Person and family

These are the words a form asks for and the words an introduction needs. Two of them sit oddly next to each other. Le mari is the husband and nothing else, and l'homme is the man and nothing else — but la femme is both the woman and the wife, and only the sentence says which: sa femme travaille ici is his wife, cette femme travaille ici is that woman. English keeps two clean pairs, man and husband, woman and wife. French kept a pair on the husband's side and let one word do both jobs on the other, which is a small piece of history sitting in the middle of a beginner's list. In careful writing you will see mon épouse for « my wife » to avoid it.