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italki Video - French Errors
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French Language Mistakes

The following video shows an English-speaking guy joining a French girl in the elevator. She’s carrying her pet. They discuss the animal and he tries to ask if he can pet her cat but things go horribly wrong.



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Explanation

Guy: Hello!
Girl: Hello. Bonjour.
Guy: Bonjour. Oh! uh. Vous avez Francais?
   English: You are French?
Girl: Oui
Guy: Uh... Vous avez un animal?
   English: Oh, you have a pet?
Girl: Oui. C'est une femelle.
   English: Yes, It is a female.
Guy: Elle est mignone.
   English: It is cute.
Girl: Oui.
Guy: Vous etes pas mal non plus.
   English: You aren't bad either.
Girl: Merci.
Guy: Merci....
Guy: Puis-je toucher votre chatte?
Girl: Pardon?
Guy: Puis-je toucher votre chatte?
Guy: Putain de merde
   English: (Expletive - He curses at himself for screwing it up)

Error: "Puis-je toucher votre chatte" is a vulgar expression for "Can I touch your vagina."

Correction: Caresser votre chat = stroke your cat J'aimerais caresser (caress - stroke lightly) / passer la main dans (to pass hand over) votre chat (male) / chatte (female cat)

To say "Je voudrais embrasser votre chatte" can mean both "I would like to touch the cat" or "I would like to touch the woman." It depends on the context; innocently, it means to touch the cat. This contextual approach can similarly be applied to the guy's statement in the video.
The reason his statement was wrong is because she had a dog, not a cat, and therefore the statement was thought to be vulgar, not innocent.
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Comments

allyf4321 posted 2 days ago
that is tasteless...  
Alan posted 2 days ago
That's great!
I like it
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italki
28, From United States
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Learn French
using English
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