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French Expression
| Meaning | by the way, get to the point, informed | |
| Literally | to the fact | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[oh feht] |
| IPA | [o fɛt] | |
Usage notes: In French, the expression au fait is most often an interjection meaning "by the way":
Par exemple…
| Au fait, tu savais que le resto fait faillite ? | By the way, did you know that the restaurant is going bankrupt? | |
| Bonjour Christine. Au fait, ton frère m’a invité à dîner ce soir. | Hello Christine. By the way, your brother invited me to have dinner tonight. |
Another meaning of au fait is “get to the point”:
| Au fait ! | Get to the point (already)! | |
| Il est allé droit au fait. | He got straight to the point. |
Au fait de means "informed about" or "conversant with" (though it’s less common than au courant de):
| Tout le monde est au fait de cette législation ? | Everyone is conversant with this legislation? | |
| Il m’a mis au fait de l’affaire. | He informed me of the facts of the matter. |
When au fait is used in English, it has the final meaning:
I’m not really au fait with this topic.
Note: Though it looks similar, the expression en fait has an entirely different meaning.
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