Why do I need to know chez?
Because this word is more flexible in its meaning than you might have realised.
What does it mean?
Chez – pronounced shay – is a word you are probably already familiar with. You might see it in front of signs for restaurants both in France (eg Chez Madeleine – Madeleine’s place) and even in anglophone countries looking to make their menus seem a bit more enticing or authentic.
The definition for chez is ‘at the home of’ and typically the word is followed by a noun, often a possessive pronoun or a proper noun – like a name.
For example, you might say ‘my house’ (at my home) or at Alex’s (at Alex’s home), while the French government lockdown slogan was Stay at home (stay at home, using the plural).
However, the word chez is not solely used to describe a physical location, there are in fact three other ways to use it.
It can also be used in the abstract to refer to the viewpoint or ideas among a group of people (eg among the communists). In this sense, the English translation would be ‘for’ or ‘in the case of’ or ‘among.’ You will likely see this usage in French journalism, particularly if groups of people are being compared.
The even more confusing use of the word chezthough, is when French people use it to refer to a specific person, discussing that person’s point of view, perspective, or experience. Imagine a group of colleagues discussing how long a task took each of them. One makes a comment about how long it took the person sitting next to them – they might say “Sarah’s project took fifteen minutes longer than everyone else.”
This person is not saying ‘at Sarah’s house, the project took fifteen minutes longer than for everyone else.’ Instead, they are saying ‘for Sarah’ the project took longer. This usage of chez is typically more familiar and might be used in less formal settings.
The final usage of chez is in the literary sense. If you are referring to an author or body of work, you can use chez to replace ‘in.’ For example, you might say ‘In Shakespeare, metaphors are abundant’ or “In Shakespeare, metaphors abound.”
Use it like this
Do you want to go to my house or yours? – Do you want to go to my house or your house?
Among doctors, burnout becomes a serious problem, people find it difficult to manage stress. – Among doctors, burnout is a major problem. People are struggling to manage stress.
Between the two, I feel like the argument had the biggest impact on Annie. She was really hurt by what he said. – Between the two of them, I think that the argument had the biggest impact on Annie. She was really hurt by what he said.