Bonjour !
Like a USB pet rock or our pinky toes, some French words look useless—yet they’re used every day.
They don’t need to express specific information to be popular; and that’s alright!
There’s more to a word than its meaning. From “Allô” to “Huh ?” let’s dive into some fuzzy words that will make you sound like a true French person!
Et toi ?
Did you know any of these words?
Do you know other French words with vague meanings like these?
What phatic words are used in your own language?
Bonne journée,
Géraldine
bah dis-donc. I have a relative who says this all the time; in the back of the car, while preparing a meal, on the phone..
Yes, it’s super cute.
Quand meme – a misterious word combination for me. Would love to know more about it since people often use it both in daily life and on TV. Thank you for the video, was useful.
It’s a way of politely disagreeing with someone and is pretty close to the English “all the same”, although we don’t use that phrase much. So if someone tells you that on a first-class flight you get champagne, you might respond, “Oui, mais quand-même !”, meaning, “Yes, but all the same/but it’s still very expensive”. Or if someone says that Jean, who you think is rude, is really a nice guy, you might again say, “Oui, mais quand-même !” Hope that helps.
I use a lot of “Alors” while speaking as an interjection. I do this quite unconsciously
There’s a phatic word in English that seems to be used to signal mild disapproval or discouragement: “erm……”
As in, “Should I wear this necktie at the job interview?” “Erm…..perhaps something a bit more sober”.
“Shall we open another bottle of wine?” “Erm….me, I think I’ve had enough for tonight, thanks.”
It differs from “er….” because of the closing of the lips at the end, a hesitation about saying anything too directly to disapprive or discourage. At least that’s my interpretation.
Brought me back to my college years. I did a paper on french linguistic topic of onomatopoeia…just so I could read lots of french bandes dessinés…hahah!
Yes, when I was in Lyon I heard and saw “hop” a lot. A couple of others: What about “beh” (or is it “bein”, or….?). And why is “ouais” so often said on the intake of a breath: “(gasp in) ouais”?
I’ve heard a lot of people use ”donc” as a filler word in France, as in ”Donc oui…” or ”Donc voilà…” Probably equivalent to the English ”So yeah…”
I am very glad to learn the word “phatic”. I am a dictionary enthusiast, and I did not know this word until now.
Here we go!
Here we go! This was in response to Margaret’s post. For some reason it didn’t show up in the reply section.
I recall way back in 1989 when I studied in Montpellier, proudly coming home with the most meaningless sentence to sound as French as possible: “Et puis, bon ben, voilà, quoi!”
Hi Geraldine! I have a few french friends from when I studied abroad and they always say “C’est parti”… what does this mean? Thanks!
“Here we go”
Bonjour Geraldine, merci pour le vidéo trės utile. Mes amis français risent de moi quand je dis “ouais” (must be the accent!) ou si je dis J’hallucine! Ils me disent souvent, “Tu vois?” (To ask if I understand) I notice also that if a French person bumps into me on the metro or at the market they always say, Oh, Pardon, Excuse-moi,” very quickly and with concern. Very sweet. In English we use the word What, like quoi to express, “Are you kidding?” Or confusion, “What- the road is closed?” or in anger, “You did what?” Or if someone calls your name and you don’t really care much for them “What- meaning what do you want?”
Il y aussi “ben” au début de la phrase.
Un énoncé phatique très utilisé aux Etats-unis est “What’s up?” C’est souvent abrègé comme “Sup?”
Also with ‘ doc ‘ after it.
Bonjour Géraldine
J’ai lu dans les sous-titres français d’un programme de télé américain, quand les hommes (gars) ont quitté un appartement, ils ont dit “Vieux” (old?)
Je crois cela signifie “CU later guys ” en Anglais?
Aussi, Je pensais que “Hein” est juste comme “Huh en anglais? Re Ouias j’ai demandé un traduction au Prof a l’école français et elle m’a dit, “Non Brian Non! Ne utilise pas svp !” 🙂
Bises
Brian
One expression I have heard a lot is “bof” with a shrug of the shoulders. From context, I suppose it expresses disinterest.
I think “bof” might be similar to our “pfff!” 🙂
Quand même !
J’ai remarqué que cette expression est très fréquente, et avec plusieurs significations différentes selon le contexte.
I hear a lot of ‘du cou’-saying in France. I asked people what it means, but it means nothing. Sometimes it is used at the beginning of a sentence: ‘Du cou… non.’ So I guess it must mean something like ‘you know’ or ‘eh…’ I also noticed that many people use the word ‘tac’, for instance a waiter when he puts something on your table. Drôle du cou!
Nicolette, tu as raison. “Du coup” (avec un p à la fin) est très commun.
Hi Geraldine, I’m surprised you didn’t mention “Hop” or “Hop la” also “Allez” which people use( not always meaning “Go!”)
I hear a lot “Alors…….” at the beginning of sentences in the supermarche, such as…”Alors c’est quatre vingt quinze….euros”. I understand it like us saying “right (or OK) that’s 95 euros”, the “right” or OK is kind of meaningless!
In Nouvelle-Zélande, nous utilisons « yeah, nah » au début des phrases. Il peut vouloir dire oui ou non ou rien. Nous utilisons « yeah, yeah » ou « yeah, right » comme « ouais, ouais » et « ah » à la fin des phrases comme « hien ».