8 Expressions/Words I Hear the French Use Often
This one I hear about 100x a day. It basically means “Well yeah…” as in how you would respond to someone asking or stating something fairly obvious. The meaning is mostly dependent on the tone.
Personne 1: “Si j’étudias plus souvent, je recevrais une bonne note”
Person 1: If I studied more often, I would get a good grade
Person 2: Well…yeah, duh!
This is probably the most highly used adverb. It’s english equivalent is “actually”.
Exemple: “En fait, Barak Obama est très connu en France”
Example: Actually, Barak Obama is very well known in France
I love this expression because its a good less-boring response to someone thanking you than “de rien” and I also feel it summarizes the french disposition pretty succinctly. “It’s not a big deal”!
Personne 1: “Oh non! J’ai renversé du vin sur la table!”
Personne 2: “C’est pas grave!”
Person 1: Oh no! I spilled wine on the table!
Person 2: It’s not a big deal!
Nearly the same as #3. “Don’t worry about it”. It’s especially french if you barely pronounce the “de”, i.e. “Pas d’soucis”
“That works” No explanation needed.
Personne 1: “On peut se rencontrer un peu plus tard si tu es occupé maintenant?”
Person 1: We can meet up a little later if you’re busy now?”
Ok, for anyone that has taken french 1 you’re probably like duh Anndi of course they say that a lot. But this phrase is way more all-encompassing than your high school teacher led you to believe. This phrase can mean “How are you” “I’m fine” “It’s Ok” “That’s fine” “Is that Ok?” “Are you OK?” “Are you doing alright? “I’m doing alright” etc etc. It all means more or less the same thing but the translation changes slightly depending on the context.
Personne 1: “Tu veux plus de bonbons?”
Personne 2: “Non merci, Ça va”
Person 1: You want more candy?
Person 2: No thank you, I’m fine
Meaning “Frankly”, this word is a lot less dorky and more widely used than its english counterpart. Its more similar to how we would use “honestly”.
“Franchement, je comprend pas comment quelqu’un pourrait voter pour Donald Trump”
“Honestly, I don’t know how anyone could vote for Donald Trump”
I learned that this word means “whatever” but its honestly more similar to “nonsense” “Craziness”. I often hear my host mom tell her kids “Ne faites pas n’importe quoi!” which roughly means “You’re out of control!/ Stop all this nonsense!”
Personne 1: “Il y aura une autre grève demain matin”
Personne 2: “Bof, n’importe quoi”
Person 1: There will be another strike tomorrow morning
Person 2: Ugh, craziness.
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