INFORMAL WAYS OF SPEAKING
Similar to the reduced forms in English (wanna, gonna, doncha, etc.), there are several informal ways of speaking in French. You will hear these forms very often, but you do not have to speak this way if you don't want to. However, you must be able to understand reduced forms in order to understand real spoken French. You may see these forms in informal written French (such as on blogs or in chat rooms), but you should still write the formal way.
- Tu + verb beginning with a vowel
The most common contractions with tu aret'asandt'es, which replacetu asandtu es. You can also contract tu + other verbs thatbeginwith a vowel, such ast'aimesort'ouvres, which replace tu aimes and tu ouvres.
T'as fini de manger ?Have you finished eating?
T'es fatigué ou quoi ?Are you tired or what?
T'as beau essayer, t'y arrives pas.No matter how much you try, you won't succeed.
T'as rien compris ! Laisse-moi t'expliquer.You didn't understand! Let me explain it to you.
- Unstressed e
Thelettere is often dropped between two consonants (e caduc) if it is unstressed, such as insamedi, and also at the end of short words, such asce, de, je, le, me, que, se, te. It's also common in future and conditional tenses of verbs: donnerai = donn'rai; aimerais = aim'rais
Il s'lève de bonne heure.He gets up early.
C'est c'que je veux.That's what I want.
Faut que j'parte maintenant.I have to leave now.
Avec ce travail, je ne manqu'rai pas d'argent.With this job, I won't lack money.
- Reduced forms:il(s), elle(s), puis, parce que, quelque
The pronouns il and ils reduce to y, while elle and elles reduce to è when followed by a consonant. When followed by a vowel, il and elle reduce to l' whereas ils becomes y z' or just z' and elles becomes è'z'. The word puis is more commonly pronounced pis, parce que is pronounced pasque, and quelque is pronounced quèque.
Y pense qu'elle l'aime, mais c'est pas le cas.He thinks that she loves him, but that's not the case.
On va aller au restaurant, et pis après on se fera un ciné.We'll go to the restaurant, and then after we'll go to the movies.
Pourquoi tu dois m'obéir ? Pasque je suis ton père !Why must you obey me? Because I'm your father!
Y a quèque chose la-dessous ! Regarde voir !There's something down there! Look!
- Use on instead of nous
The pronounonis used much more often to meanwethannous. It always take the third personsingularform of the verb even though it's always plural in English.
On peut y aller ? Tout le monde est là ?Can we go ? Is everybody here ?
C'est pasqu'on est frères que je te faisconfiance.It's because we are brothers that I trust you.
Pourrait-on accélérer ? On va pas assez vite !Could we speed it up? We're not going fast enough!
- Drop ne in negatives
Although thenein negatives should always be written, it is very rarely used in informal speech.
Ça va pas ! C'est nul !That doesn't work! That's stupid!
Si tu veux pas voir ce film, lequel veux-tu voir ?If you don't want to see this movie, which one do you want to see?
Je peux pas m'acheter cette voiture. C'est pas possible.I can't buy myself this car. It's not possible.
- Drop -re at end of words
You usually do not pronounce -re at the end of a word, whether it's a verb (mettre) or adjective (notre).
Allez, à bientôt ! A un de ces quat' !See you soon one of these days!
C'est pas vot' problème, c'est not' problème.It's not your problem, it's our problem.
Y faut pas êt' si bête.You shouldn't be so stupid.
- Word order in questions
Word order in questions is less difficult to master in informal spoken French.Inversionandest-ce queare generally not used, and word order is simply subject - verb - question word OR question word - subject - verb.
Tu fais quoi ?What are you doing?
On va où ?Where are we going?
Il parle de quoi ?What's he talking about?
Pourquoi t'as dit ça ?Why did you say that?
Quand elle va arriver ?When is she going to arrive?
Quelle heure il est ?What time is it?
In addition, ça frequently follows an interrogative to add emphasis, such as inqui ça ?orc'est quoi, ça ?
- Forget grammatical rules
Sometimes you can forget thegrammar rulesthat you have learned when speaking informally. An example of this is usingàto show possession (in grammatically correct French, you should usede).
On est dans la chambre à Cyril.We are in Cyril's room.
Another example is using(r)amenerto meanto bring things (back) to some place. In grammatically correct French, you should only use(r)amenerwith people, and(r)apporterwith things.
J'ai ramené les livres à la médiathèque.I brought the books back to the library.
FILLERS IN SPEECH
Fillers in speech are words that don't add any real meaning to the sentence, except for maybe emphasis. Examples in English includeuh, um, well, I mean, I guess, you know?, so, ok,etc. You should get used to just ignoring these words when you hear them, so that you can focus on the key words in the sentence.
- Quoiis the most common filler that I hear in everyday speech. It can be used to add emphasis to emotions or thoughts or to show impatience. It is usually said at the very end of the sentence.
- Voilàis often used with quoi at the end of the sentence.
- A lalimiteis mostly used by young people, and can be translated asI supposeorI mean.
- Tu vois ?is the closest approximation foryou know?
- Bonbegins or ends a thought, similar took. It also can express anger or impatience, similar tofine! (Ah, bon ?actually means "really?" and not "good.")
- Ben(pronounced liked bain) adds emphasis to questions, statements, commands and yes or no.
- Bon benis used to wrap up a thought or conversation. Translated asokorwell.
- Doncemphasizes a question or command.
- Alorsemphasizes an interjection and yes or no.
- Moiis commonly added to commands involving the senses. The closesttranslationin English is "just."Regarde-moi-ça !Just look at that!
- Eh bienmeanswell...at the beginning of a sentence or thought.[not recorded yet]
- Hein ?is similar toeh?at the end of a sentence.
- Euh... is the filler equivalent touhorumwhen you're thinking of what to say next.
- Voyons...is similar to let's see.
INTERJECTIONS
Aïe ! / Ouïe ! / Ouille !Ouch !
Beurk ! Berk !Yuck!
Boum !Boom! Bang!
Chiche !I dare you! Go ahead!
Chut !Shush! Be quiet!
Gla gla!Brrrrrrr!
Ho ! / Hé !Wow! or Hey!
Holà !Hey! Whoa!
Hop là !Got it! There ya go! Whoopsie-daisy!
Merde !Shit! [not as strong as in English] / Break a leg!
Miam miam !Yum yum!
Mince ! / Zut !Darn! Dang it!
Ouf !Phew!
Oups !Oops!
Pan !Bang!
Putain ![the generalall-purpose swear word in French]
Toc, toc !Knock knock!
Vlan !Slam!
Youpi !Yay!
RECOGNIZINGFRENCH SLANG WORDS
Several suffixes are commonly used to form slang words from regular words. This may help you determine the meaning of the slang word, which you probably cannot find in a dictionary, by identifying the root word, which you can find in a dictionary. For example,folleis a regular adjective meaning crazy.Follasseis the slang word derived from the adjective that means crazy woman.
- aille (r) / - ard / - arès / - asse / - ace / - oche- os / - osse / - ouille / - ouse / - ouze / - uche
COMMON EXPRESSIONS
Je n'en reviens pas- I can't believe it
C'est du gâteau !- It's a piece of cake!
Revenons à nos moutons- Let's get back to the subject
Ça saute aux yeux- That's obvious
C'est dans la poche- It's a sure thing
Quand les poules auront des dents- When pigs fly
Ça ne tourne pas rond- Something's wrong
C'est pas vrai !- You're kidding!
Ce n'est pas la mer à boire- It's not the end of the world
C'est pas sorcier- It's not rocket science
Je vais jeter un œil- I'll take a look
Ça n'a rien à voir avec... - That has nothing to do with...
Ça vaut le coup- It's worth it
On voit que dalle- You can't see anything
Ça va être chaud !It's going to be tough!
Tu dois me tirer de là !- You gotta help me out!
Ç'est parti !Here we go / we're off !
Ça gaze ?How are things? What's up?
Oh purée !Oh my goodness!
Ça fait un bail !It's been a long time !
Ça craint ! / C'est nul !- That sucks!
Fais voir- Show me / Let me see
Je suis prems !- I'm first!
Rien que d’en parler...- Just talking about it...
If you can't remember the name of a thing, you can usece truc, ce machin, ce biduleorcet enginsimilarly to the Englishthingy, thingamajig, whatchamacallit, etc.
What's-his-nameisMonsieur Untelandwhat's-her-nameisMadame Unetelle. You can also useMachinbut it has a more derogative meaning, as if you are saying the person is merely an object.
COMMON VERBS
balancer- to throw (away)
en baver- to have a hard time
bosser- to work
bouffer- to eat
bourrer -to stuff, cram
bousiller- to break, damage
chialer- to cry
chopper- to get, to catch
débarquer- to arrive without notice
dégoter- to find, come up with, dig up
encarrer- to enter
engueuler- to yell
épater / scier- to astonish, surprise
être à deux doigts(de faire quelque chose) - to be on the verge (of doing something)
être à la bourre- to be in a hurry
être à mourir d'ennui- to be very boring
faire gaffe- be careful, pay attention
farfouiller- to rummage
filer- to give, hand over
filer à l'anglaise- to leave without saying goodbye / to take a French leave
flipper- to go crazy, flip out
fourrer- to cram, stick, shove
foutre- to put, throw / to give / to do
foutre le bordel- to make a mess, cause chaos
gaver- to be sick of
gerber- to puke
gober- to believe naively / to fall for
gonfler- to annoy
louper- to miss
mater / zieuter- to look
papoter- to chatter, gossip
paumer- to lose
piger- to understand
piquer- to steal
planquer- to hide
poireauter- to wait
repêcher- to find
rigoler / se marrer- to laugh
roupiller- to sleep
schlinguer- to stink
se planter- to make a mistake
se pointer / radiner- to show up
se tirer / se barrer / se casser- to leave
vadrouiller- to rove around
THE VERBFOUTRE
This slang verb has several meanings in French: to put, to give, to do, etc. It is conjugated thus:fous - fous - fout - foutons - foutez - foutent. The pronominal verbs'en foutremeans to not care, while the adjectivefoutu(e)usually means screwed/screwed up.Ficheis a milder verb that is very common too. It is conjugated:fiche - fiches - fiche - fichons - fichez - fichentand the past participle isfichu(e).
Je m'en fous / Je m'en fiche.I don't care.
Qu'est-ce qu'il fout là-bas ?What's he doing over there? / What the hell is he doing over there??
J'en ai rien à foutre.I don't care. [stronger] / I don't give a damn.
Je m'en fous de tes problèmes.I don't care about your problems.
Tu t'en fous de ce que les autres pensent.You don't care about what others think.
On s'en fout du foot !We don't care about soccer!
Ils s'en foutent des jeunes.They don't care about young people.
Fous-moi la paix !Leave me alone! / Give me a break!
Fous le camp !F you!
Va te faire foutre !Go to hell!
The adjective foutu does not always have a negative connotation, however:
un mec bien foutua well-built/muscular guy
COMMON ADJECTIVES
bidon- phoney, fake
chapeau- bravo, hats off!
chelou- shady, suspicious
chiant- annoying
collant- clingy
cradingue/crado- filthy
débile- pathetic, stupid
dégueulasse- disgusting
déjanté- oddball
dingue / cinglé / timbré/givré / barjo / loufoque- crazy
farfelu- eccentric
futé- cunning, crafty, sly
génial / chouette- great
godiche- silly, awkward
gratos- free
impec- great, terrific
kif-kif- same difference; it's the same
mal barré / mal foutu- "in dire straits" / screwed
marrant / rigolo- funny
moche- ugly
nickel- very clean
nunuche- silly, stupid
pas terrible- not good
radin- cheap
roublard- devious, cunning
salé- expensive
sympa- nice, likable
vache- mean
zinzin- nuts
COMMON INTENSIFIERS / ADVERBS
carrément- completely
rudement- very, terribly
pas mal de/un paquet de- a lot of
super / mega / hyper- very, ultra
vachement- very, really
foutrement- extremely
Oh la vache !- Oh wow!
espèce de +adjectif- stupid + adjective
adjectif+ de chez +adjectif- really, completely + adjective
→ Ce livre est nul de chez nul.This book majorly sucks.
nom+ de malheur -darned + noun
nom+ d'enfer- really good + noun
VERLAN
Verlan is a popular form of slang that involves reversing the syllables in regular words.
mère -reum
père -reup
femme -meuf
mec -keum
fête -teuf
flic -keuf
louche -chelou
cher -reuch
énervé -vénère
boudin -doubin
capote -poteca
toi -ouat
moi -ouam
HEALTH & BODY
babines(f) - lips
barbouze(f) - beard
bide / bidon(m) - belly
→ Mon chat a un bide énorme !My cat has a huge belly!
caillou / ciboulot(m) - head
carcasse(f) - body
couille/ roubignole(f) - testicle
esgourdes(f) - ears
gueule(f) /bec(m) - mouth
→Ferme ta gueule !Shut up!
jambons / gigots(m) - thighs
mirettes(f) - eyes
nichons(m) - breasts
palpitant/battant(m) - heart
paluche/pince(f) - hand
panard/ripaton(m) - foot
patte / gambette / guibole/ quille(f) - leg
pif / blair(m) - nose
riquiqui(m) - pinkie finger
tifs(m) - hair
tignasse(f) - mop of hair
→ J’ai une tignasse frisée qui m’arrive en bas du dos.I have curly hair that goes all the way down my back.
tronche(f) - face, head
se casser la gueule- to break one's neck
passer sur le billard- to have an operation
avoir la pêche/la patate- to be on top of the world, to feel good
avoir mal au cœur- to feel nauseated / to feel like vomiting
gerber / dégueuler- to puke
crever / clamser- to die (figuratively), to "croak"
avoir mauvaise / bonne mine- to look bad / good
être maigre comme un clou- to be really skinny
attraper la crève- to catch a terrible cold
tomber dans les pommes / les vapes- to pass out
requinquer- to perk up
se débarbouiller- to wash your face
à l'article de la mort- at death's door
bien roulée- good body
mal fichu- sick
l'hosto [l'hôpital]- hospital
EMOTIONS & PERSONALITY
crevé / lessivé / nase / mort/cassé / vanné / HS [hors-service]- really tired, exhausted
avoir le cafard / le blues / le spleen- to be sad, depressed
être de mauvais poil- to be in a bad mood
en avoir marre / en avoir ras-le-bol/ en avoir soupé- to be fed up, angry
→ J'en ai marre de ces pubs !I'm so sick of these ads!
avoir les boules / les glandes / les nerfs / la haine- to be really angry
raffoler de quelque chose- to be crazy about something
être accro à quelque chose- to be addicted to something
avoir le mal du pays- to be homesick
se barber- to get bored
avoir la trouille / la frousse / le trac- to be scared
fiche la trouille / frousse à quelqu'un- to scare somebody
→ C'est la première fois qu'une BD me fiche la frousse.That's the first time a comic book scared me.
déconner- to joke / mess around
se planter- to make a mistake / to fall
péter les plombs/péter un cable- to go crazy
perdre la boule/les pédales- to lose one's mind
s'engueuler/bagarrer- to fight, yell
rififi(m) /bagarre(f) - fight
raclée / saucée / trempe(f) - scolding
filer une baffe / une claque / une beigne à quelqu'un- to slap someone
coller un pain / une mandale / une chataigne / un marron à quelqu'un- to punch someone
coquard(m) - black eye
furax- furious, angry
blairerquelqu'un- to not be able to stand someone
ne pas sentir quelqu'un -to not like, not be able to stand someone
casser les pieds à quelqu'un / prendre la tête à quelqu'un- to annoy someone
être casse-bonbons / casse-pieds / casse-couilles- to be a pain in the neck/ass
cafter quelqu'un- to tell on someone, to snitch
faire du pétard- to make a fuss
→ Il fait du pétard quand les choses ne vont pas comme il veut.He makes a fuss when things aren't how he wants them to be.
rouscailler- to complain
gonflerquelqu'un/emmerderquelqu'un- to get on someone's nerves, be a pain
faire chier quelqu'un- to really annoy someone, to piss someone off
→ Ça me fait chier de refaire une année, puis encore deux années en BTS.That pisses me off to repeat a grade, and then still have two more years of BTS.
monter sur ses grands chevaux- to get angry
se mettre en pétard- to get crabby, angry
se faire de la bile- to get all worked up
en faire toute une salade- to make a big deal about it
taper sur les nerfs à quelqu'un- to get on someone's nerves
chambrer / taquinerquelqu'un- to tease, bother someone
Tu te fous de ma gueule ?- Are you kidding me? / Do you think I'm an idiot?
Tu me prends pour qui ?- Who do you think you're dealing with? / Do you think I'm stupid?
Lâche-moi les baskets !- Give me a break! Leave me alone!
Ce sont pas tes oignons ! / T'occupe !- Mind your own business!
Laisse béton !- Nevermind! Forget it!
Ta gueule ! / La ferme !- Shut up!
avoir la cosse / flemme- to be lazy
avoir un poil dans la main- to be really lazy
avoir la bougeotte- to be fidgety
flemmard / feignant- lazy
glander / glandouiller- to waste time, to bum around
→ Il glande tous les jours chez lui.He does nothing all day at home.
se pavaner- to strut about, show off
frimer- to show off
frimeur(m) - showoff
→ C'est un mec qui a l'air sympathique ; c'est pas un frimeur à ce que je sache !He seems like a nice guy; he's not a showoff as far as I know!
lèche-bottes(f) - suckup, brown-noser
raté(m) - loser
débile / taré- stupid, idiotic
con(m) /conne(f) - idiot
→ "Casse-toi, pauvre con !"Get lost, stupid idiot!- quote from French president, Nicolas Sarkozy
quiche(f) - stupid person
bourrique(m/f) - a blockhead
avoir l'air vaseux- to seem dazed
bête noire(f) - pet peeve
galère(f) - problem, difficulty
donner un coup de main- to give someone a hand / to help someone
dépanner quelqu'un- to do someone a favor
retirer une épine du pied à quelqu'un- to do someone a big favor
pot(m) - luck / drink
bol(m) - luck
→ J'ai vachement de bol, j'ai pas de gosses et j'ai une voiture. I'm really lucky, I don't have kids and I have a car.
guigne / déveine/poisse(f) - bad luck
guignard(e)(m/f) - unlucky person
avoir de la veine- to be lucky
branché- with it, hip, cool
peinard/pénard- calm, tranquil
→ Cette année, c'est pénard, mais l'année prochaine, le bac !This year is calm, but next year is the bac [final exam]!
zen- cool, calm, laid-back
SCHOOL
bahut(m) - school (also truck, taxi)
→Mon bahut est en grève !My school is on strike!
bizut(m) - freshman / pledge (to a fraternity/sorority)
bizutage(m) - hazing
bouquin(m) - book
bûcher / potasser- to study hard, to cram
calé en- good/smart in
cartonner à un examen- to ace an exam
chouchou(m) - teacher's pet
colle(f) - difficult question
coller un élève- to punish a student / give a student detention
→Mon fils est collé deux heures par son prof de math.My son got two hours of detention from his math teacher.
être collé- to have detention
fac(f) - university
piger- to understand, to get (it)
plancher- to be grilled/interrogated by a teacher
potache(m) - student
se faire étendre / coller à un examen- to flunk a test
sécher un cours- to skip class
WEATHER & TIME
cailler- to freeze
cramer- to burn
flotter- to rain
flotte(f) - water
froid de canard- really cold weather
temps de chien- lousy weather
tomber des cordes- to rain heavily, to pour
il pleut comme vache qui pisse- it's pouring / it's really coming down
saucée(f) - shower
se peler les miches- to freeze one's ass off
→Je suis frileuse et je me pèle les miches été comme hiver.I'm always cold and I freeze my ass off in summer like in winter.