5 French Onomatopoeia to Make You Sound More French

Bonjour !

In reality, there are a lot of French onomatopoeias but in this episode we’ll focus on the onomatopoeic words that will make you sound like a real French person when you use them!

Learn to say “”Yay!”” or “”Ouch!”” and a few more french onomatopoeia words; words formed out of the sound imitated from an object, action or an animal. You’ll find yourself practicing them almost effortlessly!




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Et toi ?

Which French word do you think is the most useful to you?

Bonne journée,

Géraldine

Join the conversation!

  • I remember watching a French academic and writer telling a story on a Bernard Pivot talk show about a man going from door to door where he lived to ask his neighbours if they’d seen or found something he’d lost. Toc toc was the expression he used to describe the man knocking on the doors. Merci Géraldine ~

  • But how is toc-toc used Geraldine? Knock-knock is only one form
    When I have had people checking forms, or checking papers are all there for example I think they say “toc”, “toc” as they pass through the form. Isn’t this a more common use?
    I always spell Waou wrongly ;( Wow is much easier
    Bises

    • Bonjour Brian,

      In everyday life, you can “say” toc-toc when you can’t knock on a door to check if the person is busy before you enter. 🙂
      I don’t think people checking forms say “toc toc”. Do you have any other idea what they could have said?

      • My insurance lady, a lady at CPAM and one at the Tax Office, all did the same thing while checking forms ,, toc, toc, toc etc going from box to box like in English we might say tick perhaps, maybe it’s a south west thing, we speak very differently hear with our chocolatines !! 🙂

  • J’aime aussi “plouf!” C’est le son quand quelque chose tombe dans l’eau. Un peu comme “plop”ou “splash” en anglais.

  • “Youpi” sounds like the English, “Yippee!” and “hourra” also sounds like the English “hooray”. And both of these seems to mean approximately the same thing and are used in the same way. Hip hip hooray!

  • Coucou,
    Ça par lui-même, coucou, peut- il être considéré un omonatopoeia ? Puisque c’est utilisé comme une interjection et comme un nom.
    Hoplà qui peut être utilisé dans le même sens que hoops pour montrer une contrariété, peut-être également utiliser pour encourager l’accomplissement de quelque chose. Par exemple un parent pourrait dire “hoplà” à un enfant en lui tenant la main pour l’aider à sauter par-dessus la flaque.

  • A lot of these are very similar to English ( or is it the English similar to French ! ) Hip, hip, hooray, tic, mmm, Yippy. Cocorico and toquér are useful to me.

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