French · 15 phrases
The Basics
The first-hour words — the ones you'll hear before you've found your hotel. "Putain" carries half the language on its back, "merde" and "con" carry the rest, and "zut" keeps you safe in front of grandma. Learn these five and you can follow a French argument, a French celebration, and a French traffic jam.
C'est nul ! say NOOL That sucks / That's lame Crotte ! KROT Poop! / Darn! — the polite-company dodge for 'merde' Grave ! GRAHV Totally! / For real! / So much (intensifier) Quelle galère ! kel ga-LEHR What a hassle / What an ordeal Mince ! MANSS Shoot! / Darn! Purée ! poo-RAY Sheesh! / Dang! — the clean stand-in for 'putain' Zut ! ZOOT Darn! / Shoot! Bordel ! bor-DEL What a mess! / Chaos! — also 'what the hell' as an intensifier Merde ! MEHRD Shit! / Damn! — and, bizarrely, 'good luck' Casse-toi ! kass TWAH Get lost! / Beat it! / Piss off! Con KOHN Idiot / dumbass — the single most useful insult in French Putain ! poo-TAN Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really Putain de merde ! poo-TAN duh MEHRD For f***'s sake! / Goddammit! Ta gueule ! ta GUHL Shut up! / Shut your mouth! Casse-toi, pauvre con ! kass-TWAH POH-vruh KOHN Get lost, you pathetic idiot