La fête des pères (Father’s Day) is just around the corner! Unlike la fête des mères (Mother’s Day), cette fête (this holiday) doesn’t involve remembering two different dates when you’re from les États-Unis! In both France and aux USA, la fête falls on the third Sunday of June.

Image from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.

La fête des pères is both a new and old holiday. The tradition of having a day of celebration for your father goes back to at least le Moyen Âge, but the modern holiday is more of an American export.

In every version of la fête des pères throughout history, I imagine it has always been difficult to know what exactly to get un papa (a dad) for leur fête. Even today it can still be difficult, but fortunately a lot of dad gifts have become standard over the years.

Of course, les papas will be content with a good laugh when they make a corny joke, and in that spirit of les blagues nulles (bad jokes) or dad jokes, stores everywhere stock up with novelty ties, mugs, shirts, and any other dad gift you can think of. It boils down to finding a million way to say:

Le meilleur papa du monde
The best dad in the world

Peu importe (no matter) how bad le jeu de mots (play on words), the most important part of la fête des pères is having la famille (the famil) send a loving message:

Papa, je t’aime !
Dad, I love you!

To get ready for la fête, take a moment to learn how to say some of the gifts un papa would expect on his special day.

Voici un vocabulaire des papas :

Image from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.

Le père – Father
Le papa – Dad, Daddy
Le grand-père – Grandfather
Le papy – Grandpa
Le cadeau – Gift
La cravate – Tie
Le mug – Mug
La grande tasse – Mug
Le T-shirt – T-shirt
Le rasoir – Razor
Le massage – Massage
Les chaussons – Slippers
Les pantoufles – Slippers
La tondeuse – Lawnmower
Le gril – Grill
La casquette – Baseball Cap