Les bons comptes font les bons amis


When I read out this line to my French friend, he stared at me. The basic French lesson hammered into my thick skull was to go silent on the ending alphabets. The golden rule! Despite the application of the golden rule, my friend was bewildered.

It is pronounced "lee bon coompth fo lee bonsaami". Well, this is best shot I can do for the pronunciation. But there were two interesting factors in the sentence. The ending sound for "comptes" almost sound like a soft "th" and "bons ami" combined together when spoken!

The translation of this sentence is "Good accounts make good friends". When my friend promptly paid back the small change that was owed to me after settling the beer bills at a local cafe, my immediate response was "This can wait till our next stop for beer". We had a beer on Friday. Here he was; paying me back on Monday morning! But he pointed out the French saying "Les bons comptes font les bon amis".

The phrase is not only handy but also shows a glimpse of the culture.

Tags: French Lessons,Accounts,Friends

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