Bonjour !
In reality, there are a lot of French onomatopoeias but in this episode we’ll focus on the onomatopoeic words that will make you sound like a real French person when you use them!
Learn to say “”Yay!”” or “”Ouch!”” and a few more french onomatopoeia words; words formed out of the sound imitated from an object, action or an animal. You’ll find yourself practicing them almost effortlessly!
Check out these related episodes:
Appreciate Food Like a Native
La vie Par Procuration
Et toi ?
Which French word do you think is the most useful to you?
Bonne journée,
Géraldine
I remember watching a French academic and writer telling a story on a Bernard Pivot talk show about a man going from door to door where he lived to ask his neighbours if they’d seen or found something he’d lost. Toc toc was the expression he used to describe the man knocking on the doors. Merci Géraldine ~
But how is toc-toc used Geraldine? Knock-knock is only one form
When I have had people checking forms, or checking papers are all there for example I think they say “toc”, “toc” as they pass through the form. Isn’t this a more common use?
I always spell Waou wrongly ;( Wow is much easier
Bises
Bonjour Brian,
In everyday life, you can “say” toc-toc when you can’t knock on a door to check if the person is busy before you enter. 🙂
I don’t think people checking forms say “toc toc”. Do you have any other idea what they could have said?
My insurance lady, a lady at CPAM and one at the Tax Office, all did the same thing while checking forms ,, toc, toc, toc etc going from box to box like in English we might say tick perhaps, maybe it’s a south west thing, we speak very differently hear with our chocolatines !! 🙂
Je peux plus entendre « appétisante » sans penser à Raoul, Mon Pit-Bull, par Oldelaf et Monsieur D. : )
Ahahah ! Me voila avec la chanson dans la tête maintenant. 😀
J’aime aussi “plouf!” C’est le son quand quelque chose tombe dans l’eau. Un peu comme “plop”ou “splash” en anglais.
Ah oui ! Excellente remarque, Robin.
Miam miam miam 🙂
Mon onomatopée préféré est « tchin-tchin », bien sûr !
A la tienne, Keith !
“Cocorico” would be “cock-a-doodle-doo” in English.
“Youpi” sounds like the English, “Yippee!” and “hourra” also sounds like the English “hooray”. And both of these seems to mean approximately the same thing and are used in the same way. Hip hip hooray!
These are lots of fun — I look forward to making people laugh with them.
[Je prévois de faire rire les gens]?
Coucou,
Ça par lui-même, coucou, peut- il être considéré un omonatopoeia ? Puisque c’est utilisé comme une interjection et comme un nom.
Hoplà qui peut être utilisé dans le même sens que hoops pour montrer une contrariété, peut-être également utiliser pour encourager l’accomplissement de quelque chose. Par exemple un parent pourrait dire “hoplà” à un enfant en lui tenant la main pour l’aider à sauter par-dessus la flaque.
In Quebec, they tend to use “Ayoye !” instead of “Aïe !”
C’est mignon !
A lot of these are very similar to English ( or is it the English similar to French ! ) Hip, hip, hooray, tic, mmm, Yippy. Cocorico and toquér are useful to me.