{"id":18194,"date":"2013-02-24T23:08:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T22:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=18194"},"modified":"2013-03-01T13:25:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T12:25:38","slug":"how-to-say-give-it-up-in-french-slang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/how-to-say-give-it-up-in-french-slang\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Say “Give it Up” in French Slang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formal French is of course essential to learn if you want to master le fran\u00e7ais<\/em><\/strong>, but French slang is also \u00a0a “must”, especially if you plan to actually go to France.<\/p>\n

You also need French slang to understand French movies, songs—and even graffiti, for example!<\/p>\n

\"photo\"<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ll focus today on one particular expression that French people often use:\u00a0“LAISSE B\u00c9TON<\/span>.<\/strong>“<\/em><\/p>\n

But\u00a0before we do that\u00a0that, let’s make sure you bookmark all the previous posts, because what you’ll end up saving as a\u00a0r\u00e9f\u00e9rence personnelle<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0will be a guide aimed to help you overcome the informal French\u00a0barrier\u00a0so often\u00a0met by\u00a0foreign students, especially when they go to France for the first time and hear French people speak among themselves (“Zut alors<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, it’s all Greek<\/a><\/strong> to them”), or when they watch French movies, or even\u00a0listen to French songs, as we just said.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

“LAISSE B\u00c9TON<\/em><\/strong>“: Even if you knew the meaning of\u00a0each one of these\u00a0two words separately, it’d be impossible for you to understand what the overall expression means.<\/div>\n

Unless you’re already acquainted with the French concept\u00a0of\u00a0verlan<\/strong><\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And what is verlan<\/strong><\/em>?<\/p>\n

Just as we saw\u00a0in previous posts here on the French Blog<\/strong>, the word\u00a0“verlan<\/strong>”\u00a0<\/em>stands for “backslang<\/strong>.”<\/div>\n

So, in this case, “b\u00e9ton<\/strong><\/em>” -which otherwise would literally mean “concrete<\/strong>” (the construction material, that is)- is in fact a\u00a0backslang for the verb “tomber<\/em><\/strong>“, meaning “to fall<\/strong><\/span>” in English.<\/p>\n

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