Misunderstandings, colloquialisms, wrong words and false friends: 14

 

We could drive to the airport, or eventually, we could take a taxi so we don’t have to leave the car there.

 

Another excellent example of a false friend which, surprisingly, passed me by as Polish students everywhere used it, but not for the meaning intended.

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Ewentualnie in Polish means possibly, but in English the adverb is used to mean ‘in the end’: We could drive to the airport and leave the car there, but we’ll eventually get huge parking bills. Everything comes to an end eventually. If you keep practising, you’ll eventually do it!

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So our speaker should have explained that they could drive to the airport, but we could possibly take a taxi or, more naturally, we could drive to the airport but it may be a better idea to take a taxi so we don’t have to leave the car there.

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