French/Appendices/Slang

Appendices

• French authors
• Hints and common errors
• Pronunciation
• Slang
• Typing characters
• Web resources

French

Lessons · Vocabulary · Grammar · Appendices · Texts

Notes on how to use slang

Foreign speakers

It is important to note that, as a foreigner, your use of slang will often be received as cute or funny, depending greatly upon your overall fluency in spoken French. To understand this, think about how it would sound to you if a foreigner—with a strong accent and odd rhythm of speech—came up to you and said "Dude, what a sketchy-ass hater that bizz-natch was, I totally was just like 'fuck off fo-sheezy'". Therefore, no matter how much slang you use in your native language, limiting your use of slang in French (proportionally to your level of fluency) will also limit how much you are patronised and giggled at by native listeners.

Slang: consistency & style

To use slang efficiently, it is important to maintain a consistency of style. Mixing styles might sound like saying: "Thy face, it is quite finely rawkin'".

• Avoid vous unless a plural is necessary.
• Avoid subject-verb inversion in questions. Use rather question formations where there is no inversion or 'est-ce que', only the raised tone at the end of the sentence. When doing this with interrogatives (qui, quand, comment, etc.), place them at the end of the sentence; i.e. "On va bouffer quand ?"

Translating 'fuck'

The English-language term 'fuck' is exceptional as it can serve as noun, verb, adjective, exclamation, and others. There is no such equivalent usage of any word in the French language, apart from 'putain', wich can be used as adjective and exclamation, "That's a fucking good car" = "C'est une putain de bonne voiture". Therefore, the translation of 'fuck' into French depends on the corresponding part of speech.

Examples

noun

"He's a great fuck" = "C'est un bon coup"

"He is such a fuck(er)" = "C'est un pauvre type/enfoiré/enculé/connard/salaud" (insert any insult)

"He's such a fuck-up" = "C'est un pauvre con/un raté/un loser"

verb

sexual: baiser, niquer, coucher avec ; insulting: foutre, enculer

"I fucked up on my French test" = "J'ai foiré/raté mon examen de français"

"I fucked (up) my car" = "J'ai niqué ma bagnole" (bagnole is, itself, quite slang)

"He fucked me over" = "Il m'a planté"

"I fucked your mother/mum/mam/mom" = "J'ai baisé/niqué ta mère"

"Fuck off" = "Va chier!", "Fous le camp", "Dégage !" (see the verb 'Foutre')

"Fuck you"/"Go fuck yourself" = "Va te faire foutre/enculer" or in the plural "Allez vous faire foutre/enculer" The French sometimes drop the "foutre/enculer" as it is generally understood that it is what would follow.

adjective

"This is fucking awful" = "Putain, ça craint"/"C'est bordelique"/"C'est de la merde"

"I am so fucked-up" = "Je suis barré/perché" (mental state); "Je suis totalement bourré(e)" (drunk); "Je suis défoncé(e)" (high[marijuana])

"I don't give a fuck." = "Je m'en fous"

adverb

"I am trying to fucking work here" = "J'essaie de bosser putain"

exclamation

"Fuck!" = "Merde !" ; "Putain !" ; "Bordel !"

n.b.: these can also be compounded in French, i.e., "Putain de merde !" "Putain de bordel de merde" (for stringing these together, see the scene in the film Matrix Reloaded with the Frenchman (Merovingian) in the restaurant)

Glossary

Notes on Pronunciation:
*To feel how R should be pronounced, gargle with water, then try gargling without water.
That is what your throat should be doing when pronouncing the R.
*The U is hardest for English speakers. The back of the throat should be stretched out as if you see
a mouse and are saying "eee!", but the lips should be in a tight circle as if you are saying "ooo".

Audio1 Audio2 Audio3 Audio4

Abruti(e)

n., A retarded person, an idiot

ah-BROO-tee

Accro

n., addict

ack-RO

Ado

n., teen; short for 'adolescent'

AH-doh

Apéro

n., Short for apéritif.

ah-PAIR-roh

Appart'

n., flat or apartment; short for 'appartement'

ah-PARRT

Aprem'

n., Short for après-midi.

ah-PRIm

Bagnole

n., Slang for 'car', 'wheels', 'ride', 'beater', etc.

ban-YOLE

Bahut

n., Slang for 'high school' (formerly for 'factory')

Barj' or Barjot

adj., mad

n., a madman

BARge

BAHR-joe

Bander

v., to become erect, to get a hard-on

BAHN-day

Beh

same as 'Ben'

Ben

interj. for 'well'. often used at the beginning of a phrase, and followed by "ouais" or "non"

Baañ ('baa' like the sound a sheep makes with a nasalized sound at the end)

Bidule

n.m., stuff.

Bite

n., dick

bEEt

Blaireau

n., litt. 'badger', Loser

bl-AIR-roh

Blairer

v., litt. 'to smell'. 'I can't support you', "Je ne peux pas te blairer" or "J'peux pas t'blairer !"

bl-AIR-ray

Le Bled

n., the boondocks

blED

Bof

interj., 'not really', 'i don't like this', 'let me think a while...'

bOf

Boule

n., litt. 'ball'. Mean mainly "balls" (as in testicles). Sometimes "arse"/"ass", as in "J'aime Trop Ton Boule" (I Want Your Ass), a song by French Rapper Fatal Bazooka

Can be a synonym for 'tête', or 'head' in its slang usage; a rough equivalent in English would be 'face' rather than 'head', i.e.:

"Ta boule me manque" = "I miss seeing your sweet face"

bOOL

Bouffer

v., to eat

n., la bouffe, food

BOOF-fay

Bosser

v., to work

boss-SAY

Boulot

n., job

bOOL-oh

Se Branler

v., to masturbate (lit. to wobble, to wank)

suh BRAhn-lay

Ça a été

exp., it went well; also a question "Ta présentation, ça a été ?" = "How'd your presentation go?" ; Answers to this question: "Ouais, ça a été" (Yes, it went well) / "Pas du tout" (Not at all)

saw ah AY-TAY

Caca

n., 'poopoo' (quite infantile language) 'J'ai fait une caca!' = "I've poo-ed myself!"

Câlice

n., Québec only litt. 'chalice'. General swear word.

CAW-liss

Se casser

v., to leave ; 'Casse-toi !' : exp., 'Go away !' (rude)

Chaud lapin

n., Sex maniac (lit. hot rabbit)

show lah-PAÑ

Chier

v., to shit;

Shee-AY

Les Chiottes

n, The loo or the bog

SEE-ott

Chouraver

v, to steal

Cinoche

n., Cinema to see a film

SEE-noh-sh

La cité

n., ghetto

see-TAY

Con (masc.), conne (fem.)

adj., stupid "J'ai été con quand j'ai décidé de sortir" = "I was stupid when I decided to go out"

n., litt. 'cunt' (as used in UK English); "Quel con" = "What an idiot"

exp. "à la con", stupid, in a stupid way. "J'ai cet examen à la con" = "I have this stupid test"

cohÑ

Connerie

nf, 'crap'

Crever

v., to burst or explode; to die, 'to kick the bucket'

adj., crevé(e), exhausted. As in "Je suis crevé(e)" = "I'm exhausted"

n., la crève, a cold, the flu. exp.: "J'ai la crève".

creh-vay

lah crehve

Crever la dalle

I'm starving

Creh-vay la dal

Débile

n. or adj. slang for "stupid"

DAY-beel

Dirlo

n. Colloquial word meaning 'headmaster'.

dear-loh

Enculer

v. To fuck, to bugger.

Equivalent to "fuck in the arse" ("cul"="arse"). Widely used under the form "va te faire enculer" (litt. "go and fuck yourself") which stands for "fuck off".

Esti

n., Québec only litt. 'host'. General swear word.

Also, "enculé" is the participle turned into a substantive, and means "bastard" or "arsehole".

exp. : "enculer des mouches" (litt. "to fuck flies in the arse") means "to nit-pick".

eñ-CU-lay

La fac

n., college or university; short for 'faculté'

fack

Faire chier

exp., to annoy

fer shee-ay

Faire la tête

exp., to pout. Synonyms: 'bouder'(to brood); "faire la gueule".

fer lah tet

Flotte

nf, water

Foutre

n. Sperm.

v. Vulgar equivalent of the verb 'faire'; to do or to make ; to put. Commonly employed in vulgar/familiar expressions such as:

"Va te faire foutre" = "Go get fucked/Go fuck yourself"

"Qu'est-ce que tu fous ?" = "What the hell are you doing?"

"J'ai rien à foutre (ici, avec toi)" = "I have nothing to do (here, with you)"

"J'en ai rien à foutre/battre" = "I don't care"

"Je m'en fous", same as previous, see also 'Battre'

"Où est-ce que je l'ai foutu ?" = "Where did i put that?"

"Qu'est-ce que tu en as foutu ?" = "What did you do with this?", "Where did you put this?"

FOO-truh

Hyper

adj., 'very', 'really' ; "Je suis hyper triste" = "I'm really sad"

EE-pair

Kiffer

v. Colloquial word meaning 'to like' from Arabic noun 'kif' meaning 'cannabis', . Sometimes used under the form faire kiffer, e.g. Tu me fais trop kiffer.

keef-ay

Génial

adj. Colloquial word meaning "genius" (as used in UK English), "great", "brilliant", "sensational" or "awesome"

j-knee-al

Gosse

n.m., Child

Grave

adj. litt. "severe", roughly means "stupid" e.g. "mes parents sont graves" (my parents are stupid)

adv. roughly meaning "a lot" or "really" e.g "je la kiffe grave!" (I really like her). When used with a predicate, it can be placed before or after it. e.g "il est débile grave, lui!" or "il est grave débile, lui!" (he's really stupid)

grah-ve

Gueule

n., slang for 'mouth' or 'face'. It can be used in "Ta gueule!" which can be translated into 'Shut up!'/'Shut your face!'.

gull

Gueuler

v., slang. Means 'to shout'. e.g. 'Arrête de me gueuler dessus' could be translated into 'Stop shouting at me'.

Exists also engueuler, slang for 'to reprimand'.

guh-lay ; oñ-guh-lay

MacDo

Short for MacDonald's.

mack-doh

Machin

n.m., Stuff

Merde

n., excl., translated as 'shit', merde is not seen as vulgar as 'shit'. That is to say, adults use it often, as well as the youth. It can also mean 'rubbish', for example 'Ce repas, c'est de la merde', or 'The meal is crap'

This word has produced the phrase «le mot de cinq lettres», an exact transcribed meaning of the English phase "four-letter word".

maRed / with emphasis or in exclamation: mare-DUH

N'importe quoi

exp., 'whatever'

n., bullshit as in "C'est du n'importe quoi, ce qu'il dit"

nahm-poRt-UH-kwah

Niquer

v. Slang for 'to have sexual intercourse'. Often used in insults such as 'Nique ta mère' (Screw your mother), sometimes reduced to 'Ta mère!'. Metaphorically, slang for 'to break' or 'to be great'.

'Je vais te niquer la gueule (vulgaire)' : je vais me battre contre toi !

e.g. 'Cette porte est niquée.' (This door is out of order.)

'Ce jeu nique tout.' (This game is great.)

NEEK-ay

Osti

n., Québec only litt. 'host'. General swear word. Variant spelling of "esti".

Ouais

'yeah' (as opposed to "oui" = "yes")

waay

PD, Pédé

n., 'fag'/'faggot' (highly offensive)

Piquer

v, to steal, to pick

Putain

n., excl. Roughly equivalent to 'merde' when used as an exclamation. As a name, old form for 'pute' (whore). 'Putain' is the closest equivalent to the English 'bloody Hell'.

pew-tAÑ

S'en battre (les couilles)

exp.,

"Je m'en bats (les couilles)" = "I don't care", see 'foutre'

Super

adj., 'very', 'really' ; "Je suis super content" = "I'm really happy"

soup-air

Tabarnak

n., Québec only litt. 'tabernacle'. General swear word.

ta-barre-nack

Taff

n. work, job, task

taff

Truc

n. Stuff

trew-uhk

Tronche

n. Colloquial word meaning 'face'.

TRon-shuh

Vache

adj., nasty;

Vachement

adv., France, slang. Literally "cowly", vachement is a synonym for "very", and can be translated in some cases for the English adjective 'quite'. For instance - 'Il est vachement idiot' could be translated as 'He is quite stupid'.

Whilst on the subject of 'vache', a popular French phrase is 'la vache!' which, as an exclamation, means 'damn!' or 'darn!'. For example - 'tu as perdu!' could be greeted with 'la vache!' or 'mince!' or other such expressions of discontent.

It can however be used sometimes as an exclamation of surprise or amazement 'la vache! c'est genial ce truc'

vah-shuh; vah-shuh-MAWÑ

'Vas chier !'

interj., 'Fuck off', 'Leave me'

vah-shee-ay

Zigounette

n.f., dick

Zinzin

n. Colloquial word meaning 'mad'.

Zgeg

n.m., dick

Zouz

n.m., Girlfriend or The girl you flirt with "Touche pas à ma zouz" Don't touch my "Zouz"

zoooz

Verlan

Verlan is roughly similar to English Pig Latin, in that certain words are split in half, and the two componenents switch positions, but do not necessarily retain all letters (due to French pronunciation patterns). For example, if you have word [12], in verlan it will become [2-1]. The word verlan is in itself an example of this; it comes from the word l'envers (meaning 'backwards'). Verlan is, unlike Pig Latin, quite commonly used among young adults and even adults. Common verlan expressions include:

Beur ou rebeu

n., A person of Arab descent. from arabe. ('Beur' is so commonly used that it now has its own Verlan form, 'reub').

Chelou

adj., Fishy, shady, suspicious. from louche.

Ienche

n., Dog. from "chien". "Les ienches, ca me fait flipper." (Pronounced "ee-ansh")

Keuf

Policeman (not polite) from flic "Il est chelou ce mec ! j'vais le balancer aux keufs."

Keum

n., man, guy, dude, from mec.

Meuf

n., Woman, chick, girl. from femme.

Ouf

adj., Crazy, ridiculous. from fou. Used commonly in the expression "c'est un truc de ouf" ("that is madness").

Portnawak

see 'n'importe quoi'

Relou

adj., Not funny, difficult, something that sucks. from lourd, heavy. (the d is dropped in Verlan because the final d does not pronounce in lourd).

Ripou

adj., Rotten, awful, gross. from pourri

Ripou = un policier qui commet des actes graves illégaux

pl : des ripoux

Teuf

n., Party. from fête.

Venère

adj., aggravated, angry, pissed off. from enervé(e).

Common chat abbreviations

There are two general guidelines:

• é can be substituted for all homophonic equivalents including "-ais", "-ait", "-es" (such as in the articles les and des), the conjunction "et" (and), and the verb "est" (third person sing. conjugation of être, "to be").
• words that end in a silent -s commonly drop this s: such as pas (pa), and vois (voi).

a+

prep.+adj., à plus, à bientôt, "until later".

biz

n., bisous, "kisses".

c

subj+verb, c'est, "it is".

ct

subj+verb, c'était, "it was"; imparfait (past) conjugation of c'est.

dc

conj., donc, "therefore, so".

dsl

adj., désolé(e), "sorry".

fok

exp., il faut que, "it is necessary".

tfk?

exp., Tu fais quoi?, "What are you doing?"

ke

interr. and relative pronoun, que, "that".

ki

interr. and rel. pron., qui, "that" or "which".

koi

interrogative, quoi, "what"; also seen in pourkoi, "why".

jtm

exp. je t'aime, "I love you"

mdr

exp., mort(e) de rire, "laughing myself to death", (equivalent of lol, laughing out loud).

mé

conj., mais, "but".

pr

prep., pour, "for".

ptdr

exp., peté(e) de rire, "bursting with laughter", (equivalent of lol, laughing out loud). stronger than mdr.

tt

adj., tout(e), "all"; also seen in the expression tout le monde.

nrv

adj. enervé(e), pissed off, angry, aggravated.

Appendices

French authors · Hints and common errors · Pronunciation · Slang · Typing characters · Web resources

French : Lessons · Vocabulary · Grammar · Appendices · Texts