Au fait


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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.