Ten of my favourite words in the French language

I love the French language. I feel like I could make a list like this every year. The following ten words and words like I like, that make me smile, or that have some kind of a fun story to them.

You can hear me describing them and pronouncing them in greater detail in the podcast below, or scroll down to read them all.

1. Punaise

When something bad happens, try saying punaise. It means bug, or bed bug, but it has become a kind of a euphemism for the rather vulgar French word for prostitute: putain. They both begin with the same sound, but instead of swearing, you can get away with saying punaise.

2. Mince

Mince can be exclaimed when something goes wrong – think of it like “drats” or “shoot” in English. For example, you’re in a boulangerie about to purchase a croissant at the server asks for €1.10, but you can only find €1.05: you could then say “ah, mince”. And maybe they’ll still give you the croissant anyway.

3. Dingue

Dingue means “crazy” or “nuts” – but honestly you can use it for almost anything. It can be used to express a wide range of feelings: amazement, surprise or disbelief. It can also be used to describe situations, for example you could refer to a party as being “dingue”.

4. Choubidou

Walking around Paris with a youngster opens up a whole range of new French terms, especially affectionate terms for babies. A favourite is choubidou, pronounced shoo-bee-doo, which basically means “cutie pie” or “sweet cheeks”. A few bonus words are poussin meaning “a little chick” and coquin which means rascal or cheeky.

5. QG

QG is short for Quartier Général and it’s essentially the place where you hang out a lot. This one can trip people up with the pronunciation – make sure you’re saying “keuh – jay”. It is, however, easy to spell and use – for example you could call your regular coffee shop your QG and all French people will know what you mean.

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6. La classe

You can use la classe when something is cool, stylish, or trendy. Did you see that new film? Oui, la classe.

7. Cimer

This is very much a slang word and a great example of verlan. These are slang words created by reversing French words around. In this example merci (thank you) becomes cimer, you take the two syllables and flip them around. I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but it brings a smile whenever I hear it, almost always from younger people.

8. Laisse tomber

This one translates to “forget about it” or “drop it”. If you’d like to take it up a notch and impress the French youngsters, you can use the verlan version of the phrase and say laisse béton. Don’t say it to your elderly in-laws though, they won’t be impressed.

Wonder how to use the phrase yourself? Listen to the classic 70s song by famed French singer and lyricist Renaud, titled Laisse béton, to get some inspiration:

9. Impec

It just so happens that the French love to shorten their words. My favourite to use is impec, this is the shortened version of “impeccable”. You could easily use this when someone asks “Ça va?”, to which you could respond with “impec”.

10. Époustouflant

This word is a joy to say (if you can manage to pronounce it – “ey-pous-tou-flant”). This means “breathtaking” or “mind blowing” and is often used to describe films on Metro billboards. Our visit to the entirely empty Saint Chapelle was certainly époustouflant, for example.

That’ll do for now! If you want more of my observations on the French language, here’s another blog post about the 30 strange things I’ve learned about French after nine years in Paris.

Here’s this week’s podcast episode again. Subscribe to it wherever you get your podcasts. And sign up as the newest Patreon member here.

Additional reporting by Charlotte Pleasants