French Tutorial

Learn French

While you are in France you will probably make yourself understood by speaking "Text Book" French and make much use of the dictionary you armed yourself with before starting your holiday. However if you really want to impress with your language skills you could speak a little of the modern, progressive French language in every day use today. Just like every language, French is rich in colloquialisms and slang or 'argot'. Here are some examples of everyday French language and simple colloquial terms to get you started:

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In modern French words are sometimes shortened, the abridged words often end with 'o', for example:

Other words are simply truncated, for example:

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When talking to young children, many French adults simply repeat one syllable from a word, twice. A number of words have developed by this mechanism, for example: These words often appear in adult jokes, so it is worth learning basic kids' vocabulary even if you don't expect to spend much time talking to children.

The French have several words for children (les enfants), not all of them are complimentary. The most common 'argot' word for kids is 'les gosses'. However, the word 'gosse' is often prefixed with the adjective 'sale', meaning dirty. The phrase 'un sale gosse' translates better as 'a little brat' rather than the literal 'a dirty kid'. Similarly, 'un gosse de riches' means 'a spoilt rich brat'. Other words for kids include 'les gamins', 'les lardons', 'les marmots' and finally 'les morveux' which means snotty nosed