Today we’ll learn three ways to say “drunk” in French. Bourré is a commonly used slang adjective. Both saoûl(e) and ivre are slighly more formal and also mean drunk.
Bourré
drunk
Example sentences
This first sentence uses bon vivant, which desribes a person who likes to eat and drink well. The English langauge has also adopted this term.
Monsieur Bon Vivant a trop bu. Il est bourré.
Mr. Bon Vivant drank too much. He’s drunk.
The expression il faut translates literally to “it’s necessary” but has many loose translations. The verb rouler means to roll and to drive. Hence, rouler bourré means “to drive drunk”.
Il ne faut jamais rouler bourré.
You should never drive drunk.
These final two sentences uses ivre and saoûl. The latter can be pronounced both [su] and [sul]
Est-ce qu’elle était ivre hier soir ?
Was she drunk last night?
This final sentences uses sortir, which has translations including to go out, exit, leave and step out.
Marc est sorti du restaurant complètement saoûl.
Mark came out of the restaurant completely drunk.
Related lessons
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