Franceambiance
noun · Colloquial
Atmosphere, vibe. Used far more often in French than the borrowed English word is in English — il y a de l'ambiance means a place is buzzing, and 'bonne ambiance' is high praise for an evening.
France
French Slang for Filler Words
16 French slang terms for filler words, each with its meaning, how it is pronounced and an example of it in use.
The small words that hold speech together: hedges, tags, intensifiers and pause-fillers. Almost invisible to native speakers and almost impossible for learners.
bof
interjection · Colloquial · BOFF
Meh. Signals indifference or a lukewarm opinion, and is a complete answer on its own.
bref
interjection, adverb · Colloquial
Anyway; in short. Used to cut a digression short and get back to the point, or to end a story that has run out of road.
c'est pas faux
phrase · Colloquial
Fair point; you're not wrong. Grudging agreement, often from someone who did not want to concede the point.
ça marche
phrase · Colloquial
That works; okay; sounds good. Agreement to a plan, and the standard confirmation from a waiter taking your order.
carrément
adverb, interjection · Colloquial · kah-ray-MAHN
Completely, downright, absolutely.
+1 more sense
déconner
verb · Vulgar
To mess about; to talk nonsense. Tu déconnes? — 'are you kidding?'
+2 more senses
Use with care
du coup
phrase, adverb · Colloquial
So; therefore; as a result. Nominally causal, in practice an all-purpose connector used several times a sentence by many speakers.
genre
adverb, noun · Informal
Like. A quotative and approximator, precisely parallel to English 'like': il a fait genre 'je sais pas'.
+1 more sense
grave
adverb, interjection · Informal
Very, really. An intensifier: c'est grave bien, 'it's really good'.
+1 more sense
putain
interjection · Vulgar · pu-TAN
Damn; bloody hell. The most common French expletive, expressing anything from awe to fury.
+2 more senses
Use with care
quoi
interjection · Colloquial
A sentence-final particle with no translatable content, roughly the function of 'you know' or 'innit' — it marks the statement as obvious or already shared.
trop
adverb · Colloquial
Really, so. In informal speech trop has lost its sense of excess and simply intensifies: c'est trop bien means 'it's brilliant', not 'it's too good'.
truc
noun · Colloquial
A thing; a whatsit. The universal placeholder for an object whose name escapes you.
+2 more senses
verlan
noun · Colloquial · vehr-LAHN
The French practice of inverting a word's syllables to create a slang form. Not a single word but a whole productive system, and the single most distinctive feature of French slang.
voilà
interjection · Colloquial
There you go; that's it. Handing something over, or confirming that someone has understood.
+1 more sense