Level B2 (Upper Intermediate)
Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online, with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier, a voice artist from France.
The French Word of the Day is à l’instar de, meaning “like” or “just like.” It’s a formal and advanced B2 prepositional phrase that many of my students tend to shy away from at first. Listen to Marie’s audio examples, and it will make perfect sense.
✅ Meaning
✅ Pronunciation
✅ Example sentences
✅ Related Words & Expressions
✅ Related lessons
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📘 À l’instar de meaning
À l’instar de is a formal French expression meaning “like,” “just like,” or “in the same way as.” It’s used to compare one person or thing to another. The expression always comes before a noun (à l’instar de Marie = like Marie; à l’instar de ses amis = like his/her friends) and appears mainly in written French, news articles, commentary, essays, and formal speech. You’ll rarely hear it in casual conversation, but it’s an important structure to recognize for reading comprehension and higher-level writing.
Comme — close synonym
Comme is a synonym for à l’instar de to mean “like” or “just like.” It’s far more common and used in everyday spoken French.
➜ Comme Marie — like Marie
➜ À l’instar de Marie — like Marie
🎧 À l’instar de pronunciation
The pronunciation of à l’instar de is /a lɛ̃s.taʁ də/, which sounds roughly like ah lan-STAR duh.
📝 À l’instar de examples & usages
À l’instar de ses collègues, Julie commence le travail à 9h.
Like her colleagues, Julie starts work at 9 a.m.
Paul recycle ses déchets, à l’instar de beaucoup de Français.
Paul recycles his waste, like many French people.
À l’instar de son frère, Léa aime la musique classique.
Just like her brother, Léa likes classical music.
Cette école utilise des tablettes, à l’instar d’autres écoles modernes.
This school uses tablets, like other modern schools.
Want to explore a similar B2 (upper intermediate) prepositional expression? Check out:
👉 À l’insu de — without someone knowing »
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🔗 Related words and expressions
- ainsi que — as well as
- comme — like, as
- tout comme — just like
- à la manière de — in the manner of
- de la même façon que — in the same way as
- à l’image de — modeled after, similar to
- semblable à — similar to
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