Words for anything

These are the words that join sentences rather than name things, and they are what separates a beginner from somebody who sounds fluent. Halfway down sit tant pis and tant mieux, next to each other, and they are a matched pair English never built. Both begin with tant, so much: tant mieux is « so much the better » and does survive in English, though it sounds bookish. Tant pis would be « so much the worse » and nobody says that. What French uses it for is the shrug: the shop is shut, tant pis; we will have to walk, tant pis. English reaches for « never mind », « oh well » or « too bad », and none of them is the mirror of « so much the better ». Learn the two together and the pair does the work.