In this video, I explain 37 slang words in French. Slang is a language very often used in France, so it is very important to understand it to communicate better 🙂

Learning slang is essential for understanding the French used in movies and TV shows. But be careful, you should not use slang at work or with people you are not close to.

Here is a small selection of slang words explained in this video - Bagnole - Costard - Se prendre des pains - Bidon - Au pif - Ça caille - Un rencard - Être largué - Casé - Descendre quelqu'un - Toc - Balai - Bordel - Veinard - Veinarde - Potin - Veinard - Avoir la poisse ... And many other words in French !

Video transcript 37 French slang words

Hello everyone, this is Elisabeth from HelloFrench. I hope you're well, healthy and learning French. Today I'd like to show you a video on French slang. Some time ago, I had already made a video on words and expressions in French. French slang. You really enjoyed this video, and as there are so many French slang words and expressions, I thought it would be useful for you to learn even more French slang words and expressions.

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For those who don't know what it is, slang in French is simply colloquial language. It's like "slang" in English. Let's start with the words "le boulot" and "le taf".

Le boulot or le taf are two colloquial, slang words for work. For example, I might say: "I get up every day at 8 a.m. to go to work. Or: "I really like my job, I work in communications".

There's also the verb "taffer", so we say "le taf" to talk about work and "taffer" to say "to work". For example, I could say: "I work in a bakery".

Let's move on to the verb "to wallow". To wallow simply means to fall, to take a tumble. For example, I might say: "I wallowed on the way out of my house, slipped in the snow, fell and broke my leg". The verb se vautrer can also be used figuratively.

This means we're not going to fall physically, but rather in a psychological sense. We use it to say that we've failed. For example, I might say: "I flunked my French exam. I got 3 out of 20. I failed".

The next verb in slang is "to give birth".

You may be familiar with this verb, which means to give birth, or when a woman is pregnant, she will give birth after nine months. In slang, this verb has another meaning. It's used when someone isn't talking fast enough and you want them to get to the point. Or, when someone doesn't want to talk, we'll say "accouche!" to mean "c'est bon, parle!". For example, I might say to someone: "What's the problem? I don't have all day. Give birth, tell me what's wrong!"

The next word is bagnole. Bagnole simply means car, automobile. For example, I can say: "Are we going to the sea by car or by train? - By car, it'll be more practical!

The next word is "la baraque". A shack is simply a house. For example, if I'm out for a walk, I might say, "There's nothing but pretty shacks in this neighborhood."

The next word is "belly". If I tell you that my tummy hurts, it means that my stomach hurts. The belly is the stomach. For example, I can say: "I've been eating sweets all evening. Now my stomach really hurts."

The next expression is: péter un câble or péter un plomb. When you blow a fuse, it means you're going crazy because you're so pissed off. For example, I might say: "I've stained the dress my mother lent me. She's going to freak out when she sees it."

Or, "Sonia's going to freak out when she finds out her ex has a new girlfriend." That means she'll be really pissed. Really pissed off, it's going to set her off.

The next word is "cinoche". If someone suggests that you go to the movies, they're simply suggesting that you go to the movies. For example, I could also say: "Shall we go to the movies tonight? I've seen that there are some very good films on the bill."

The next word is "suit". A suit is a costume. It's a garment worn by men with a jacket and pants. It's something men wear to work or for special occasions. For example, a wedding or a funeral. I might say, for example, "Oh, you've put on your best suit for my wedding. I'm so happy. You look very handsome.

In the previous video, we saw the expression "avoir la dalle" ("to have the munchies") to mean being very hungry.

Another expression is "to have the munchies". If I have the munchies, it means I'm really, really, really hungry. For example, I might say, "I've got the munchies, I could eat two pizzas." Then someone might say, "Oh yeah, you're really hungry, apparently." So that means I'm really hungry.

The next expression is: faire dodo. If I say I'm going to sleep, I'm going to sleep.

It's a childish expression, often used with children, but adults can say it too.

The next expression is to be broke. When you're broke, it means you're out of money. For example, I might say, "It's the 12th of the month and I'm already broke." I don't have a dime. Thune, as we saw in the previous video. It's also a slang word for money. Another example might be: "Shall we go to the movies tonight? - No, I can't, I'm broke! - That's all right. I'll take you out, I'll pay for you."

The next word is "la flemme". We say we're lazy. To be lazy, la flemme, is to want to do nothing. It's as if you were taken over by intense laziness. We feel like doing nothing today.

For example, I might say: "I'm so lazy today. I just want to stay in and watch TV." Another example? It could be: "- Are we revising for our French exam? - I'm so lazy! Can we do it tomorrow?"

The next verb is directly related to laziness. It's the verb "glander". Glander is a verb we use to say we're not doing anything. For example, I can say: "I'm too lazy. Today, I just feel like hanging out in front of the TV.

Here's another example: "Stop dawdling on your phone and come help me wash the dishes!" It means stop dawdling. Stop doing nothing and come and help me.

The next verb is se goinfrer. A synonym for gorge is "stuff". It means to eat, eat, eat and eat some more. For example, I might say, "I've been stuffing my face with chips all evening, and now my stomach hurts." Or, "Stop stuffing your face with cookies. Leave some for the others.

The next word is another verb, the verb gueuler. In slang, to shout means to speak very loudly. For example, I might say to someone: "Stop shouting, I can hear you. Don't talk so loud!" The next expression, or rather, the next two expressions is: "se prendre une patate" or "se prendre des patates" or "se prendre un pain".

In French, patates are potatoes. It's a vegetable. You can make French fries with them, for example.

And a bread in French is this. It's what we often eat for breakfast. It's like a baguette. On the other hand, when you say se prendre des patates or se prendre un pain, it means you take a punch. When you get into a fight with someone, you can get punched. The expression se prendre une patate or des patates means to take a punch. The same goes for taking a loaf of bread. For example, I could say: "Maxime punched Benoît in the face. He was very angry because he had hit on his girlfriend."

The next expression is "to be jinxed". If I say I'm jinxed, it's because I'm really unlucky.

I'm very unlucky. For example, I can say: "I'm really unlucky. Last week I broke my phone and today I've lost my keys. I'm not lucky, I'm jinxed."

The opposite of being unlucky is being a lucky man or woman. If I say someone is lucky, it means they're very, very lucky, very lucky. For example, I might say: "Natacha won 2,000 euros in the lottery. What a lucky girl!" For example, I could also say: "Louis is going on a two-week vacation to Fiji. Lucky him! I really envy him. He's so lucky!"

The next word is gossip. Gossip is gossip. It's a rumor that's going to be told. Generally, people who gossip or want to hear gossip are very curious people. It's things people say about people, rumors. For example, I might say: "I'm so sad I missed the party last night. Is there any gossip? Did people kiss?" Or I might say to someone who likes to gossip, "Stop gossiping, are you bored? Focus on your life!"

The next word is: a date. If I say I'm going on a date with a boy, it means I'm going on a date. For example, I might say: "Tonight, I'm going on a date with Benoît. I met him on Tinder. This is the first time I'm going to see him."

Or I might ask someone, "How was your date last night? Was it fun? Was the guy nice?"

The guy, we'd seen in the other slang video. It's a synonym for boy.

The next expression is "du toc". When we use the expression, c'est du toc, it means that it's something that isn't of very good quality. We often use this expression for jewelry. For example, if someone says to me: "Your ring is very pretty! I can say, "Ah, it's fake!"

That means it's not gold, it's not silver, it's plastic or... in a metal that's not very precious.

The next word is "broom". You may know the first meaning of the word broom. It's an object used for sweeping. When you're cleaning, there's the vacuum cleaner and the broom, which you use to remove dust from the floor. In slang, we use the word "broom" to refer to someone's age. Instead of saying "years", we'll say "brooms".

For example, I can say: "I'm 30, I'm 30. Often, we use it to show that we're old. We don't use the word "broom" to talk about a child's age. It's used to emphasize the fact that you're old, or that you think you're old.

The next expression is "le bordel". If I say it's a mess, it means it's a mess. For example, I might say, "Your room's a mess, tidy it up!"

So it can be used to refer to a physical mess in a room that's untidy. But you can also use it figuratively, psychologically. For example, I can say: "My head's a mess, I don't know if I want to be a vet or a French teacher. I don't know what to think anymore. It's really messing with my head."

You may have heard the following two expressions if you watch movies or crime shows in French.

The two expressions are "buter quelqu'un" and "descendre quelqu'un". Both mean to kill someone. For example, I can say that the criminal was shot by the police. They shot him, they killed him. Or I can say, "This criminal shot his rival." This means to kill.

The next two slang words, which mean the same thing, are verbs. They are "se barrer" and "se casser". It means to leave, to leave a place or to run away. For example, if I'm at a party and I want to go home because I'm tired, I can say: "Well, I'm off, I'm going to sleep. I'm a bit tired!" That means I'm leaving.

Here's another example: "Sonia and Thomas had a huge fight. Thomas ran away from home. She doesn't know where he is. He's gone."

The following two expressions also mean the same thing: "être casé" and "être maqué". If I say I've been in a relationship for 5 years, it means I've been in a relationship for 5 years. The same goes for "pimped out", for example, I can say: "Thibault is pimped out with Natacha. They're very happy together." That means they're a couple.

To stay on the same theme of the couple. The next verb is "to dump someone" or "to get dumped".

If I get dumped, it means my boyfriend is leaving me. That he's breaking up with me. That I am now single. If I dump someone, it means I'm separating from that person. For example, I might say, "Robert dumped Sarah after a ten-year relationship. She's really very sad."

The next expression is "ça caille". If I say it's freezing, it means it's really cold. For example, I might say, "It's three degrees outside, put on a coat to go out, it's really freezing!"

The penultimate word we're going to look at today is au pif. In French, au pif means at random. For example, I could say I didn't know what to eat. I didn't know what to choose from the menu. I took a pizza au pif. It means that I chose a bit at random, thinking that it would be very good. Here's another example: "- You're very well dressed today. - Do I? Thank you, I chose my clothes randomly from my wardrobe. I wasn't sure what to wear. I kind of picked clothes at random."

Finally, the last slang word we're going to look at today is bidon. When we say that something is bogus, we mean that it's a lie, that it's false, that it's intoxicating. For example, if I'm playing poker with someone and he tells me "I've got a very good pair" and I don't believe him, I can say "It's bogus!" To say that I don't think it's true.

That's it for today. I hope you've enjoyed this video and, above all, that you've been able to learn some new words and expressions used in everyday French life. If you liked this video, don't forget to put a like on it and, above all, subscribe to the channel. Take care and see you soon.