In today’s lesson we’ll look at the word père in French, which means “father”. We’ll also have a quick look at papa, meaning “dad”. Mon père est fier de moi! My father is proud of me!
le père
father
Word origin
The modern French word père (father) comes from pater in Latin.
Pronunciation
The downward slanting accent grave over the È has an “eh” sound. Hence, the pronunciation of père is: “pehr” or [pɛʀ].
Example sentences
While I used père in this first example, the French are actually more likely to use papa for “dad” in casual conversation (see example below).
Comment s’appelle ton père et où est-ce qu‘il habite?
What is your dad’s name and where does he live?
For these next to example sentences, père is used in the context of “the creator of” and priest.
Louis Pasteur est le père de la pasteurisation.
Louis Pasteur is the father of pasteurization.
Le père Martin est venu manger chez nous après la messe.
Father Martin came to eat at our place after mass.
This final example sentence uses papa (dad).
Hey dad, how’s it going?
Related lessons
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