Bordel literally means brothel. However, these days bordel is more commonly used to describe a large mess. An example would be: Range ta chambre. C’est le bordel. Clean your room. It’s a mess.
2. Balle
Balle as a singular, literally means bullet. Yet back in the day, balles was used as a slang word for francs, the French currency pre-2002. And when France moved on to the euro, ballesmoved with it and it is still sometimes used in reference to money. An example would be: J’aime ton pantalon. Merci. Je l’ai acheté au marché pour quinze balles. I like your pants. Thanks. I bought them at the market for 15 euros.
3. Baraque
The word baraque literally means shanty, or small house made of planks. However, recently the term has been adapted to refer to a house, or, as an adjective, baraqué, someone who is really muscular. For example: On habite dans une grosse baraque avec 10 colocs. We live in a large house with 10 other people. En règle générale, les joueurs de rugby sont plus baraqués que les joueurs de foot. Generally speaking, rugby players are more muscular than football players.
4. BG
These days BGis a popular acronym. It stands for beau gosse, which means hot guy.Gosseon it’s own though is slang for a child though so watch out! If you’re in Quebec, gosseis feminine and carries an entirely different connotation as a slang word for a part of the male anatomy that is generally used in the plural… So if you’re planning to use your slang in Canada, be aware of that difference, since there could be a few misunderstandings!
5 . BCBG
Another popular acronym, which is the French slang for preppy, is BCBG (bien chic bon genre).
6. Blé
Bléliterally translates as wheat in English. However, figuratively it has become a popular way of referring to money. (Another common way of referring to money in slang terms isfricorpognon). Here is an example: Il gagne beaucoup de blé. He earns a lot of money.
7. Bobo
Bobois actually baby talk for une blessure (an injury).However, you will find that young people commonly use this term when referring to minor injuries such as cuts and bruises. An example might be: Qu’est-ce qu’il y a?J’ai un bobo sur le pied. What’s the matter? I have a scratch on my foot.
8. Bouffer
Bouffer literally means to puff up or balloon in size. However, it has become common practice to replace the word manger (to eat) withboufferin everyday speech. And in turn, la bouffe is then used as another word for food. Here is an example: J’ai trop mangé. J’ai bouffé un steak tartare avec des frites suivi d’une grosse tarte aux pommes. I ate too much. I ate a steak tartare with fries followed by a big slice of apple tart. Je suis allé en ville pour acheter de la bouffe. I went into town to buy some food.
9. Une clope
A commonly used slang word, especially in Paris, is the argot for cigarette;une clope. For example: T’aurais pas une clope? You don’t happen to have a cig, do you?
10. Kiffer
Another term used by today’s generation, which you may not already know is the word kiffer, which is slang for to like something (it works best with a hobby!). However, pay attention, if you kiffe quelqu’un, it implies that you desire that person. Here’s an example: Je kiffe faire de la voile. I really enjoy sailing. Je kiffe ton frère.Ilike your brother. (I’m romantically interested in him).
11. Mec
The word mecis yet another commonly used slang term, and refers to boyfriends as well as guys in general. For example: Il est beau, ce mec.That guy is good-looking. Tu viens avec ton mec? Are you bringing your boyfriend?
Another type of slang that you might come across is verlan, which are French words spelled backwards, and often incorrectly, in slang. And while this concept might seem a bit intimidating at first, you will find that you pick it up in no time at all and probably without even realizing.
12. Meuf
Our first example is meuf,which was originally femme. And, as with the word femme,this term can be used to refer to a female, or your girlfriend, although it can have pejorative connotations.
13. Relou
Our second example is relou, the verlan for lourd (heavy or taxing) and equivalent of chiant, which means annoying/exasperating. Here’s an example: C’est trop relou! That sucks!
14. Ouf
Ouf is literally the French translation of the interjection phew as well as meaning crazy/awesome in verlan, being the backwards of fou(crazy/awesome).On a fait un truc (de) ouf hier. *Here ’ouf’ can work as either an adjective, without the ’de’, or as a noun, with the ’d’. It’s up to you! We did something crazy awesome yesterday.
15. être vénère
And finally, our last slang word for today is another way of expressing that you are annoyed or angry; être vénère, which is the verlan of être énervé. An example would be quite simple: Mathieu est vénère. Matthew is annoyed. (It is important here to pay attention to your accents because vénérémeans to be revered).
Italian adjectives often have four different forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. o –> a,i,e, respectively. On the other hand, some adjectives that end in e in their base form are also e for feminine nouns, and change toiin both plural forms. Just posting this as a reference so that you know what to do with the following verbs ;)
Generally speaking, Italian has a relatively free word order. Italian unmarked word order is S (= Subject), V (= Verb), O (= Object), but this sequence can sometimes change to SOV, VSO, OVS, etc., based on emphasis (markedness), style and meter. Below are some examples of these word orders.
Standard SV-clause (unmarked) - SVO (1) Antonio scrive una lettera Antonio writes a letter
(2) Giovanni mangia la torta Giovanni eats the cake
Standard VS-clausewithpostponed subject) (unmarked) - VS(O) (3) È arrivato Giovanni (~ Giovanni è arrivato) Giovanni has come
(4) È morto Pietro (~ Pietro è morto) Pietro is dead
(5) Le ha prese Giorgio (~ Giorgio le ha prese) Giorgio took them
L- (=left) dislocation with anaphoric agreement (marked) - OSV (6) (Quando leggete il giornale?) (When do you read the newspaper?) Il giornale mio marito lo legge la sera, io lo leggo la mattina My husband reads the newspaper in the evening, I read it in the morning [Lit. The newspaper my husband it reads [in] the evening, I it read [in] the morning]
(7) (Quando compri il giornale? (When do you buy the newspaper?) Il giornale lo compro la domenica I buy the newspaper on Sundays
L- dislocation without anaphoric agreement (topicalisation)(marked) - OSV (8) Tua sorella ho visto ieri I saw your sister yesterday
(9) Una poesia ha scritto, non un romanzo S/he wrote a poem, not a novel
R- (=right) dislocation with cataphoric agreement (marked) - O1SVO1 (10) L’ho già salutata, tua sorella I’ve already said hello to your sister
(11) Li hai già presi i biglietti, vero? Have you already picked the tickets, right?
Split clause (marked) - VSO (12) È Giovanni che mi ha detto di voi It is John that told me about you
(13) Sei tu che non vuoi uscire It is you who doesn’t want to go out
K- element clauses (unmarked) - KOVS (14) Quanto è bella Pompei! How beautiful Pompeii is!
(15) Quanta tenerezza mi fanno i gatti! Cats are so endearing!
(16) Come sta la mia principessa? How is my princess doing?
(17) Chi è il nuovo professore? Who is the new professor?
(18) Che cosa ha mangiato Giorgio? What did Giorgio eat?
K- element clauses with Indirect Object or adverb (19) A chi ha scritto la lettera Paolo? Who did Paolo write the letter to? [Lit. To whom has written the letter Paolo?]
(20) Dove ha messo Paolo la lettera? Where has Paolo put the letter?
Der Strandkorb (literally beach basket) is a chair designed to provide comfort and protection from sun, wind, and sand on German beaches. They’re used on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coast and can be rented. The Strandkorb is said to have been invented in 1882 by basketmaker Wilhelm Bartelmann in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on request of a tourist from Warnemünde. In 1883, they were first announced as rentals. The first models were single seaters and appeared quickly elsewhere on the German coast. Today’s models are mostly two seaters with tiltable tops, some allowing people to lie down completely. They have footrests and tables for food or drinks, storage space, rain proof covers, and sunshades. Thomas Mann refers to them in his 1901 novel Buddenbrooks, setting the context in the 1840s on the beach at Travemünde.
das Internet - internet das Wlan - wifi der Blog - blog der Virus - virus die Maus - mouse (etw.) downloaden - (to) download (sth.) der Link - link (etw.) googlen - (to) google (sth.) (etw.) hochladen - (to) upload (sth.) die Kopfhörer - headphones der Drucker - printer der Scanner - scanner das Fenster - window schließen - (to) close öffnen - (to) open (etw.) posten - (to) post (sth.) die Verbindung - connection die Lautstärke - volume einloggen- (to) log in ausloggen- (to) log out (etw.) löschen - (to) delete (sth.) (etw.) speichern - (to) save (sth.) die Einstellungen - settings (jmd. etw.) schreiben - (to) text (sm. sth.) die Seite - page
reading fanfic in your target language can help you pick up new vocabulary words! I just finished ‘Batman R.I.P’ a series of vignettes of different characters grieving the loss of Bruce Wayne.
la bêta lecture- beta reading
une étude des personnage- character study
le Chevalier Noir- dark knight ‘black night’
le canon- canon
le casque- helmet, helm (in this case, batman’s cowl)
la cape- cape
la poussière- dust
un enterrement- burial
la presse people- tabloids, news about celebrities
jouer dans la cour des grands- to punch above your weight, to play in the big leagues, to compete out of one’s skill set ‘to play in the big courts’
unfortunately the french are quite fond of ‘la numération romaine’ and use it everywhere. It’s smart to be able to recognize 1-21 at the very least since they’re most often used to talk about centuries. Here’s a helpful cheat sheet!
one - un - I
two - deux - II (one two times)
three - trois - III (one three times)
four - quatre - IV (one before five)
five - cinq - V
six - VI (one after five)
seven - sept - VII (two after five)
eight - huit - VIII (three after five)
nine - neuf - IX (one before ten)
ten - dix - X
fifteen - quinze - XV (five after ten)
twenty - vignt - XX (two tens)
thirty - trente - XXX (three tens)
forty - quarante - XL (ten before fifty)
fifty - cinquante - L
ninety - quatre-vignt-dix - XC (ten before one hundred)
