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French France

être rond comme une queue de pelle

Expression USED Frequently BY People Over 40

(round as the end of the shovel) • Used to say that someone is drunk.

"Maurice et Thierry ont passé la journée à boire avec Hervé. Ils sont ronds comme des queues de pelle."

"Maurice and Thierry spent the day drinking with Hervé. They're as round as the end of a shovel."

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French France

fdp

Acronym USED Frequently BY Teens, young adults

Short for "fils de pute", literally "son of a bitch". It is most often used as an insult, but sometimes, young adults can use it at the end of a sentence, when they are annoyed and want to exaggerate. It's mainly used when texting, but you can also hear it spoken. Caution: "fdp" is also a short for "frais de port" (shipping costs).

"Rends-moi mon argent fdp."

"Give me back my money you son of a bitch."

Confirmed by 5 people

French France

pompette

Word USED On Occasion BY Most People

(adj.) • Tipsy.

"Faites pas attention, je suis pompette."

"Don't mind me, I'm a little bit tipsy."

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French France

bec et ongles

Expression USED In the past BY Novel authors

(beak and nails) • It's used to describe a fierce behaviour, specifically when defending someone's belongings or loved ones, like a mother bird would do for her younglings.

"La vieille dame se fit houspiller de part et d'autre au milieu de la foule pour ses propos. Elle se défendit bec et ongles et avait un contre-argument pour chacun des hurlements qui lui étaient proférés."

"The old lady was being harassed from all sides in the middle of the crowd for what she said. She defended tooth and nail and had a counter-argument for anything one yelled at her."

French | Verlan France

meuf

Slang USED Very frequently BY Young People

(n.) • Girl or woman. From the verlan 'femme'.

"On a passé une soirée entre meufs."

"We had a girls night."

French France

mitonner un plat

Expression USED On Occasion BY Everyone

(v.) • To cook a dish slowly and with a lot of love. It conveys the idea that you care about what you are cooking and the people who will eat it.

"Je vais vous mitonner un petit plat, vous m'en direz des nouvelles."

"I'm going to make a meal for you and I bet you'll like it."

Confirmed by 12 people

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French France

tkt

Abbreviation USED Very frequently BY Mostly young people

(don't worry about it) • Short for "t'inquiète", which is short for "ne t'inquiète pas", meaning "don't worry about it".

"Il y aura assez à boire pour ce soir?" "Tkt j'ai tout ce qui faut."

"Will there be enough drinks for tonight?" "Tkt, I got it covered."

Confirmed by 14 people

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French Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

pélo

Slang USED On Occasion BY Young people

(n.) • Means guy or dude. It comes from a Romany word meaning penis, so it can be a bit offensive. You wouldn't call an older person this to his face.

"Il n'y a pas un pélo dans ce magasin !" "Normal, on est dimanche."

"There is not a soul in this shop!" "Obviously, it's Sunday."

Confirmed by 9 people

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French France

Ça claque!

Interjection USED On Occasion BY Young people

(interj.) • (It slaps!) • Used to mean that something is cool. Ruder version : "Ça claque sa mère" (it slaps one's mother).

"Tu as vu le nouveau Avengers ? Ça claque !"

"Have you seen the new Avengers movie? It's so cool!"

Confirmed by 12 people

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French France

C'est quoi les bails?

Standard Phrase USED Frequently BY Young people

(What are the leases?) • A way of saying 'what's up?'. Deriving from "bails" (leases) meaning "business". You are asking about the business your friend has done.

"Salut poto" "Wesh gros" "C'est quoi les bails" "Pas grand chose, on est là, toi-même tu sais"

"Hey bro" "Yo homie" "What's up?" "Not much, we represent, you know"

Confirmed by 9 people

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French | Paris France

avoir le seum

Expression USED On Occasion BY young people

(v.) • (to have the venom) • To be angry, frustrated or enraged. From the Arabic word "سم" (venom).

"Ouf j'ai le seum mec! Saïd m'a pas renvoyé de l'argent!"

"I'm angry man! Saïd hasn't given me the money back!"

Confirmed by 10 people

French France

#BalanceTonPorc

Hashtag USED Frequently BY Some People

(Denounce your pig ) • The French version of the #MeToo movement. Used on Twitter to condemn sexual harassment and assault.

"Le mouvement #BalanceTonPorc a commencé en 2017 avec les allégations d'abus sexuels contre Harvey Weinstein."

"The #BalanceTonPorc movement began in 2017 with the sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein."

French France

le lendemain de cuite

Standard Phrase USED On Occasion BY Most People

The day after a night of drinking.

"Un burger bien fat en lendemain de cuite n'est en fait pas une très bonne idée."

"Eating a big fatty burger the night after drinking isn't a very good idea."

French Paris, France

bobo

Slang USED Frequently BY Most People

(n.) • A shortened version of the word 'bourgeois-bohème', meaning a middle-class person with money and liberal, left-wing political views. They are often seen as trendy and intellectual, but in a way that is performative. It is often said in a derogatory way.

"Le nouveau restaurant végan va attirer les bobos."

"The new vegan restaurant will attract the bobos."

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French Urban areas, France

wesh

Slang USED Very frequently BY young francophones

(interj.) • Slang used to greet a friend or express various feelings like excitement, anger etc.

"Wesh mon ami!"

"Hey pal!"

Confirmed by 13 people

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French France

Quand les poules auront des dents

Expression USED In the past BY Older Generations

(When chickens have teeth) • Hyperbolic figure of speech describing something so unlikely it would never happen. French equivalent of "when pigs fly".

"J'espère qu'un jour il réalisera qu'il faut nettoyer sa chambre..." "Ouais, quand les poules auront des dents..."

"I hope he will someday understand he needs to clean his room." "Yeah, when chickens have teeth..."

French France

ça ne mange pas de pain

Expression USED On Occasion BY everyone

(that doesn't eat bread) • When something doesn't cost anything and it's not bad. Or when you don't have to do much effort to have something.

"Ça mange pas de pain de reprendre un peu de salade!"

"It doesn’t eat bread to eat a little salad!"

French France

téma

Slang USED Frequently BY Younger generations

A very recent term, it is the verlan of "mate" and can be used either on its own to mean "look!" or can be followed by the name of the item you want the other person to look at/check out.

"téma le flow"

"check out this flow"

Confirmed by 14 people

French France

Jules

Name USED Frequently BY Adults

A masculine name which can be used to designate a boyfriend.

"Julien, c'est ton Jules?"

"Is Julian your Jules?"

Confirmed by 8 people

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French France

Jacky

Name USED On Occasion BY Young People

It is a name used to refer to a stereotypical man, who is in love with his car and practices car tuning. Other characteritics would be wearing a mulet, watching football (and Pimp My Ride), drinking a lot of beer, calling his wife "mum", etc.

"Un mec qui pose à côté de sa voiture sur sa photo de profil, c'est clairement un jacky!"

"A guy posing next to his car on his profile pic is clearly a jacky!"

Confirmed by 4 people