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I'm native Serbian speaker... And here we have slang that is used the same way... There is common way to split word into 2 parts by number of syllables (if there are 3 or 5 syllables, there is one correct way to split the word to correctly use the slang,if there's 2 or 4, word is split in two equal parts). It's called "šatrovački" (prounanced like shatrowachky)... Its commonly associated with urban-criminal-hip-hop culture, and I belive it originated about 90s or 80s... Today its widely used in rap songs, and some words are more likely to be used by ppl in that way then other words (like money, slang words for particular drugs, saying hi, etc..) , in order to show "coolness", "relaxed mood", "acceptance" on the side of the speaker. Just wanted to say this way of making slang words is not exclusively French...
@@leina_a5246 Yes, I know. Haha. I know some of the ones in the video are very out of date, but they're "classic" examples of Verlan. Of course slang changes all the time.
Hi, Paul ! if you are right now 50/60 years old ..it was in our "teenager" time very used ( with slang) as coded proper language like "Argot"(other proper language)...fallen into disuse or become common words... used sometimes with some English and German words (FraManGlais) included some "Javanais" ( put "av" between each syllables ) . at least "Verlan" could be different according to your neighborhood, region, county or locality... for the following generations ... an "elder" who uses them ... seems to want to be "young" ... but it was our way of speaking before theirs ... with the evolution that they gave it
@@marietoutsimplement.9442 Tout simplement la base c'est FOL, mais le féminisme de merde à juger bon de forcer par la romance, l'écrit d'effacer FOL du langage et de s'accaparer cette base pour déraciner le masculin de l'universel usage à l'oral, et donc de forcer pour se distinguer d'user fou en lien et place de fol. Pareil pour bel.
"tromé" etait assez courrant dans le verlan des annees 80 mais maintenant c'est "trom". Pareil pour zarbi, c'est plutot "zarb" ces temps ci. Barjo, un des plus anciens mots de verlan est devenu "barj" (en plus d'avoir ete re-verlanise en "Jobar").
Les generations 2000/2010 commencent à se lasser du verlan et ils jouent beaucoup avec les Anglicismes. Certes, une partie du verlan persiste, mais c'est en train de se perdre.. Une petite tragédie pour moi, le gosse de 78 qui voit un truc se perdre à l'instar de la langue de feu, et ce genre de conneries..
I am French too, and I have NEVER, EVER used verlan in my entire life! I have lived in the USA for 34 years (actually, on February 27, it will be 34 years, but close enough), seven years longer than I had lived in my country of birth!
Verlan is the most epic linguistic troll I've ever heard of. I picture each member of the French Academy waking up at 3:00 a.m., sweating furiously, and shouting in pure contempt: VERLAN!!!
In the 1990's the French national railroad company tried to use verlan in a TV advert and it became well known by French speakers as the worst attempt at verlan, they overused it, and they even tried to apply verlan on the word "possible", which became "blessipo" and is considered to be an enormous fail at trying to be "cool" to young people
Euuuu... : "blessipo" sounds as if it might mean something pertaining to someone's having been "hurt/injured by police" maybe; perhaps, a potentially useful word - in many parts "...des Etats-Unis" ({: \ ...!?!
@@thomasvincent8905 It hates everyone It's almost impossible not to make mistakes whenever you write an essay even if you have a very good level even for a native speaker. So many odd rules that apply to only one very specific case. This language is a mess Sincerely, a French in prep school who has to do a lot of exams and knows first hand how insanely specific the rules can be)
@@sephikong8323 I remember when I had French in school, I called it "a language with more exceptions than rules". Didn't like it much. Liked English, except after a while not the way it was taught - I mainly learned then from books and Usenet (and later, the web, once there was a web and I had access).
Hi I'm Vietnamese. In Vietnamese (particularly in the southern accent) we do have something rather similar that is called "nói lái" (literally "reverse speech). For a word with multiple syllables, we switch around the vowel sound ("vần"), tone mark ("thanh") or the consonant sound ("âm") and keep the order of the other parts to create a new word or phrase. This way of speech is usually used in jokes or to make swear words a little bit less offensive in an informal context. For example, "bạn cái lồn" [lit. Asshole friend] will be switch to "lộn cái bàn" [lit. Flip the table]
I was so surprised to watch this, haha! I never suspected this video, and it was very fun! Here some other examples: - "Chelou" (from "Louche") meaning "fishy" - "Se faire tèj' " (from "jeter") meaning "to be throw out" - "Pécho" (from "choper") meaning "to get laid" or "to get a girlfriend/boyfriend" - "Vénère" (from "énervé") meaning "angry/mad" ...
"Se faire tèj" does mean to be thrown out but more so in the context of being dumped by your SO! "Pécho" is also used for being caught, ex: Je m'suis fait pécho par les keufs, c'était relou" I got caught by the cops, it was heavy stuff
Lol as a French it's weird to see foreigners learning "verlan" it's so common for us to speak it we don't really realize it An important point: sometimes the verlan word meaning can be a little different from the original meaning for exemple : fête means party but teuf means rave party in most cases And feuk or fekeu for cops is always use because it sounds like fuck in English a way to call cops and insulting them at the same time
I actually learned in French class that" Les fliques " is derogatory.This was confirmed when years later I used the word "Le flic" while trying out a puppet that happened to depict a police officer .The French lady whom I was with at the flea market got into a small defensive speech about there being a lot of good police officers,she not being amused.
For also being a native speaker in French I must say that you did a great job in this video, and it was very amusing to watch the theoritical aspect of the "street" dialogue. Anyway, thanks for all your amazing videos.
@@maro0532 Moi on en utilise mais plutot de maniere uronique, mais c'est pas rare de ce passer des "tema le mec c'est un ouf" mais apres le contexte est important
Hi everyone. Please don't post topic requests. Requests aren't feasible for a channel like this with videos that take so much time and effort to make. But I hope you like the video! Thanks.
Hey I know you didn't want a discussion, but i just want to mention that "keufs" evolved into "feuk" as a "double verlanization" that conveniently sounded like our pronunciation of the famous english word "fuck".
Soirbon, Paul ! Cimer pour la vidéo sur le verlan ! En vrai, sonneper utilise le verlan comme ass, parce que ça s'rait trop chelou. Mais t'as bien résumé le blème. D'ailleurs, "Va te coucher" dans ce contexte (je suppose), c'est plus "You don't understand what's happening, get out". C'est un peu comme l'expression "être à côté de la plaque", si tu connais l'expression et son équivalent en anglais. Ouais, le français c'est relou de ouf parfois, c'est jamais la teuf. D'ailleurs, ça m'fait très glori d'voir un anglais parler du verlan. J'dois aussi te dire que j'adore téma tes vidéos et que t'es mec super, même si au début t'avais l'air chéper. Continue comme ass wesh
@@lalegende2746 en voyant les commentaires on se rend compte à quel point ça varie selon les endroits. Perso je peux dire cimer mais pas sincèrement pour remercier, plutôt ironiquement quand je suis soulé genre "ah ouais cimer tu fais chier"
Como Argentino y Francés, pensé que como se lo encontraba en estas dos lenguas pensaba que existía en todas las lenguas jaja Pero el "verlan" en francés es mucho mas utilizado que el vesre argentino, muchisimo mas
Si en Argentina era mas utilizado en la primera mitad del siglo pasado, ahora han quedad solo algunas palabras en uso cotidiano, como cobani o bolonqui
Era bastante más común en la época del tango, pero en Uruguay lo seguimos usando bastante en realidad. No todas, como dijiste, pero dolape, ñapi, nami, dope, ñoba, son todas palabras que escuchás prácticamente todos los días.
C'est sur que c'est important pour comprendre les français et que ça date pas d'hier, mais c'est juste le sérieux avec lequel il dit "chez ta reum" ça me fait hurler de rire
Je constate simplement que le mot "feuk" n'est pas couramment utilisé. On aurait plus tendance à employer "condés", "flics" ou "hnouchs" pour désigner la police dans un language argotique. Qu'est ce que tu parles de "petite vie" alors que tu sais rien ? wlh c'est abusé comment vous faites trop les fous derrière vos pseudos éclatés et vos photos de profils de mes couilles. T'es le genre de type qui fermerait sa gueule si on se voit en face.
I'm actually really impressed by your work on this topic , Verlan is something that we like to use in order to confuse foreigners or elders as well , it would be too hard for a native speaker to explain all this process in detail , honestly good job man :o
As a french native I find your video really relevent it's really a big part of our daily conversation and that's super cool to permite people to access that
Yeah "sonmai" is a joke too. Same, "jourbon" and "tromé" are jokes aswell. some rebeus do actually still use "beur" tho. and "femeu" comes out from time to time.
" des meufs et des keufs dans le RER" Verlan is so 1993 in my mind. Some words are still in use but word of warning for French learners, if you're gonna try some Verlan on a native speaker be prepared for a verbal onslaught as the person you talk to will likely assume you're perfectly fluent not only in French but in suburban slang and you might come out really confused.
Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith I was born in France, 55 Meuse, Avec un bon patois bien de chez nous, spoken as crudely as it come, no one will get the drift of the conversation...French born or tourist...
tbh, that sort of sums up the general experience of many "semi-" francophones...even when dealing in/with nothing *but* "standard, proper" ...assez *tristement ({:* \ ....!!
We have something similar in my hometown, Brescia. It's called Trancorio -- from the Italian "contrario" (backwards!). So, Pietro becomes Tropie, Vecchio (old/old man) becomes chiove, the dialectical word Maruchì (Marocchino - "a person from Morocco") becomes ruchima ☺
Wow, what an unexpected subject! As a native and young french speaker, I have to say that I can't keep up with street slangs. As you pointed out, there's a conscious evolution that makes it impossible to actually learn except if you're part of the demographic. As soon as a word becomes mainstream, it's almost immediately abandonned.
But be careful with verlan cause it can be awkward for some situation ! Some months ago, my dad asked "Tu veux de la pesou ?" ("Do you want some soup") and it was so awkward ! So be careful haha
The funniest part is that the French find verlan so normal that they're not even aware that it's a slang that's pretty specific to French. I live in France, and my French friends, when I tell them about verlan being weird sometimes, will say "wait, they don't do verlan in other languages?" 😂
In Lunfardo (a Platinean informal dialect of Spanish, spoken in and around Montevideo and Buenos Aires) we have the same kind of backwards slang. It's called "vesre" (revés). Some examples are piña = ñapi (punch), mina = nami (slang for young woman), pelado = dolape (bald man).
Hello Paul, I found it quite interesting since here in Argentina, due to the product of a massive Italian immigration, lunfardo slang is spoken with which words are also inverted to the point of not having rules bicho = chobi (insect) zapatillas = tillas (sneakers) pantalon = lompa (pants)
Learning Spanish has been a hell of a lot easier than learning French, but I think it’s worth the effort. Such a cool language, especially with the historical impact French had on the development of modern English
I mean, spanish also has very weird and not intuitive slang. But they are localized to each if the many many Spanish speaking countries, while french is more centralized in just the french and quebecoise communities most of the time But for exmaple in Argentina they do something quite similqr to verlan in some areas
I think that Rap music does help spreading and creating new Verlan words. Sometimes it helps with the rhymes or it just sounds more creative and fun to listen to. It probably does in other languages too
I'm french and it felt like an old guy on TV explaining "young talk". A lot of the verlan you presented isn't used by young people anymore and other, I've never heard. But it's comprehensible as it's hard to keep up with slang.
These are definitely not all out of date. Obviously verlan innovators might have stopped using most of these (I wouldn't know, really) but in my main circle (university students in Lyon) cimer, meuf, teuf, reubeu, turfu and a few more are still in use, though at times with tongue-in-cheek undertones.
The video is right most of the time. It's just that verlan isn't standardized so it can vary from a region to another. Daily, I speak (maybe too much) verlan from Paris but it's slightly different from Lyon's or Marseille's ones. In fact, you create your own verlan, so it's normal to see people complain about this video, some people never say "tromé" ou "carna", some people use them everyday.
1:12 "jourbon" ne se dit pas (ou plus), sinon le reste reste largement utilisé. C'est une très bonne idée d'apprendre le "verlan" puisqu'il représente une bonne partie de notre argot, et c'est très pratique pour ceux qui ont envie de parler français.
I'm from Rio/Brazil and down here we vernalize too, at least when I was in school. For the same purpose we wanted to hide our information from others, especially authorities such as teachers and parents. I don't know how many people would speak it back then but my friends and I used it for several years. Have no idea either who invented or came up with this variation of slang. For example the word cigarette (cigarro) we'd say 'rogaci' or simply 'roga'; another one 'lhermu' which means mulher (woman) and so on.
@@abuzlatanlapsychiatrie8438 the verlan of the shortenized verlanized brazilian cigarette word, interesting, if we keep verlanizing every language out there, we'll all end up speaking the same language, it's a fact
Good video! I wanted to comment as a young french girl ^^ I've never heard Tromé or jourbon. Zarbi, teuf and Keum sound outdated and are used by old people wanting to sound cool/young. verlan is really familiar but not rude. Like my professors don't mind if we say Relou or Chelou. I love to talk about french slang with foreigners
thierryf67, exactly. Some young people have the unfounded impression that this slang is exclusively theirs. It's understandable though because they are the ones pushing through today's main innovations in it. But in holding this opinion, they overlook the fact that quite a few words from the La Haine era I can still hear being used today, over twenty years later... by teenagers! :-)
for me "la haine" was already a youngster movie ! ;)) verlan exist at least since the middle of the XX century.... and may be earlier ! And i wasn't born of course... (i'm from the mid-sixties)
Thank's Paul, it's a very nice video. As a French, I even learned some few things. Yeah slang has a more evolving vocabulary than the formal French because nobody wants to preserve a so-called purity of the casual language. La Haine is from 1995, so in more than 20 years some words evolved (for example, "turevoi" now sounds weird). Few years before that, I remember having fun with other 8 years-old kids when trying to speak verlan after class. During high school, our popular slang was adding some loanwords from arabic dialects spoken at home by maghrebis immigrant's sons and grandsons.
This is super interesting because I didn't know that in other countries people have this kind of slangs like in Spanish, it's also interesting that they have a name for their slang. If you try to do a video about slangs in spanish you're crazy, there are a lot and they don't have any classification. I love your channel.
This reminded me of the Buenos Aires 'Lunfardo' slang, another interesting phenomenon which both reverses words and also incorporates heavy borrowings from the Italian dialects, reflecting the the mass Italian immigration to which many Porteños owe their ancestry. I believe it's also used across the bay in Montevideo, which shares similar historical demography.
Interesting. Is that a figure of speech like in french or were those syllabes inversed to create new words with new meaning? I didn't quite understand.
he was big on word play, half of his characters have a funny meaning to their name, look up what cunégonde means 🤣🤣🤣🤣 voltaire was the first internet troll man
I don't know where you found those words but your imagination is brillint! :) Here is a few list of verlan word we really use around Paris : Merci -> Cimer Louche (weird) -> chelou (young people rarely use louche by the way) Fou (crazy, insane, amazing)-> ouf Lourd (taxing, unbearable) -> Relou (this on is very common for young people) Femme -> meuf (As said in the video) Fête (a party) -> teuf (But it sounds weird even if we use it. French people would normally say "Une soirée" instead) Choper -> Pêcho (But I don't recommand you to use it. It doesn't seem natural so it is mostly used by hick people) Frère (brother) -> reuf (same don’t use it with people that are more than 25). Un flic (policeman) -> keuf (But there is no difference in their meaning as they are both familiar). I think it would take an entire day to describe you all the words we can use to refer to a policeman (un policier) Fait chier (fuck, shit) -> fait ièch Perché (strange, weird) become Chéper (We can notice that the slang for this word sounds way less agressive. We use it between friends). And that's almost all An advice to end with, never try to say "Jourbon" instead of "Bonjour" or talking about the "Trome" instead of the "Metro", this is the best way to spend the most awkward moment of your life ahah May all of you have a good day, hope this will be usefull :)
In Rioplatense Spanish (Argentina and Uruguay), the same process takes place. It's called "vesre" ("revés" pronounced backwards), and it is popular since the late XIX century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre
In Bahasa Indonesia we also have a similar thing. It's very prominent in the Malang (Eastern Java) region but as of lately has been starting to imbibe in the common slang. We often say "kuyyy", which is reverse of "yuk", roughly translated as "c'mon". Other example is "woles", reverse of the English's "slow", the pararel of "chill dude" in English. It's called Boso Walikan (Reverse Language). It's really surprising that the same phenomenon happens in other language
In Argentinian/Uruguayan Spanish verlan it's very common in lunfardo (slang). It's called "vesre" ("revés", meaning "opposite"). They are used a lot in everyday informal language, and in popular music, especially tango. "Ñoba" instead of "baño", "jermu" instead of "mujer", "lompa" instead of "pantalón", etc.
This is used in Chile as well. A "cabro chico" (little kid/boy) becomes a "broca cochi". A fat guy, a "guatón", becomes a "tongua". Your "mujer" (woman/wife) becomes the "jermu". "El que dije" ("the one I told you about", referencing something or someone you don't want to mention by name) becomes "el que te jedi". And so on.
Thanks Paul for this week documented video. It's quite cute to hear your French accent but if sounds very rare when you speak verlan. I believe this is because it is a very cultural and evolving slang. About "documented" side, I didn't expect you to know "meufeu". When I heard that the first time, ten years back, in the metro I was kind of shocked. How verlan of verlan doesn't lead to lancer...? Keep going, good job!
Bien vu, je l'avais remarqué également, Paul avait oublié le LE qui est en fait L' "Va t'coucher, l'relou". Je n'ai jamais utilisé le verlan de ma vie, donc je n'avais aucune idée que "relou" était le verlan de "lourd", mais par-dessus le marché, je n'avais aucune idée du sens argotique de "lourd". Je suis breton d'origine, et j'habite aux États-Unis.
I've been speaking french (second language) my whole life and I'd never heard of verlan!! I always wondered where the word "meuf" came from!! Great video!
The best one is still « tam » from mat which is a contraction of « matin » (morning) : then one could say « je suis rentré à 4 heures du tam » (I came home at 4:00 am). Yet, I’m not sure if a French native would always get it 😂 It really has the effect of punctuating the end of the sentence
Alexis Misselyn Go ça vient de gonzesse, sérieusement ? Je pense que c’est une coïncidence parce que j’ai toujours entendu que ça venait d’une langue d’Afrique dont je ne connais plus le nom. La même langue qui dit « igo » pour garçon.
This is why languages like French or English are awesome. Even when there are many efforts to standardize them they just do what ever the hell they want.
Ophélie Nobody said that verlan was a language ? And despite the Académie Française and its aggressive standardisation of french, people will continue to use slang as they do in every other language and that's what makes the beauty of modern languages in my opinion 😊
I watch the Video for the second time and now its clear Love this episode, actually in my country Philippines we have also like this, like the filipino word "Malupet" means Awsome , nowadays people in the Philippines pronounce "Malupet" into "PetMalu". Here are some other example: Lodi - Idol WerPa - power, the "o" in power was change into "a". ErMat-Mother ErPat-Father MigMala-Malamig means "its cold" JeProxs - Project
Vincent Malab Omg this is really interesting thanks!!! I was wondering when scrolling through the comments if any other language had this feature and stumbling across your post made my day ^^ Is this type of verlan also seen as a typical annoying "youth" thing? ;) it definitely is in my france aha
Tsar Karl I Aha same in France, what's so cringy is seeing old politicians using these words in the belief that young people will totally vote for them because they used such an "edgy" vocabulary xDD
Tsar Karl I XDD yes I also dream of corrupt politicians embracing their violent tendancies but rejecting backward speech! ^^ How's it like language-wise in the Philippines? Do you speak different languages during the day?
Funny enough, we use this kind of slang in Indonesia too: "Bisa" (can) becomes "sabi" "Bebas" (up to you) becomes "sabeb", yuk (c'mon)= kuy, and so on. Probably the worst of all is how young people tell each other to chill= "selow" (which is already informal because it is the bastardization of the english word 'slow') becomes "woles"
This kind of syllable-swapping slang is not new in Tagalog. In fact, our ancestors have been doing this since the pre-colonial time. There are Spanish records about this, and the natives called it Caui/Kawi (from Uica/ Wika [Language]). It was recorded as "Gerigonza. Caui" (kawi) in De los Santos, 1793. Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala. read this post for more info facebook.com/SaysayBagin/photos/a.503430556338200.133652.499239096757346/1229026390445276/?type=3&theater
I have French friends and they told me that for people who want to learn French, do not learn the verlan, it is completely the opposite of certain words, it is apparently seen as familiar and rude as use
I personally find verlan very rude, I'd never call my girlfriend "ma meuf". Me and my friends only use verlan to mock people who speak use these terms or to show that we're not serious.
It can change based on the world you' re using for exemple "cimer" is use quite a lot and most people won't find it rude, may be too casual based on the situation. On the other hand words like "meuf" can be seen are rude and degrading by some people.
Interesting. In my province some also say “aps “ for “pas” / “not” and the s which is silent in the formal word is actually pronounced in its verlan version. The most common use would be “trop aps” for “trop pas” which already is the verlanized expression of “pas trop “ as in “not really”. But in verlan “trop aps” means “really not”. This kind of goes against all the sort of rules you managed to get but then again, it’s one example of informal language
in france "teuf" is mainly used to describe a freeparty/rave party, you would'nt use the word "teuf" when you're having a small party in your house... well except if you have a wall of sound in your garden with "du son de teuf" :D
Si tu peux dire « je fais une petite teuf chez moi ce soir si ça tente quelqu’un » ça choquera personne et on comprend bien que c’est pas une freeparty. Après je suis d’accord que quand on dit je vais EN teuf c’est une freeparty mais à une teuf c’est plus général
@@Corapaslemagasin peut être que ça dépend des endroit et des gens « je fais une petite teuf chez moi ce soir si ça tente quelqu’un » je le prendrais comme si c'étais une teuf mais avec peu de gens, apprès c'est sur que ça dépend de qui ça viens, je le prendrais pas de cette manière si je sait que la personne qui propose ça n'est pas dans ce genre de truc mais pour le coup j'ai jamais vraiment entendu ça ^^
J'avoue si tu dis je fais une teuf chez moi, faut t'attendre a voir debarquer des camions, un parking impro dans ton jardin, qlqs voitures avec des leds "KÉ, GOUTES, MD, C...", un commando millitaire en treillit muni de leur arme favorite: leurs 8.6 et qlqs KW dans un camion avec le groupe electro
Comme dit plus haut ça dépend du contexte et de la façon dont le terme est utilisé, tu dis "je vais en teuf ce WE" tout le monde va comprendre que tu vas en free party, mais si tu dis "je fais une petite teuf chez moi" tout le monde va comprendre que c'est dans le sens strict de petite fête.
Hi Paul ! The guy says "Va te coucher, le relou !" with the article "le" barely audible : the "relou" is him, not the other guy, he is known (for the speaker) to be (that) "relou". Thanks for your videos !
Indeed! In this case the use of the 3rd person is for a belittling effect. The speaker is implying that the "relou" does not even deserve to be spoken to directly!
This is so much fun, it reminds me of the Danish children activity "bakke snavvendt," which means "snakke bagvendt" (speaking backwards) where you just kind of switch up some syllables or consonant clusters between words, rather than within a word. Could be a fun video to explore that perhaps!
Just a little thing about "relou" and "lourd", "lourd" can also be used in french to talk about a annoying guy making bad jokes or things like that, no need to use the verlan form. But good video anyway
Nice video, it explains a lot! In addition to the verlan, we also have "l'argot" which is different because it is not based on backward slang. Few examples: mother(mère) become "Daronne" father(père) become "Daron" girlfriend become "Gow" (Je vais voir ma gow - I'm going to see my girlfriend) (this one can be use to talk about a girl in general not necessarily your girlfriend) alcohol becomes "tise" (Il y a de la tise ce soir? / Is there alcohol tonight?) I can go on and on but there is too many lol Also not everyone use the same argot, in Paris some word are gonna be different from Bordeaux or Lyon for exemple.
although this video is more than a year old, i just saw it now and i must say you're really exploring a lot of interesting facets about languages, paul. you weren't kidding back when you told me about "the power of focus". Your channel has grown tremendously since its launch, so massive props to you. FWIW, there's another very commonly used slang expression which you seemed to have left out in this video. it's "pecho" which is the slang for "to hook up", so the original expression would be "choper" or "se choper"
Thanks To have done this vidéo im a native speaker of french and i frequently use verlan and i add that verlan is used by all young in France and less young . It s Also incredible how instable it is from a city To an other and Also in time . Some Word could born in a place and die in this place . Thé Best way for a verlan Word To have success is To be use by a famous rapper
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
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Just a short notice.. I'm French and I can tell you that NO ONE uses the words "jourbon" as bonjour or "tromé" as métro
I'm native Serbian speaker... And here we have slang that is used the same way... There is common way to split word into 2 parts by number of syllables (if there are 3 or 5 syllables, there is one correct way to split the word to correctly use the slang,if there's 2 or 4, word is split in two equal parts). It's called "šatrovački" (prounanced like shatrowachky)... Its commonly associated with urban-criminal-hip-hop culture, and I belive it originated about 90s or 80s... Today its widely used in rap songs, and some words are more likely to be used by ppl in that way then other words (like money, slang words for particular drugs, saying hi, etc..) , in order to show "coolness", "relaxed mood", "acceptance" on the side of the speaker.
Just wanted to say this way of making slang words is not exclusively French...
@@leina_a5246 Yes, I know. Haha. I know some of the ones in the video are very out of date, but they're "classic" examples of Verlan. Of course slang changes all the time.
Hi, Paul !
if you are right now 50/60 years old ..it was in our "teenager" time very used ( with slang) as coded proper language like "Argot"(other proper language)...fallen into disuse or become common words...
used sometimes with some English and German words (FraManGlais) included
some "Javanais" ( put "av" between each syllables ) .
at least "Verlan" could be different according to your neighborhood, region, county or locality...
for the following generations ... an "elder" who uses them ... seems to want to be "young" ... but it was our way of speaking before theirs ... with the evolution that they gave it
Il y a aussi " Chelou " qui signifie bizarre, louche !
Never say "jourbon" you'll sound like a middle aged guy who wants to sound young
How do you do, fellow kids?
The slang word would more be something like "wesh", but we don't use jourbon...
On dit "salut", "coucou" ou à la rigueur "wesh" mais personne dit "jourbon" 😂
On a proper salutation "Wesh" is followed by "gros" :D
"Bien ou bien?"
Little tip : don’t use "verlan" too much, you’ll sound like a old dad trying to sound cool and young, just use it like your friends do.
J'ai des arcs en ciel dans le cul Un français qui abuse du verlan peut-être (sûrement), mais un anglophone va juste faire marrer (pas méchament)
Stolen
Pierre Tissot ?
Or just say: "V'la les keuf !"
like your friens *do.*
"meuf" is so used that i actually forgot it was verlan !
And that's why Feumeu exists
Yes but "feumeu" is way too much disrespectful.
@@WnHtim what does it mean?
@@franovak2654 ~"woman" or, "girl".
@@franovak2654 femme -> meuf -> feumeu. All mean "women, lady", but the more you verlan it, the less respectful it gets
ça fait bizarre de voir quelqu'un parler sérieusement du verlan.
Mais tellement !!
De ouf
@@keanui9700 ouf is the verlan form of fou, which means crazy
@@marietoutsimplement.9442
Tout simplement la base c'est FOL, mais le féminisme de merde à juger bon de forcer par la romance, l'écrit d'effacer FOL du langage et de s'accaparer cette base pour déraciner le masculin de l'universel usage à l'oral, et donc de forcer pour se distinguer d'user fou en lien et place de fol.
Pareil pour bel.
@@Paraclef vas-y le mec trop relou...
"On fait une teuf à la sonmai ?"
J'en peux plus ptdr
I'm dead 🤣 never use that, for the love of God
De ouf 😂😂
"Attention, v'là les keuf"
oublie pas de demander à ton “reup”
@@nyx3659
Ya les hnouch
In B4 French speakers slaughter my pronunciation.
Oh, Paul.
Not that bad, don't worry x)
Paul I love you! French is not just the elitist litterature language! This is the true French too
Your pronunciation of "Attention,v'là les keufs " is the exact caricature of a Lorraine farmer's accent
Don't sweat it too much, your pronunciation is great! People who laugh at non native speakers often can't speak another language anyways
I'm french and I absolutely never use "jourbon" or tromé"😭
"tromé" etait assez courrant dans le verlan des annees 80 mais maintenant c'est "trom". Pareil pour zarbi, c'est plutot "zarb" ces temps ci. Barjo, un des plus anciens mots de verlan est devenu "barj" (en plus d'avoir ete re-verlanise en "Jobar").
Lussat !
Les generations 2000/2010 commencent à se lasser du verlan et ils jouent beaucoup avec les Anglicismes.
Certes, une partie du verlan persiste, mais c'est en train de se perdre..
Une petite tragédie pour moi, le gosse de 78 qui voit un truc se perdre à l'instar de la langue de feu, et ce genre de conneries..
Tromé est devenu "trom" d'ailleurs.
I am French too, and I have NEVER, EVER used verlan in my entire life! I have lived in the USA for 34 years (actually, on February 27, it will be 34 years, but close enough), seven years longer than I had lived in my country of birth!
Verlan is the most epic linguistic troll I've ever heard of. I picture each member of the French Academy waking up at 3:00 a.m., sweating furiously, and shouting in pure contempt: VERLAN!!!
"Welcome to Paul. My name is Lang Focus"
Me: *Visible confusion*
He was joking.
@@pauljordan4452 No fucking dip. Im joking too
Phoxal It took me a second to figure out why he said “welcome to Paul” and then I remembered what the video was about 😂
Welcome to Upa. My name is Cusfo Lang
😂😂😂omg only now I got the punch
I m French and it s really well explicated!
He has forgotten that we put other languages in verlan
Black = kebla
Speed = despi
I like to use the verlan of sorry = rysso
NeutronStar mdr bien vu
jeune = neujeu
Bite=teub
in filipino, we have something like that
malupet = petmalu
sigarilyo = yosigaril = yosi
we also do that in english
idol = lodi
power = werpa
In the 1990's the French national railroad company tried to use verlan in a TV advert and it became well known by French speakers as the worst attempt at verlan, they overused it, and they even tried to apply verlan on the word "possible", which became "blessipo" and is considered to be an enormous fail at trying to be "cool" to young people
Euuuu... : "blessipo" sounds as if it might mean something pertaining to someone's having been "hurt/injured by police" maybe; perhaps, a potentially useful word - in many parts "...des Etats-Unis" ({: \ ...!?!
@@alexysq2660 This guy just watched the JDG video about 90s ads ^^
"Mais si c'est blessipo !" :')
Haha du coup je viens de retrouver cette pépite, c'est tellement marrant
imaginox9 I can imagine everyone watching cringed so badly listening to it
Me: I think I'm finally getting the hang of French :)
*Watches video*
Me: FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!
You'll never get the hang with french if you're not native, this language hates the learners!
@@thomasvincent8905 It hates everyone
It's almost impossible not to make mistakes whenever you write an essay even if you have a very good level even for a native speaker. So many odd rules that apply to only one very specific case. This language is a mess
Sincerely, a French in prep school who has to do a lot of exams and knows first hand how insanely specific the rules can be)
this is really advanced french, don't use it too much if you want some credibility
@@sephikong8323 Yup, even in class 10, where I am, nobody (except few people) doesn't make any mistake in *5* lines. Stupidly hard language.
@@sephikong8323 I remember when I had French in school, I called it "a language with more exceptions than rules". Didn't like it much. Liked English, except after a while not the way it was taught - I mainly learned then from books and Usenet (and later, the web, once there was a web and I had access).
4:00 "Y a les hendeks qui arrivent"
Ça par xontre j'ai jamais su ce que ct
Enfin pourquoi on dit comme ça
XDDDDDD
"Aja y’a les condés"
@@jhvv9005 "Hendeks" vient de l'arabe haha
Hi I'm Vietnamese. In Vietnamese (particularly in the southern accent) we do have something rather similar that is called "nói lái" (literally "reverse speech). For a word with multiple syllables, we switch around the vowel sound ("vần"), tone mark ("thanh") or the consonant sound ("âm") and keep the order of the other parts to create a new word or phrase. This way of speech is usually used in jokes or to make swear words a little bit less offensive in an informal context. For example, "bạn cái lồn" [lit. Asshole friend] will be switch to "lộn cái bàn" [lit. Flip the table]
Wait until he talks about « javanais » in french language and louchebem
As if french wasn't difficult enough.
You're welcome!
Déso frérot
Aye don't worry that's only scratching the surface lol
don't worry, english contains 30% of french, you should be ok ;)
spanish is not easier
I was so surprised to watch this, haha! I never suspected this video, and it was very fun! Here some other examples:
- "Chelou" (from "Louche") meaning "fishy"
- "Se faire tèj' " (from "jeter") meaning "to be throw out"
- "Pécho" (from "choper") meaning "to get laid" or "to get a girlfriend/boyfriend"
- "Vénère" (from "énervé") meaning "angry/mad"
...
"Pécho" can also mean "buying weed" ^^
Haha, indeed, forgot this one!
Matou
It also mean to catch as in
" Eh mec, les keufs ont pécho ma meuf à cause de la turvoi sans pierpa..
Très bon exemple ceux la sont tres utilises
"Se faire tèj" does mean to be thrown out but more so in the context of being dumped by your SO!
"Pécho" is also used for being caught, ex: Je m'suis fait pécho par les keufs, c'était relou" I got caught by the cops, it was heavy stuff
Lol as a French it's weird to see foreigners learning "verlan" it's so common for us to speak it we don't really realize it
An important point: sometimes the verlan word meaning can be a little different from the original meaning for exemple : fête means party but teuf means rave party in most cases
And feuk or fekeu for cops is always use because it sounds like fuck in English a way to call cops and insulting them at the same time
I actually learned in French class that" Les fliques " is derogatory.This was confirmed when years later I used the word "Le flic" while trying out a puppet that happened to depict a police officer .The French lady whom I was with at the flea market got into a small defensive speech about there being a lot of good police officers,she not being amused.
For also being a native speaker in French I must say that you did a great job in this video, and it was very amusing to watch the theoritical aspect of the "street" dialogue. Anyway, thanks for all your amazing videos.
You remember Stromae? The guy who made "Papaoutai" ? His name is also a verlan term, stromae actually used to be "maestro"^^
and "papaoutai means "papa ou t'es" (Dad where are you) in verlan voila it's now very important to know some verlan in france
@@yna8077 papaoutai isnt in verlan but just spelled as you'd pronounced it, in a single word
Even a french person can't explain verlan like that
That's so true
😂😂😂😂
@@maro0532 zarbi était populaire entre 2000 et 2005 mais maintenant personne l'utilise
@@matthieumat8537 ouais c'est vrai tout le monde dit chelou, voir zarb
@@maro0532 Moi on en utilise mais plutot de maniere uronique, mais c'est pas rare de ce passer des "tema le mec c'est un ouf" mais apres le contexte est important
Hi everyone. Please don't post topic requests. Requests aren't feasible for a channel like this with videos that take so much time and effort to make. But I hope you like the video! Thanks.
I'm not intending for this to be a discussion thread. This is meant to be a solitary message.
Hi Paul. This old song is completely in verlan. Very tricky to understand even for a French native : ruclips.net/video/MAvE4UAkMdo/видео.html
In Spanish we do the same, at least in Panama.
Hey I know you didn't want a discussion, but i just want to mention that "keufs" evolved into "feuk" as a "double verlanization" that conveniently sounded like our pronunciation of the famous english word "fuck".
Soirbon, Paul ! Cimer pour la vidéo sur le verlan ! En vrai, sonneper utilise le verlan comme ass, parce que ça s'rait trop chelou. Mais t'as bien résumé le blème. D'ailleurs, "Va te coucher" dans ce contexte (je suppose), c'est plus "You don't understand what's happening, get out". C'est un peu comme l'expression "être à côté de la plaque", si tu connais l'expression et son équivalent en anglais. Ouais, le français c'est relou de ouf parfois, c'est jamais la teuf. D'ailleurs, ça m'fait très glori d'voir un anglais parler du verlan. J'dois aussi te dire que j'adore téma tes vidéos et que t'es mec super, même si au début t'avais l'air chéper. Continue comme ass wesh
Mdr trop bon
Bravo, bien dit!
Wesh n’est pas du verlan par contre, mais bien dit!
Geneva Mapping ouaiiii mais laisse béton
Personne ne parle comme ça en vrai. On ne place pas 53 mots en verlan par phrase, c'est ridicule. Ton commentaire sent le forçage à plein nez.
Stromae = Maestro
Mesh Frequency I never noticed that.
Yes but Stromae is a singer :/
Kalyax but he might have gotten his name from there ;)
Oh ! I didn't see the word "Maestro" like that xD I thought it was just a verlan like that
Yeah he's a singer. And he's not French BTW...
Quand il dit "cimer" et" ma meuf" j'ai exploser de rire 😂😂😂
C'est drole hein?
Leylann Honnêtement j’ai jamais entendu personne dire “cimer” ou “jourbon” 😂
@@lalegende2746 en voyant les commentaires on se rend compte à quel point ça varie selon les endroits.
Perso je peux dire cimer mais pas sincèrement pour remercier, plutôt ironiquement quand je suis soulé genre "ah ouais cimer tu fais chier"
Pourquoi ?
@@lalegende2746 il y a des gens qui disent cimer par contre jourbon non
Sonneper dit "jourbon" en céfran, gros, c'est chelou. Cimer pour la vidéo, j'ai bien golri !
''céfran'' miskin
@@MrZeusOlympie en dépit de évidemment
In Argentino we do the same and it is called "resve" : revés I.E. Mujer : Jermu . café : feca , afuera : arafue , etc
Dale ya tas sanateando que chamuyamos el idioma argentino (?
Wow! Interesting
Lol in France to we use Féca for Café 🤣
VESRE, valor.
In Argentina we have that, we call it "vesre" from "revés"
Como Argentino y Francés, pensé que como se lo encontraba en estas dos lenguas pensaba que existía en todas las lenguas jaja
Pero el "verlan" en francés es mucho mas utilizado que el vesre argentino, muchisimo mas
Si en Argentina era mas utilizado en la primera mitad del siglo pasado, ahora han quedad solo algunas palabras en uso cotidiano, como cobani o bolonqui
Era bastante más común en la época del tango, pero en Uruguay lo seguimos usando bastante en realidad. No todas, como dijiste, pero dolape, ñapi, nami, dope, ñoba, son todas palabras que escuchás prácticamente todos los días.
Dejen de hablar al vesre che, no se entiende un joraca!!!
Viendo esto mientras me voy por el ñoca...
Wow il a vraiment pris ça au sérieux j'suis mooort
kepo qtacencinquantsix ptdrrr en vrai c’est pas juste lui hein tous les gens qui étudient la linguistique française s’y intéressent
C'est important je pense pour les personnes qui apprennent le français, sinon elles serai perdu en parlant à des jeunes en France
Le verlan c'est très ancien.
C'est sur que c'est important pour comprendre les français et que ça date pas d'hier, mais c'est juste le sérieux avec lequel il dit "chez ta reum" ça me fait hurler de rire
@@RPG7rokette Non, ce n'est pas important pour "comprendre LES Français". Plus probablement DES "Français", ceux du fond du pannier...
4:45 As a French speaker, I have never heard someone saying "les feuks".
Same
l'usage de la langue française ne se limite pas à ce que tu as entendu durant ta petite vie.
Je constate simplement que le mot "feuk" n'est pas couramment utilisé. On aurait plus tendance à employer "condés", "flics" ou "hnouchs" pour désigner la police dans un language argotique.
Qu'est ce que tu parles de "petite vie" alors que tu sais rien ? wlh c'est abusé comment vous faites trop les fous derrière vos pseudos éclatés et vos photos de profils de mes couilles. T'es le genre de type qui fermerait sa gueule si on se voit en face.
@@camembertdalembert6323 calme-toi, cette personne partageait juste son point de vue/expérience.
@@LNDAbreakLTDM "T'es le genre de type qui fermerait sa gueule si on se voit en face."
"Si on se voyait" (concordance des temps).
I'm actually really impressed by your work on this topic , Verlan is something that we like to use in order to confuse foreigners or elders as well , it would be too hard for a native speaker to explain all this process in detail , honestly good job man :o
" it would be too hard for a native speaker to explain all this process in detail" --->>> just talk for yourself !
I mean you just literally switch the place of the syllables, it's not hard to explain at all 🙄
Welcome to PAUL. I like that.
This video is somawe! 👍🏻
But not muchtoo. French is challenging enough outwith Lanver.
alwaysuseless Je suis d’accord 😦
J'suis corda
Rectcor!
I greear
As a french native I find your video really relevent it's really a big part of our daily conversation and that's super cool to permite people to access that
Do not use:
-"reup"
-"beur"
-"femeu"
-"turevoi"
Those words are outdated
Yeah "sonmai" is a joke too. Same, "jourbon" and "tromé" are jokes aswell. some rebeus do actually still use "beur" tho. and "femeu" comes out from time to time.
And teuf hahaha
Reup ... is using
@@boratchinho8485 used* et non archi pas
Jourbon* :\
" des meufs et des keufs dans le RER"
Verlan is so 1993 in my mind. Some words are still in use but word of warning for French learners, if you're gonna try some Verlan on a native speaker be prepared for a verbal onslaught as the person you talk to will likely assume you're perfectly fluent not only in French but in suburban slang and you might come out really confused.
la banlieue c'est pas rose la banlieue c'est morose.
dat's your desteenee
@Jmptgl D'ou je viens, on dit juste "juif", pas de verlan.
Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith I was born in France, 55 Meuse, Avec un bon patois bien de chez nous, spoken as crudely as it come, no one will get the drift of the conversation...French born or tourist...
tbh, that sort of sums up the general experience of many "semi-" francophones...even when dealing in/with nothing *but* "standard, proper" ...assez *tristement ({:* \ ....!!
3:30 Yo les djeuns "on fait une teuf à la sonmai?" 😂
what does it mean?
im french nobody use Jourbon and zarbi anymore now we use "chelou" for louche (weird)
Zarbi is used around my place. Jour on could be, but only as a joke
I still use sometimes zarbi, but at the same time I also use chelou, and more
Louche = suspicious, not weird
we've always used chelou ;)
Ah ptn javai meme pas remarqué que des mots genre meuf, keuf, chelou etaient en verlans 😂
Imagine some Englishman fluent in French hearing that the fueks are coming
We have something similar in my hometown, Brescia. It's called Trancorio -- from the Italian "contrario" (backwards!). So, Pietro becomes Tropie, Vecchio (old/old man) becomes chiove, the dialectical word Maruchì (Marocchino - "a person from Morocco") becomes ruchima ☺
Wow, what an unexpected subject!
As a native and young french speaker, I have to say that I can't keep up with street slangs. As you pointed out, there's a conscious evolution that makes it impossible to actually learn except if you're part of the demographic. As soon as a word becomes mainstream, it's almost immediately abandonned.
Omg, I've been watching french shows and youtube video for years and I've only learned now that all those word i didn't know were verlan.
good thing you discovered that today because it is actually this way of talking which is killing normal french......
But be careful with verlan cause it can be awkward for some situation ! Some months ago, my dad asked "Tu veux de la pesou ?" ("Do you want some soup") and it was so awkward ! So be careful haha
does that mean virgin?
@@androphobe lmao no. Why?
la pesou, nouveau mot de mon dico, remercie ton pêre XD
Jensoo 젠츄 Blackpink How did you jump to that conclusion ? 😭
Sunalee mood
WOW i'm french, and i realise how much our common language is complicated to explain! But you manage to did it! Good Job!
The funniest part is that the French find verlan so normal that they're not even aware that it's a slang that's pretty specific to French. I live in France, and my French friends, when I tell them about verlan being weird sometimes, will say "wait, they don't do verlan in other languages?" 😂
In Lunfardo (a Platinean informal dialect of Spanish, spoken in and around Montevideo and Buenos Aires) we have the same kind of backwards slang. It's called "vesre" (revés). Some examples are piña = ñapi (punch), mina = nami (slang for young woman), pelado = dolape (bald man).
Agustín L Qué dolobu!
Hello Paul, I found it quite interesting since here in Argentina, due to the product of a massive Italian immigration, lunfardo slang is spoken with which words are also inverted to the point of not having rules
bicho = chobi (insect)
zapatillas = tillas (sneakers)
pantalon = lompa (pants)
There is a similar slang in Argentina, it's called Lunfardo
Learning Spanish has been a hell of a lot easier than learning French, but I think it’s worth the effort. Such a cool language, especially with the historical impact French had on the development of modern English
I mean, spanish also has very weird and not intuitive slang. But they are localized to each if the many many Spanish speaking countries, while french is more centralized in just the french and quebecoise communities most of the time
But for exmaple in Argentina they do something quite similqr to verlan in some areas
I think that Rap music does help spreading and creating new Verlan words. Sometimes it helps with the rhymes or it just sounds more creative and fun to listen to. It probably does in other languages too
We have a similar, backwards slang where I live - Thessaloniki, Greece. It even follows some of the rules of Verlan. Fascinating!
I'm french and it felt like an old guy on TV explaining "young talk".
A lot of the verlan you presented isn't used by young people anymore and other, I've never heard. But it's comprehensible as it's hard to keep up with slang.
Some are not anymore, indeed, but a lot is still used too, I don't think this video is completely out of date.
So what's the current verlan or slang word for "smug" among the younger French? 🤔
Sam Struyven Maybe Arabe 😂😂
These are definitely not all out of date. Obviously verlan innovators might have stopped using most of these (I wouldn't know, really) but in my main circle (university students in Lyon) cimer, meuf, teuf, reubeu, turfu and a few more are still in use, though at times with tongue-in-cheek undertones.
The video is right most of the time. It's just that verlan isn't standardized so it can vary from a region to another. Daily, I speak (maybe too much) verlan from Paris but it's slightly different from Lyon's or Marseille's ones. In fact, you create your own verlan, so it's normal to see people complain about this video, some people never say "tromé" ou "carna", some people use them everyday.
Bonne chance à tous ceux qui apprennent le français hahaha
Ah oui😂😭😭
Croatia has the slang of reversing the words, exact same
Argentina too
Oma-jgasch
1:12 "jourbon" ne se dit pas (ou plus), sinon le reste reste largement utilisé. C'est une très bonne idée d'apprendre le "verlan" puisqu'il représente une bonne partie de notre argot, et c'est très pratique pour ceux qui ont envie de parler français.
This also happens in Peruvian Spanish, also in Argentina and Uruguay.
that is interesting, I though only french did this!
I'm from Rio/Brazil and down here we vernalize too, at least when I was in school. For the same purpose we wanted to hide our information from others, especially authorities such as teachers and parents. I don't know how many people would speak it back then but my friends and I used it for several years. Have no idea either who invented or came up with this variation of slang.
For example the word cigarette (cigarro) we'd say 'rogaci' or simply 'roga'; another one 'lhermu' which means mulher (woman) and so on.
@@abuzlatanlapsychiatrie8438 the verlan of the shortenized verlanized brazilian cigarette word, interesting, if we keep verlanizing every language out there, we'll all end up speaking the same language, it's a fact
vernalize ? lol
no doubt dear neigbor, brazilian you are !
Capepe zarro 🇧🇷😹
Good video! I wanted to comment as a young french girl ^^
I've never heard Tromé or jourbon.
Zarbi, teuf and Keum sound outdated and are used by old people wanting to sound cool/young.
verlan is really familiar but not rude. Like my professors don't mind if we say Relou or Chelou.
I love to talk about french slang with foreigners
Yeah, slang is always changing, so by the time I discover it it's probably old. lol.
Old people were young once... and Verlan is not a new language, even if it changes fast. Some Verlan words exists since decades.
thierryf67, exactly. Some young people have the unfounded impression that this slang is exclusively theirs. It's understandable though because they are the ones pushing through today's main innovations in it. But in holding this opinion, they overlook the fact that quite a few words from the La Haine era I can still hear being used today, over twenty years later... by teenagers! :-)
for me "la haine" was already a youngster movie ! ;))
verlan exist at least since the middle of the XX century.... and may be earlier ! And i wasn't born of course... (i'm from the mid-sixties)
Thank's Paul, it's a very nice video. As a French, I even learned some few things.
Yeah slang has a more evolving vocabulary than the formal French because nobody wants to preserve a so-called purity of the casual language.
La Haine is from 1995, so in more than 20 years some words evolved (for example, "turevoi" now sounds weird). Few years before that, I remember having fun with other 8 years-old kids when trying to speak verlan after class. During high school, our popular slang was adding some loanwords from arabic dialects spoken at home by maghrebis immigrant's sons and grandsons.
This is super interesting because I didn't know that in other countries people have this kind of slangs like in Spanish, it's also interesting that they have a name for their slang. If you try to do a video about slangs in spanish you're crazy, there are a lot and they don't have any classification. I love your channel.
French people love syllable play :) For nicknames, they repeat the first syllable, so -
Zoé = zozo
Léa = lélé
Julie = juju
Jojo
Dédé
Lulu
Bof
Coco
You inspired me to change my university course to Computational Linguistics. Thank you. Now I know what my new passion is.
Acalamity What do you know about Computational Linguistics is it the same as programming?
This reminded me of the Buenos Aires 'Lunfardo' slang, another interesting phenomenon which both reverses words and also incorporates heavy borrowings from the Italian dialects, reflecting the the mass Italian immigration to which many Porteños owe their ancestry. I believe it's also used across the bay in Montevideo, which shares similar historical demography.
Some examples of metathesis in Japanese
Aratashii --> Atarashii (meaning: new)
Akibahara --> Akihabara (popular sightseeing spot in Tokyo)
Funniki --> Fuinnki (atmosphere)
Shimyurēshonn --> Shumirēshonn (simulation)
Interesting. Is that a figure of speech like in french or were those syllabes inversed to create new words with new meaning? I didn't quite understand.
"Attention vlà les keuf!" killed me :D
this is SO fun!! i used to try to invent these sorts of "modifications" in my native language (portuguese) all the time. amazing
I think the first guy that used verlan is Voltaire, he was from a place called Airvault. But historians are not sure about that!
no he is born in Paris this is name ! arouet arvoet and he add I and L
he was big on word play, half of his characters have a funny meaning to their name, look up what cunégonde means 🤣🤣🤣🤣
voltaire was the first internet troll man
I don't know where you found those words but your imagination is brillint! :)
Here is a few list of verlan word we really use around Paris :
Merci -> Cimer
Louche (weird) -> chelou (young people rarely use louche by the way)
Fou (crazy, insane, amazing)-> ouf
Lourd (taxing, unbearable) -> Relou (this on is very common for young people)
Femme -> meuf (As said in the video)
Fête (a party) -> teuf (But it sounds weird even if we use it. French people would normally say "Une soirée" instead)
Choper -> Pêcho (But I don't recommand you to use it. It doesn't seem natural so it is mostly used by hick people)
Frère (brother) -> reuf (same don’t use it with people that are more than 25).
Un flic (policeman) -> keuf (But there is no difference in their meaning as they are both familiar). I think it would take an entire day to describe you all the words we can use to refer to a policeman (un policier)
Fait chier (fuck, shit) -> fait ièch
Perché (strange, weird) become Chéper (We can notice that the slang for this word sounds way less agressive. We use it between friends).
And that's almost all
An advice to end with, never try to say "Jourbon" instead of "Bonjour" or talking about the "Trome" instead of the "Metro", this is the best way to spend the most awkward moment of your life ahah
May all of you have a good day, hope this will be usefull :)
all the words you said are use everywhere in France, not only paris ;)
@@colonelkomarov622 you're right i live in réunion island and every people here use these words
cimer beaucoup mrd ..... c'est juste un blague merci beacoup pour le texte :D
Thank you :)
In Rioplatense Spanish (Argentina and Uruguay), the same process takes place. It's called "vesre" ("revés" pronounced backwards), and it is popular since the late XIX century.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre
Ezequiel Koile this fenomenon occurs in Andean Spanish too...in in Colombia (some áreas) ...we say jermu (mujer) locu (culo) damier....among others
As a french, I can say this is just perfect ! Awesome work.
In Bahasa Indonesia we also have a similar thing. It's very prominent in the Malang (Eastern Java) region but as of lately has been starting to imbibe in the common slang. We often say "kuyyy", which is reverse of "yuk", roughly translated as "c'mon". Other example is "woles", reverse of the English's "slow", the pararel of "chill dude" in English. It's called Boso Walikan (Reverse Language). It's really surprising that the same phenomenon happens in other language
as a native speaker this made me laugh to much especially on the "golri" part ! Out of context it loses all it's charm this is ridiculous
In Argentinian/Uruguayan Spanish verlan it's very common in lunfardo (slang). It's called "vesre" ("revés", meaning "opposite"). They are used a lot in everyday informal language, and in popular music, especially tango. "Ñoba" instead of "baño", "jermu" instead of "mujer", "lompa" instead of "pantalón", etc.
This is used in Chile as well. A "cabro chico" (little kid/boy) becomes a "broca cochi". A fat guy, a "guatón", becomes a "tongua". Your "mujer" (woman/wife) becomes the "jermu". "El que dije" ("the one I told you about", referencing something or someone you don't want to mention by name) becomes "el que te jedi". And so on.
Jeez, as if French wasn't difficult in the right order..
Vive les hauts de seine y pas de relous
Can't u understand? We don't want u to know our language XD
The Wolve i am addicted to french , i wish i am fluent in ït ~_~
@@user-wd7eg6cc2i I'm french and i'm not even fluent ahah
@@Jord_God oh no , that means it's hard 😭
…I've never heard the word "feuk". Everyone I know says either "keuf" or "condé" to talk about cops. :o
on dit plus "feukeu" mais c'est raaaare
Hendeck aussi
@@marclagier5615 lhnouch
perso je suis restée à la version "flics" XD c'est encore utilisé ou bien?
Je suis français et je suis impressionné par ta connaissance de la langue
Thanks Paul for this week documented video.
It's quite cute to hear your French accent but if sounds very rare when you speak verlan. I believe this is because it is a very cultural and evolving slang.
About "documented" side, I didn't expect you to know "meufeu". When I heard that the first time, ten years back, in the metro I was kind of shocked. How verlan of verlan doesn't lead to lancer...?
Keep going, good job!
"Va te coucher, LE relou"
Bien vu, je l'avais remarqué également, Paul avait oublié le LE qui est en fait L' "Va t'coucher, l'relou". Je n'ai jamais utilisé le verlan de ma vie, donc je n'avais aucune idée que "relou" était le verlan de "lourd", mais par-dessus le marché, je n'avais aucune idée du sens argotique de "lourd". Je suis breton d'origine, et j'habite aux États-Unis.
@@armoricain ça alors, un américain armoricain
@@lefrancais8808 ben oui! :-)
@@lefrancais8808 quel as
Je te renvoie la pareille.
I've been speaking french (second language) my whole life and I'd never heard of verlan!! I always wondered where the word "meuf" came from!! Great video!
cimer pour cette vidéo du turfu
Cimer roup tecé déovi ud turfu
EverLasT stop
@@IStMl opts
The best one is still « tam » from mat which is a contraction of « matin » (morning) : then one could say « je suis rentré à 4 heures du tam » (I came home at 4:00 am). Yet, I’m not sure if a French native would always get it 😂
It really has the effect of punctuating the end of the sentence
You saying "ma meuf" was the funniest shit of the day, as a french person. Thanks.
ma go = ma meuf, if you want to take it a step further, coming from "gonzesse" I learned recently
Alexis Misselyn Go ça vient de gonzesse, sérieusement ? Je pense que c’est une coïncidence parce que j’ai toujours entendu que ça venait d’une langue d’Afrique dont je ne connais plus le nom. La même langue qui dit « igo » pour garçon.
Sunalee
C’est possible, je ne l’ai pas de source sûre cette info, c’est de l’argot après tout!
@@alexismisselyn3916 J'étais à peu près sûr que c'était une déformation de "girl"
This is why languages like French or English are awesome. Even when there are many efforts to standardize them they just do what ever the hell they want.
As if other languages didn't do that.
+PolackBoi I never said it was just French and English that do this. I said "like" for a reason.
PolackBoi my native Vietnamese, has this kind of slang word too. For example: Thủ dâm “masturbate” became Thẩm du.
French is a very standardized language, way more than english. Verlan is not a dialect/languages, it's just some slang words.
Ophélie Nobody said that verlan was a language ? And despite the Académie Française and its aggressive standardisation of french, people will continue to use slang as they do in every other language and that's what makes the beauty of modern languages in my opinion 😊
I watch the Video for the second time and now its clear Love this episode, actually in my country Philippines we have also like this, like the filipino word "Malupet" means Awsome , nowadays people in the Philippines pronounce "Malupet" into "PetMalu".
Here are some other example:
Lodi - Idol
WerPa - power, the "o" in power was change into "a".
ErMat-Mother
ErPat-Father
MigMala-Malamig means "its cold"
JeProxs - Project
Vincent Malab Omg this is really interesting thanks!!! I was wondering when scrolling through the comments if any other language had this feature and stumbling across your post made my day ^^ Is this type of verlan also seen as a typical annoying "youth" thing? ;) it definitely is in my france aha
Tsar Karl I Aha same in France, what's so cringy is seeing old politicians using these words in the belief that young people will totally vote for them because they used such an "edgy" vocabulary xDD
Tsar Karl I XDD yes I also dream of corrupt politicians embracing their violent tendancies but rejecting backward speech! ^^
How's it like language-wise in the Philippines? Do you speak different languages during the day?
Funny enough, we use this kind of slang in Indonesia too:
"Bisa" (can) becomes "sabi"
"Bebas" (up to you) becomes "sabeb", yuk (c'mon)= kuy, and so on.
Probably the worst of all is how young people tell each other to chill= "selow" (which is already informal because it is the bastardization of the english word 'slow') becomes "woles"
This kind of syllable-swapping slang is not new in Tagalog. In fact, our ancestors have been doing this since the pre-colonial time. There are Spanish records about this, and the natives called it Caui/Kawi (from Uica/ Wika [Language]). It was recorded as "Gerigonza. Caui" (kawi) in De los Santos, 1793. Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala.
read this post for more info facebook.com/SaysayBagin/photos/a.503430556338200.133652.499239096757346/1229026390445276/?type=3&theater
I have French friends and they told me that for people who want to learn French, do not learn the verlan, it is completely the opposite of certain words, it is apparently seen as familiar and rude as use
Alan Parker it is familiar but not rude. You can use it with your friends or people of your age!
Of course you can't use it in formal situation :)
I personally find verlan very rude, I'd never call my girlfriend "ma meuf". Me and my friends only use verlan to mock people who speak use these terms or to show that we're not serious.
You don’t even have to learn it, they’re just a few slang words that you will learn later on
Quick March! I guess it depends on the environment we grew up in. Most people I know speak verlan in casual situation 😅
It can change based on the world you' re using for exemple "cimer" is use quite a lot and most people won't find it rude, may be too casual based on the situation. On the other hand words like "meuf" can be seen are rude and degrading by some people.
Interesting. In my province some also say “aps “ for “pas” / “not” and the s which is silent in the formal word is actually pronounced in its verlan version. The most common use would be “trop aps” for “trop pas” which already is the verlanized expression of “pas trop “ as in “not really”. But in verlan “trop aps” means “really not”. This kind of goes against all the sort of rules you managed to get but then again, it’s one example of informal language
in france "teuf" is mainly used to describe a freeparty/rave party, you would'nt use the word "teuf" when you're having a small party in your house... well except if you have a wall of sound in your garden with "du son de teuf" :D
Si tu peux dire « je fais une petite teuf chez moi ce soir si ça tente quelqu’un » ça choquera personne et on comprend bien que c’est pas une freeparty. Après je suis d’accord que quand on dit je vais EN teuf c’est une freeparty mais à une teuf c’est plus général
@@Corapaslemagasin peut être que ça dépend des endroit et des gens « je fais une petite teuf chez moi ce soir si ça tente quelqu’un » je le prendrais comme si c'étais une teuf mais avec peu de gens, apprès c'est sur que ça dépend de qui ça viens, je le prendrais pas de cette manière si je sait que la personne qui propose ça n'est pas dans ce genre de truc mais pour le coup j'ai jamais vraiment entendu ça ^^
Not around where I live (Belgium), is just a general term for party. Maybe even more used for small parties
J'avoue si tu dis je fais une teuf chez moi, faut t'attendre a voir debarquer des camions, un parking impro dans ton jardin, qlqs voitures avec des leds "KÉ, GOUTES, MD, C...", un commando millitaire en treillit muni de leur arme favorite: leurs 8.6 et qlqs KW dans un camion avec le groupe electro
Comme dit plus haut ça dépend du contexte et de la façon dont le terme est utilisé, tu dis "je vais en teuf ce WE" tout le monde va comprendre que tu vas en free party, mais si tu dis "je fais une petite teuf chez moi" tout le monde va comprendre que c'est dans le sens strict de petite fête.
Et les keufs, et les meufs, dans le RER
La banlieue c'est pas rose, la banlieue c'est morose.
Alors prend toi en main! C'est ton destin!
Hey Manu! Tu descends?
De bons souvenirs les inconnus...
Et pour quoi faire?
We have same thing in Serbian xD it's called satrovacki :)
lol it's too great
@@marlenesasoeurlanymphoavec9277 wesh téma ton pseudo 😂😂😭😭😭
Hi Paul ! The guy says "Va te coucher, le relou !" with the article "le" barely audible : the "relou" is him, not the other guy, he is known (for the speaker) to be (that) "relou". Thanks for your videos !
Indeed! In this case the use of the 3rd person is for a belittling effect. The speaker is implying that the "relou" does not even deserve to be spoken to directly!
Actually it's very good to see someone talking seriously about it and explaining it. We just use these words without thinking to it.
This is so much fun, it reminds me of the Danish children activity "bakke snavvendt," which means "snakke bagvendt" (speaking backwards) where you just kind of switch up some syllables or consonant clusters between words, rather than within a word. Could be a fun video to explore that perhaps!
Just a little thing about "relou" and "lourd", "lourd" can also be used in french to talk about a annoying guy making bad jokes or things like that, no need to use the verlan form. But good video anyway
Exactly, and the contrary is not true : you won't say relou for an heavy object.
I'm french and I just happened to learn a lot of words in verlan from an english speaker.
Nice video, it explains a lot!
In addition to the verlan, we also have "l'argot" which is different because it is not based on backward slang.
Few examples:
mother(mère) become "Daronne"
father(père) become "Daron"
girlfriend become "Gow" (Je vais voir ma gow - I'm going to see my girlfriend) (this one can be use to talk about a girl in general not necessarily your girlfriend)
alcohol becomes "tise" (Il y a de la tise ce soir? / Is there alcohol tonight?)
I can go on and on but there is too many lol
Also not everyone use the same argot, in Paris some word are gonna be different from Bordeaux or Lyon for exemple.
sans oublier "grave" (gavé pour le sud-ouest), c'est grave important ce mot
@@belmontmarcus3700 bien vu 👌 j'aurais pu le cité c'est vrai
although this video is more than a year old, i just saw it now and i must say you're really exploring a lot of interesting facets about languages, paul. you weren't kidding back when you told me about "the power of focus". Your channel has grown tremendously since its launch, so massive props to you.
FWIW, there's another very commonly used slang expression which you seemed to have left out in this video. it's "pecho" which is the slang for "to hook up", so the original expression would be "choper" or "se choper"
you know what you're talking about your video is really good 👌
We also do that with english words like : speed --> despee (despi)
Watching an English-speaking Canadian saying verlan words.Priceless!
I thought he did just fine.
What's so amazing about it? His country's bilingual.
C'est chanmé
Thanks To have done this vidéo im a native speaker of french and i frequently use verlan and i add that verlan is used by all young in France and less young . It s Also incredible how instable it is from a city To an other and Also in time . Some Word could born in a place and die in this place . Thé Best way for a verlan Word To have success is To be use by a famous rapper
This is an incredibly interesting video. Honestly, all of your content is fascinating. Lovely!