Ultimate List of Timeless French Slang Words and Phrases — With Examples
This is the French slang I learned nearly 20 years ago in France that has stood the test of time and that I still hear today.
French can be very formal, but it also quickly descends into slang. And the surprising thing is that slang (including swear words) is used at every level of conversation… from the workplace to everyday life.
You’ll hear French slang from the moment you arrive when you realise that people speak casual French more than formal French. So here’s an introductory guide.
Of course, slang changes constantly, and is highly regional. But luckily, I’ve been speaking French for nearly two decades, so the ones I learned below are the ones I’ve known have stood the test of time, and are likely to stick around. Plus, they’re still used in my middle age by people around me, not just kids in university.
I’ve also included example sentences so you can see how they’re commonly used in everyday conversation.
On y va!
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Contents
French slang for everyday things and people
These are french slang words for objects and people.
| English | French (slang) |
| company Don’t worry; the company will pay. | une boîte T’inquiète, c’est la boite qui paie. |
| friend My friend is coming. | un pote/poto Mon pote, il arrive. |
| brother/sister I just spoke with my brother, and he’s flipping out. | frangin/frangine Je viens de parler avec mon frangin et il flippe. |
| car Who left their car just outside? | bagnole (slightly cheeky, not for fancy cars) Qui c’est qui a laissé sa bagnole juste dehors? |
| children/kids There are so many children here! When I was a kid… | gosse, gamin Y’a plein de gosses ici! Quand j’étais gamin… |
| cigarette Can you give me a cigarette? | clope Tu peux me filer une clope? |
| clothes What are these clothes you’re wearing? | des fringues C’est quoi ces fringues que t’as mis? |
| gun/pistol He had a gun hidden under the driver’s seat | flingue Il avait un flingue caché sous le siège conducteur. |
| guy The guy came here a minute ago. Who is this guy? | mec Le mec il est venu ici tout à l’heure. C’est qui ce mec? |
| lie, a tall story Don’t lie/exaggerate! | bobard Mais dis pas de bobards! |
| money I don’t have money. I hope it’s worth it for you! It’s your money. Keep it, you can make money with it. | fric, pâte, pognon, thune/tune J’ai pas de fric. J’espère que ça vaut la peine pour toi! C’est ton pognon. Garde-le, tu peux faire de la thune avec. |
| nothing You don’t understand anything | quedalle Tu comprends quedalle, toi |
| police/cops I’ve already called the police. | les flics J’ai déjà appelé les flics. |
| thing What is this thing? | truc C’est quoi ce truc? |
| woman Do you know who that woman is? | meuf (slightly disrespectful) Tu sais c’est qui cette meuf là? |
| work, job OK, I’m going to work. Let me work, I have work to do. | boulot Bon, je vais au boulot. Laisse moi bosser, j’ai du boulot à faire. |
| years (for age) I’m already 40 years o.d | balai J’ai déjà 40 balais. |
French Slang Verbs
There are LOTS of French slang verbs. It’s amazing how common these are. The moment you’re on vaguely familiar terms, travailler becomes bosser, comprendre becomes piger, and so on. Sometimes I entirely forget the non-slang way of saying things.
Many thanks from feedback on Reddit’s r/french — you are very helpful!
| English | French (slang) |
| to annoy Stop bugging me! He’s doing it on purpose to annoy me. | emmerder (strong) Arrete de m’emmerder! Il le fait exprès pour m’emmerder. |
| to annoy the hell out of/piss (someone) off Jesus, you really piss me off sometimes! | soûler, saouler (pronounced like sou) Putain, tu me soûles des fois! |
| to be afraid I don’t want to go there at night… I’m scared | avoir la trouille Je veux pas y aller de nuit… j’ai la trouille |
| to bother (with) Don’t bother with that, I’ll do it. | s’emmerder avec Tu t’emmerdes pas avec ça, je m’en occupe. |
| to caresse Yes I’m pregnant but that’s no reason to caress me! | tripoter Ouais je suis enceinte mais c’est pas une raison pour me tripoter! |
| to chat, to speak Wait, I have to speak with you. | causer Attends, il faut que je cause avec toi. |
| to eat You want to eat something? | bouffer Tu veux bouffer un truc? |
| to exaggerate, embellish, lie Make something up, then. | broder Tu brodes, alors. |
| to freak out Are you freaking out because of your interview? | flipper Tu flippes à cause de ton entretien? |
| to get bored If you’re bored, go home. | s’emmerder Si tu t’emmerdes, rentre chez toi. |
| to get by, to manage, to find a way You don’t know how to do it? Figure it out! | se démerder Tu sais pas comment le faire? Démerde-toi! |
| to give You want me to give you a hand? They came to give you some money. | filer Tu veux que je te file un coup de main? Ils sont venus te filer du pognon. |
| to give the finger She gave me the finger! | donner le doigt d’honneur Elle m’a fait le doigt d’honneur! |
| to go belly-up Don’t screw everything up. | capoter Ne fais pas tout capoter. |
| to hurry Go on, get on with it! | foncer Vas-y, fonce! |
| to kid Are you kidding? No kidding? | déconner Mais tu déconnes ou quoi? Sans déconner? |
| to leave Go on, get out of here! I have to leave. | se casser, dégager, filer Vas-y, casse-toi! or Allez, dégage! Je dois filer. |
| to like I absolutely loved it! (e.g. a show, movie) I like him so much I think I’m going to have a heart attack | kiffer J’ai absolument kiffé! Je vais faire une crise cardiaque tellement je le kiffe. |
| to miss, to fail I’m afraid he’ll fail his test. Go on. You’re going to miss your flight. | louper J’ai peur qu’il loupe son examen. Allez, vas-y. Tu vas louper ton vol. |
| to not give a damn/fuck I don’t give a damn! I don’t care about him. | s’en foutre Je m’en fous, moi! On s’en fout de lui. |
| to pick up/seduce We don’t seduce clients here. | draguer Ici on ne drague pas les clients. |
| to piss off Man you’re really pissing me off! This thing really pisses me off! | faire chier Mais putain tu me fais chier, toi! Mais il fait chier ce truc! |
| to ruin (not slang, but colloquial) It’s me that ruined everything. You’re going to ruin everything like this! | gâcher C’est moi qui ai tout gâché. Tu vas tout gâcher comme ça! |
| to screw with someone/take the piss (in a bad way) Are you trying to piss me off? You messing with me? | se foutre de la gueule de qqn Tu te fous de ma guele, toi? |
| to understand But you haven’t understood a thing. | piger Main non, t’as rien pigé. |
| to work Are you still working? We worked like crazy. | bosser Tu bosses encore? On a bossé comme des fous. |
French slang for describing things
There are a bunch of adjectives used in everyday French slang that it’s essential to know. Ils sont mortels, ces mots!
| English | French Slang |
| annoying Sometimes it’s really annoying to have a job. Fuck, this is so annoying! | chiant, emmerdant Des fois c’est vraiment emmerdant d’avoir un boulot. Putain, c’est chiant ça!* |
| awesome (or boring, in different contexts) That film was awesome! | mortel C’était mortel, ce film! |
| bad, terrible, to suck I’m terrible at Italian You know why you failed? Because you suck | nul Je suis nul en Italien Tu sais pour quoi t’as pas réussi? Parce que t’es nul |
| chaotic, disorganised Tidy your room, it’s chaotic! | bordélique Range bien ta chambre, elle est complètement bordélique! |
| completely/extremely It’s completely ruined! I’d have gone but it’s extremely expensive right now! | carrément/vachement C’est carrément foutu! J’y suis aurais allé mais c’est vachement cher en ce moment! |
| crazy/insane This chick is crazy. Watch him… he’s insane at this! | dingue (colloquial) Elle est dingue cette nana. Regarde-le… il est comme un dingue! |
| crazy This is crazy! | ouf (verlan for fou) C’est ouf ça! |
| exhausted I’m exhausted, I’m home | crevé Je suis crevé, je rentre |
| screwed, fucked Everything is screwed now. | foutu Tout est foutu maintenant. |
| stupid This is stupid | débile C’est un truc débile |
| stupid/idiotic She’s totally stupid! This film is totally stupid! | con/conne (very vulgar) Mais elle est complètement conne! Qu’est-ce qu’il est con, ce film! |
French Slang Expressions
Finally, there are a bunch of slang expressions it’s good to know.
| Good luck/break a leg! | Merde! (said pleasantly, with a smile) Je te dit merde! or On dit merde! |
| Period! | Point barre! |
| Awesome! | Nickel! Top! |
| Leave it, drop it, forget it | Laisse tomber! |
| Totally! Did you like it? Totally! | Carrément! Ça t’a plu? Carrément! |
| That works/OK | Ça marche |
| It sucks. It sucks, I know. | Ça craint Ça craint, je sais. |
| I can’t believe it! | J’en reviens pas! |
Got a question on French slang? Or noticed a typo or glaring omission? Drop us a line below.
Merci beaucoup! This post is soooo amazing! Just one doubt, for 18. in verbs, should it be “I like him so much I think I’m going to have a heart attack”? Instead of “I’m”
Thank you for catching my typo!
This is great!! So many words I’m picking up from Dix Pour Cent are here and now I know what they mean! Thanks 😀
Have to reply right away — that show was so great, I can’t wait for the fourth season! And yeah, I added so many more words to this list as I watched that show! Like “Je te dis merde”… haha
This list is amazing! Thank you for putting it together.