Salut Toi!

Je suis une étudiante française et bilingual who’s here to help with everything concerning mon pays la France 🇫🇷

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I speak french but I have terrible social anxiety and I've always wanted to ask what to say in shops or when ordering things. The way I'd do it in english is full or "may I"s, could I asks, I'm so sorry but I was wondering if" so I'd rather not translate my "afraid to offend" Canadian english in french. Thank you in advance!!

Salut!! Social anxiety when learning a language and having to use it in front of natives is completely normal, comes with the fear of being judge for not doing something as well as the person in front of us… so it’s all about confidence! To introduce yourself before asking for something in a shop, you can say:

“Excusez-moi, pourrais-je avoir…” –> Sorry, can I have 

“Je voulais vous demander si vous aviez” –> I wanted to ask you if you had

“Par hasard, auriez-vous/est-ce que vous avez” –> By any chance, would you have

[salutcavaouiettoi]

How the French react to gossip *gasp*

Mais non??? - No way

Mon dieu - My god

Oh mon dieu - Oh my god

Sérieux?? - Seriously?? 

Mais wesh - No way (that’s so informal lol use it with besties)

Incroyable - Incredible

J’ai pas les mots là - I have no words

Choqué(e) - Shooketh 

Oh la la - speaks for itself

C’est dingue - It’s crazy

C’est fou - It’s crazy

[salutcavaouiettoi]

HOW TO GET A FRIEND’S ATTENTION IN FRENCH (in the most young adult informal way lol)🇫🇷

- Eh

- Oh

- Eh Oh

- Yooooo

- Mec

- MEUF

(my roommates are obsessed with this one)

- Gars

- Gros

(yes it means « fat » but has nothing to do with its original meaning just go with it)

- Frère

- Broooo

I use them all without limits

[salutcavaouiettoi]

i keep seeing « si si tqte » but what does it mean ? thank you !

ohhh that’s a great one!! tqt or tkt is an abbreviation used in text messages for “t’inquiète” or “don’t worry” in english!!

And “si” is “yes” but in a particular situation.

You use “si” when you want to respond to someone asking whether you’re going to do a certain action for example, and thinks you won’t do it.

Tu vas pas le faire?

Si si je vais le faire tqt!

You’re not gonna do it?

Yeah yeah I’m gonna do it don’t worry!!

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salut !! j’ai un question ! so i know ami/e means friend, but i’ve also heard that in some uses it could mean girlfriend/boyfriend, so i’m just wondering how to talk about a friend without it sounding like they’re a partner? merci bcp ! :)

Salut!! Alors it could indeed seem confusing: there are three common ways to refer to your boyfriend/girlfriend in french. The one most commonly used is « petit ami/petite amie » and then there is:

« mon copain/ma copine »

« mon ami/mon amie »

and in the more informal way:

« ma gow/ma meuf » for a girlfriend and « mon keum/mon mec » for a boyfriend (i find it cringe lol)

I feel like it’s more likely that adults will use « mon ami(e) » when referring to their partner as it sounds more serious.

If you really wanna make sure that people are not gonna confuse your friend for your partner; here’s what you can say:

- un(e) ami(e) à moi (a friend of mine)

-mon/ma pote (used more with teens/young adults)

you can also definitely use « mon ami » and people are generally gonna assume you’re talking about a friend don’t worry ;)

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Bonjour ! I've heard that French people tend to vouvoyer (haha I don't know what the English term for that is) a lot, but where does the line go? For example, if I meet someone of my age (=teenager) at a street (someone stranger), how am I supposed to speak to them? I'm also interested in, how do you call your teachers at school? By last name, like monsieur x, I guess? Thank you for your answers!

Bonjour! Sorry for the very late reply! If you were still wondering:

Indeed we “vouvoie” people we don’t know well, and when you’re a child talking to an adult or an adult talking to an adult you aren’t informal with. But I guess generally it just comes naturally depending on the vibe you get from the person you’re talking to.

Example n°1: I’m 20, I’m lost and see a person who also looks 20. I will “vouvoie” him at first if I feel like this person could be older/or seems strict lol just by respect.

Example n°2: I’m 20 and I see a group of teenagers. I generally “tutoie” them.

There’s no rule as it depends on how you feel like addressing people, generally you’ll be safer just “vouvoyer” people you don’t know if they’re more than 18 years old and even if they’re your age, and then you can laugh it out and make it informal if you have a good vibe.

And that’s how a love story starts in France (lol no but it’s a cool ice breaker)

ALSO we call our teachers “madame” and “monsieur” never their whole name. Voilà :)

Madame c’est quoi les devoirs pour demain?

Mrs., what’s the homework for tomorrow?

[salutcavaouiettoi]

How to react to someone telling you a story in French!!

I sometimes have this issue where I don’t know what to say to fully demonstrate my genuine reaction to receiving information from someone. Here’s how we respond to people in French!

Oh non : Oh no

Super! : Great

Merveilleux : Wonderful

Dommage : What a shame

Mais non : No way

Vraiment? : Really?

C’est incroyable : It’s incredible!

C’est terrible : It’s terrible

Excellent : Excellent (easy)

Génial : Great!

Tell me what other reactions you would like me to add!!

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Being crazy in French 🇫🇷

FOU/FOLLE : Crazy

Taré(e): Crazy

T’as un problème : You’ve got a problem

Ca va pas dans ta tête? : Are you not alright in the head?

Complètement chtarbé(e) : Completely crazy

Folidingue: Crazy

Maboul : Crazy

T’es dément: You’re crazy

And something I like saying

“c’est pas un plan foufou mais c’est cool” = it’s not a crazy plan but it’s cool

Bref you get the idea !

[salutcavaouiettoi]

salut ! I was wondering which way is the correct/more common way of asking a question; is it “Tu lis souvent?” or “Lis tu souvent?” I’m kind of confused on whether ‘tu’ comes before or after the action. Merci d’avance!

Salut!! That is such a good question!! So putting “tu” after a verb, so like “lis-tu” would be considered more formal, and I would use it if I talked to someone I didn’t know very well. 

It is less common to have a conversation with someone and put “tu” after a verb. Most commonly you would say, especially to people you know, “tu lis souvent?”

[salutcavaouiettoi]

hi! what would the french word for “glowing”? as in telling a person they’re glowing

Hi!! There isn’t a literal translation for “glowing” as this would be “brillant(e)” but this is used to refer to someone who is really smart!! 

I think we would use words such as:

- sublime

- ravissant(e)

- magnifique

- beau teint 

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Salut! I've noticed that ouais is used often, is it an informal way of saying oui? Hope all is well! :)

Salut!! Oui!!

To make it easy for you, ouais is basically « yeah » and has the same degree of informality as « yeah ». I wouldn’t say « ouais » to my great aunt Jeanne-Marie on the phone but I say « ouais » to my Maman

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Heyyy! I like your blog:) could you translate this for me "t'es l'inconnu que j'ai le plus envie de connaitre." I tried it online, but I'm not sure if it's correct. Thank you in advance!

Heyyy merciii c’est gentil! Ouh what a fancy quote i like it, it’s

« you’re the stranger that I want to know the most »

BUT « l’inconnu » also means « the unknown » but I think in your case you meant « stranger ». To know if it was definitely « stranger » we would know if the word was « inconnue » with an « e » for a girl.

[salutcavaouiettoi]

How to insult your Best Friend by text in French 🇫🇷

Okay so obviously guys these words are just the ways me and my best friend insult each other, it’s not how all friendships insult each other but let’s say that I believe that the stronger the insult the stronger the friendship so HERE YOU GO

Sale/Ptite Pute

This means “dirty/little bitch”, ptite is “petite” but written the way we would pronounce it in fluent French

Convo 1: Play scrabble dirty bitch

Convo 2: Don’t play with my heart little bitch

Tchoin

A bitch also, once again and I have no clue where that comes from tbh

Convo: no you bitch

Salope

Aaaand that’s just another way to say “bitch” lol

Convo: No you’re not allowed it’s a bee bitch

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Bonjour! I was born and raised in southwest Louisiana, but I'm living in Texas now. I think an interesting thing about where I come from is that (at least when I was young) there were early morning televised rosaries and weather forecasts in French for the older people who felt more comfortable hearing those things in French. I didn't encounter any other Francophone resources before school (besides adults not telling me what the things they said meant)

French in the US wow so next time I go there I go straight to Louisiane in the search of Francophones that’s so cooool

[salutcavaouiettoi]

Hiya ! I'm from a small town in California, but I live in Brno, Czech Republic :) Something kind of unique here is how much people love mushroom hunting! The day after a good rain, half of the people riding the tram have a mushroom basket on their lap.

Sorry for such a late reply but this is absolutely wonderful!! Oh why don’t they do this here it’s so cute

[salutcavaouiettoi]

bonjour!! ça va :)? im from pakistan and ive lived in the capital, islamabad, and chitral in the far northern mountains!! in islamabad, something really fun was the amount of modern cafés and shops near really old traditional marketplaces! you could barter for silk and go to starbucks straight after, and the marketplaces were soooo pretty (congested, but pretty), and in chitral, because of the lack of city light, the stars are super clear at night, and the mountains were great for hiking!!

this is absolutely wonderful and i’m so blessed to hear about lives that are so far away from and so different from my daily lives, i just love these!!! And i hope you enjoy them too ;))

[salutcavaouiettoi]

How accurate would you say, or rate, translate(.)google(.)com? I use it to help learn French, but I don't want to look dumb if it's incorrectly translating words or sentences from English to French. Thanks.

Hmmm I don’t really know I’ve actually never checked it out properly! I’ll check it out tomorrow and do a post about the accuracy!