français · B2 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Business and economic change
Discuss revenue, costs, hiring, investment, and market pressure precisely.
Understand the choice
Business vocabulary should distinguish money entering a company from what remains after costs. Chiffre d’affaires is revenue; bénéfice is profit. Growth, investment, recruitment, and competition describe different parts of the strategy.
Core rule: Réaliser un bénéfice, réduire les coûts, investir dans, embaucher du personnel, and gagner des parts de marché are standard combinations.
Notice it in context
Malgré la hausse des coûts, l’entreprise prévoit d’investir et d’embaucher.
Despite rising costs, the company plans to invest and hire.
Malgré takes the noun hausse; prévoit de coordinates two infinitives, investir and embaucher.
Le chiffre d’affaires progresse, mais le bénéfice diminue.
Revenue is rising, but profit is falling.
The contrast distinguishes total sales from the remaining profit.
La concurrence pousse l’entreprise à réduire ses coûts.
Competition pushes the company to reduce its costs.
Concurrence is the pressure; réduire les coûts is the response.
What to remember
- Société and entreprise can both mean company; société also means society.
- Marché can mean a market, contract, or outdoor market depending on the field.
Common trap: Do not translate chiffre d’affaires as business figure without context; it specifically refers to revenue or turnover.