encre" is an inkspot. "L'encre de Chine" is Chinese ink. "Encre rouge" is red ink, the realm of the teacher, of course. "Jet d'encre" is an ink jet printer or "une imprimante à jet d'encre".

Answer: rose

"Rose des sables" is a phenomena in the desert of petal-like formations in the sand. There is a treat available in some bakeries with chocolate and cereal flakes of the same name. "Rose des vents" is the compass of a map, nord est sud ouest but particularly for the winds. "Envoyer quelqu'un sur les roses" is basically to tell them where to get off, or to tell them off. "Un roman à l'eau de rose" is something rather sickeningly sweet or mushy. "Si tu vois la vie en rose", you see the world through rose-coloured glasses. "Rose bonbon" is candy pink, or pastel pink.

Answer: nuit

"Passer une nuit blanche" is to not sleep a wink. "Bonne nuit" is what you say right before someone actually is going to bed... you wouldn't use it for taking leave of someone at work nor for greeting someone in the late evening or night, that would be bonsoir.

The debate rages over at what time you actually begin saying bonsoir. You could ask many people, they'd almost always give you a different answer. Perhaps somewhere around five p.m. is the best answer. The evening news is begun with "Mesdames, Mesdemoiselles, messieurs, bonsoir". Nuit et jour ou jour et nuit.. is night and day. Une chemise de nuit is a nightgown.

Answer: soleil

Le coucher du soleil is the sunset, le lever du soleil is sunrise. NB : if you use the indefinite article it is « un coucher de soleil » instead of "du". "Un rayon de soleil" is a sunbeam. Le Cirque du Soleil is the famous Canadian circus that plays to rave reviews. Un coup de soleil is sunburn (sunstroke in British English which would be much much worse in North American usage). Avoir une place au soleil, a place in the sun. Le Roi Soleil is the Sun King or Louis XIV.

Answer: coeur

"Mal au coeur" means nauseated in French. Le coeur brisé means your heart is broken. "Les peines de coeur" are lovelife troubles. "Un coeur à prendre" is something someone puts in an advertisement or singles column. "Avoir le coeur gros" is to be really sad, down...
"Avoir le coeur net" means to have your conscience clear, to establish something beyond a reasonable doubt. "Avoir le coeur sur la main" means to be very generous - someone who'd give you the shirt off of his back.

Answer: bois

Une jambe de bois is a wooden leg, le bois sacré is the sacred woods, bois à couper is wood to be cut, le haut-bois is the oboe, touchons du bois means knock on wood. Le bois d'un cerf is the antler. Ps, the word bois is invariable in the plural and singular.

Answer: temps

"Quel temps fait-il?" is of course, what's the weather like? "Parler de la pluie et du beau temps" is to talk about insignificant things or just the weather. Mauvais temps is bad weather. "C'est du temps perdu" is wasting time. "Un gagne-temps" is a shortcut or tip on how to do something faster or more efficiently. "Au bon vieux temps" is the good old days. Temps is weather as well as time so beginners need to be a bit careful.

Answer: oeil

Oeil is of course, the singular of the irregular plural « yeux ». Trompe l'oeil is normally used in French in English texts, but it literally means to fool the eye. Mon oeil! is an exclamation of disbelief just as some people use in English the term "My eye"! "Jeter un oeil" is to have a look, to browse in a shop for example.

It literally means to throw your eye. Un oeil au beurre noir is a black eye. Le mauvais oeil is the evil eye. « Oeil pour oeil dent pour dent, telle est la loi des amants » - famous street song in French meaning « eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, that's the lover's law ».

Answer: nez

Parler du nez is to speak nasally, which is saying something in French as that's the main characteristic of French pronunciation, the nasalized vowel sound. Le nez percé is a pierced nose and in America the native American group called the "nez percé" is the tribe with the pierced nose. Si tu menes quelqu'un par le bout du nez, you're basically making them do whatever you want, you've got them wrapped around your little finger. Cela te pend au nez, it's perfectly stark-staring obvious. Les doigts dans le nez, as easy as pie, you could literally do it with your two fingers up your nose. "On l'appellait nez rouge" is the French equivalent of Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer, though he isn't as well known in France.