the French language doesn't make any sense.

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[@nobackupplan]

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[@PHlophe]

you need a second video about " Manger un pain , which means eat bread but in fact translates into " punch someone in the face ". think about adding all the regional version of it and it'll be even funnier.

[@renaudhobden4236]

In French Canadian, the word "Gosse" mean testicles, but we have also the verb "Gosser" who mean annoy. Also, we have expression like "Sur la coche" = it's good "Tire toi une bûche" = find à place and sit. "Ça pue le sourd" = difformation of English expressions "That smell sewer" Bidou = Money (It's from a popular character from Séraphin : Un Homme et son péché). T'est un vrai Séraphin = "You are greedy", (from Séraphin : un Homme et son péché) Virer une brosse = "We go drink", but brosse mean bloom. T'as du front tout le tour de la tête = "Your fronthead goes all around your head",that mean you are arrogant. Se faire crosser / fourrer = " Be fucked" but that mean be "scam" / "rip off" Se faire passer un sapin = Be scam / believe lies of another person (I will find out other expressions tomorrow if you want to) :)

[@Martel_Clips]

for the numbers being so strange it comes from the middle ages when people weren't so educated and hadn't many occasion to see any item in large numbers while still being countable so 4*20 is easier to "imagine" than 80, also a lot of things were counted by 12 so 60 being 5*12 is a natural upward bound of counting it kind of the same as "IIII" being the peoples 4 in latin counting while "IV" was the "intellectual" 4

[@Dracopol]

You would be totally flummoxed by French-Canadian swearing, which picked as its most awful taboo expressions references to the implements of a Catholic Mass. In the 1960s a Quebec comedy troupe referred to this swearing, the milder imitation-words (similar to "cripes" and "phooey") and, amazingly, the proper grammatical ways to swear. On the other hand, body-functions do not make us so uptight and it is okay to say to your maiden aunt that the transmission in her car ground its gears and is now "tout fucké". kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJyVanqPnqd8sNk

[@floriantouitou8513]

Just an answer for kite being cerf-volant in french, it actually was serp-volant, like a flying snake because back in the times, kites were long pieces of tissue floating in the air. Then, it transformed slowly into cerf-volant that - and on that we all agree- does not make any sense ^^

[@AyaOwenn]

English speakers : "Lol they say flying deer instead of kite !" Also english speakers : "Butterfly."

[@ceciledoubovetzky6287]

And ladybird !

[@zefyrisd69]

and silverfish!

[@Pezou91]

And dragonfly !

[@alix8532]

Silverfish = poisson d'argent, ladybird=coccinelle Dragonfly=libellule ^^

[@zefyrisd69]

@@alix8532 and strawberry! and all other xberry fruits when none of them or almost are berries like blueberries and the like! and jellyfish! starfish! but neither are fishes !

[@desanipt]

I mean, when I learned butterfly, an imagine of a slice of butter flying came to my mind.

[@user-np5ko6rc4t]

the same happened to me when I first saw the word cocktail lol

[@youtuberewind3287]

@@user-np5ko6rc4t wait

[@Ven_de_Thiel]

English and its berries, and some animals like butterfly, firefox, ...

[@raphaelpaulian]

It's actually a deformation of flutter by :)

[@desanipt]

@@raphaelpaulian "Old English, from butter + fly; perhaps from the cream or yellow colour of common species, or from an old belief that the insects stole butter."

[@princessedelu]

Oh and we have 5 levels of laziness to say "I don't know": - Level 0: Je ne sais pas - Level 1: Je sais pas - Level 2: Ch'ais pas - Level 3: Ch'pas - Level 4: **fart noise** (sérieux les gars pourquoi on fait ça 😅)

[@aude2252]

OMG I'm french and I just realized that level 4 was a thing by doing it. Like I didn't get what you meant by *fart noise* and I was like "Whatever... *fart noise* .... OHHHH I GET IT LMAO"

[@firen8291]

- Level -1 : Je n'en sais rien - Level -2 : Je n'en ai absolument aucune idée xD

[@user_shiraz]

@@aude2252 u make fart noise with ur mouth when u dont know something and the ones asking will understand that u dont know

[@nicholashumphrey4621]

Same in English: Level 0: I do not know Level 1: I don't know Level 2: I dunno Level 3: Dunno Level 4: **brief moan sound**

[@noryu5792]

Level 1 is grammatically wrong

[@solwen]

About the "pas mal" thing, in French it basically means "I thought it would end up being bad and i'm actually surprised how good it is"

[@alexandreparot5846]

It can also mean that something is genuinely good. It depends on the context

[@alfinou_13targaryen]

absolutely! Hence the reason why we very often say "c'est pas mal, en fait!" the expression "en fait" is put as an after thought to underline how surprisingly good everything turned out to be!

[@benoitstrauss4207]

Nah, just means good, and varies a lot depending on how you say it.

[@bertrandronge9019]

It genuinely means "not as bad as I thought", hence "better than I thought", hence pas mal lol

[@bertrandronge9019]

@@alexandreparot5846 Not it can't... it never means genuinely good. Pas mal is at best, between ok and good but not good... actually pas mal genuinely means "ok", ok is the closest translation you can give to "pas mal"

[@damondominique]

dont get me started plz

[@codedfinance1149]

Yes.... Please get him started

[@hanghoang4041]

Love the both of you so much, please make more videos about French or any other language pleaseee

[@diamond5156]

Hey it’s you

[@christophermichaelclarence6003]

You really make pissed off 🇫🇷

[@welchomestudio]

"Ça me fait chier" isn't actually about boredom... it's more about something that is bothering you (pisses you off, really, which is quite graphic as well). "C'est chiant", on the other hand, is used to refer to something boring, but can also be used to refer to something bothering, or getting on your nerves. Depends on the situation.

[@camillejames2830]

Oui, en fait il faut différencier "ça me fait chier" et "je me fais chier", le premier c'est quelque chose qui t'énerve ou t'agace, dans le deuxième cas c'est que tu t'ennuies, subtilité de la langue, as always haha

[@BZValoche]

Ca me casse les couilles, même :D

[@jmfk8739]

he didn't even noticed the nuances we can bring with "ça m'emmerde"..... :(

[@texanplayer7651]

"C'est chiant" does refer to things that bore you, but also in some degree bother you. If you mean 100% boredom, without it actually bothering you directly, it's more like "je me fais chier". "Ce cours est chiant" can mean you not only bore yourself in a lecture, but you also find the professor insufferable, annoying. "Je me fais chier dans ce cours" means you are bored in this lecture, but you have no murdering intentions

[@arthurodv8187]

yes but to say you're bored you say "je me fait chier" so i think he wanted to say that

[@Jacks-Half-Mustache]

About “terrible”, we also use it as a positive word which would explain “pas terrible” meaning “not great”. You went to a concert and are talking to a friend about it: “Putain c’était terrible !”. In that case it would mean it was amazing.

[@Secretsongs20]

Yes, « terrible » in French slang means awesome. Pas terrible = not awesome, not good.

[@leeandradsouza8358]

Thank you!

[@TMBTM]

In french "c'est terrible" can mean that something atrocious just happened OR it can also mean "hey, it's pretty cool!" Lol... To translate the positive "terrible" in english you can use the word "terrific". In french both "terrific" and "terrible" are to be translated by "terrible".

[@Secretsongs20]

@@TMBTM Terrible meaning awesome in French is slang though. Terrific in English isn’t slang.

[@TMBTM]

@@Secretsongs20 Fair enough, so it's still a possible translation but not in every situations. (plus terrible meaning awesome in french is maybe slang, but it's not "chocking" slang, it's just not formal)

[@Broockle]

I also find it weird how people say "I could care less" and actually mean "I couldn't care less"

[@haileyb8294]

Old habits die hard.. that makes no sense to me lol

[@hatersgotohell627]

I don't know the difference? Maybe I'm one of the assholes who does this lol

[@vynne3888]

@@hatersgotohell627 « i couldn’t care less » = « I don’t care at all » (you can’t care less since you don’t care) « I could care less » = « i care at least a little » (you can care less than what you care right now, so it means you care a bit)

[@Harukai_2.0]

That's true

[@Broockle]

@@vynne3888 Lol that's making it sound pretty complicated. I don't think anyone says "I could care less" without referring to the other one.

[@ly1.072]

I'm a 33 year-old French and you just made me realise that "Sans doute" thing... and now my life will never be the same. lol

[@oolmfoxz8170]

sans doute...

[@Winston_SA]

Same, I never thought about it this way.

[@demond7159]

"Sans doute" a un côtés un peu ironisant et ça sous entend que l'on a pas assez d'éléments factuels pour considérer qu'un doute puisse subsister face à un argumentaire. C'est une expression tout ce qui a de plus logique.

[@upsill]

But we say "sans aucun doute"

[@alexandreparot5846]

Certainement and sûrement work the exact same way

[@xtojump]

I've been living in France for 13 years and never realised how crazy "sans doute" is when it actually DOES express some level of doubt 😂

[@lava-ru5ue]

Yeah hahah

[@julienantoine4081]

Makes me think about « t’inquiète ». Translated word for word it means « worry » but what we actually mean is « ne t’inquiète pas » = « don’t worry »

[@trochou]

Ou sûrement

[@melinegg5583]

Ahaha de même c‘est fou

[@sunsundks3891]

@@julienantoine4081 Uhm it's a short for "ne t'inquiète pas" Cause worry would be "Inquiète-toi" See how there is no " t' " ?

[@ama-gii]

the french word for 'bat' - chauve-souris - actually from a mistake of latin transcription. back then, the french thought 'calva' meant bald. it means an 'owl'. so the hypothetical proper translation would be : chouette-souris - the mouse-owl

[@missqueen20_]

JAJAJAJAJA calva

[@elrevah]

Funnily, calva in French is an alcohol, the diminutive of calvados, a famous Norman brandy from the small region called Calvados.

[@sikeman]

Well, in Italian calvo means bald, so I am completely lost right now hahahaha

[@thomasperez365]

I spent all my life without knowing that. Thank you !

[@aviator2117]

@@thomasperez365 I’m pretty sure it’s not true

[@Marcv1285]

when I was 5-6 years old and i've learned to count up to 69 at school, I ask my father what is next. When he told me "Soixante-dix" I just didn't believe him and asked him to stop joking and tell me the real number and I remember my frustration at the time... But then the next day at school, the teacher said the same so I was in total shock.

[@oolmfoxz8170]

how u say 12 and 13 in english ? weird for a french speaker...

[@Marcv1285]

@@oolmfoxz8170 but I guess it's weird for every language. I mean in english you have Eleven, Twelve and then all the following numbers have a pattern. In french it's weird up to 16, then there's a pattern "dix-sept, dix-huite, dix-neuf"... In english the pattern just start sooner.

[@Delibro]

@@oolmfoxz8170 Both makes no sense: douze is just the same non normal word, just as in English twelve, in German zwölf. treize is non normal in French, normal in many other languages (thirteen, dreizehn).

[@manfredneilmann4305]

@@Delibro It seems that the French numbers from douze to seize are obviously derived from their Latin roots "

[@manfredneilmann4305]

...duodecim, tredecim, quattuordecom

[@user-vm4uw6vc6h]

In Russian, a kite is a “flying snake”. Go figure.

[@neicna355]

cerf volant was cerp volant and serp is for serpent wich means snake so that s the same in French...

[@annecolomb980]

Blame the Chinese!... For once this sentence is true, kites are from China, and they were dragons (snakes).

[@davethesid8960]

In Hungarian, it's a paper dragon.

[@neicna355]

@@davethesid8960 thank, thats rallye intresting

[@FredEdline]

@@neicna355 yes, serp-volant actually ... but the word serp has disappeared in french ... so it became cerf by mistake, with the same sound. Same story with "Parler français comme une vache espagnol" (speaking french like a spanish cow) which means nothing ... but the real expression was"like a spanish basque".

[@Marine_chpn]

Cette vidéo sans aucun doute était vraiment pas mal. Je dirais même vachement bien 🐒

[@ShrubScotland]

QU'EST-CE QU'IL VEUT DIRE? 😳

[@fracazer]

@@ShrubScotland😂😂

[@trochou]

Carrément ! 😁 De manière carré quoi tu vois

[@jeanneymar2390]

Monki

[@machad.4282]

Je me suis toujours demandé si "vachement" ça faisait référence à la taille de la vache, comme on dit "c'est énorme"

[@quantum_leap786]

As a french, i couldnt help but keep a huge smile throughout the video I love my language, I love its intrications and nuances and the fact that it has so many quirks I feel special speaking it

[@Sergio0Oo]

as a native Romance languages speaker, these french phrases make total sense to me, imagine them just like the English phrasal verbs, they are not meant to be understood literally

[@uydfi35]

spanish? the balls one had me rolling, something i've said my whole life had an equivalent to french and i didn't know! so funny

[@florenceplourde9120]

Petite étymologie du mot « cerf-volant » : À l'origine, le mot s'épelait « serp-volant », serp dérivant de serps (serpent en latin). La traduction en anglais serait donc flying snake (which makes more sense honestly haha)

[@mariethereseascar4910]

Super, merci pour cette étymologie.

[@MrGuigto]

Pas mal, merci

[@enju3756]

Wa je savais pas merci x)

[@valerieleplouhinec5480]

Et pour chauve-souris, pareil : c'est une évolution de chouette-souris, which makes more as well :0)

[@enju3756]

@@valerieleplouhinec5480 mais pourquoi chouette-souris ? Ça ressemble pas plus a des chauves qu'à des chouettes mdr

[@samueldecelles2631]

Im a french guy from Québec. You have a great accent. Its nice to see a foreigner understanding our little details in language. You obviously went to France to learn it. I recommend you to go to Quebec and, be mind blown by the way we speak

[@leaucamouille3394]

C'est pas le même gars qui a une chaîne toute en français qui s'appelle « Dans mes binocles »? Je crois bien que oui sinon c'est son jumeau! Il a déjà fait une vidéo qui s'intitule « J'avoue, j'aime l'accent québécois » À moins que j'hallucine, je crois bien que c'est le même gars avec plusieurs chaînes. Bref, il est déjà venu au Québec et a même fait une vidéo sur le sujet.

[@pmarquisYT]

@@leaucamouille3394 C'est effectivement la même personne.

[@lilultime6555]

Je m'en vais chercher mon char

[@shalbec3232]

Aren't people from québec Canadian and not French and as far as I know you are only a French person when you where born in France

[@pmarquisYT]

@@shalbec3232 It's just semantics. It's a complicated situation. Officially we are Canadians but culturally we are as far apart from a random Canadian from Toronto as a Portuguese citizen is from a Spaniard.

[@eliseirdel5500]

I am French and that is actually so funny to watch ! There are things that we actually don't realise how complicated they can be, because we just naturally speak this language, so it was really funny to see a foreign point of view !

[@bertrandronge9019]

I think there is things like that in all languages... because languages evolves and if you don't have the cultural and historical background sometimes there are stuff that doesn't make sense to you. That's what happens when you judge something with your own criterias

[@daftfreak13]

dude I've like passively learned Spanish throughout my life and I can somewhat understand it especially if it's written...but I've been putting a good effort into learning French and it's SO DAMN DIFFICULT. Like if there's a paragraph in Spanish, I may not know exactly what I'm saying, but I can confidently pronounce it out loud. With French? I'm struggling to even pronounce half the damn words.

[@kedesiklem448]

Fun fact about "le verlan", witch mean "the versere" like : the reverse but reverse itself, was made during the WW2 to allow french people to talk to each other without being understand by german soldier who could have learn french in a academic way, because if you want to play with "le verlan" you need to have an insane level of skill in french.

[@geraudbroussaud894]

Actually Verlan is older than that : it dates back at least to the nineteenth century.

[@Harukai_2.0]

"merci" means "thank you" in french which if you say it in "verlan" it's "cimer"

[@AlwaysHereAndNow]

Cool, je ne connaissais pas l'origine. Merci.

[@desgrangesjean-marie5397]

@@AlwaysHereAndNow ne pas croire sur parole une random personne sur youtube...

[@narjissrizki6674]

I'm French and hearing this from a foreigner made me realize how weird our language is and I understand that it's hard to learn it on a "regular way". Like I think foreign students learn the "academic french" and struggle to understand how everybody speaks in the everyday life (because honestly, we don't speak like Molière haha)

[@mdkinfrance]

My French husband (born 15km from Cholet btw!) just had a little chuckle when he overheard "je m'en bats les couilles" as he was doing the dishes. 😆

[@hiddingclover]

That one made me laugh like crazy because the visual representation is so absurd.

[@chups6143]

Les choletais on est là

[@s.p..smdness8748]

A more accurate translation for this one would be "I don't give a shit"

[@shantyshin383]

@@s.p..smdness8748 wich is quite visual too xD

[@ikeatherapy]

im literally french and when 'je m'en bats les couilles' came up on screen it was the first time i broke that expression down into its individual components and realised how absurdly funny it is, i couldnt stop laughing and ive been using that expression my entire life LMAO

[@jean-louiswillems7517]

In Belgium, “non peut-être”=“no maybe” means “oui bien sur”=“yes for sure”

[@zarrouguilucas2585]

Jure ?

[@mathieujvc]

🤯

[@frednumfar6653]

Sans déc ?!...

[@rasmusvanwerkhoven1962]

5:50 actually, in Dutch we have that too, "aardappel" is what we call a "potato", but it’s literally just an "earth apple"

[@simonz5905]

Extremly common when the language pre-exist the object.

[@rosinecarail2420]

Anecdote: des potes à moi ont invité un jeune couple et le gars (qui est coincé à mort) a dit à sa femme "on dit pas je m'en fous parce que c'est faire référence au foutre et le foutre c'est le sperme." et comme il s'est senti seul dans son argument il a demandé l'avis de mon pote qui a dit sans réfléchir "j'sais pas. Je m'en fous." 😂

[@675gisud6]

ça fait référence*

[@cargaisontuba3361]

@@675gisud6 non non, sa phrase est correcte. Dire "je m'en fous", c'est faire référence au foutre.

[@675gisud6]

@@cargaisontuba3361 je parle pas de la phrase "je m'en fous" je sais ce qu'il veut dire, mais je parle de la phrase "c'est faire" parce qu'elle est grammaticalement incorrecte, au lieu on dit "ça fait", on emploie jamais l'infinitif après le verbe "être".

[@cargaisontuba3361]

@@675gisud6 oui on parle bien de la même chose. Mais c'est pas une erreur de dire "Dire XXX c'est faire XXX"

[@675gisud6]

@@cargaisontuba3361 mais dans cette contexte il veut dire "this refers to" non? On peut dire "c'est faire" mais c'est pas le cas ici je crois...

[@otzpeda3860]

I think it is quite common in Europe to say "not bad" for something which is really good. For example in German we also use this expression quite a lot. I don't know why but I think it's because we don't want to be too positive so we take the subtle way of saying it haha...

[@vladislavvishnykov657]

Same in Russia

[@marmarino2070]

Same in Dutch

[@yannick9303]

Then again, it also depends on intonation. I often find myself using "nicht schlecht" or less commonly "nicht schlecht, Herr Specht" to express that it's in fact really good. But with an enthusiastic tone. I get the point though, most people use it in the way you described. What a weird world we live in 😅

[@terilyte3152]

Yep, it's the same in British English too

[@desanipt]

Yeah, I would translate Portuguese "nada mal" (literally "nothing bad") as "pretty good".

[@messhugah8273]

Good job ! Terriiiiiiiiiible ! Yes, *_terrible_* could means "awsome" too. Depends to the intonation and to the context. _Ce qui arrive est terrible_ -> "What's happen is dramatic." vs _Je vais au concert, ça va être terrible !_ (generaly pronounce "terriiiiiiiiible !!!", as an hysteric teenager) -> "I go to the concert, it will be awsome"... The intonation of the suit of sounds *_Oh la la_* (iconic for you) could express *any sense you want* , from dramatic issue to a happyness situation, included "I don't give a shit" or "it's wonderfull". About the numbers, the historic explaination I learned is this one : _the celtic population living in France before (and after) the Caesar conquest compt on a 20 base, when others compt on 10 base._ Basically, it's an historical clue dissimulated in language, which is facinating I think. Besides, Swiss say *_octante_* and not "huitante" . You could see the latin origins "octo" instead of "huit" (with the sound [Ui] which is a very very typical french sound...)

[@gizel4376]

i don't remember having see terrible use in a good sense here's in Québec, the only time terrible means awesome is when we say c'est pas terrible, which mean it's not awesome

[@vynne3888]

Swiss don’t say octante. We say huitante. The only people I’ve seen using octante is the Belgians, and still very rarely.

[@copperjaguar]

4:35 this is the same as how we say "just great" "how wonderful" "i love how..." for bad situations a form of sarcasm

[@marcsidhom538]

Fun fact for non-French speakers here lol : "verlan" is actually "l'envers" with its syllables inverted, and that's exactly what it means, the "inversion" of words. Very often used in slang. Ex : Chelou, which comes from Louche, which means weird. Cheers from Egypt !!

[@ShrubScotland]

Cimer

[@lolita960]

Tebé

[@sofiebonaparte7831]

Thanks!

[@StudioNetcom]

Relou, qui vient de Lourd... Attends un peu toi, il vient de où le "re" dans "relou"? Lourd -> relou Herbe -> beu Femme -> meuf C'est moi ou vous ne faite pas qu'inverser les syllables, vous donnez l'impression d'en inventer/ajouter de nouvelles... PS: je suis nouveau en verlan et parfois je n'arrive pas à comprendre comment ça s'est rendu jusque là.

[@riri3531]

@@StudioNetcom it's more like... "rlou" would be hard to pronounce, so we add a little e in the middle > Relou. Beuh, beuher doesn't sound good and most people understand with only the fist voyel > dropping the her Meuf, it's used to be meufeu but it got too long > dropping the last eu Beur is Arabe in verlan, it comes from Be + ara but it was hard to pronounce > dropping the as Some are more straightforward : Beubar is barbe, Zarbi is Bizarre, Québlo/Kéblo is Bloqué, Pécho is Chopper, Fonc'dé is Défoncé, Turfu is Futur, Téma is Mater, Chanmé is Méchan, Cimer is Merci, and so on and so forth.

[@SamDCote]

Nathaniel: I want to take a more comedic angle Also Nathaniel: here are two examples to illustrate my point 🧐

[@PiaAmorin]

But it's funny 😂

[@SamDCote]

@@PiaAmorin hahaha yes! I love it

[@katarinazivotic1460]

i love how you didn't use the basic examples everyone knows, your video is a lot more original and actually constructive cause i'm learning french :)

[@nicolleblanco4363]

Please keep the series going, I love them so much

[@carlaowens2689]

Hahah I remember calling out the bingo numbers while working at a French holiday camp with French, Swiss and Belgians... it was crazy to say the least!!!

[@nevereverstopsinging]

This would make an amazing short film concept lol

[@carlaowens2689]

@@nevereverstopsinging ahhaha could you imagine!!

[@leaucamouille3394]

😂😂😉

[@evanshid6456]

Really? Those people understand each others perfectly normally.

[@PabloNavarro81]

In Greek you can say "Den erhesai apo edo, na fame tipota" which means "why don't you come over to grab a bite (together)", but the translation would be "Why don't you NOT come over, so we eat NOTHING"

[@roothik]

A more literal translation would be "Won't you come by here, to eat nothing?"

[@guzy1971]

c'est vrai dans toutes les langues vous savez, on s'en rend compte dès qu'on maitrise un peu plus intimement une langue

[@miriotogata5853]

😂

[@A7Xfanfr]

In the case of "pas terrible" here "terrible" is closer in meaning to "terrific" rather than "terrible". "C'est pas terrible" = "it's not terrific" meaning "not great"

[@Ceejay8887]

Yeah, "terrible" in French is closer to "Formidable" in English, there used to be two meanings: "mighty" and "ruthless". When we say "c'est pas terrible" we mean "not mighty" and when we react to a bad news with "c'est terrible" we mean "it's ruthless".

[@dulot2001]

"quatre-vingts" comes from the vigesimal or base-20 numeral system which was used by celt. The decimal system has not completely replaced it.

[@marcboissin70]

What about a French kiss ? 😏 a familiar way to call this kiss using your tongue is « rouler une pelle » literally, roll a shovel Here you go romantic learners

[@Wandering.Homebody]

That sounds like the height of subtle eroticism 😂

[@machad.4282]

Une jolie"soupe de langues" 🤢😂😂

[@dittoluv]

Ah mais moi je pensais que le french kiss c’était juste quand tu embrassais la bouche rapidement quoi

[@galier2]

You can also say "rouler une galoche" rolling an overshoe (aka galosh in english, lol)

[@galier2]

also "rouler un patin" rollig a slipper/skate.

[@theguiltyshow784]

As a french person, i laughed very hard!! Pas mal ;)

[@Herghun]

The part on the expressions hahaha I nearly choked on my food ! I never realised how the expressions I use are so hardcore XD Btw "ça me fait chier" and je m'en bat les couilles" are what we call "familier" which means you should use them only with close friend or familly because... obviously it' rude haha

[@tylerthompson6867]

The double meaning is something that is done in America all the time. Listening to you explain it made French seem easier to me than I originally thought. I’ve been learning Spanish and the biggest challenge to me so far, beside the accent, is the way you express certain things. It doesn’t always translate well in English. But I feel I could speak, how I do naturally with American English, very similar in the same way in French. And with French being a bevy influence on American English, it makes sense to me.

[@camillel.2429]

"Sans doute" is a bit like "sûrement" or "certainement". "Sûrement" literally means "surely" and "certainement" means "certainly" but when we say it, it's more like "probably" again hahahaha Don't worry, it used to confuse me as a child, even being French xD

[@emmynoether9540]

Nicht schlecht (Not bad) is the way we say "it's (surprisingly) really good!" in Berlin. It's a complement.

[@mayarahman9995]

Lol i learned this w my friend who’s German. Always “not bad!”

[@user-qk3zs3tv1c]

Same rule applies in russian. If it's unexpected, then it's "неплохо!" (neplóho, not bad) with eyebrows raised.

[@maxyi2672]

Lol. In Chinese 不错(búcuò) literally means “not wrong”, but it actually means “very good”.

[@timefortee]

_Warukunai_ in Japanese

[@Caved_Johnson]

The funniest thing about our language imo is : "Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?" Which translates to : "what is this ?" But if you analyse the grammar behind it, it's more like : "What is this that this is that thing?" or something ahah.

[@TMBTM]

"Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?" is a way to emphasis the silliness or the strangeness of something, so yes, the phrase itself sounds strange, lol. If it's less strange we can use "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" or the more formal "Qu'est-ce donc?". If we want to be short and to the point we can use "C'est quoi?".

[@UnknowingTio]

I'm learning french, so this video was kinda hilarious. I would love a portuguese version of this series, in Brazil we have soooo many weird expressions. Even some local ones, from the northwest part of the country(where I'm from) is simply hilarious when out of context.

[@joshnmb6056]

It’s pretty funny to see my language through your perspective, you made me realize things I’ve never paid attention to haha

[@IM_AYKHARAAD]

Franchement, une vidéo « the English language makes no sense » serait super intéressante ! 😄

[@eloisegibb8933]

It's "cowly good"🤣 i use vachement all the time, and i never really thought about how weird it sounds in English. I guess we really love our cows

[@esunisen3862]

Nath: French numbers are strange. Danes: Hold my halvtreds.

[@mf5779]

Pomme actually comes from gallo-roman, and had the original meaning of "fruit" (Pomme de jacques, pomme d'orange, pomme de terre, pomme de pin, etc.) It was like the word "berry" in English, you know, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry. Tu vas te coucher moins bête ce soir !

[@BriceDLB]

Apple a le même sens en vrai sa voulait juste dire fruit il y a fort longtemps tu le retrouve dans les langues nordiques type norvégien

[@ptahtatenen]

In German potato is not only “Kartoffel“ but in certain regions also “Erdapfel” (Apfel: apple, Erd: earth) or even Erdbirne (Birne=pear). In the Netherlands it’s aardappel. So it isn’t just in the French language.

[@mathieujvc]

Fun fact: "pomme de pin" literally means "pineapple" but actually means "pinecone" How do we say "pineapple" then? -> "Ananas" 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

[@pierreblanchet6955]

As a French asking for this video in the comments of the Italian’s one, I’m very pleased. Even as a native sometimes you are like “why are we beating ourselves so hard with the principal tool for communication 😂”

[@oolmfoxz8170]

english are our worst and best friends since long Historical story...

[@nextlevelconsciousnesswithLS]

Having lived in Paris for 6 years, and learned the language from scratch, I can so relate! Another classic: "tu m'étonnes" = NOT surprising 😄

[@jeanthomas7523]

Please do more of these, if you feel so inclined! :)

[@pedroglcbarros]

You should do one in Portuguese, both Portugal-Portuguese and Brazilian-Portuguese, there are some words and expressions which mean completely different things which are quite funny

[@SHINYFUNGAMES]

Porra

[@jessicaferreira7606]

hahah give me an example

[@pedroglcbarros]

@@jessicaferreira7606 there are plenty, many which are inappropriate hahaha for example, the word "bicha" in pt-portuguese means "queue", whereas in br-portuguese, it is a pejorative term for calling someone gay; or it can also be a not so pretty slang for "girl" in northeast Brazil.

[@spencera1129]

As someone who knows French at probably like a B2 level, this is one of the best videos I have seen in a while haha

[@baritenor88]

Definitely loving this content!!!! Plus, Plus, Plus, 🙏🏾

[@georgietaylor388]

This video brought me so much joy and laughter! Just seeing how much he enjoyed speaking about his discoveries of the language :)

[@MishaElRusito]

Also french people always fart with their lips haha as a "hmm don't know. Baahhhh... je sais pas"

[@PHlophe]

You mean BOFF or PFFF very common ha ha ha . But have you heard of Tchiiiip, from the west indies ? that's even funnier.

[@alexandreguiot4714]

@@PHlophe nah my Italian flatmate made that remark to me about a year ago. We actually just close our lips and push air out of our mouths, and it makes a fart noise.

[@xenotypos]

I don't think it's supposed to refer to a fart. I'm french and I never imagined it was like farting or anything, just a sound you make with you mouth.

[@nathanwurtz245]

More like « bah chépa » actually

[@johnnymaldonadoparedes3502]

Hahaha pprfprfprfprf i think that’s how you can put in in words hahaha prfprfprfprf (do it quickly) 😂

[@alexandrearbolabide8292]

Je pensais m'en battre les couilles ou au mieux me dire que cette vidéo cassait pas trois pattes à un canard, mais au final c'était vraiment pas mal ! Thanks :*

[@armoricain]

Personnellement (je sais que de nos jours on dit "Perso", pardonnez-moi mais ch'uis vieux, et je ne me suis jamais, mais alors JAMAIS habitué à "à plus" 🤢) bref, comme je le disais, personnellement, je n'ai jamais dit "Je m'en bats les couilles" et encore moins utilisé l'expression "Ne pas casser trois pattes à un canard" 🤔😒 mais vous avez raison, cette vidéo n'est pas mal du tout! 😁

[@alix8532]

Bah c'est pas grave la langue ^^

[@dominickg8326]

Do more of these videos Nate!

[@arentyou23]

I love these videos man, super awesome and insightful.

[@alainec1]

The word "cerf-volant" comes from the occitan language, in which "sèrp-volaira" (serp-volant) meant "flying snake". With French language transforming over the ages, "serp" became "cerf". I guess that a kite could look like a flying snake!

[@TesterAnimal1]

That looks like a standard Grimm's Law shift: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law (Been binging linguistics vids on KZbin... PIE!)

[@slavamomotyuk5561]

When discussing about something French are sometimes going like : "Ouais...mais non...Bah..oui, mais je sais pas" . So you end up wondering what was the point of saying anything at all :)

[@tilywinn]

Don’t worry, us Australians say “Yeah, nah” which just means no. I couldn’t tell you why, but you have been warned. 😁

[@millylou21]

😂😂😂

[@christianbarnay2499]

This clearly shows that the person is taking the subject of the conversation seriously and is carefully weighing arguments for both parties before making their own mind and giving their answer.

[@timefortee]

@@christianbarnay2499 You're in denial...

[@christianbarnay2499]

@@timefortee No

[@musicgirl125]

Yes do more of these!!

[@rene.rodriguez]

Love this, man. Do more! I’m looking to move to France from the US with my fiancé next year. Your videos have been tremendously helpful and inspirational. Thanks for all you do.

[@zajch]

Seeing Nathan shy and blushing is just everything ✨🙆🏻

[@Sam4G0d]

I was born and raised in Geneva (Switzerland) and was SO confused when I later continued with my French studies and realised that standard French doesn't say septante, huitante, nonante...

[@Laurent69ftm]

In Geneva they don't know how the French count? I thought everyone knew in Switzerland. It must have been a shock, how old were you when you heard of that?

[@tougue]

Wow, as a fellow Swiss, I didn't know that "huitante" could be heard in Geneva

[@tougue]

@@glaframb Hahaha, if EVEN Québec use the French ways, then that must be the way to go ;) (just poking fun at ya!) I'm Swiss myself; but the Genevois, for all I knew, use the Belgian pattern: septante/quatre-vingt/nonante

[@leaucamouille3394]

Quand je suis arrivée en Erasmus à Genève je croyais avoir tout compris et je m'étais mise à dire « octante » sans que personne ne bronche jusqu'à ce qu'un de mes colocs finisse par m'avouer être étonné "qu'on dise octante au Québec", la confusion était partagée. En fait, j'avais pas capté "huitante" et j'essayais de m'intégrer en disant «septante, octante, nonante » pour moi "octante" sonnait juste, racine latine genre... 😂 Le ridicule ne tue pas.

[@tougue]

@@leaucamouille3394 ça va, y a franchement pire dans le ridicule ;). Il semblerait que "octante" soit parfois utilisé en Belgique.

[@melo9725]

From a French POV I have to say it's really funny and accurate I can't argue and it's not even the worse-

[@cezaraberezovschi2585]

Awesome video! I would love to see similar videos and videos about specific sayings compared or translated to other languages. Just awesome idea! Thank you for this video!!!

[@Yaya66]

Just like you said, intonation is super important. In the case of "pas mal", for example, while like you said it can mean "hey it's pretty good", can also be the escape way when you don't want to say it's bad but can't say it's good either. So more often than not, "pas mal" just means "okay". Art school really made me hate that expression hahaha.

[@sunsundks3891]

I mean when people used it like that they are just straight up lying lol

[@timefortee]

@@sunsundks3891 Or when not finding something nice to say, you opt for "Hm, interesting!"

[@ArthurKeutgen]

Dude I love this 😂😂 I'm Belgian and you didn't make a single mistake! You really do understand the nuances and seeing it from this point of view made me laugh so much 😂😂 It's so normal for me that I don't even think of this

[@PreciousPioneer]

Please more of these videos! :]

[@Rikaoutai]

So nice video, love the way you talk about all of it hahaha

[@matis4289]

As a French, this video actually made me laugh Btw there is an other popular expression to say « je m’en bats les couilles » that is « je m’en pète un rein » which could be translated in English as « I’m beating a kidney » 😂

[@jeanneymar2390]

MDR celle là je la connaissait pas

[@drhyde8417]

there's also a feminine version of the slightly different expression"ça me casse les couilles" which is "ça me broie les ovaires", literally meaning "it grinds/crushes my ovaries". It means "it really annoys me".

[@jeanneymar2390]

@@drhyde8417 nope là t'invente chacal, et même si c'est vrai il doit y avoir quasi personne qui l'utilise

[@skaoon4553]

@@jeanneymar2390 ca me pete les ovaires ca existe depuis longtemps et la pluspart des meufs que je connais lutilise

[@jeanneymar2390]

@@skaoon4553 Mais t'es FR ? J'ai jamais entendu ça

[@alessazoe]

The French wikipedia covers the etymology of "cerf-volant", look it up. ;)

[@headamoungclouds]

Please please continue this series! Trop intéressant! 😉

[@Nobodydu77]

Aaaaaah this type of video cracks me up so much ! It's soooo fun to explain the particularities of a language in another ^^ I realize i never thought about "sans doute" or "vachement" in that way before xD

[@buttscarlton9000]

Every language when talking about themselves: “our language makes no sense.” Every language talking about other languages: “NO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ARE LANGUAGE IS THE BEST LANGUAGE EVERRRRRR!!!!!!1!” Every language talking about other languages: “their language makes no sense.”

[@mickaelcoulon5604]

but as a french i can assume my language make no sense and english is a lot more easy to learn

[@Harriett2423]

@@mickaelcoulon5604 i don't think that's entirely true - most french people are fairly horrible at speaking English too. Morphological complexity is essentially impossible to measure objectively.

[@mickaelcoulon5604]

@@Harriett2423 at speaking it, i assume i'm a shit but to learn it, it's simple

[@minervah.elizarraras5435]

Necesito uno en español!!! 😂 Siempre genial Nathaniel

[@rahafomran5217]

one of your best videos in fact!

[@micleh]

10:21 - I loved the video for that. Keep on digging up interesting tidbits about the French language and also about French-speaking nations. 07:11 - I was reminded of 'holy cow'

[@DavidPerez-tk8mx]

reminded me of this colombian expression: "me la pela" to say like "i don't care at all" which kinda translates "it peels my banana"

[@arrakistoxic1765]

Sounds like the hindi word khela meaning banana huh

[@jeanneymar2390]

damn this is some Ritual shit

[@RealTalkWithSSG]

Hahaha this reminded me of how "Yeah sure" implies "nope" when said a certain way, and "No, yeah" means a partial yes. Great video!

[@samsolida]

I'm from Geneva, Switzerland, and we say "quatre-vingt", unlike those living in Vaud. This being said, and I'm both a native English and French speaker, the French language does not make any sense indeed! How's about dissecting English spelling? You'd probably get the same level of inanity.

[@satetmorrigan3115]

This video is so funny and educational. Please, keep the series going

[@lucaszambrani3967]

En Argentina a veces decimos "" Ahora en 5 minutos me voy a ir yendo"

[@starlenkabroad]

I’m French and that’s soooo funny to hear from your view of my language because I’d never realized all that stuff 😂 we are weirdos omg

[@cassiopee318]

As a Belgian student un french linguistic it’s so interesting to hear what a foreigner thinks about our language. It’s so fun 😂

[@luciahtm1075]

What is "belgian" ?

[@MrDryx7]

As a native French speaker from Belgium, I am really glad you made that video because I couldn't stop laughing. I never realized how strange our language was. I absolutely lost it when you talked about how we express our lack of care with "Je m'en bats les couilles" and "Cela m'en touche une sans faire bouger l'autre". Great video !

[@vincent_auduc]

Yeah! As a french native speaker, I can confirm what you say! Funny video! I laughed a lot!

[@emmabnd5206]

The worst thing about the "sans doute" thing is that, if you just say "sans doute" (without doubt) it will mean "probably", but just add "aucun" (any) and BOOM you have "sans aucun doute" which is basically "without any doubt", so this time it ACTUALLY means "for sure". Ah... I love my birth language

[@anotherbookishbecca9170]

Another one of my favorite examples is how the french word for breakfast just translates to little breakfast. And I’m so glad you discussed the french number system! I had such a difficult time learning this in high school.

[@simoun1er516]

I'm french, I laugh so hard cause this is so true waiting for the episode 2 !

[@charlottethomas3877]

In Normandy, we say for example : " C'est rien bien ! ". Sometimes we add the word "rien (nothing)" in a sentence just to emphasise our point. That is some weird stuff too! 😅

[@anjezashahinifanclub]

En tant que Havrais, je confirme ! :D

[@DafyddMorse]

Sans doute, sounds similar to something we say in Welsh. "Siwr o fod" means literally "Sure to be" but actually means "probably"! Massively enjoyed this video!

[@harolddeschenes4640]

Great video Nathaniel. As a FSL teacher I can totally relate to your explanations. I'm so glad Verlan hasn't crossed the Atlantic though! I am French Canadian / Irish and the way the French change the order of the words has always confused the hell out of me. Keep up your great work!

[@alexmukets6769]

thanks for this vid! As a french I was smilling during the wole vid!

[@mayayaron3458]

The “not bad” being really good and the “not terrible” being still kind of bad, and even the potato being “an apple of the earth” - we do the exact same thing in Hebrew, literally the same, i think I’m gonna learn French😂

[@audebattistolo1805]

"Ground-apple" would be a better translation of "pomme de terre" but I should aknowledge that "an apple of the earth" is way more poetic. If you want still learn french. ^^

[@doigt6590]

You can also say patate if you prefer. Though I don't know if it's something metropolitan french speakers say or not.

[@audebattistolo1805]

@@doigt6590 , Yes we do say "patate". But it's really unformal. Not exatly familiar but kind of.

[@doigt6590]

@@audebattistolo1805 here in quebec, it's the complete opposite. "pomme de terre" is literally never used except by tourists or immigrants.

[@audebattistolo1805]

@@doigt6590 , bon à savoir!

[@marcsidhom538]

"Flying deer" lmaooo I had never thought of it this way ngl XD It's actually so interesting to see the language from the perspective of a non-native lol wow

[@minidiamantl5462]

I lived some time in swiss when I was small, and when we left, my dad obliged me to stop saying septante, huitante and nonante