30 unusual things I’ve learned about French after ten years in Paris

I've been in France for ten years. My French still isn't perfect - but I've noticed some fun language quirks along the way.

I’ve been in Paris for a decade now. Ten whole years have flown by. And what an exceptional ten years it’s been - I’ve learned a lot. So much has changed, including my level of French, which was about a two out of ten when I arrived, whereas now it’s about an 8.6.

Here’s a look at 30 things I’ve noticed about the French language over the years. And we’ve spliced it up with some nice Paris pictures from the past ten years too, usually totally unrelated to the language observations :)

FORMALITIES

1. You can say “Re-hello”

Well, re-bonjour to be exact. That’s when you see someone for the second time in the same day. You can even say re-bonsoir if the same thing happens in the evening.

2. If someone asks you “How are you?” you can respond “always”

In French class, you learn: Ça va? Très bien, et vous? [How are you? Very well, and you?]

But some people respond with just toujours [always]. It’s because Ça va kinda means more “It’s going?” rather than “How are you?”

3. … you can also respond to how are you with impec

It’s short for impeccable, and it’s much more fun than just saying “très bien”.

4. In fact, you don’t even really need to respond.

If someone says ‘Ça va?’, you can answer oui (yes) or simply et toi? (And you?). It might sound rude (hey, it might even be a little rude), but people do it all the time.

5. …you can even just respond by repeating them.

Ça va? means “how are you?”, or literally: “It goes.” Another translation could be “All good?” That might help to understand that two French people could say:

“Ça va?”…  “Ça va. Ça va?” …  “Ça va.”

In a rough translation: “All good with you?” “Yeah, all good with me. All good with you?” “Yeah, all good with me too”.

6. If you talk like a monk you sound more French 

To fill pauses in conversation, French people make a sound like a monk singing. It sounds like the word fur without the letter F. Eughhhh. If you’re ever stuck for a word, throw this noise in and you will sound more French than you’d ever believe. Need some help figuring out what I mean? Watch my old video below for some pointers.

7. They sometimes sound like they’ve got a fly in their throat

This sound is to use when you’re upset about something, but make sure you don’t dislodge any phlegm in the process. Also featured in the video above.

8. The French say “Tak tak tak”

Sometimes, when a French person is, say, adding together numbers, or pushing buttons on a machine, they absent-mindedly say “tak tak tak” as they do it.  I have no idea how to actually spell it, but it sounds like they say tack tack tack. The best bit is that they often don’t even realize they’re doing it.

9. You can just chuck “bah” anywhere and it’s ok

This is another VERY popular filler word, similar to the English use of ‘er’ or ‘um’. It’s pronounced like bah or bar, and just fills any pause with sound.

10. The more la’s that you add to oh la la, the stronger your reaction

People often do say Oh la la, meaning “Oh my goodness”, but did you know that the more la’s you add, the more serious your reaction?

ABBREVIATIONS

11. Keep it short

The French are known to say Bon aprem for bon apres midi (good afternoon), comme d’hab for comme d’habitude (as usual) and bon app for bon appetit!

12. They also like to shorten place names

It’s not just ordinary words! In Paris, for example, some say Place d’It instead of Place d’Italie, Inva for Invalides, and Montpar for Montparnasse.

13. Kids say mercredi instead of merde

Children who are in the process of saying the swear word “merde” (shit) but are in the company of adults will sometimes change the word halfway through from merde to mercredi (Wednesday). It’s a euphemism, kind of like how people say “shoot” instead of “shit” in English.

14. They also say purée instead of putain

Purée is a much more socially acceptable word than putain, which is probably the worst swear word in French.

15. They sometimes say shwee instead of Je suis

If you’re new to France (or the French language), you may not realize that you don’t actually have to pronounce all the letters in “Je suis” (I am). Nope. Loads of French people just say shwee instead and get away with it.

16. They say mince

One of my favourite French words is mince, which doesn’t mean mince as in English, but something more like drats.

17. They actually use a backwards language

It’s called Verlan, and we talked about it in the show before. But it’s essentially switching syllables in words around. Eg: Merci is Cimer. While this might sound like some kind of kids’ language, younger French people use it really often. You may have used it without even knowing – the singer Stromae is Verlan for Maestro, the word Meuf comes from Femme (woman or girlfriend)… and the word Verlan itself… yep, it comes from L’envers (reverse).

18. They ask where you boss…

Speaking of slang, beware of being asked where you bosse. The first time I heard it I was bamboozled. Does this guy think I’m a boss somewhere? Where do I boss? I’m not a boss. Or maybe I am? Turns out it just means “to work”, so “tu bosses ou?” means where do you work? Sounds so easy, but it sure caught me off guard.

19. You can call someone “my big”

One thing I love about French is that you can call a friend “mon grand” (my big) and it’s considered a cool thing to say. As I understand, they don’t even need to be that tall.

20. You can say “hello the guys”

Sometimes I translate French into English literally in my head, so when someone says “salut les gars” I hear “Hello the guys” and it makes me smile. Why the “the”? Who knows. I once asked the Mayor of the Marais in Paris why French mayors are called Monsieur Le Maire (Mister The Mayor)… but he didn’t really give me a satisfactory answer.

21. All the guys are “dudes”

Every French guy under 40 refers to every other French guy under 40 as “mec” (pronounced meck). It could be translated as “dude” but is not as slangy. If you want to fit in in France, start your conversations with guys with a “salut mec” and voilà, you automatically fit in.

IT MIGHT NOT ALWAYS SEEM LOGICAL

22. Baguette doesn’t always mean bread 

Baguette just means stick. In fact, Harry Potter’s magic wand is a baguette magique in France. I love this word so much, I even made a podcast episode about it.

While we’re on the topic, here are actually at least ten things that the French call “baguette”.

23. You can say si instead of oui for yes

Did you know that you also use the word si for “yes”? But there’s a twist – you have to use it if someone asks you a negatively-toned question. Eg: “You don’t speak French, do you?” Then, BAM, you respond with “si” (that is, if you do speak French) and prove them wrong.

24. You can say “not bad” as an amount

To say “not bad” in French, you say pas mal (kinda pronounced pah mull). But you can also use pas mal to describe when there are a lot of things. For example: What can we do at the beach? Loads! There’s pas mal de choses à faire (there are plenty of things to do).

25. They say du coup. A lot. 

There are many ways of determining how well someone speaks French. There are levels from A1 to C2, university degrees, and Duolingo levels. But for me, we’re all in one of two categories. Those who use the filler phrase du coup – a filler phrase that doesn’t mean anything – and those who don’t. I will admit, dear readers, I am in the latter group. For now.

Bonus: They also say “enfin” alllllll the time instead of just pausing. For the first few years I was here, I had no idea what they were saying. I could just hear the “fin”. I remember stopping someone and saying “what was the word you just said” and they had said it so absent-mindedly that they couldn’t remember what word they’d say. It eluded me for too long.

26. You need to stock up on your bons

Everyone knows the French say bonjour (and even re-bonjour, apparently). They also say things like bonsoir, bon appetit, and bonne journée. But I had no idea they say so many other bons, which you should really know. Every day of the week can have a bon (bon dimanche = Have a good Sunday). You can say bonne dégustation, bonne continuation, bonnes vacances, and bonne chance, of course. The list seems to be endless. It remains unknown at this point if, when buying candy, the seller says bon bonbon, but chances are they probably do.

27. They don’t say cheese, they say marmoset

When someone’s taking a picture of French people, they don’t yell out “Say cheese”. No, they don’t even yell out “Say fromage“, as you might have suspected. But they do often yell out “Ouistiti”.

What’s a ouistiti I hear you ask? Well, it’s a marmoset, a small monkey with an outlandish haircut. The idea is that the word ouistiti, like the English word cheese, makes your mouth naturally smile 🙂

28. Be careful with the word mademoiselle

You learn in school that a person is either a monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle. But many today consider the word mademoiselle to be outdated and even sexist. So, proceed with caution when addressing someone as madamoiselle. However, I should stress, many women have no issue with the word and it’s still used frequently.

Bonus trivia: There used to be a word for young man – mondamoiseau – but it died out. Funny that.

29. They like to add the pronoun at the end

Imagine saying in English: I’m cold, me. Or: He’s funny, him. Well, they do that in French sometimes. Eg: J’ai froid, moi. Il est drole, lui. It’s a good way to show you speak good French. You should fake it til you make it, you.

30. And lastly… Sometimes you get an A+ without even trying

The French love to shorten A plus tard (See you later) to A plus. Then they shorten it again to A+ in text speak (and they do it often). It’s pronounced ah ploose (rhymes with “a moose”) and when I first saw it I thought someone was suggesting I had done a really good job with something, like an A plus effort. I hadn’t. They were just saying goodbye.

And that’s it! I’m curious to see what I’m still to learn. Time will tell. Thanks for following this journey :)

A+