French · Upper intermediate (B2) · Chapter 9 of 12
Humour and informal language
Humour et langage familier
Recognise familiar French and verlan, understand irony and understatement, and put words first for emphasis in speech: mes fringues, je les ai rangées.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Recognise familiar words and their standard equivalents
- Understand verlan words such as relou and chelou
- Recognise irony and understatement
- Put a word first or last for emphasis in speech
Listen
On a Saturday morning in Nîmes, Thierry teases his daughter Lou, who is nineteen and home from university for the weekend. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Thierry
Tiens, voilà ma fille ! Levée avant midi un samedi : c'est un miracle.
Well, look who's here! Up before noon on a Saturday: it's a miracle.
Lou
Très drôle… J'ai trop bossé cette semaine, j'étais crevée.
Very funny… I worked far too hard this week, I was shattered.
Thierry
Ah oui ? Et ta chambre, tu l'as vue, ta chambre ?
Oh really? And your room, have you seen your room?
Lou
Oh, ça va… Mes fringues, je les ai rangées hier. Bon… presque.
Oh, give it a rest… My clothes, I put them away yesterday. Well… almost.
Thierry
Bravo, quel courage ! Et ton boulot au café, ça se passe comment ?
Well done, how brave! And how's your job at the café going?
Lou
Franchement, c'est relou. Le patron est sympa, mais les clients du soir sont un peu chelous.
Honestly, it's a pain. The boss is nice, but the evening customers are a bit weird.
Thierry
Relou, chelou… Tu pourrais parler français, s'il te plaît ?
Relou, chelou… Could you speak French, please?
Lou
Mais c'est du français, papa ! C'est du verlan : relou, c'est « lourd » à l'envers. Tout le monde dit ça.
But it is French, Dad! It's verlan: relou is “lourd” backwards. Everybody says it.
Thierry
Ah, pardon. Moi, à ton âge, quand on s'ennuyait, on disait « quelle barbe ! ».
Oh, sorry. When I was your age, when we were bored, we used to say “quelle barbe!”.
Lou
« Quelle barbe » ? T'es trop ringard, papa !
“Quelle barbe”? You're so uncool, Dad!
Thierry
Ringard, peut-être, mais moi, au moins, je suis pas fauché. Qui me demande vingt balles tous les week-ends ?
Uncool, maybe, but at least I'm not broke. Who asks me for twenty euros every weekend?
Lou
Bon, d'accord, un point pour toi. Mais cette fois, c'est pour acheter un bouquin pour la fac, promis !
OK, fine, one point to you. But this time it's to buy a book for uni, I promise!
Understand
Standard or familiar?
French has a large (familiar) register: everyday words that you use with friends and family, but not in a job interview or a formal email. Understanding them matters more than using them, so start with the most common ones below.
Slang ages, too. Thierry's (what a bore!) now sounds old-fashioned: .
| Standard | Familiar | English |
|---|---|---|
| work, job | ||
| to work | ||
| shattered | ||
| clothes | ||
| a book | ||
| money | ||
| broke | ||
| a euro | ||
| old-fashioned, uncool |
Verlan, irony and understatement
turns words back to front: (the reverse) gives . A few verlan words are now part of everyday speech: (from : annoying), (from : weird, dodgy) and (from : crazy).
French humour loves irony, saying the opposite of what you mean: to someone who has done nothing. Understatement is common too: (it's not great) really means “it's bad”, and (it's not bad) often means “it's good”.
- Ce film ? C'est pas terrible.That film? It's not great.
- Ton gâteau, il est pas mal du tout !Your cake is really good!
- C'est ouf, cette histoire !That story is crazy!
Putting words first: mes fringues, je les ai rangées
In speech, French often puts the topic at the start or at the end of the sentence and repeats it with a pronoun: (My clothes, I've put them away). , and the other stressed pronouns work the same way:
Informal questions often keep the normal word order and put the question word at the end: , ,
- Moi, le lundi, je suis toujours crevé.Me, I'm always shattered on Mondays.
- Il est où, mon portable ?Where's my phone?
- C'est quoi, ce bouquin ?What's this book?
New words
- bosserto work (familiar)
- crevé / crevéeshattered, exhausted (familiar) · also : punctured (a tyre)
- rangerto tidy, to put away ·
- les fringuesclothes (familiar) · feminine plural
- le boulotjob, work (familiar)
- le patron / la patronneboss, owner (of a café, a shop)
- relouannoying, a pain (familiar) · verlan for
- chelouweird, dodgy (familiar) · verlan for
- le verlanback slang, words said backwards
- à l'enversbackwards, upside down, inside out
- ringard / ringardeold-fashioned, uncool (familiar)
- fauché / fauchéebroke (familiar)
- la balleeuro (familiar); ball · : twenty euros
- le bouquinbook (familiar)
Practise
1.Which word is a familiar way to say “work, job”?
2.Give the standard word.
clothes
3.Complete Lou's explanation.
Relou is “lourd” backwards.
4.Your friend has spent all day on the sofa. You say: What are you doing?
5.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.My clothes, I've put them away.
6.Match the French with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
J'ai trop bossé cette semaine, je suis crevé.
I've worked far too hard this week, I'm shattered.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.