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Still Lost in French (Texto/SMS) Translation? Posted by on Jul 11, 2011 in Vocabulary

To some people in France or French-speaking countries, text messaging has morphed into something of une langue en elle-même (a language in itself)!

To make sure you are au courant (aware) of this emerging “texto/SMS” lingua, I have compiled for you a few “must-know” abbreviations that you’d be sure to see in a French text message, or even while chatting on Skype, MSN, or Facebook !

Voici donc une petite liste (So here’s a short list):

A+
or @+: means “À plus“, like “later”, or “l8r”.
ALP: “À la prochaine: Next time.
ASV:Âge, Sexe, Ville“, the equivalent of the English “ASL”, or “Age/Sex/Location”.
ATT: à tout à l’heure“, as in “see you pretty soon”.
auj: Abbreviation for “aujourd’hui”, meaning “today”.
b1sur:Bien sûr“: Of course. The “1”, “un“, makes up for the syllable “-ien.”
bcp: Beaucoup“: Very much, as in “merci bcp” (thanks a lot).
bjr: Just short for bonjour !
bsr:
Short for bonsoir !
C
or : Stands for “C’est”, meaning “It’s” or “it is”.
c-a-d: “C’est-à-dire”. It means “it means” (really, no joke…)
cho: “chaud”, that’s “hot” (literally), designates when someone is motivated to do something, i.e. “Je suis cho pour sortir ce soir” (“Definitely wanna go out tonight.”)
Chui: “Je suis”, meaning “I am”.
dac: D’accord“, which is “OK”.
DSL: “Désolé“: Sorry!
* DQP: Acronym for “Dès que possible”, or ASAP (As soon as possible!)
* EDR or MDR: Either one, “Écroulé de rire” or “Mort de rire”, they mean LOL!
ENTK: “En tout cas”, means “in any case”.
G: Just like C/c’est, this one stands for “J’ai“, i.e. “I have”. As in “G la N“, I hate something, or “I H8”!
J C: “Je sais”, meaning “I know”.
jms“Jamais”, never.
JTM: “Je t’aime”, I love you.
KAN: Phonetic short for “quand“, when.
* KOI29“: What’s up, or “Quoi de neuf”: 2 = de, 9 =neuf.
* Mr6: “Merci”!
Thx!
OK1: “Aucun“, “none” or “no one”.
Oué: “Ouais, yeah.
P2K: “Pas de quoi”, meaning “you’re welcome” (…not “your”!)
PK: Pourquoi“, meaning “why”, or “Y”?
QQN: Quelqu’un: Someone or “some1”
* RAS:
This abbreviation probably comes from the army: “Rien à signaler”, or “nothing to report”. Nothing new, basically.
* RE: Meaning “I’m back”.
STP or SVP: “S’il te plait”, “please”.
* TDS: Tout de suite“, “at once”, or “right away”!
TJS: “Toujours“, “always”.
TNKT: Means T’inquiètes“, or “t’inquiètes pas”, meaning “don’t worry” or “no worries”.
Tt: Short for “tout”, all.
V1: “Viens”
, come.
X: Since the same word for “cross” in French,Croix“, is the same for the verb croire (to believe) for the second, you can use just an X, as in “Crois-moi” or “X moi“, (believe me!)
* Y a: “Il y a”, meaning “there is”.

Bon allez, I tell you à toute mes amis, or if you prefer, “ATT!

 

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Comments:

  1. Zui Saxena:

    Merci bcp pour cette liste!
    Can we have some more SVP!!

  2. Shrikrishna:

    Oui! Some more pls! its really helpful for francophiles 🙂

  3. Pravda:

    The list is complete but some of the abbreviations are never used. I’ve never seen “EDR” “ALP” for example.
    Same for “TDS”, but you can use “MTN” for “Maintenant” (Now)
    ATT would never mean “A tout à l’heure” but “Attends” (Wait)

  4. Janet:

    Peut être que cela dépend de l’endroit où vous vivez, mais il y a aussi:

    TLM: Tout le monde (everybody)
    ODP: Ouate de phoque (sound it out! :))
    Pkoi: Pourquoi (c’est la version que j’ai vu dans les chambres de clavardage quand je regarde un match des Habs)

    Il y à autres, mais je les oublié maintenant.

  5. Sarah:

    I only know a third of it..lol I am getting old or I left France too long ago to remember text language lol

  6. Marilyn:

    Can someone tell me what SMS actually stands for? Thanks.