J'espère que vous n'êtes plus perdus après avoir regardé cette vidéo ! If you are and you are in a French-speaking country, check out my speaking course for French confidence: frenchinplainsight.com/find-your-french-confidence

Congratulations on your entertaining and well informed clips! One remark, however: we DO say "je suis confus", but as you probably know we use it when we apologise: "je suis confus" means I'm terribly sorry. As you will have guessed, I'm one of those French people whose language you speak so well.

The main difference is that confus in French is a state of mind, while in English it is a process. In English you can be confused by a situation. Basically, when you say _je suis confus_ you usually apologize for a faux pas you did because you did not understand the situation. For instance, you have an appointment to a doctor at 4 but you show up at 3. You could apologize with: _Je suis confus je croyais que le rendez-vous était à 3h00_ This is also the reason why the verb _confuser_ does not exist in French. It's confusing --> C'est confondant... C'est déroutant...

We don't say "j'ai rendu quelqu'un perdu", we say "je l'ai perdu", or "j'ai perdu

Salut Alex, J'ai quitté la France quand j'avais 19 ans et j'ai maintenant 60 ans. Je vivais aussi à Montpellier. Mon français n'est plus ce qu'il était et j'aime beaucoup tes vidéos pour me remettre dans le bain. L' attrition d'une langue natale serait, je pense, un bon sujet à aborder! Après tant d'années loin de la France, je parle français avec un léger accent anglais, je parle anglais avec un accent français et l'espagnol......ben oui.....comme une vache espagnole ....hahaha ! Bravo Alex, ton français est super et merci encore pour tout ce que tu fais ici sur KZfaq. T'es un vrai chef ! À plus, Michel

Coucou. Instead of "Tu m'as rendu perdu", you should say "tu m'as perdu" 😊 Thanks for your amazing work, from a Bourguignonne 😉

J'ai appris deux nouvelles phrases. "Je suis paumée." et "C'est pas clair." Merci Alex !

"confus" in French means that something is not well explained. It would be used to describe, for example, an unclear statement or sentence : it is "confus", it lacks consistency, the meaning is subject to interpretation. An oral presentation or a paper work that lacks coherent and proper argumentation is "confus". It's way more often used to describe things or situations ("une situation confuse") rather than people although it isn't a grammar error to say that "you're confused"

Je confirme, en français on ne dit pas "tu m'as rendu perdu"... Peu de gens utilisent "c'est déroutant"

Thanks for this Alex, after 15 years in France, I'm still learning the language. Your video takes me back to a work meeting in my early days in the country. At some point, I said, 'je suis confuse' and everybody more-or-less fell about laughing. After the meeting, a colleague came to tell me that I couldn't say that, but I never did find out why.

The only way you'll hear "confus" in France is as a pretty formal and old-fashioned way to say you're sorry. That or when talking about Pokémon status conditions.

I love your channel. It's amazing to learn from someone who's already gone through the same experience and has an answer to common questions.

I say : Je comprends pas Je pige pas I tend to use the present tense more than the past, but I still use both of them. I also use Chui perdu/paumé/perplexe (and probably other words) a lot. Especially when someone is explaining a complex idea, I usually use the verbe "attendre" first, "attends, mais chui perdu là, je pige rien du tout"

Un drapeau avec la croix occitane ! I was born and raised in Montpellier ; and it is heartwarming to see that raised up high in your home, friend ! I sincerely hope you are having the time of your life in this city that is still very dear to me ! Cheers, from an Anglophile Montpelliérain !

For complicated and 'confusng' documents or description, I would use 'pas clair' from the 3 you propose (pas clair / confus / deroutant), but even more naturally, I woud probably use "c'est incomprehensible". It is a long word, but does existst in English (so not so difficult to memorize), even if maybe from another register of the vocabulary. In French, it is a standard daily word, nothing particulary fancy about it and works especially well for any writing description or procedure (hello French Administration!!). You should avoid to use this to express confusion towards what a person says, though... it can work, but can also be taken badly (like as a negative comment to the individual rather or in adition to the message), so to keep for written stuff or description of something.

« Je suis confus » is a difficult one to translate. It is usually a term you say when you messed up and acknowledge it apologetically. I already heard in the same context « I am mortified » or « I’m embarrassed » or a simple « I’m so sorry » Otherwise confus has another meaning so as to describe something indistinct or unclear. « Ton explication est confuse » - I’m not confused, the explanation is. Similar to the term comfortable : « I’m comfortable (in this bed) » -> « ce lit est confortable »

If you're REALLY REALLY confused and understood absolutely nothing, you could also say "J'ai rien compris" or "J'ai rien pigé".

Just one thing if not already said: je suis confus or je suis confuse means actually something: it’s a very polite and formal way of saying I’m sorry. Je suis désolé je suis confus have the same meaning. But it’s very formal so no wonder you may not have heard about it yet.

Wonderful clear explanation of something that always confused me!

Because of I am old and nearly always confused, this lesson has been particularly helpful. Many thanks.

Salut Alex. I usually say "je suis perplexe" but the meaning is not as strong as "je suis perdu/paumé". It's more like "I'm puzzled". I've also used "rendre quelqu'un perplexe".

Je suis confus is a very strong version of saying I'm sorry for or I'm embarrassed by my mistake

Merci, Alex! I make this error all the time. This video really clarified it for me. Je ne suis plus perdu!

Lived there for 9 years, working in a French company and get by ok but this came up quite often for me too. You just have to consciously train yourself it's not the French expression, like a bunch of common things; in the bus>on the bus; I have cold etc.

Promptly subscribed after a few minutes into the video! You're an amazing teacher and also have amazing diction in English as well, which is crucial for us who aren't native English speakers but need to keep in touch with the language on a daily basis while learning other languages. As a plus, you're very handsome:-) Thanks for your generosity, giving all these most useful explanations for free for those of us who can't afford the paid stuff. I know everyone must earn a living and some may not realize the importance of such videos but every bit of free stuff is a sure step towards the democratization of knowledge, helping to make this world a better place. Je suis vraiment reconnaissant:-) Shared for sure!

I was searching for the best translation of "I'm confused" in French and Google led me here :) It's an excellent video! Thank you for explaining all different ways to say "confused", "to confuse" and "confusing". In Quebec French, we can also say "je suis mêlé.e" for "I'm confused", another "je suis" option :)

It’s a very useful video, my friend. La video etait tres utile, mercy beaucoup 👍👏

"Je suis confus" has the connotation that the confusion was provoked, you would say that after being knocked over the head, or being scammed, or in a very rare case (like someone mentioned) if you acted wrong without intent and you are sorry. In every case it has a negative aura, and it's probably why it's not a good idea to use it. As an English speaker you also have to realize that formalism is way more developed in French than in English; you can't say "tu" (you) to your boss. I think the best thing to say when you don't understand is "pardon?". It will work everywhere, from the club to the office. If you say "je suis paumé" in an interview, you will not be called back. It might sound ridiculous, but it is what it is.

Le mot qui me vient à l'esprit est "perplexe" et "perplexant".

Alex je vois que vous avez suscité un grand débat sur le confus. bcp de français vous regardent. je me suis même abonnée. Cela fait 50 ans que je parle le francais mais suis encore et tjrs passionnée par la beauté et la finesse de cette langue. par contre votre video est interessante car entertaining et educatif avec une touche british un peu excentrique mais en tte finesse. je parle et écris en 4 langues mais à 75 ans tout cela devient une confusion terrible. Pourtant je n'en suis confuse. Bonne journée.

Bonjour Alex - this is a great video. Like you this 'confused' topic has bothered me for ages and you've nailed it here! Merci beaucoup!

Really thank you a lot your videos are very helpful.. u are doing a great effort.. really appreciate it thanks a lot🙏🙏

Thank you so much! I just started studying French and this helps me a lot.

You can say « Je suis confus », but it's a more formal way (or maybe an old-fashioned way) to say « Je suis désolé ». Je suis confus car je ne vous ai pas compris.

Also the first word I'd use to say "confusing" is "incompréhensible", it literally means it's "impossible to understand". In casual speech I'd sooner use that word over "déroutant" or "pas clair". If I did use the word "déroutant", I'd fear people listening to me may think I'm trying to talk fancy or something.

This is super useful. This has been something that has puzzled me (déroutant? 😉). I live in the South of France. My bf and I speak in French all of the time. However I have to explain that I understand all of the words but I don't know what is needed or wanted or needs to be recognised in the situation when he's explaining something. I'm confused. I'm a direct Yorkshire woman so "reading in-between the lines" in either language is tricky for me.

I learn English listening you which is very fun.

I'd say as a native speaker that the word "confus" is typically not applied to people. Maybe it was, centuries ago or something, but these days, it would never occur to me to apply the adjective to a person. The idea of "confusion" would come in the expression "semer la confusion" (spread confusion), you would use the expression in broadly the same instances you would use the English equivalent, but such expressions may sound posh in your mouth if used in speech so I would save it for the context of written narration, news articles and the like. Then the word "confus" itself could probably be used in the sentence "c'est confus" to express that what you are hearing or looking at is hard for you to understand. But if I say it out loud, it sounds old fashioned to my native ears. I have heard it used by other natives in the past for sure, but I can't hear it without thinking "who speaks like that these days?". So I'd say all in all, if you're gonna use the word "confus", it would not be applied to a person but to a situation or the words of the person in front of you, but definitely not to yourself... and even then you'll come across as old fashioned or speaking "textbook" French. EDIT: Ah yes, and as someone said it below "je suis confus" is indeed used to denote being sorry for causing grief to a person... but if you use that sentence, you'll come across as overly polite, perhaps even a bit "forced" as that too is somewhat old fashioned (hence why it didn't even occur to me that we do indeed use it like that). If you want to pass for a Parisian, definitely don't apologise by saying "Je suis confus", in fact in that case you should probably not apologise at all XD.

Très pratique, comme toujours ...

I have been looking for a video like that for a while but for a very different reason. I'm French but I have been living in the UK for over 8 years now and I quite often use English words in French especially when the word does sound like it could be French (like confused and confus!). I am sure many bilingual people have that issue. I have been repeatedly told that 'je suis confuse' is not French but it comes to mind so fast that I keep on making the mistake. I still feel like 'comprends/compris' and 'perdu' do not have the same impact as 'confused' but I will train my brain to say that instead!

You can actually say "je suis confus" in French, but it has a different meaning, or two actually: it's either a rather posh way to mean disoriented, not in a right state of mind, or a very polite way to say "I'm sorry".

Bonjour. Je suis Français et pour moi : "je suis confus" de manière plus commune est une façon de dire je suis désolé d'avoir effectué une action malheureuse, ou prononcé un mot blessant, c'est une forme d'excuse un peu comme en anglais "I'm sorry ", il y a d'ailleurs un expression "rouge de confusion" qui décrit bien cela. "Je suis confus" je suis désolé et embarrassé de m'être trompé. Votre vidéo correspond plutôt à la définition du verbe "confondre" qui effectivement indique que l'on a mal compris quelque chose.

if you say "je suis confus" : it kind of means "I don't make sens".. usually, it's messages, texts that are "confus" in french : meaning they don't make sense. Like a badly organized speech, when people don't understand it, it's "un discours confus".. I guess "confus" would be closer to "confusing".. (ah yes and it also means "sorry", like I'm so sorry i don't know what to say)

What's wrong with confondue? That means confused. To make someone confused you would say confondre. Embrouiller is to muddle. Confus actually means embarrassed. Paumé means lost, but really in the sense of not being able to find the way.

I've had the same experience learning Dutch. I moved to NL 27 years ago. Dutch is very different to French, but as an English speaker, if you try to translate from English directly into Dutch, or French (or German, or other languages for that matter) I've found that you could be right, or you could be very wrong. I've experienced that with many words. Much as you can't directly translate "I'm confused" into French (as we've seen in your video) you also can't directly translate it into Dutch (as one probably can't translate it into many languages). In Dutch, it results in "Ik ben in de war/ ik ben verwaard = I'm disoriented, I'm lacking any context or sense". If you were in a mental health emergency, for example, it's fair to say you might be "in de war/ verwaard" = confused. In fact. I think "confuus" is a medical term in Dutch, meaning someone who's (maybe temporarily) psychologically detatched from reality. In short, In Dutch it's better to say "Ik snap het niet" (= I don't understand (it)) for I don't understand / I'm confused. ("Snappen" is one verb for "to understand".) Where other languages mean "confused" to mean a mental state, the English use of "confused" has extended to mean personal misunderstanding.

Good in - again, you’re sorta addicting. East addiction. Makes me feel like I oughta be struggling more with the great “native” French speakers KZfaq’s .Oh, what the hell…….

-- MÉLANGER -- je suis MÉLANGÉ.E quelque chose est MÉLANGEANT.E (mixed up / scrambled / jumbled)

This was very well done!

bizarre pourtant j'utilise souvent "je suis confuse" 🤔

Je kiffe ta chaîne !

As a French speaker, I think the situation where I saw "confus" the most is when my Pokémon hurt themselves in their confusion X)

Super clear

Listen, my partner is French and even he can’t really explain it to me or even understand it himself. He just knows, intuitively of course. Nightmare. 😂

Rendre perdu isn’t correct. Ça se dit pas. C’est plutôt « je t’ai perdu(e) » ou « tu m’as perdu(e) » .

Je suis confus. Ça veut dire plutôt je suis déconcerté, troublé… So I can well imagine people not quite knowing how to respond! It would kind of be like saying I’m embarrassed or upset in English. But je suis paumé, sweet. I’ll have to use that one . Thanks. Par exemple un patelin paumé!

Salut Alex , Merci encore de votre video . Je suis perdu la phrase entre " je me suis paumée et je suis paumée" .

I disagree, as a very advanced French speaker living in the country for over 10 years , je suis confus is a perfectly acceptable way of expressing confusion. I hear it all the time from native speakers….Don’t know where you get the notion it’s bad French….

¡Gracias!

I'm going to disagree with you on that. I'm French and you can say "Je suis confus" c'est le contexe qui change. "Je suis confus" is a bit more formal than "je suis perdu" and even more than "je suis paumé" which is very casual. For instance "Je suis un peu confus par cette situation"" or "Monsieur, je pense que vous etes confus" etc... ti's a bit more elevated language. but you should mention that some of the expressions you are proposing are very casual and shouldn't be used in every settings.

"Je suis confus/e" signifie aussi ou surtout" je suis désolé/e".

I do not understand, in either present or passe compose, in english, is not the same as saying i am confused Not understanding is a definite , confused is ambiguous.

I use je suis perdu all the time...

En français, on peut aussi dire « ça me mélange »

Je suis "confusionné" ! ;-)

well, the uses of words in french, depend on the context mostly.

I learned “Tu n'as pas compris (tant pis)” from the Charles Aznavour song For Me Formidable. Turn it into a question to acknowledge you know you just totally got it wrong désolé. Merci, Charles (et Alex).

Hi, in Quebec, we say Je suis mêlé Do you hear that in France?

Merci pour les nouvelles expressions ! Tu utilises lequel le plus fréquemment ? Je dis généralement "J'suis désolé, j'ai pas compris", mais je voudrais améliorer mon vocabulaire. Please let me know if any of my French sounds strange! Thanks :)

I thought it was 'Je rien compris''! Meaning I'm confused by the whole thing.

6:12 Shouldn't that be "rendu"?

How about “Je ne vous suis pas “? To me I am confused and I do not understand are very different. But I guess “pas Clair” covers a lot of ground in French!

C'est pas évident... ,;-)

Hi , effectivement "je suis confus" has a totally different meaning. Etre confus means being not understandable. You are trying to express something but your thought seems blurred. Ex :Tu es trop confus là, je ne comprends rien à ce que tu dis. Other meaning, "je suis confus" is a way to express apologies, to say I'm sorry. Ex your dog messes up your neighbor's carpet who happens to be an uptight old lady, then "Je suis confus" is the perfect thing to say, a bit old fashioned but very apologetic. Good to know when to use it. Ca peut servir et si on le place bien le "je suis confus" peut vous tirer d'un mauvais pas. Bravo pour vos videos!

Now I’m confused! LOL. Is it J’ai pas compris” or Je n’ai pas compris”?

if you said 'je suis confused', how would someone react? :)

Je suis embrouillé

Actually, you can say "je suis confus/e" instead of "je ne comprends pas", but it sounds a bit outdated ^^ I use it when I really want to put emphasis on the fact that je ne comprends pas ^^ And they use it in Pokemon (the games) too ^^ For example "Pikachu est confus, il ne peut pas attaquer"

Merci beaucoup pour la video. Qu’est-ce que tu penses du mot mélangé comme traduction pour confused et mélangeant pour confusing?

"Je suis confus" means "I'm extremely sorry"

Why not say, “je suis embrouillé “?

Does anyone use some form of the verb "suivre" to indicate that they didn't follow what was said....or is it translated too literally to mean physically following someone or some trail...?

What about "je m'ai confondu"?

Or you can just say Hêêê???

j'sus natif en espagnol mais je peux parler en cefran et confus ça me suis rendu compte comme en espagnol "'confundido" on l'utilise seulement par les emotions ... comment tu te sens

Je suis confus means I am embarassed.

Quand je séjourne chez mes hôtes anglais AirBnB près d' Angoulème (France) j'ai un petit message d'accueil : "Monsieur J., c'est ravi de vous revoir" . c'est mignon mais, comment dire ? c'est mal formulé .....

Allez en francais familier: je comprend pas = j'entrave que dalle! je bite rien ! je pige pas un cake! la on rentre dans le Dark French bon courage!

I know this is random but can someone tell me if it’s become more popular to say « Je suis excité » i have some friends that say that to mean they are excited/content.. i also heard this in a school podcast.. but when I learned French 6 years ago my professor told me that this ways naughty to say.. any French input here please? Car je suis perdu la

Je suis confus = je suis désolé , excusez moi ! Il est confus = il n'est pas clair... 2 sens différents de confus !!

Are you a native French speaker? Because your English is as native as it could be!

Je suis obfusqué.

Are you a gamer ?

'Rendre perdu " doesn't exist.

Les Français parlent plus dynamiquement que les parleurs anglais. Ils ont fait où nous sommes. C'est l'état contre l'action. Au moins c'est l'apparence. bonjour.

It's confus, not connefus. It's also tout le monde, not tout le minnede.

If you are going to make a video on how to say "confused" in French, it is not a good idea to say you do not know if "confus" means something else or is just not commonly used. Do your homework.

Je suis fucked.

I suppose you’re not a French teacher but just a KZfaqr who happens to blog about the French language. Regardless, you could have made the effort of looking up confus in a rectangular object known as a dictionary. It means embarrassed and sorry. Je suis confus means I am so sorry. However confus can mean blurred, disorderly, confusing, if applied to an object. Get a dictionary!

About “prendre qqn. pour qqn.” - we actually *can* say “take [someone] for [someone else]” in English, just it’s usually only said directly to the person you mistook (usually in surprise): “oh, I took you for Jessica!” to mean “oh, I thought you were Jessica.” 🥸 Alternatively, we also see it in more figurative phrases like “I took you for a man of your word” where the [somebody else] is replaced with the type of character you thought they possessed. 🤗