Interjections

It's a fact that the French language can sometimes seem tricky or obscure to foreigners. It's also a fact that the French are very proud of it. Although they may make grammatical mistakes themselves, they always assess a foreign person's command of French by the quality of their grammar and vocabulary. However, communicating with French people doesn't just mean repeating grammar rules tediously. The French spoken language is full of these peculiar words that punctuate every other sentence, one of the most famous being Oh là là ! Here is a list of these interjections that should help you impress your French friends in various situations.

Annoying situations

Aïe ! Ouch ! Pronounced like "eye". Ouïe ! Ouille ! Ouch! Pronounced "oo-y". Just because you've hurt yourself, it doesn't mean you shouldn't vary your expressions. Holà ! Hey! Whoa! As in "Whoa! Hold your horses, be careful, etc." Ouf ! Phew! Sometimes you escape annoying situations, just about. Ouf can also be used in another expression: Je n'ai pas eu le temps de dire ouf. I didn't even have time to catch my breath. Oups ! Oops! Probably comes from its English equivalent, only the spelling has changed. Zut ! (*) Blast! A classic. Although very old and very "proper", zut is still very popular. Merde ! (***) Shit!

Noises

Et toc ! C'est bien fait pour toi ! (*) Serves you right! Toc, toc ! Knock knock! Can also be used in a totally different context as above. Boum ! Boom! Bang! Very handy as it designates heartbeats as well as explosions, slammed doors and many other loud noises. Pan ! Bang! Even French guns have an accent.

Food

Miam miam ! (*) Yum yum! A must in "ze" country of food. Beurk ! Berk ! (*) Yuk! Unfortunately, you may come across terrible food as well.

Handy words that mean nothing

Ho ! 1. Wow! (admiration) 2. Hey! (calling somebody). Amazing how such a small word can express different things. Hé ! Same use as Ho ! Hein ? (*) Eh? What? Hein ? punctuates a lot of sentences and is often the equivalent of English question-tags. C'est chouette, hein ? (*) Great, isn't it? Bon ! Right, so, well, etc. Often acts as a transition between two sentences. Ben...euh... Well, er... Probably the most famous French interjection. Particularly useful when you hesitate or when you don't have anything particular to say but don't want to say nothing.

MONEY

The French have a peculiar relationship with money. Although they need it just like everyone else on earth, there is often the idea that when someone is really rich, it could be for dodgy reasons. In the country of intellectuals and philosophers, money does have a bit of a dubious reputation.

Money

Le fric, la thune, le pèze, le pognon, l'oseille (*) Dough, dosh, etc. T'as pas dix balles ? (*) Do you have ten Euros? (meaning 'can you lend them to me?'). Ça ne vaut pas une thune ! (*) That's not worth a single penny! Une thune was originally, a five-franc coin (more or less 50p). Nowadays, the word has lost its original meaning and has become slang for money in general. Cette bagnole, elle vaut de la thune. (*) This car is worth a lot of money. Une brique (*) Lit. A brick. It also used to be the equivalent of un million anciens Francs. But in 1960, the French adopted le nouveau Franc. 1 nouveau Franc = 100 anciens Francs = around 10 pence. Therefore 1 million old francs was worth 10 000 new Francs. But the expression remained, so now une brique = 1500 Euros.

Too expensive

C'est super reuch (*v = cher) Reuch is verlan for cher. Che/r became r/chè. The final è was taken out, leaving us with r/ch, pronounced reuch. Ça douille (*) It's expensive. Expression understood by all, despite its uncertain origins. Ça coûte bonbon (*) It's dear. Never mind the origins of this expression, it's a bit old-fashioned now, anyway. Ça coûte les yeux de la tête (*) Lit. It costs the eyes in your head. In French, an arm and a leg are worth two eyes... but not only that! This expression has another variation Ça coûte la peau des fesses (*) It costs the skin of your bottom. Now, there's something precious! C'est le coup de bambou (*) Lit. It's a bamboo stroke. It means something is painfully expensive. The notion of pain is recurrent when talking about something expensive. For instance, after a nice meal at the restaurant, customers know they are going to have to face la douloureuse, the painful one, i.e. the bill.

Broke, rich, stingy

Je suis fauché (comme les blés) (*) I'm broke. Faucher means to mow. Once you mow the wheat, les blés, there is not much left in the field. Je suis à sec (*) Lit. I'm dry. I'm broke. Je suis raide (*) I'm skint, I'm penniless. J'ai une galère de thune (*) Une galère, a galley, is a word often used for un problème. So this expression could mean something like "I'm currently experiencing severe difficulties due to an obvious lack of cash". Warning! Whenever someone uses this expression, the next minute they are very likely to ask if you could lend them something. Je suis plein aux as (*) Officially translated as "I've got bags of lolly". But anyway you don't have to worry about the origins of the expression when you've got plenty of money. Un radin, un rapiat, un pingre (*) A stingy man. Une radine, une rapiat, une pingre (**) A stingy woman.

MOODS