Toga! Toga!

When it comes to things being the same, in France they're not actually the same...?

If both routes take twenty minutes to get to the destination, then we would say, when asked which is faster, that they are the same.

While driving, I ask, "Isn't that the red car we saw earlier?" then you would say, "Yeah, it's the same one."

But! Where we use 'the same' in both instances, in French there are two words: même, like we learned in French 1, and pareil, that one word that is used (I believe) more than même but that I never learned.

Think of même as the literal same: you're referring to one object in multiple instances.

"C'est où la vouiture que t'as détruit l'année dernière ?"
"Ben, c'est celle-là."
"Ah bon? C'est une voiture differente !"
"Non non, c'est la même; je l'ai reparé."
=
"Where's the car you destroyed last year?"
"Um, it's right there."
"Really? That's a different car!"
"No, it's the same one; I repaired it."

Pareil is used when two different things are so similar they have practically or absolutely no differences.

"Quelle route est plus longue ?"
"Elles sont pareilles."
=
"Which route is longer?"
"They're the same."

Eventually, you'll get used to differentiating between the two, and things like calling twins "la même" will start sounding wrong!