French Word of the Day: Bande

Local France

3 days ago

Why do I need to know
bande?
Because
this French word has several different meanings you might not have expected.
What does it mean?
Bande
- roughly pronounced bahnd - is one of those French words that looks like it should translate easily into English, but in reality, it has a variety of different meanings.
In some cases, it is possible to directly translate
bande
as band, but this is its least common usage. In this case, you might translate the exercise item 'resistance band' as
bande de résistance
, or a cloth band as a
bande de tissu.
You are more likely to see
bande
used to mean 'strip'. In this context, you might hear talk of the
bande de Gaza
(the Gaza Strip), or
bandes dessinées
(comic books, originally comic strips).
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The other meaning you will come across is
bande
in the sense of a group of people, as you might see in more formal or older English writing. Crucially, though, you cannot use
bande
in French to refer to a group of musicians. In this case, the correct term would be
groupe
.
For other groups or collections of people, you would say
une bande de potes
(a group of friends). You can also use it to add emphasis to your French swearing - for a group of idiots, you could call them a
bande de cons.
Meanwhile in a legal sense
une bande organisée
refers to a gang, and membership of
une bande organisée
can increase the severity of charges against a suspected criminal.
Use it like this
La police a arrêté une bande de voleurs qui dérobaient les téléphones des usagers du métro. -
The police stopped a group of thieves who were stealing phones from people on the Metro.
Avez-vous déjà lu la bande dessinée Astérix et Obélix ? C'est ma préférée.
- Have you ever read the Asterix and Obelix comic? It's my favourite.