20 French Fluency Shortcuts: Slang

13 – A snack.

• Le goûter = a light bite in the afternoon (especially for children). For example, une viennoiserie : un croissant or un pain au chocolat.
• Un en-cas = short for “en cas de besoin” (literally “in case you need it”). It is the closest thing to “a snack,” but the word is formal and rarely used.
• Grignoter = to nibble and to eat outside of meals. Usually used negatively:
  Je devrais arrêter de grignoter entre les repas. = I should stop having snacks between meals.
• Un casse-croûte = “a break-crust”, is a simple meal, often a sandwich. You can eat things for a lunch break on the road when walking around a city or hiking in nature.

French culture doesn’t allow “snacks,” light food outside meals. We still do it anyway, but it’s a cultural blind spot. Instead of a precise translation of the noun “a snack,” we use verbs like “grignoter” or… the English word directly: “un snack.”

Click here to learn more:

• 15 recettes de snack totalement faciles
• French People Never Snack

14 – Rude.

“Rude” is a false friend, a false cognate! The French adjective “rude” exists, but we don’t use it for everyday impoliteness or offensively bad manners.

Click here to learn more:

• Faux Amis: 5 ‘False Friends’ in French Vocabulary
• Faux Amis II: 5 MORE ‘False Friends’ in French Vocabulary

The English adjective “Rude” is in French:

• Impoli = impolite
• Grossier / Vulgaire = Vulgar
• Insultant = Insulting
• Agressif = Aggressive

These words care more about a breach of etiquette rather than hurt feelings. That’s a nice summary of the stereotypical cultural differences between French and American people!

In French, on the other hand:
Rude = harsh (weather), difficult (task), brutal (treatment), rough

Or using the dictionary definitions, we find other synonyms:

• Rugueux = rough (une peau rude = rough skin)
• Sévère = strict, harsh (Tu as été rude avec lui. = You were harsh with him.)
• Frustes = rough-mannered (des manières rudes = rough manners)
• Redoutable = formidable. (une rude concurrence = formidable opposition)

Le truc en plus: We sometimes use the adverb “rudement” to mean “very, particularly.” It’s a bit old-fashioned now. But you might still find French books where someone says:
C’est rudement bien ! = It’s really good! / It’s so good!

15 – Judgmental.

French culture can be very judgmental! But there’s no simple translation for the word itself. Instead, we have:

• Méprisant = scornful,
• Accusateur = accusing,
• Moralisateur = sanctimonious, moralizing,
• Critique = critical.
  Elle m’a jeté un regard critique. = She gave me a critical look.

And verbs:

Juger = to judge
Critiquer / Faire des critiques = to criticize / to give criticism

It’s like the expression “Holier than thou”: there’s no clear French translation, but it’s a common dynamic nonetheless!

Le truc en plus: “Critique” is also used for art or food appreciation!

Un critique = a critique
Une critique = a review

16 – Offended.

The French language does have a translation for this:

Offensé(e) = offended.

However, it sounds outdated – more appropriate for an XVIIIth century offense to one’s honor requiring a duel or something. Related words are only used for sports and the military:

L’offense = the offense (an attack)
Offensif = offensive (focused on attacking).

For offended feelings, instead, we’d use adjectives such as:

• Choqué(e) = shocked. (Or “sous le choc” = under the shock.)
• Blessé(e) = hurt, wounded. → And not béni (= blessed.)
• Heurté(e) = bumped
  Heurter = to hit without meaning to, to bump into (literally)
  La voiture a heurté une barrière. = The car hit a safety barrier / bumped into a barrier.
  J’ai été heurté par tes paroles. = Your words have struck me. Your words have hurt me. (metaphorically)
• Vexé = piqued, vexed.
  Vexer = to pique someone’s pride, to hit someone’s self-assurance.
• Tu ne m’as pas invitée, ça m’a vexé, je suis vexée. = You didn’t invite me. It hurt my pride.

So “offended” is a bit of a mix of “heurté” and “vexé”: a hit that can hurt, but also an attack on your pride.

Now, in real life, meanings can change. And with the influence of American culture on French discourse, offensé is making a comeback: young French people use more and more simply offensé as a direct translation for “offended.” But it didn’t fully catch on yet.

Le truc en plus: The same thing is happening with the English adjective “offensive” as well. You can use:

Blessant = hurtful,
Injurieux = injurious, verbally abusive,
Insultant = insulting.

But when translating English views of something being “offensive,” French people simply use offensant more and more. Even though the word didn’t exist before.

17 – Confusing.

Confusing = déroutant, confus.

However, there’s a bit more behind this:

• Déroutant (= literally “rerouting”) also has a meaning of “surprising, original, unusual.” And it hints at a hidden order behind the confusion – something you haven’t yet understood.
  Un film déroutant = An unusual movie you didn’t fully understand (but you could, with time and thought.)
• Confus also means “confused” and “messy.”
  Un film confus = a movie that doesn’t quite know what points to make, a messy movie.

French people started using confusant as well. It’s a clumsy direct translation that sounds weird. Like offensant earlier, it’s not widespread, but it’s becoming more common.

However, the official arbiter of the French language, l’Académie française, has issued an official reclamation against using “confusant” ! Instead, they recommend using:

• Troublant = troubling,
• Perturbant = disturbing.

But once again, the meanings don’t precisely match.

18 – Empowerment

The English term “Empowerment” comes from the feminist struggles of the early-XXth century. But for the French public, this concept was mainly introduced in the 2000s by prominent organizations such as l’ONU (l’Organisation des Nations-Unies) (= the UN) or la Banque Mondiale (= the World Bank.) Now, we use it for business and management, far from its radical roots. And since business and management love using English words, they didn’t look very far for a suitable French translation.

The official translation is l’autonomisation, but it sounds robotic, while la responsabilisation sounds judgmental, or l’émancipation, which sounds tied to the fight against slavery / for voting rights. L’empouvoirement also exists, but it sounds ugly and is rarely used.

So in most cases, people use the English word directly: “Empowerment.”

Coming from Québec, we have an alternative: le pouvoir d’agir (= the power to act, to do things). And it comes back to the activist roots of empowerment.

Le truc en plus: Le pouvoir d’agir also offers a nice translation for “agency” (in sociology/psychology), the capacity to act. The official translation is agentivité, but it’s pretty obscure. For a “travel agency” or an “Intelligence Agency”, we simply say une agence.

Click here to learn more:

• «Empowerment», un mot qui perd de son pouvoir | Le Devoir
• Le pouvoir d’agir à la rescousse | Revue Projet
• Pouvoir d’agir & collectif – Modulo-coop

19 – Awkward

Awkward = Gênant, or Gêné
J’ai eu un moment gênant avec Julien. = I had an awkward moment with Julien.
Hum, désolé je suis un peu gêné. = Hmm, sorry, I’m being a bit awkward.

However, we also have:

• Gênant = embêtant = troublesome / annoying
  Mon vélo a crevé, donc c’est gênant pour se déplacer. = My bike tire punctured, so it’s difficult to move around.
• Gêné = embêté= having trouble / being annoyed
  Je suis gêné pour venir te voir. = I’ll have some trouble coming to see you.

Between “awkward” and “troublesome,” there are

• Mal à l’aise = ill at ease,
• Embarrassant(e) = embarrassing
• Lionel se retrouve souvent dans des situations embarrassantes. = Lionel often ends up in embarrassing, awkward situations.
• Embarrassé(e) = embarrassed.
• Maladroit(e) = clumsy,
  Unmaladroit / une maladroite = a clumsy person.
  Antoine a encore fait une remarque maladroite. = Once again, Antoine made a clumsy, awkward comment.

20 – Foodie

French people love eating well, but there’s no word for “foodie”. You can use different words to discuss your food preferences:

• Un amateur / une amatrice de bonne cuisine = someone who enjoys good food.
• Un passionné / une passionnée de restaurant = somebody who’s passionate about restaurants.
• Un gastronome = who enjoys the finest food.
• Un gourmet = who really enjoys the finest food and finest wine.
  Mon frère est un gourmet, il nous a invités à dîner dans un restaurant gastronomique. = My brother is a gourmet, a foodie. He invited us for dinner at a gourmet restaurant / a foodie restaurant / a fancy restaurant.
• Un gourmand = who really enjoys eating, not necessarily gourmet food.
  Je suis un grand gourmand ! = I really love to eat. I’m a big foodie.

There’s no French “foodie.” Yes, there are countless great restaurants in France. And many people really enjoy fine dining. But it didn’t really become a widespread hobby or a one-word concept!

Le truc en plus: One of the obscure French songs I like is Blues gourmand (Charlélie Couture, 1997).

Click here to learn more:

• Are There Foodies in France? A Native Parisian Explains