Coucou,
Have you ever read posts or watched videos recommending you to use Putain and Merde in French?
To « sound » more French?
Well. To be honest, it is one of the worst tips I’ve ever read online.
Why? Because swearing sounds even more rude in the mouth of a French learner than it already is coming from a native…
What to say when you’d like to swear but understand it would be VERY inappropriate?
This exactly what I’ll show you today!
(+ the most common « textbook French » mistakes)
La ronde des jurons (lyrics)
Previous post on French swearing
Et toi?
Did you know these expressions? Which ones have you already used?
Have you ever sworn in France and found people looking at you with big eyes?
Share your story (in French if you can!) in the comments below so we can all learn from your experience and laugh at your anecdotes.
Bonne semaine,
Géraldine
PS: yes, I’m wearing a wig for 19th century French swearing.
Wonderful post! We are linkng to this great article onn
oour website.Keep up thhe great writing.
Zut! Je déteste les claviers android. <>
La vache! C’est in article très intéressant
ou viennent les duex expressions proviennet..puitain et Bordel du merde?
I just realized you have another student named Anne. So, I will be called Anne R…Okay:)
when i arrived in Montreal 30 years ago from Russia,i was very surprised to learn that local swearing was mostly very mild ‘chalise’ and ‘tabernackle'[or ‘tabarnoush’]. i guess that was,and probably still is ,the influence of the catholic church which was rather strong at the time. for a russian that was a bit of dissapointment 🙂
I always thought that “zut” was equivalent to saying”oh shoot” in English 😉
shoot is cute! Didn’t know it, Anne. 🙂
J’ai esseyé “Zut” entre francais, mais ils ont rigolé et dit moi que je ne peux pas blasphémer convenablement en francais… 😀
Bonjour Monika,
😀
Zut me parait très bien !
Jai esseyé
“Putain” fait partie du langage français et est utilisé sans modération dans certaines régions de France comme le Sud-ouest et tout le sud.
Si les étrangers ont peur de paraître vulgaire, je leur conseille de dire “punaise” à la place de “putain”. ça veut dire la même chose en version poli. Très très utilisé par les français….
L’autre jour, j’ai lu sur Internet la présentation d’un nouveau livre qui s’appelle “Trop classe”. L’auteure est prof des écoles et elle a travaillé toute sa vie dans des écoles des banlieues, des ZEP, dans des conditions qui sont loin d’être idéales. Dans ce livre elle raconte ses expériences. Alors, elle dit que tous ses petits élèves juraient comme des charretiers. Alors sa collègue a trouvé un super astuce: Elle a dit aux gamins que tous ces gros mots qu’ils utilisaient, c’était très léger et que elle, elle connaissait le mot le plus vulgaire qui existe et que personne n’a le droit de prononcer. Alors les gosses étaient tout curieux et voulaient le savoir et elle, elle a accepté de le leur révéler pourvu qu’ils ne l’utilisent jamais. C’était le mot saperlipopette! Alors, à partir de ce moment, tous ces gamins au lieu de dire putain etc. n’utilisaient que ce mot, parce qu’ils pensaient qu’ il était le plus vulgaire . Génial, non?
C’est très mignon. 🙂
Bonjour Geraldine. I have a doubt: in 2012 my wife and I went to Paris, and I had tense moments with some people, for ex; at macdonalds of champ elysees, I asked an employee where the cashier was and dho indicated me 2 different places and I, misunderstanding it, made a gesture with my two arms, which was enough for her to shout at us in public, until we shouted back too. At a restaurant, after eating, the owner, who was not french, and his waiter, whk was french, did not want to receive in credit card, but only in cash, and it was another argument. At the airport, back to Lisbon, the customs officer (a woman) was impatient and unkind, so I ask, would you have any video tips that could help me deal with these problems there? Thanks.
Haha, what a load of rubbish!! Only to be taken into account if you are Parisian and a little “coincé”. Come to the south east of France and putain is put in place of a comma, con in place of a full stop, merde and con are very common, foufoune refers to a girl (without any sexual connotation), putain de merde or putain d’Adèle near Nice are the equivalent of “gosh”! Using zut alors, mince or saperlipopette is the surest way to sound foreign in fact!!! Geraldine, you should travel a bit in your own country before giving advice which only applies to your neck of the woods…. PS: I am 100% French and not an inner city kid, it’s just the way people do actually talk down south…
Geraldine,
When are you going to open registrations for your course again? Hoping it won’t be too long,
Merci
My next (new) course will be this fall (fingers crossed) and the 2 others will reopen in 2016.
Fantastic. I guess you will let subscribers know when it becomes available? Thanks for you super fast reply.
Of course Suzanne!
You’re welcome.
J’adore vos vidéos, Geraldine. Je connaissais tous ces jurons sauf fichtre. Et merci pour La Ronde des Jurons 🙂
Teaching French learners old fashioned expressions, whether swear words or not, doesn’t seem like a good idea. It makes the speaker sound like he/she is using text book French, and from an old book at that! Best to avoid swearing, unless one is with good friends, and then it doesn’t matter.
Le “foutre” originellement est comme le “con”, des termes a forte connotation sexuelle et vulgaire (ex: “va te faire f…”). On dit : je m’en fiche ou je n’en ai rien a fiche, pas a fichtre… A part cela, tres bon blog!
This is adorable! 🙂 I say “mince” all the time. And I say “je m’en fiche.” I didn’t know the verb fichtre. My kids say crotte a lot. I’m going to share this on my blog.
Thanks for this, as always! You might mention that “merde” is absolutely acceptable in the theater, where it’s used as we use “break a leg”. I’m still not clear, though, on the difference between “ficher” and “foutre”. For example, in “Fiches-moi la paix!” or “Je m’en fous” vs. “Je m’en fiche”. And is “putain” (whore) for a person, or used as we use f***?!
Yes Paulette, it is used to wish “good luck”.
Ficher is a LITTLE bit less vulgar than “foutre” but it still is slang.
Putain is used for both.
Bonjour Geraldine. Merci pour tous tes videos. Alors, revenons a nos moutons . . . Si je dis “je m’en fou” ou “je m’en fiche” — ca va? C’est assez poli? Merci.
Bonjour Chipkins,
Si tu dis “Je m’en fous” ou “Je m’en fiche” ce n’est pas très poli, non.
Mais si tu le dis devant un ami proche qui parle comme ça, ça passe.
Salut Géraldine,
Ceci c’est mon premier « post » mais je suis ravi de recevoir tes messages depuis des mois maintenant.
En ce qui concerne « swearing » je comprends ce que tu as dit ce n’est pas très gentille et quand c’est un étranger qui le fait – encore pire. Mais….
Après avoir travaillé au Havre en 1978 pendant trois mois, (quand j’étais plus jeune que maintenant !) Mes amis étaient comme moi les jeunes (20-30 ans) et sans doute ils parlaient argot et des mauvaises phrases et c’est sur que je les ai copie. La raison que je dis « mais » est parce que je me suis tombe avec des gens pas très sympa quand j’étais tout seule un soir – la vérité est qu’ils étaient encore moins que ca ! Et c’était très utile d’être capable de leur dire des mots assez forts pour communiquer que je n’étais pas content avec eux.
Un exemple seulement et je sais maintenant quand j’ai 61 ans je me trouve plus intéressé par comment utiliser le subjonctif que le « swearing ».
A bientôt
Robert G
Bonjour Rob,
Ravie de te lire!
En effet, tu as dû apprendre plein d’expression très… “imagées” !
Bravo Robert! Moi aussi, j’aime bien connaitre les mots que les autres untilisent pour le ‘swearing’ mais ce n’est pas pour moi. En ce moment, comme toi, ce qui me concerne, c’est le subjonctif! Alors, allons-y!
When I was travelling in France during my university days, two French boys were angry with me and my friend and tried to curse at us in English, recognizing that we were Americans. They made a mistake in the expression and sounded so ridiculous that we couldn’t help but burst out laughing — not the reaction they were going for. Ever since I have recommended to people that if you are really so angry that you feel the need to swear, always do it in your native language. The people may not know what you are saying, but at least you won’t sound foolish! I think by the manner in which you are speaking they will still get the point.
Hi Jennifer,
Yes! Also, by swearing in your own language, you know how strong it is.
I support your recommendation wholeheartedly Jennifer. There are otherwise ‘trop de pieges’, if you know what I mean.
I seem to remember being taught expressions like ‘a l’enfer’ and ‘au diable’. Are these used? I love your videos Geraldine. I think I will stick to ‘Zut’ and ‘mince’ if I am ever in a situation when I need to swear in French though!
Hi Sue,
“Quel enfer” is ok.
“Va au diable” is cute because it’s a little bit old-fashioned. 🙂
Bonjour Géraldine
Un petit garçon joue avec sa petit voiture à côté de nous à la terrasse d´un café. Soudain il y a eu un accident dans le jeu, et il a crié : Oh putain de merde!
Nous 🙂 😀 😀
😀
when I lived in France, I spent time in an internet cafe and lots of young people were there playing video games online and every second word was “Ah Putain”. Moi, j’adore le mot “Zut” as in “Zut Alors”. 🙂
J’aime bien toujours vos blogs geraldine!
I was interested to see the video and comments about the use of ‘putain’ and ‘merde’. We ride with a local group of French cyclists and they use the ‘p’ word constantly so it is difficult not to follow suit!!!!
I used
Leche cul
It shocked person
On one particular trip, I happen to be looking for a type of glue and had checked in a variety of stores. As I turned up empty in yet another store, I commented, “oh, Zut!” and the clerks both laughed at me.
So, I guess I am a little surprised to hear you encourage the use, although I still do as well with my students because they absolutely love how this word sounds.
Merci!
Coco aka. Nicole
Glad to help, Coco!
Had to google the Georges Brassens song – La ronde des jurons. Lovely voice charming man, but I think many of the subleties were lost on me.
Me too, Ney. 😉 Lots of them as SO old that they’re half lost.
I know it’s strange, but whenever I’m in France, I immediately start using the word merde. The thing is, I’m usually just muttering it to myself, not saying it to other people, and I don’t do it on purpose or for effect. It just happens. It’s sort of the way I just starting saying oui instead of yes the minute I get off the plane. Some kind of weird French effect, I guess. Now if I could just master the rest of the language!
Saperlipopette et Saperlotte – d’où viennent ces deux jurons svp?
Salut Géraldine! Je suis d’accord… j’évite de les utiliser dans mon propre langue maternelle. “Zut” et “dommage” ou “quel dommage” sont suffisant pour exprimer que vous êtes enervé!
J’aime Comme Une Française TV!… 😉
Merci Giuliano !
I swear in English, because the F-word expresses so much. If I use it in France (the English version) rather than trying to swear in French, how will that be received? My French friends don’t seem to mind, but they like me a lot, so maybe they just aren’t saying it bothers them? In the small towns on the east coast of Canada, where I am from, we say “shit la merde.” And in Quebec, English and French say “Tabernacle” which used to be more shocking than it is now.
I assume when we swear (for example, you hit your foot), it comes out in our native language.
If your friends know you, I assume they got used to it, no worries, Carolyn. 😉
Hi, the only one that I have really used is Mince, my neighbour told me it was equivalent to Damn in English, very mild and shouldn’t offend.
Mince is great! 🙂
Thank you for confirming what I’ve always thought, that swearing (putain, merde etc.) is NOT a good way to sound more French – I think the same thing every time this useless ‘tip’ is repeated, usually by native ENGLISH speakers! I’ve always thought I wouldn’t be impressed by a French person whose English was based on swearing, so why should it be so in French?
Yes, Phil. I agree.
Quand je frappais mon genou sur la table j’ai dit “ce nest pas bon” et tout le monde a rit.