In 1066, the Norman king William the Conqueror conquered the British Isles and translate english to french, and over time, the Anglo-Saxon and French languages merged. To quickly memorize English words of French origin, you need to be aware that their nature is somewhat different from the nature of Latin (and Russian) words.
First of all, French words often do not belong to any one part of speech if they are used without context. In this they are similar to such Russian words as “flow” or “furnace”. Out of context, it is impossible to tell whether they are nouns (there is a leak in the hold, the oven is cold) or infinitives of the verb (the faucet continues to flow, it’s time to bake pies).
The situation is similar with such words as, for example, measure, treasure, pleasure. They can be used as nouns: the measure of weight – a measure of weight, you are my treasure – you are my treasure, to give pleasure to smb. – to please someone. But they can also be used as verbs: to measure the board – measure the board, I treasure you – I don’t have a soul in you (I treat you like a treasure), to pleasure smb. with a gift – to give someone pleasure with a gift.
In addition, French words usually have a broader meaning than Latin words and can be translated in several different ways. For example, measure as a noun is both a measure, and a measure, and a size, and a measurement, and an event, and a musical beat, etc. As the verb measure, it is both to measure, and to measure, and to evaluate, to correlate, and to have a size, etc.
Finally, French words in the English language are much less likely to accept prefixes and suffixes than Latin ones. From measure, only measurement (measurement, abstract noun) and measurer (one who measures) can be formed, from treasure – only treasury (treasury), from pleasure – only pleasurable (pleasant, able to give pleasure).
Thus, the best way to memorize words of French origin and traslate french to english is to memorize them in short contexts, i.e. in phrases. Instead of trying to remember, for example, measure, you need to memorize phrases like Chamber of measures and weights, a suit made to measure, the measure of success (measure of success), to take measures against smth. (take action against something).
Words of French origin – an easy way to remember