12 Common French Gestures
October 19, 2019
Salut c’est Géraldine. Welcome to Comme une Française TV, live in
France, feel at home. A language is not only words but also gestures
and facial expressions. And a gesture is usually understood on its
own. People get it straight away. So if you get it wrong, it can be a big misunderstanding. For example: You ask “what do you think
of that guy” and the person answer this. It’s NOT the same meaning
in French and English The 12 most popular gestures in the French language : that’s what we’ll going to see today. on Comme une Française TV! While living in England, I discovered how gestures are important. Mainly by making mistakes. Let’s save you any misunderstandings
in France. More or less – Bof bof / plus ou moins Let’s speak soon – on s’appelle ? That’s pretty obvious. It’s mostly used when you have to discretely
pass a message to someone. On s’appelle! I’m bored – je m’ennuie : this one which means shaving and boring. And we also have this one. That’s easy. I won’t say a word – Motus et bouche cousue: [geste] bouche cousue it means I won’t say a thing. We do this. Se barrer. To leave, we do like this. To be drunk, like this. Etre bourré / saoul, to be drunk. Etre bourré / saoul, we do this. Mon oeil, we do this. It means, I don’t believe you. It seems that it in English, “it’s my foot” Mon oeil. Great! that’ obvious Zero – zéro/rien/que dalle : faire un rond
avec ses doigts (NOT great) J’ai du nez I have flair : montrer son nez C’est pas
moi / j’ai rien fait – it wasn’t me / I didn’t do it: last one
that you migtht see used by 20 somethings: cassé from the movie Brice de Nice It means
“Gotcha!” or “I win!” Et toi ? Your French will ONLY improve if
you put into practice what you’ve learnt on Comme une Française TV. Share your experiences by leaving a comment
below this video : Did you know about these gestures? Let me know in French one anecdote about French
gestures you want to share with the community. The comment section is the best place to start
discussions and ask questions! —- Would you like to receive exclusive content
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Thanks for the video! One expression I see often in French movies (and only in them) is something as follows (can't find it now): move chin forward, raise eyebrows, make a "conical" shape with lips (sorry don't know a better word). From what I can see, it can mean anything from "I don't know" to "Who cares". Could you explain please?
merci beaucoup!
A lot of these are the same in English and French.
You should make a video with French expressions. like "peter plus haut que son cul (farting higher than your ass). "tu chies dans la colle"( you are shitting in the glue) or tu as le cul borde de nouilles (your ass is full or noddle).loool
ton zéro en suisse voudrait dire tip top…
Hey Géraldine!! Love your channel!! I've learned a lot here, Thanks!!;))
Rien que dalle===zero???????? Est correct????
I think most of these are pretty international.
"Zero" can cause a lot of confusion, it means "ok" in my country
Mais voyage un peu! Ces gestes permettent aux gens de se comprendre à travers le monde!! N'importe quoi.
Thank you! Learnt alot :-
saludos desde mi canal en México
I love your soul !
Very well done – how about the shrug between: I don't care and "Ce n'est pas moi"?
Some are Italian gestures too
I have to ask, a lot of Parisians i met.. when they don't know something they shrug, and stick their lips out and say 'ptt'. or blow out air like a little fart lol. hard to explain. but I noticed it happened a lot..
I did not know the one about "zero". Great video.
Sauf que tout le monde n'utilise pas ses gestes à la con… C'est aussi vulgaire que cette expression, en plus de prendre son interlocuteur pour un handicapé ou un enfant.
Great!
the best, thanks I love your videos
There was a gesture in the movie, "Father Goose" Carry Grant, (Walter Eckland) Catherine Freneaux, (Leslie Caron). Caron uses a gesture over her head in a mocking way. Could you possibly give some light on that one, S'il vous plaît Mademoiselle?
aha , i'm french and I don't use any of this , that soooo ridiculous
Le "zero" geste peut signifie "va te faire foutre" das mon pays. (〃▽〃)
Le geste "cassé" n'est plus utilisé, surtout pas par les "twenty-something". il a été très utilisé pendant les quelques années qui ont suivi la sortie du film mais maintenant il est devenu extrêmement ringard… maintenant, l'expression est utilisée sans le geste.
The "cassé" gesture is not used anymore, and even less by the twenty-somethings. it was very common during the few years following the release of the movie but now it has become incredibly tacky… we still use the expression a lot (exactly like "burn" in English) but without the gesture.
Le geste "cassé" n'est plus utilisé, surtout pas par les "twenty-something". il a été très utilisé pendant les quelques années qui ont suivi la sortie du film mais maintenant il est devenu extrêmement ringard… maintenant, l'expression est utilisée sans le geste.
The "cassé" gesture is not used anymore, and even less by the twenty-somethings. it was very common during the few years following the release of the movie but now it has become incredibly tacky… we still use the expression a lot (exactly like "burn" in English) but without the gesture.
Le geste "cassé" n'est plus utilisé, surtout pas par les "twenty-something". il a été très utilisé pendant les quelques années qui ont suivi la sortie du film mais maintenant il est devenu extrêmement ringard… maintenant, l'expression est utilisée sans le geste.
The "cassé" gesture is not used anymore, and even less by the twenty-somethings. it was very common during the few years following the release of the movie but now it has become incredibly tacky… we still use the expression a lot (exactly like "burn" in English) but without the gesture.
Et l'auriculaire levé qui signifie "Mon petit doigt m'a dit" 😉
Se taper le front de la paume "J'ai oublié" ou "quel idiot !"
Very popular way ….
that was a fun video! I always thought casse man I'm broke as in I don't have any money; j'ai casse
Mercie bien! From Dubai
c parfait. merci bcp
Super! J'aime ces gestes. Ils ont l'air très clairs et simples. Je n'ai jamais pensé aux gestes avant de voir Inglourious Basterds (2009) où un des soldats a fait un erreur de geste à la main qui s'avère être fatal! Bien sûr je ne pense pas qu'un erreur termine comme cela ces jours mais, si c'est possible, je voudrais éviter des situations gênantes quand même :'D
Merci pour la vidéo!
OMG the "okay" hand gesture means "zero" 😂 no wonder I don't get any response when I say okay in chat lol
This is clearly a feminist.
Thanks Geraldine! I'm planning my first visit in 20 years and benefitted from this tutorial. Next time please tell us about the "shrug" and slow everything by a couple of seconds so as to better absorb the pronunciation😄😀
merci Geraldine
Someone told me that putting your hand up as if to say "stop" means something?
Do you know a good book of "slang" for French speakers? I imagine that the slang might be regional, say, different slang in Paris than in Lyon or Marseille? I know that also in Quebec (I am in Canada) the slang is VERY different than the slang in France. Drunk, in Quebec, is "Noir comme un pavé" (black as pavement), "gonflé" (literally inflated) and a dozen others.
Absolutely wonderful. Merci!
Bonjour!
Je suis un prof de français au lycée. On apprécie beaucoup vos vidéos!
Justin
quite a few are the same as in America,
Shit
Eeeeeeeeeeee
Merci pour ton vidéo!! J'ai un devoir sûrce thème! merci!!!
cassé also means you got served
Muito bom!!
Most of these are used in Australia.
Hooray !
Merci pour toutes ces petites leçons, Géraldine 🙂
super!
En Australie on dit souvent "keep stumm" pour motus et bouche cousue.
I love the Gallic shrug: – shoulders raised, palms raised and facing outwards, bottom lip pouting out and saying "bof".
Anne Hathaway ?
I knew some because of my french teacher has a poster about french postures
I was surprised at how many of these I know and use in the US. The one for 'zero' can mean 'zero' here or 'okay' depending on context, and facial expression usually gives clues. The only ones I don't see here that oven are the one for 'drunk', touching the nose (sometimes in older movies or used by older people), and casse. All of the others I knew.
One anecdote that I heard was the time someone encountered a palm held up in their face. In French it means, 'I'll be right with you', in American it means 'talk to the hand' or 'I have no time for you, get outa my face', (very rude in American, not at all in French)
Mais qu' est ce qu c' est ca, more or less, c' est boff ahah, Bored => difficiles
my teacher is Anne Hathaway, oh my god
Most of these are the same in English-speaking countries, such as zipping one's lips. And everyone knows that balancing your hand back and forth means "more or less" both in French and in English. Like I said, most of these are the same in both languages/cultures.
The to be drunk sign in the US is the sign if someone is a kiss ass or a brown nose.
Celui pour je m'ennuie je le connaissais pas X)
Some people say "My foot," but "My eye" certainly means the same thing ^_^ And Bart Simspon is famous for saying "My butt" for the same connotation
are your teaching us or you are talking to yourself.speak louder and open your mouth, be slow on pronunciation. come again I'm waiting for you.your beautiful Lady
omg thank you, i 've seen this a lot in France but never had the time to google it. that's so helpful ^^
You forgot the biggest common gesture : middle finger
1:54 I don't buy it (middle finger)
2:25 It wasn't me… Psych (middle finger)
2:35 When someone is burned/lawyered (middle finger)
Très bonne idée cette video. En fait, cela nous renvoie à nous. Mais bien sûr qu,on a tous ces gestuels….. on ne se voie pas, on ne se rend compte de rien…… Marie……
you're accent is fuckin' French!!! :)))
je découvre vôtre chanel aujourd'hui. Je abonne immédiatement✌ salut de Brésil
très bien ,. merci
(French beginner here) 😛
LOVE!
I don't really agree with the zero/okay one.. I use this gesture meaning that I find something great, perfect
Put on the captions I'm telling you! It's hilarious
Dear foreigners, please don't do the "cassé" gesture in France. It's very outdated and definitely not hip among adults. :'D
Hola papus como están??
#3 : se tourner les pouces doesn't mean "I'm bored". It's more like to enjoy doing nothing
J'ai appris le geste pour qui se soucie est une vague sur l'épaule et un coup de sifflet
skip to 52 seconds. thank me later
Merci!
Tres elegante.Merci.
Bonjour Géraldine! Je suis du Canada et je suis déjà allé en Europe plus d'une fois. C'est un détail mais j'ai remarqué souvent que les gens pour indiquer au Mc Do ou dans un bar qu'ils veulent DEUX items ils sortent deux doigts soit le pouces et l'index. Je ne suis pas sûr que tous les européens font ça mais je l'ai remarqué très souvent. Mais ici, c'est très rare. On va prendre l'index et le majeur pour dire deux. Ce n'est pas si drôle que ça comme ça mais ce qui est drôle, je l'ai déjà vu deux fois et c'est pour ça que c'est une anecdote, c'est le Canadien en visite à Barcelone ou Paris qui va indiquer qu'il veut DEUX Big Mac et qui n'est pas top point de vue dextérité et qu'en sortant son majeur et son index lpour dire "2", bien le pouce est un peu ouvert et pas demeuré fermé. Là, la personne européenne à l'arrière du comptoir est confuse. Elle dit "bien là 2 ou 3???". 🙂 Ici il ne viendrait pas à l'idée de vouloir compter le pouce à moins qu'il soit franchement très très ouvert. Voilà. C'est ma looooooooooongue anecdote pas très rigolote. 🙂
Merci.
Really helping to learn French…..
Merci Géraldine! This was great – thanks!!
Was hopinf to find the Gallic Shrug demonstrated. . .
Ooooh, I wouldn't do that bored shaving gesture outside of France, it might be interpreted as a kind of sexual invite… (I won't elaborate!)
Super
en fait, le geste pour s'ennuyer vient de la barbe: je m'ennuie tant, je pourrais pousser une barbe 😉
Actually when i went to brussels one girl do me the call back gesture
2:39 chui mort
J'aime, c'est pas moi. I'll try this one during my job.
you have flexible wrists, mine stop halfway, they are so stiff rn lol
ty
What about Belmondo’s lip thing? What does that mean?
👍👍
Maybe repeat how to say it in French 3 times slowly so we viewers can practice with you. I have to keep rewinding the video to hear the pronunciation properly, it's way too fast for us beginners. Is this an advanced class maybe?
Charmante!
You are a fine teacher!!!
what a beautiful girl…….oh my god
For older viewers some of these are just the same as in English. More or less, same gesture. They would even say, "comme çi, comme ça" though they wouldn't know how to spell it. Very popular in the seventies.Twiddling your thumbs, yeah–bored. "My eye" is much older, goes back to the 1930s and 40s, older people would say something was "all my eye and Betty Martin" or just "my eye." The gesture of "I didn't do it" is the same as in English. So there are only really 2-3 gestures here that English/Americans wouldn't know. You missed out some important ones, such as "Et toc!" which I wondered about for a long time before I found it here–on someone else's channel.