French · Exclamations
Ça craint !
sa KRAN · /sa kʁɛ̃/
That's sketchy / That sucks / This is bad news
2/5 Bar-safe
coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
Literally
"It fears"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
Two jobs: a dodgy situation or place ("ce quartier, ça craint" = this neighbourhood is sketchy) and general "this sucks." A person who "craint" is lame or dodgy. Casual, mildly slangy, safe among friends and colleagues you're relaxed with.
Heard in the wild
On nous a annulé le vol ? Ça craint.
They cancelled our flight? That sucks.
Where it lands
France (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "Ça craint !" mean?
- In French, "Ça craint !" means "That's sketchy / That sucks / This is bad news". Literally it's "It fears". Two jobs: a dodgy situation or place ("ce quartier, ça craint" = this neighbourhood is sketchy) and general "this sucks." A person who "craint" is lame or dodgy. Casual, mildly slangy, safe among friends and colleagues you're relaxed with.
- Is "Ça craint !" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 2/5 (Bar-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances.
- How do you pronounce "Ça craint !"?
- Say it "sa KRAN" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: sa kʁɛ̃.
Related in French
C'est nul ! say NOOL That sucks / That's lame C'est chiant ! say SHYAHN It's a pain / annoying as hell Gerber zhehr-BAY To puke / barf Putain ! poo-TAN Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really Merde ! MEHRD Shit! / Damn! — and, bizarrely, 'good luck' Bordel ! bor-DEL What a mess! / Chaos! — also 'what the hell' as an intensifier
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Tough luck".
- German Mist! Crap! / Rats! — the family-friendly 'damn'
- Greek σιγά Big deal / whatever / calm down / as if — dismissive minimizing.
- Italian Merda! Shit! / Damn it!
- Japanese 勘弁して Give me a break / spare me / oh, come on
- Korean 아이고 Oh dear / oof / good grief — the sound of Korea sitting down after a long day.
- Polish szlag Damn it — 'szlag by to trafił' = may a stroke strike it.
- Portuguese Chato Annoying / boring / a pain
- Russian Капец! That's it, it's over / Damn / Whoa
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.