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French teacher

French teacher

6 1.3
A person who helps students learn French
  • noun
  • /frɛntʃ ˈtiːtʃər/
translation icon : profesor de francés
  • When I visited Paris, I appreciated the language skills my French teacher had taught me.

My mother, we've established over the years is a French teacher, so I realized I could reach out to her.

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Examples

  • I was Julie's French teacher.

  • Isabel Ezrati, the French teacher (and leader of the school's composting efforts), said, "This assignment gets students thinking in French."

    Academic text (2005)
  • I wonder what our French teacher thought when she read it.

    Academic text (2004)
  • My French teacher was some American lady who barely knew how to say hello in French.

    Blog text (3)
  • Our French teacher, Madame Chiakipet.

  • Brittney was the sister of a tattoo artist, but said she hopes to become a French teacher after graduation.

    Academic text (2012)
  • During freshman or sophomore year of high school, our French teacher assigned us the task of writing a short story; nothing special, just a narrative written in French.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Another day, waiting in class for our French teacher to show up, I overheard a sliver of the girl's conversation with a friend at the next desk.

    Academic text (2007)
  • My favorite subject in high school was French, thanks to my inspiring French teacher.

  • After many years of teaching, my French teacher finally retired last summer.

Surface Forms

Morphology

French + teacher

The meaning 'a person who teaches the French language' is directly and transparently composed from 'French' (the language) + 'teacher' (a person who teaches). This attributive noun/adjective pattern (language + teacher) is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English noun modification, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase French teacher is simply two words, French meaning the language of France and teacher meaning someone who 'teaches'. Imagine that person saying 'bonjour' and pointing to a map of France. That's why the phrase means 'a person who teaches the French language'.