Enseigner V. Apprendre - French Language

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enseigner v. apprendre

• Posted by alan gould on May 18, 2016 at 5:36pm in French Grammar
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i always thought that the former was used for "to teach" but was surprised to see that the latter can be used.  today i said to a french couple that i want to teach english to french people.  i used "apprendre.'  they understood me, of course, but would "enseigner" have been better?  please explain the difference.  merci d'avance

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on May 18, 2016 at 11:11pm

I am not quite sure of the actual difference but "un enseignant" is another word for "a teacher"  and I find ,rightly or wrongly that that association colours my  feel for the word.

Once again a native  French speaker  might tell us better.

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Permalink Reply by Damien Roulin on May 19, 2016 at 12:13am

Hi ,

"enseigner" is the opposite of "apprendre"

If you are the teacher , you "enseignes" and your students " apprennent" .

Cheers

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on May 19, 2016 at 1:16am

I seem able to find many instances where "apprendre" is used to mean "to teach". Is this considered to be "bad" or "slang" French? It does seem common  and I think I would find it natural to use it that way.

Here is a link  with some instances:http://www.linguee.com/french-english/translation/mes+exp%C3%A9rien...'ont+appris.html

The first example is :"Mes expériences m'ont appris que la pauvreté est complexe et que faire une contribution significative au développement exige un engagement à long terme. "

EDIT : The link will not work  but it is possible to find this sort of a phrase very easily. Are you quite sure they are wrong and that "apprendre " cannot be used in the sense of "teach"  ?

Is it perhaps the case that the subject of the verb(apprendre) would normally be a thing rather than a person when used in this way?

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Permalink Reply by Damien Roulin on May 19, 2016 at 1:33am

Yes , This is correct in that way .

 for exemple , the teacher "apprend à ses élèves" but the teacher doesn't "apprend" .

A student can say :  the teacher "m'a appris"

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on May 19, 2016 at 1:51pm

these were dictionary examples: 

Ma mère m'a appris l'anglais.      My mother taught me English.  Elle lui a appris à conduire.      She taught him to drive.  

it's much easier for me to revert to what i would have used before i saw the above entry -- "je veux enseigner l'anglais aux francais" but the other day i used "apprendre" instead cuz of the above entry.  

 

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