Quoi in French: What It Means and How to Use It - Comme une Française (2023)

FAQs

How do you use quoi and Quoi? ›

que? and quoi? are used for talking about things, and mean what? in English. que? cannot be used after a preposition; you have to use quoi? instead.

Note that when French people usually use quoi this way, it's not neutral. It's typically an informal way to express incomprehension or astonishment – think “What?” or “What?!”. For example: Danielle : Tu dis que tous les mecs du lycée veulent sortir avec toi, mais hier soir j'ai vu Maxence au cinéma…

You could say, "Paul veut quoi?"( in spoken French) but never at the begining of the sentence. Normally you will hear Quoi ? , used in a single word as the interrogative pronoun What? (as in 'Pardon?') In French you will say Quoi? or more politely Comment?

Whereas que/quoi/qui will be used to define something, to ask what they are, quel is used in the context of a choice, an alternative: what is that, relative to other elements? Note also that Quel is an adjective, so it always relates to a noun (thing/person).

Otherwise you can move the conversation along by replying rien de nouveau ('nothing new'), rien de special ('nothing special') or simply pas grand chose ('not much. ')

The French phrase je ne sais quoi was borrowed into English as early as the 1650s to characterize some inexpressible, indefinable, or ineffable quality, such as some element that makes an engaging work of art or charismatic person special.

What does it mean? Pas de quoi literally translates to not of what, which is similar to the English not of worth, as in it is not worth mentioning it, or not worth making a fuss about it.

Francophiles. A Francophile is a person who loves France, French things, and French people. If you start wearing a beret and carrying a baguette around with you, your friends will assume you're a Francophile.

Phrase. quoi de neuf ? (informal greeting) what's new, what's up, how's it going.

What is the hardest French word to say? ›

Serrurerie

Brace yourself: The hardest French word to pronounce is the word for locksmith – “serrurerie“. It was the most commonly repeated response.

comme ci comme ça (not comparable) Neither good nor bad; so so; tolerable, passable, indifferent. synonyms ▲ Synonyms: average, fair, meh, mediocre, middling, lackluster, okay, so-so. The dessert was pretty good, but the meal was comme ci comme ça.

Translation of "comme tu es belle" in English. how beautiful you are. how pretty you look. how lovely you are. how beautiful you look.

: conforming to accepted standards : proper.

Noun. je ne sais quoi (uncountable) An indefinable quality that makes something distinctive or attractive. quotations ▼ She has a certain je ne sais quoi about her.

It's hard to really translate it because French doesn't always work out when converted to English words. But je ne sais quoi is a fairly common French phrase that we use in English, and most people have a vague idea that it translates to “I don't know what.”

Chouette in French literally means owl. That means the cool kids on the streets are running around saying “Dude, that's so owl!” We do it in English too—when I say something is cool, I mean that it's interesting, not that its temperature is somewhere between warm and chilly!

But the French also use it as we do in English: a quality you cannot describe. We connect je ne sais quoi to the adjective describing it with de, like this: Cette fille a je ne sais quoi de fascinant. "There is something fascinating about that girl."

The phrase est-ce que is used to ask a question. Word order stays just the same as it would in an ordinary sentence. Est-ce que comes before the subject, and the verb comes after the subject. So to turn the sentence Tu connais Marie (meaning You know Marie) into a question, all you need to do is to add est-ce que.

If you're in a bar and you just say Tu fais quoi ? the other person could be caught off guard and answer “Nothing, why?” or “Huh…

How do you answer Merci beaucoup? ›

Merci Beaucoup – Thank you very much

You can reply to this phrase by saying De rien (You are welcome), if it's an informal engagement, or Je vous en prie (You are welcome), in a formal setting.

What is this? To answer any question asking how you're doing, you can also answer by simply saying, “Très bien !”. You can also respond, “Je vais très bien, merci”, which translates to “I am doing very well, thank you”. Equally, you can respond, “Ça va très bien, merci”, which means “I am very well, thank you”.

Example Sentences

Although the sculpture had flaws, it also had a certain je ne sais quoi that made it very appealing.

Oui is the standard way to say yes in French. It's simple and straightforward, and you can use it in all instances where you wish to express a positive answer. Example: « Tu peux venir ici s'il te plait ? » (“Can you come here please?” )

In French, the meaning of “Je ne sais pas” (pronounced juh nun say pah) is “I don't know”. Slang variations of “Je ne sais pas” include “Je sais pas”, J'sais pas” and “Chais pas”.

Alors, quoi de neuf. ? Me too! So, what's up?

Je t'adore – I adore you. In French, it means something more like “I like you very very much” and is used as something in between “Je t'aime” and “Je t'aime bien.” Je t'aime passionnément – I love you passionately. Je t'aime à la folie – I love you like crazy.

235. In France men are addressed as Monsieur and women as Madame or Mademoiselle. While a Monsieur is a monsieur no matter what, a Madame is a married woman and a Mademoiselle an unmarried woman.

What is the proper response to bonjour? It's more than sufficient to simply say bonjour back in response to those who greet you, but if you want to go a step beyond, you can respond with comment allez-vous, which is the French equivalent of asking how it's going.

So if you refer to someone as a neuf trois you're basically saying that their style is a bit ghetto or a bit gangsta, like the group below (and if you like what you see check out the Facebook group 'Rap du neuf trois' for more groups from the area).

What is the easiest French word to learn? ›

Bonjour is the most common and basic greeting. It means “Hello” and “Good morning” and can be used with any person you meet.

In French, there is no version of what we know as 70. Instead, the French use their number for sixty and ten, soixante and dix, to represent the number 70 as soixante-dix. After that, you get sixty-eleven, sixty-twelve, and so on until you reach 80.

Basic French words at a glance

Bonjour. Hello. Merci. Thank you. Merci beaucoup.

In French, je ne sais quoi literally means "I don't know what." It's used to capture an indescribable, special distinguishing feature, or to name some unnamable quality. You could say, for example, "Ms. McMane's English class isn't like any other class I've taken — it has a certain je ne sais quoi."

Noun. je ne sais quoi (uncountable) An indefinable quality that makes something distinctive or attractive.

As you can see, it is a rather bland statement. And indeed in France, we mostly use the phrase in this context. The verb is savoir which in French means to know. What is this?

The most common greeting in French is the very useful “bonjour”, and “bonsoir”. The first can be used throughout the day, and the second in the evening. “Salut” is also widely used in a more informal setting. These are the most basic greetings that will commonly be learned in lessons for French for kids.

Est-ce que

This is the most common way to ask questions. Est-ce que vous aimez voyager ? Do you like traveling? Est-ce qu'il est prêt ?

How do you use Quoi de Neuf? ›

Quoi de neuf? from someone you saw recently as a casual way ask 'How are you? ' at the beginning of a conversation. You might also hear it used with the preposition de or à attached, for example Quoi de neuf de ton coté? (what's new from your side? ') or Quoi de neuf à Paris? (How are things in Paris?)

But je ne sais quoi is a fairly common French phrase that we use in English, and most people have a vague idea that it translates to “I don't know what.” However, it's more along the lines of, “I am of the not knowing,” but to us English speakers, that doesn't really make sense.