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galère

noun, adjectiveColloquial

A French slang term. Browse all French slang.

What it means

  1. A nightmare; a real struggle. Quelle galère! — 'what a palaver'.

  2. As a verb, galérer: to struggle, to have a hard time of it.

Literally: Galley (the ship).

Examples with translations

  • Trouver un appart à Paris, quelle galère.

    Finding a flat in Paris is a nightmare.

  • Je galère avec ce logiciel.

    I'm struggling with this software.

Where it comes from

From the galley ships rowed by convicts — a sentence to the galleys was the harshest punishment short of death. Molière's 'que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?' kept the image alive.