The Guide to Understanding and Writing French Texting Slang

Cc c Benjamin, sa va?
Don’t worry if you didn’t understand this message, nobody should have to go through this, this post will teach you the most common French
slang words and abbreviations and show you the logic behind French slang (yes there is a logic) so you can text like a pro and finally
understand what your French pen palwrote on Facebook.

Contents
1 French texting slang for greetings
2 French texting slang to be polite
3 French texting slang verbs and pronouns
4 Other common French slang words
5 Patterns you can use to easily understand French internet and texting slang
6 Do you understand French texting slang?

French texting slang for greetings

slt: salut (hi)
lut, lu: less common slang for “salut” (hi)
cc: coucou (hi)
bjr: common slang for “bonjour” (hello)
bsr: bonsoir (good evening)
biz: bisous (kiss)
sa va: can be used as a question “sa va ?” (how are you?) or as an answer “sa va” (I am good, it’s okay”)
b1: bien (good)
é twa: et toi (and you)
a +: à plus tard (see you later)
@+: another way to say à +
a tt: à toute à l’heure (see you in a few hours)

French texting slang to be polite

Even when you use internet or texting slang, it’s important to be polite in French. These little words can go a long way. You can sometimes find
them in official documents too.

stp: s’il te plaît (informal please)

svp: s’il vous plaît (formal please)
dsl: désolé (sorry)

French texting slang verbs and pronouns

c: c’est (it is)
g: j’ai (I have)
ss, chuis: suis (am)
T: t’es (you are)
fo: faut (we must), faux (wrong)
ya: il y a (there is, there are)
ki: qui (who)
koi, kwa: quoi (what)
keske: qu’est-ce que (what)

Other common French slang words

ouf: fou (crazy)
H24: 24/24
pb: problème
id: idée (idea)
nrv: énervé (angry)
c cho: c’est chaud (it’s hot). You use it to say something is difficult or you find something shocking.
auj: aujourd’hui (today)
bcp: beaucoup (a lot). You often see it after merci (merci bcp).
cad: c’est-à-dire (that is to say). This is a more official abbreviation that can often be used in a more formal context.
d’ac: d’accord (alright)
ok: same as in English
mdr: mort de rire (you are laughing so much it could kill you)
ptdr: pété de rire (same as mdr)
gg: good game. This is mostly used by gamers.
com dab: comme d’habitude (as usual)
lol: laughing out loud. Same as in English.
jtm: je t’aime (I love you). This is an essential slang term for all French teenagers.
jms: jamais (never)
msg: message
texto: sms
qqn: quelqu’un (someone)
ras: rien à signaler (
rdv: rendez-vous (meeting). Contrary to English, in French rendez-vous doesn’t necessarily have a romantic meeting. You can have a rendez-
vous with a doctor or a friend for example.
re: de retour (back). This is what you write to notify someone that you are back in the conversation after leaving it for a while.
snif: I am sad
nn: non (no)
tlm: tout le monde: everyone
tjs: toujours (always)
tt: tout (all, everything)
c tt: c’est tout (that’s all)
vrt: vraiment (really)
tg: ta gueule (shut up)
langage sms: this is not slang, it means texting slang.

Patterns you can use to easily understand French internet and texting slang
French slang follows the same logic as English slang which makes it rather easy to understand if you take the time to learn a few patterns. Here
are the five main rules of French slang:

- Trying to be as short and easy to type as possible. This means you delete all accents unless they are absolutely necessary.

- Replacing sounds by a letter or number that sounds the same. You replace “un”, “ain” or “ien” by “1” (un) like in bien (b1). Similarly “c” replaces
“c’est”, “sait” and “s’est”.

- Using only a few letters from the word. This one is a bit trickier. You take a word like “bonjour”, and only use the “main” letters, you get “bjr”.

- Using letters that are easier to type on a French keyboard. That’s why “twa” replaces “toi” for example.

- Deleting silent letters like final “e” or “h” at the beginning of words (“contre” becomes “contr”).

For cases where you can’t translate French slang, there is always the French internet slang translator. That or politely offering a dictionary to the
person who sent you the horrifying message.

Do you understand French texting slang?

okay now you should be able to understand French texting slang better. To make sure this is the case, here are a few sentences for you to
translate:

cc sa va? Mwa chui tro fatigué, g fé bcp d spor auj

le langage sms c mal
nn c pa vré, il é ouf