Level B1 (Intermediate)
The French word of the day is: En fait, meaning ‘in fact’, ‘actually’, ‘in reality’ and ‘as a matter of fact’. En fait is used to emphasize, contradict, correct or add information to a previous statement. While the -t in il fait (he does) is silent, the -t in en fait is pronounced.
en fait – IPA pronunciation /ɑ̃ fɛt/
Example sentences
In this first sentence, en fait is being used to clarify or correct a previous statement. The informal verb bosser means ‘to work’.
Tu vas à la fête demain, n’est-ce pas ? – En fait, non. Je dois bosser.
You’re going tomorrow, right? – No. Actually, I have to work.
For this sentence, en fait is being used to introduce new or additional information for further clarity. In addition to being used for people and places, connaître (to know) is also used for areas of study.
J’adore la littérature française. En fait, je connais très bien les œuvres de Molière.
I love French literature. As a matter of fact, I’m very familiar with the works of Molière.
Here, mais en fait is being used to clarify, specify or contradict a previous statement. Translations include ‘but actually’ and ‘but in fact’. In addition to sembler (to seem), we could have used avoir l’air.
Il semble très timide, mais en fait, il est très sociable.
He seems very shy, but actually he’s very very sociable.
For this sentence, the colloquial ‘euh…en fait’ is used to indicate hesitation and to clarify or add information to something. Translations include ‘well…as a matter of fact’, ‘uh…in fact’ and ‘um…actually’. This lesson covers the interjection euh.
Alors, tu as pris une décision ? Euh… en fait, je suis un peu indécis.
Did you make a decision? – Um, actually I’m a bit on the fence.
Continue learning French!
Now that you’ve mastered en fait, check our our lesson covering the commonly used interjection hein (eh, huh, what)!
