What does mentir in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word mentir in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use mentir in French.

The word mentir in French means lie, lie, be misleading, be deceptive, fool yourself, be a born liar, lie through your teeth, lie by omission, not lie to yourself. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word mentir

lie

verbe transitif indirect (dire des choses fausses)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
Le journal ment sur le déroulement de cet accident.
The newspaper is lying about how the accident happened.

lie

verbe intransitif (dissimuler la vérité)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
Le chauffeur a menti en racontant l'accident.
The driver lied when he described the accident.

be misleading, be deceptive

verbe intransitif (tromper)

Attention, les apparences peuvent mentir.
Be careful, appearances can be deceptive.

fool yourself

verbe pronominal (nier, se convaincre d'autre chose)

(transitive verb and reflexive pronoun: Transitive verb with reflexive pronoun--for example, "Enjoy yourself." "They behaved themselves.")
Il se ment s'il pense qu'il peut réussir son examen sans réviser.
He is fooling himself if he thinks he can pass his exam without reviewing.

be a born liar

locution verbale (mentir facilement et souvent)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

lie through your teeth

locution verbale (mentir très facilement)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Je ne te crois pas. Tu mens comme un arracheur de dents !

lie by omission

locution verbale (taire une information importante)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

not lie to yourself

locution verbale (être lucide)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Ne nous mentons pas, ce ne sera pas une partie de plaisir.

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So now that you know more about the meaning of mentir in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

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French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.