Tom est un donneur de leçons.

Sentence Discussions French
#1
English Translation

Tom is a preacher.

donneur de leçons
je ne veux pas me transformer en donneur de leçons, mais… = I don’t want to lecture you, but…
© Larousse 2014

donneur de leçons (péj) sermonizer (péj)
© Larousse 2025

I had to look up sermonizer in Merriam Webster:
sermonize
intransitive verb
1 : to compose or deliver a sermon
2 : to speak didactically or dogmatically
transitive verb
1 : to preach to or on at length

So it seems that being called « un donneur de leçons » may not be positive or even neutral… Larousse marks it péj, which I read stands for pejorative. I’d be interested to hear from anyone familiar with this term. Would you ever use it in a positive way?

#2

Whenever you see péj next to a word in a French dictionary, you can assume it’s not a nice word.
About “donneur de leçons” specifically, I don’t think it is very commonly used, but when it is, it’s never in a positive way.

I like this example. That’s what “donneur de leçons” means.

There is also “Monsieur je-sais-tout”, which is kind of similar, but I’d say even more rarely used. It may even be considered old-fashioned at this point.

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#3

Thanks yottapolygot. Good to know. It looks neutral in the example, so I’m glad I looked it up and you provided context and detail. thanks so much.

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