# More problems with word daily (French) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581 "2023-11-23T12:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/1 "2023-11-23T12:38:03Z")
Today’s word daily is the word “malheurusement” which they define as “unfortunately” and pronounce a la francais. Seems to me (I used to speak a pretty coherent French, not so much for the past 40 years) that word translates best as “unhappily,” which is close to “unfortunately” but sans cigare. Did today’s word daily get too fancy, or is my French rustier than I think? [https://worddaily.com/words/Malheureusement/](https://worddaily.com/words/Malheureusement/) ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/2 "2023-11-23T13:17:41Z")
Canadian here, who’s taken French from grades 1 - 12, and at university with the military, and during my military service. I’ve been living in Montreal the last 10 years and I have tried to practice as much as I can. I don’t recall ever being explicitly taught or told its meaning but, for some reason, I’ve always used it a “unfortunately”. Though please bear in mind that I am in no way fluent; I’m in some weird sweet spot where the francos don’t automatically switch to English for me but I often have to ask them to repeat stuff or we’ll switch to franglais as required. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/3 "2023-11-23T13:26:37Z")
How would you translate heurusement? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/4 "2023-11-23T13:31:43Z")
In my Foreign Service language classes (six months of immersion taught by native French speakers), the word was defined as “unfortunately”, or loosely as “sadly”. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/5 "2023-11-23T13:35:17Z")
Unhappy would be ‘malheureux’, maybe you are confusing this with ‘malheureusement’? ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/6 "2023-11-23T13:37:54Z")
How would you say "unhappily " then? You’re confusing adverb with adjective. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/7 "2023-11-23T13:38:24Z")
“Unfortunately” is often an apt translation even though it is not a literal translation. See e.g. the quotations at [https://www.le-tresor-de-la-langue.fr/definition/malheureusement](https://www.le-tresor-de-la-langue.fr/definition/malheureusement) ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/8 "2023-11-23T13:39:15Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > heurusement? TBH I’m not sure if I’ve ever used it. Though I just pinged a Quebecois coworker about this. He says that it means “fortunately”. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/9 "2023-11-23T13:45:07Z")
I suspect that I provide cheap entertainment for the francophones I talk to when I speak their language 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/10 "2023-11-23T13:50:56Z")
-ment is used to form many adverbs in French; I’m not sure what the question is. Also: > **[DICTIONNAIRE PHILOSOPHIQUE : HEUREUX, HEUREUSE, HEUREUSEMENT - Bienvenue...](http://www.monsieurdevoltaire.com/2020/05/dictionnaire-philosophique-heureux-heureuse-heureusement.html)** > > Photo de PAPAPOUSS HEUREUX, HEUREUSE, HEUREUSEMENT (1) Ce mot vient évidemment d’ heur , dont heure est l’origine : de là ces anciennes expressions, à la bonne heure , à la malheure ; car nos pères n’avaient pour toute philosophie que quelques... 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/11 "2023-11-23T14:29:05Z")
In English, “unhappily” and “unfortunately” have different connotations, although “hap” and “fortune” ultimately mean roughly the same thing, “luck” or “chance.” But “unhappily” refers mostly to one’s disposition while “unfortunately” adverts to the way events turn out. Does the same distinction in French apply, perhaps, with “malheuruse” and some other word? ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/12 "2023-11-23T14:55:16Z")
AFAIK heureux and malheureux and its derivations cover both meanings, which may explain any confusion. I’m not a native speaker, though, so cant fully vouch for the following. Je suis heureux = I’m happy/in a good mood Malheureusement je ne peux pas venir = Unfortunately I can’t come. I’m not sure about a sentence with unhappily, isn’t that a rather uncommon word in English? Good fortune would be translated AFAIK as something like bonne fortune; Good luck (as a wish) would be Bonne chance. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/13 "2023-11-23T14:59:58Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > In English, “unhappily” and “unfortunately” have different connotations, although “hap” and “fortune” ultimately mean roughly the same thing, “luck” or “chance.” But “unhappily” refers mostly to one’s disposition while “unfortunately” adverts to the way events turn out. I wouldn’t agree with that. “Unhappily” can mean “unfortunately”. Here’s how [Merriam-Webster defines it](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unhappily): > [@](#): > > # unhappily > > ## [adverb](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adverb) > > [Synonyms of _unhappily_](https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unhappily) > > 1 > > **:** [UNFORTUNATELY sense 1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfortunately) > > _“unhappily, medicine has not yet found a cure”_—Diana Trilling > > 2 > > **:** in an [unhappy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unhappy) manner **:** without pleasure > > _“practiced law unhappily for a few years”_ ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/14 "2023-11-23T15:04:01Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I wouldn’t agree with that. “Unhappily” can mean “unfortunately”. Seconded here. The ‘connotative spaces’ of the two words are not identical, but there is considerable overlap, at least in literary use. I will submit that “unhappily” is rarely used to mean “unfortunately” in _spoken_ North American English — but it would be understood in the sense intended by most speakers. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/15 "2023-11-23T15:06:09Z")
“Unhappily” can apply to people. “Unfortunately” not. “Unhappily, I wandered through the cold dark streets, hoping to find a morsel of food…” doesn’t mean the same as “Unfortunately, I wandered…” The first refers to the wanderer’s state of mind, the second to his situation. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/16 "2023-11-23T15:09:23Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > “Unhappily” can apply to people. “Unfortunately” not. > > “Unhappily, I wandered through the cold dark streets, hoping to find a morsel of food…” doesn’t mean the same as “Unfortunately, I wandered…” Other languages don’t necessarily make this distinction, though. I’m sure there are many connotative distinctions made in French vocabulary that are not made in English vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/17 "2023-11-23T15:20:03Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > How would you say "unhappily " then? You’re confusing adverb with adjective . Adjectives and adverbs don’t necessarily have to have separate forms. Plus it’s common for words to move between the two classes (not just in English, but in any language): ## Adverbs with the same form as adjectives > Someadverbs have the same form as adjectives. The most common are: _fast_ (not fastly), _left, hard, outside, right, straight, late, well_, and time words such as _daily, weekly, monthly, yearly_. > **[Adverbs: forms](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/adverbs-forms#)** > > Adverbs: forms - English Grammar Today - a reference to written and spoken English grammar and usage - Cambridge Dictionary ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/18 "2023-11-23T15:24:27Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Adjectives and adverbs don’t necessarily have to have separate forms. True, but these two do. You can’t interchange “unhappy” with “unhappily” in English, willy-nilly. They’re quite distinct. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/19 "2023-11-23T15:27:10Z")
Interesting. I’d be inclined to translate “Unhappily, I wandered through the cold dark streets” as something like “Malheureux, j’errait par les rues froides et sombres.” i.e. as “Unhappy I wandered …”. I’m not sure whether the fine distinction between the two phrases in English does translate in French. But again a native speaker may enlighten us all. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581/20 "2023-11-23T15:28:43Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > > [@bordelond](#): > > > > Adjectives and adverbs don’t necessarily have to have separate forms. > > True, but these two do. You can’t interchange “unhappy” with “unhappily” in English, willy-nilly. They’re quite distinct. No doubt. I’m just making the point that any given language need not ‘sort’ their adjectives and adverbs the way English does. More to the point: There are certain to be legion examples of the French language not hewing to the rules and customs of the English language. In that way, human language is not particularly ‘mathematical’. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-problems-with-word-daily-french/993581.md?page=2)