to use – se servir de, employer et utiliser

Part of 5 minutes of French a Day | French Headaches

The direct translation of TO USE is UTILISER. However, UTILISER isn’t used as much as TO USE is in English, if that makes sense.

Translating ‘to use’ is always a bit of a pickle in French. Well, there is no pickle in crème chantilly, so let’s ‘un-pickle’ se servir de vs. utiliser vs. employer.

Do prefer ‘se servir de’ rather than ‘employer’ or ‘utiliser’, although they are synonyms.

Je me sers d’un fouet pour faire la crème chantilly.

I use a whisk to make crème chantilly.

J’emploie un fouet pour faire la crème chantilly.

I use a whisk to make crème chantilly.

J’utilise un fouet faire la crème chantilly.

I use a whisk to make crème chantilly.

 

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Other instances

For using the bathroom, using a word for another, using cream in coffee, using a pen to write, and other situations…, it’s much better NOT TO use either one of these verbs : ‘se servir de’, ‘employer’ or ‘utiliser’.

The French prefer other verbs such as ALLER or PRENDRE…

English

* I used the bathroom.

* I use the verb SE SERVIR DE to mean TO USE.

* I use a pen to write

Français

* Je suis allé/e aux toilettes.

* Je traduis le mot TO USE par SE SERVIR DE.

* Je dis SE SERVIR DE pour traduire TO USE.

* Je prends le verbe SE SERVIR DE pour traduire TO USE.

* Je prends un stylo.

* Je me sers d’un stylo.

 

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