Hungry brag
On my way to breakfast, I explained in French to my friends that I was very hungry, and that my hunger was due to the
fact that I had gone to bed very hungry the night before: Hier soir, je me suis couché avec
une grande femme.
Editor's note: At least that's what Peter thought he was saying! In fact, he revealed that
he'd slept with a tall lady! Easily done though, as la femme, the French word for woman, is
pronounced fairly similarly to the word for hunger la faim. What he should have said is
Je me suis couché ayant très faim, hier soir.
Sent by: Peter
Comments
It's lucky you didn't say j'ai couché avec une grande femme ...
In French there is a bit of difference in the pronunciation of femme and faim. La femme, woman, is pronounced 'fam' while la faim, hunger, is pronounced 'fa' with a hard 'a'. This is because the 'm' is nasalized so you don't hear it.
J'ai and je suis are often misused - often rather amusingly. On a bright, sunny day in the middle of Quick (equivalent of Burger King), my brother, armed with a tray full of burgers and desperate to practice his French, announced proudly: je suis femme!
In FAIM, the sound is the nasal sound AIM (the letter M is part of the sound but not a M sound). That sound can be spelt in many ways: AIN (pain) EIN (rein) EIM (Rheims) UN (un) IN (lin) and more I think. FEMME is different and the sound M is pronounced.
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