{"id":4167,"date":"2011-03-03T03:12:31","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T03:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=4167"},"modified":"2014-06-11T21:40:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:40:35","slug":"le-mot-special-du-jour-the-special-word-of-the-day-figurer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/le-mot-special-du-jour-the-special-word-of-the-day-figurer\/","title":{"rendered":"Le mot sp\u00e9cial du jour: Figurer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since there was no “Special Word of the day” in the past few days,\u00a0which\u00a0incited scores of\u00a0our French Blog<\/strong> fans\u00a0to\u00a0feel already\u00a0nostaligiques <\/em><\/strong>about it, here is rien que pour vous <\/em><\/strong>(only\u00a0for you) a special \u00e9dition<\/strong><\/em> of the “Word of the Day”: It’s called -yes, you’ve guessed it-\u00a0“Le mot *sp\u00e9cial* du jour<\/em>” (“The *Special Word of the Day*)<\/strong><\/p>\n

And le mot sp\u00e9cial du jour <\/em><\/strong>is “FIGURER<\/span><\/span>“!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/em><\/p>\n

“Faire bonne figure<\/strong><\/em>” is a French expression that used to\u00a0describe someone who maintains the appearance of being happy no matter what. <\/strong>Now it just means\u00a0“to give a good impression”<\/strong><\/p>\n

* * *<\/em><\/p>\n

The verb figurer <\/strong><\/em>can come in many ways dans une phrase <\/em><\/strong>(in a sentence.)<\/p>\n

Make sure you distinguish it from the other reflexive\u00a0form, se figurer<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Figurer <\/em><\/strong>by itself, or “intransitively”, can mean “to represent”, or “to appear”.<\/p>\n

For example, you can hear a telephone operator tell you: “Sorry, but the name you asked for\u00a0ne figure pas\u00a0sur l’annuaire t\u00e9l\u00e9phonique<\/strong><\/em>” (“does not appear on the phone book.”)<\/p>\n

“Les Pages Jaunes” <\/em>(“The Yellow Pages”) is the name of l’annuaire <\/em>of France T\u00e9l\u00e9com. You could make a special request, si vous ne souhaitez pas y figurer <\/em>(if you don’t wish to be listed in it), and then they put you\u00a0on a “liste rouge<\/em>“, meaning a “red list” (From here you can easily\u00a0deduce that\u00a0the meaning of\u00a0“being red-listed” in French is different from the English one, namely to be an “endangered species”!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Other instances can include:<\/p>\n

* FIGURER PARMI:<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

The expression “figurer parmi…<\/span>“<\/strong><\/em>, meaning “to be among…”<\/strong>. For example, you receive a phone call and an automatic voice yells at you\u00a0: “F\u00e9licitations! Vous figurez parmi les gagnants d’aujourd’hui!<\/strong>” <\/em>(“Congratulations! You’re among today’s winner!”) After which, of course, it will promptly\u00a0urge\u00a0you to\u00a0disclose your credit card number, allegedly\u00a0for the sole purpose of\u00a0“claiming your valuable\u00a0prize”… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

* “FIGURE-TOI…” or the more formal “FIGUREZ-VOUS…”:<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here, we find again\u00a0la forme r\u00e9flexive <\/em><\/strong>of the verb figurer<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0namely “se figurer”<\/em>,<\/strong> which was mentioned above.
\nSo when someone says “figure-toi”<\/em><\/strong>, or more formally “figurez-vous”<\/strong><\/em>, that means something like “Well, actually…<\/strong>”\u00a0It could\u00a0also have the meaning of the English\u00a0“Well, mind you…”<\/strong>, which reflects an unexpected\u00a0negative\u00a0reply to someone’s remark, mixed with a tiny\u00a0bit of self-satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Here’s an illustration:<\/p>\n

– “Votre \u00e9quipe de\u00a0handball a du se prendre une racl\u00e9e au tournois national, non?” <\/strong><\/em>(“Your handball team must have taken a beating at the national\u00a0tournament, no?”)<\/p>\n

– “Figure-toi cher ami\u00a0que notre \u00e9quipe a\u00a0remport\u00e9 le tournois!<\/strong><\/em>” (“Well, mind you, dear friend, our team has won the tournament!”)<\/p>\n

(In which case an American would most likely\u00a0follow up by throwing an\u00a0“Oh snap!”)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

An important observation about “figurer<\/strong><\/em>” is that if it is conjugated\u00a0and appears in a sentence or a text\u00a0as\u00a0“figure” <\/strong><\/em>(as in, say,\u00a0“il figure<\/strong><\/em>” or “elle figure<\/strong><\/em>“), it\u00a0could actually\u00a0be mistaken for la<\/em> forme nominale <\/em><\/strong>of figurer <\/strong><\/em>(though the context should tell you if it’s a verb or a noun); not to mention that “figure<\/em>” <\/strong>is also\u00a0un synonyme <\/em><\/strong>(a synonym) of the word visage <\/em><\/strong>(face.)<\/p>\n

Dans\u00a0une\u00a0forme compos\u00e9e <\/strong><\/em>(In\u00a0a compounded form), you can encounter it as:<\/p>\n

– figure <\/span>de style<\/em><\/strong>, which means “figure of speech”<\/strong><\/em>, or a “stylistic device.” For example, l’euph\u00e9misme <\/em><\/strong>is une figure de style<\/em><\/strong> which serves to attenuate the meaning of an unpleasing idea, as in “<\/strong>Andr\u00e9e Chedid nous a\u00a0quitt\u00e9s” <\/strong><\/em>(“Andree Chedid left us<\/strong>.”)<\/a><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

* Et l’argot alors? <\/strong><\/em>(And how about\u00a0French Slang?)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, since you know now that “figure<\/strong><\/em>” is a synonym of “face”<\/em><\/strong>, you may want to know that this word can be used in l’argot<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, as in the threatening sentence: “arr\u00eate ou bien\u00a0je te casse la figure !”<\/strong><\/em>, meaning “Stop it, or I’ll smash your face in!”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

French slang synonyms of “figure” <\/em><\/strong>meant in the sense of “face” can be portrait<\/strong><\/em>, t\u00eate <\/strong><\/em>(literally “head”),\u00a0or the pejorative words of\u00a0tronche, gueule, poire, trogne—<\/em><\/strong>and even, be ready, the French word of\u00a0“face<\/strong><\/em>“(So faites attention <\/em><\/strong>here!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since there was no “Special Word of the day” in the past few days,\u00a0which\u00a0incited scores of\u00a0our French Blog fans\u00a0to\u00a0feel already\u00a0nostaligiques about it, here is rien que pour vous (only\u00a0for you) a special \u00e9dition of the “Word of the Day”: It’s called -yes, you’ve guessed it-\u00a0“Le mot *sp\u00e9cial* du jour” (“The *Special Word of the Day*)…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[24433,24432,24431,24436,24434,24435,616],"class_list":["post-4167","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","tag-casser-la-figure","tag-faire-bonne-figure","tag-figurer","tag-le-mot-special-du-jour","tag-se-figurer","tag-special-word-of-the-day","tag-word-of-the-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t