Swearing in French

 

French swear words – turn away now if easily offended!

I do use French swear words but it means nothing to me as an English expat. I don’t have the same connection as I do with English swearing. I can get hurt by someone swearing at me in English. I can’t by someone swearing at me in French, it just doesn’t have the same effect. It would be more about the aggressive tone or meaning than the words themselves.

Anyway, it’s very, very hard to learn how to use French swear words and make it sound like you know what you’re talking about. Often, it sounds out of place. Annoyingly, the most flexible word in the English language, “fuck”, can’t be reproduced in French. The closest is “putain”, but you tend to put it at the beginning or the end of the sentence. So if you wanted to say “I’m so fucking tired”, in French you’d say “Putain, je suis crevé”.

In the table below, here are some words and sentences and their equivalents in English, but they’re not literal translations. They are things that all French people say, and is known as common language. Yes, the French swear, yes they can be very rude. It’s a beautiful language but they do have ugly words!

I’m sorry that it’s not for the faint of hearted, but if you’re here then you’re probably an adult anyway, and you need to understand what people are saying to you. Swearing is definitely an everyday occurrence! I’ve made a concession for the really bad word no one must mention (in English!).

French	English
merde	shit
putain	fuck
va te faire foutre	fuck you
va te faire enculer	go fuck yourself
branleur	wanker
fils de pute	son of a bitch
crétin	cretin
imbécile	fool
t'as pas de couilles	you ain't got the balls
connard	asshole
salope	bitch/slut
connasse	c#!t
dégénéré	inbred
tu me gonfles	you're pissing me off
tu me fatigues	you're annoying me
dégage !	piss off!
je m'en fiche	I don't care
je m'en fou	I don't give a shit
j'en ai rien à cirer	I couldn't give a fuck
j'en ai plus rien à foutre	I couldn't give a flying fuck
j'en ai marre	I'm fed up
j'en ai ral le bol	I'm really fed up
j'en ai ral le cul	I'm so fucking fed up
t'es un salaud	you're a bastard
ça schlingue!	that stinks!
ça pue	that smells bad
tais-toi	be quiet
ta gueule	shut up
ferme ta gueule	shut the fuck up
t'es rien qu'un petit connard	you really are an asshole
quel salaud !	what a bastard!
bordel de merde	oh fuck
la vache	oh crap
nom de Dieu/mon Dieu	oh my god/my god