MORE French Expressions & Slang
Need more French expressions and slang to sound more fluent?
These useful French expressions, words and slang are probably skipped in French class. We compiled a SECOND list of colloquial words you’ll hear in France. You can sprinkle them into your conversations to sound more fluent or smile to yourself when you hear your French friends use these words.
I gathered these words during my time interacting with French natives. Some piqued my interest while others I knew would be helpful to French learners.
Here’s the first list of 25 words if you missed it.
Let’s get started! Allez, c’est parti !
Ça me Soule
If you’re the type of person who’s running late to work and you can’t find parking, this is the perfect expression for you to yell.
« Ça me soule !! Ohhh ça me soule ! »
It means something is getting on your nerves or that you’re fed up.
Laisse Tomber
A French speaker spends a few minutes telling you something, but you still have that confused look on your face? They may get frustrated and utter:
« Bah laisse tomber ! »
It means, forget it, forget about it, or fugetaboutit when you’re from NYC.
This French expression is useful when you don’t feel like explaining something again or you want to quickly change the discussion.
Une Clope
It’s 3AM and you’re at an awesome bar or club. Out of the blue, an attractive Frenchie approaches you – maybe the one you were eying down all night. Your heart skips a beat. He or she smiles and asks:
« T’as une clope ? »
“A.. a what? No, I don’t have any of… those… uh, cl – clups ?” you think to yourself.
« T’as un feu ? »
Une clope is just standard terminology for cigarettes. Funny story, the word used to be masculine but has switched over to the feminine form today. If you smoke, you should know the word and even if you don’t smoke, you should know the word because a good amount of French people still smoke. Smoking rooms in night clubs are popular.
Choper
Choper is a nifty slang verb used to mean to pick up or pull something. I often see it used in the familiar context of picking up a guy or a girl after a night out.
Attaquer
Pacifists beware. It’s hard to say “I’m going to attack this salad” in English without sounding like a weirdo. In France, that statement is perfectly fine. In fact, you can attack a myriad of things in French without being sentenced for assault! So while the verb attaquer isn’t necessarily slang, the alternative meaning is that you’re about to start doing an activity.
When you think about it, we use a similar construction in English. You can say you’re going to go “tackle” some work – figuratively of course.
Vite Fait
I hear this all the time in France. When you do something “vite fait” it means to do it quickly or without hesitation.
« Il a fermé la porte vite fait. »
Cul Sec !
This word literally translates to “dry ass” in French, but hidden behind the seemly vulgar meaning is sheer encouragement. When you fill your buddy’s shot glass full of Jack, look him straight in the eyes, clink your glasses and then down your liquor in one fell swoop – that, my friends, is a cul sec. As Lil Jon and LMFAO would say, more obnoxiously, “SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS.”
I may have had a few of those while writing this article, so if you see any typos, you now know why.
Impeccable
This is slang 101 in French. Impeccable is how the younger crowd says “perfect.” If your order comes out to 12,56€ and you pay it to the cent, the cashier may likely say this. Likewise you can use this phrase to confirm that 22h00 is fine. It’s a one and done type of deal. Impeccable.
For all those with bad pronunciation, this French word sounds like, um-peck-ab. You should not pronounce the “le” at the end. You could also shorten the word and simply say “impec”.
C’est Chelou (louche)
Chelou is the verlan form of louche, which means strange or weird. It could be used to describe dodgy or shifty characters.
« Il est trop chelou ce type. »
Aïe !
Stub your toe? Bump your elbow into something? Fall down the stairs? Take a bullet to the chest? While your native English-speaking instinct would be to cry out “OWWW!!!” keep in mind you’ve just given yourself away. In France, we yell “aïe!” when in pain. We pronounce this word like the letter “I”.
« Aïe Fabrice ! Ça fait mal, puuuttttaaaaiiiinnnnn. »
Un flingue
Oftentimes heard in action movies, un flingue is another way of saying “a gun”. You probably won’t have to use this word, but it helps to know if someone yells “GET DOWN HE’S GOT A GUN!”
Look at that, we save lives here at FrenchCrazy.
Un Truc de Ouf
Ouf is not a real word but rather the inversion of the letters “fou” which means “crazy”. This expression can be pronounced either as: trook dewf /OR/ trook duh ewf.
« Ça c’est un truc d’ouf qoui. »
Acceptable alternatives: truc de fou or truc de malade.
Les Flic / Les Poulets
With all the recent anti-cop sentiments in the U.S.A, here’s a word that might be useful to my American brethren. Les flics is essentially the word “cop” in French. Don’t worry though, the cops are decent here in France.
Remember verlan? When you inverse the sounds in the word flic, we get “keuf”. This French word also means cop. Mind blown, I know.
Poulet is more pejorative. It’s almost like using the word “pig” in English, so be careful about using this to an police officer’s face.
Fric
Dough, moolah, cash… fric (pronounced: freek) is a French slang word that means “money”.
« Ouais il a beaucoup de fric, lui. »
Piger
Piger is a French verb used as a slang substitute for the verb comprendre (to understand).
Ça craint !
When you want to say that something sucks, you use ça craint! A decent alternative to the overused adjective, nul.
Arriver
When someones says « non, mais j’arrive pas » it means that they’re unable to do something. You try and try again but still can’t manage the task.
This is the term you scream to your friend when you try to back into that parking space for the 3rd time. This is also what I hear when I tutor French kids and they can’t pronounce a pesky English word.
Arriver is also the verb you use to say “I’m coming!” when moving from point A to point B. You don’t say “je viens” but rather j’arrive.
Dalle / J’ai la dalle
Dalle (pronounced d-ahl) is an alternative way to say “nothing” in French. When two French cops are frustrated that the suspect has a solid alibi, you may hear them say:
« On a QUE dalle sur lui. »
We have nothing on him. This is a similar expression to “On n’a rien sur lui.” Thanks to the many readers who noticed I forgot the “QUE” above!
One cool thing to do with dalle is to combine this French expression and say:
« J’ai la dalle. »
That means you’re hungry. It’s an equivalent to the elementary French expression « j’ai faim » and you’ll hear it sometimes.
File !
When you want somebody out of your office without wasting energy using multiple words then file (pronounced: feee-l) is what you need. It loosely translates to “get out” and is a less bashful alternative to va t’en.
Carrément
Carrément is used to say “right” or “dead on”. It’s kind of like tout à fait, franchment, or complètement.
Pinard / Picquette
These French words are used to describe low quality wines. A user on Reddit also mentioned that “vinasse” can be used as a synonym here too.
A VOX video, however, shows that price heavily influences our perception of wine.
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Want to learn more types of French slang? Check out this post on French Slang (Verlan) as well as this one on French Texting Slang/Abbreviations.
There you have it, 50 total French expressions and slang words you don’t (typically) learn in French class.
Comme une personne française, je trouvé c’est trop amusant!
😄
How do you say what’s the move in french
Attention: Tu as DU feu et non tu as UN feu :-)
Elisabeth, coach in foreign language French
No attention necessary, both phrases work.
John Elkhoury & the few French natives who also edit/review these articles
Hey can you explain again the meaning of cul sec? I don’t get it lol 😅
It.s when somebody as to drink a shot but they need a little bit of encouragement, usually their friends would be « CUL SEC ! CUL SEC » it’s like « TAKE A SHOT ! » but in this case the person is already taking a shot but they need encouragement or they have to drink it fast, for fun. I hope that it help !
drink in one go!
Impec!
Please, share more useful expressions! I love to learn more slangs! Thank you
Have you noticed how when waiters say “J’arrive !” they are always rushing in the opposite direction?
As a french person, I find this funny
Carrément !
Hi sorry for the random reply. What does packtose mean? Not even sure how to spell it.
I remember I time I was at a water park in Orlando and I overheard a French father tell his kids”On va attaquer l’eau!” I would have never thought up that expression on my own. I would have said – “On va jouer dans l’eau.” “On va aller a l’eau” or “on va nager”. Thanks for sharing. Now I know I can “attaquer” just about anything.
-Anne
Yes Anne it’s a real nifty verb! Thanks for your comment :)
I live in the midi where French as we know it is not necessarily spoken.
It is the custom when a group of neighbours, chatting at the roadside, breaks up for someone to say ‘allez’. To me this is the imperative and as an English speaker a little impolite. Why don’t they say ‘allons’? Is this midi dialect or normal French?
This is normal French. “Allez” in this case is shorthand for “Allez, on y va.” It’s just another way to end an interaction and it’s not meant to be impolite.
You wouldn’t say “Allons.”
“allez” has also the meaning ‘unbelivable” Allez, c’est incroyhable” When someone tells you a story that is unbelievable, you may exlaim : Allez, allez!
About “dalle” it’s better to write: “On a que dalle sur lui” that means “On n’a rien sur lui.”
We say “On n’a que dalle sur lui” : il means “we have nothing’ : dont’ forgot the ‘Que” before “dalle” in this way;
Hello I’m trying to find the translation in French for ” small and sweet ” , could you help ?
Good article, worth sharing with students. Thank you.
I remember hearing « T’as du feu ? » for “Do you have a light?”
And “J’ai que dalle!” for having nothing, empty pockets, etc. ;-)
you should write “on a que dalle sur lui”
the rigt expression is que dalle (abbreviation “queud” ) which means nothing
j’entrave que dalle : I don’t understand
For dalle, i think you missed the word “que”. We use to say “on a QUE dalle sur lui” that means we have nothing about it. Les poulets like to say that!
And for “truc de ouf” you can also add “truc de dingue” it’s another alternative.
Very funny article!
And.. You may not pronounce the LE at then of impeccable but you slightly hear the “l”. Also, young people may shorten impeccable to impec!
(Also John you should say “On a que dalle sur lui” ;) )
Thanks Guillaume, yes I changed it now!
Hélène : Dalle is totally correct as in the expression : Il y a que dalle ici. (there is nothing here)
Tu sais faire que dalle (you don’t know how to do anything)
Il n’y a que dalle ici = There is only nothing here.
Tu ne sais faire que dalle = You don’t know how to do anything.
Tu ne sais faire que dalle = You know how to do only nothing.
Not 100% agree with Helene about “dalle”. “dalle” became “que dalle” or queudalle” and it means nothing.
One last thing , “choper” can often be used in verlan , ” pécho”
” qu’est-ce que tu as pécho la nuit dernière ?”
“j’ai pécho queudalle …”
Enjoy !
Un flingue, not “un flange”. Also, I have never heard “dalle” meaning “nothing. Only “j’ai la dalle” (I am hungry)
Good article though. Really funny :)
Keep it up!
Oops, thanks for spotting that. But I heard “dalle” used as such in a French film whose name escapes me for the moment.
Thank you for your comment :)
Que dalle means nothing ;-)
For dalle you was right but it miss a word for the first meaning. J’ai QUE dalle. I have nothing. You use that a lot to say I have money for examples when someone ask you that in the street (or friend / or when some friend purpose to you an activity but you have money to do it).
You have another expression that a lot of people say : “c’est vraiment la zone ici”.
If you translate it literally that mean “it’s really the zone here”
But that mean this is a boring place / poor interest place / it sucks there.
You can also says “ça craint ici” but i cant mean too, it’s dangerous area.
Would all of these be accepted as normal French in a school essay. *I know Verlan isn’t, but the others. Thanks
Can these slang words and phrases be used in an essay for school, or does it belong only on the tongue? . *I know Verlan cannot, but do the others?.