Published February 10, 2025 · Updated June 3, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Fait chier — Meaning and Pronunciation
“Fait chier !” is a vulgar and informal French slang expression that translates to “that sucks!” or “what a pain!” The verb chier is vulgar and translates to “to defecate”. You’ll hear “Ça fait chier !” (that sucks!) and faire chier quelqu’un, meaning “to annoy someone” or “to piss someone off”.
IPA pronunciation of fait chier is /fɛ ʃje/ (IPA), which sounds roughly like “feh shee-ay”.
Example Sentences
Oh, fait chier ! J’ai pas envie d’aller au travail aujourd’hui !
What a pain! I don’t want to go to work today!
Oh là là, ça fait chier ce temps de chien !
Oh, this cold weather sucks!
Arrête de parler si fort ! Tu me fais chier !
Stop speaking so loudly. You’re annoying me!
👉 Chiant is a great vulgar and informal adjective that translates to “annoying” or “irritating”.
Related Words and Expressions
Here are some other words that are closely related to fait chier:
- agacer — (to irritate, to annoy)
- énerver — to get on one’s nerves, to irritate, to annoy
- en avoir ras le bol — to be fed up
- casser les pieds à quelqu’un — to annoy someone
- en avoir marre — to be fed up
- embêter — to annoy, to bother
- emmerder — (vulgar verb) to annoy, to bother, to piss off
- la galère — (informal noun) a struggle, a pain (in the neck/a*s)
👉 See the faire conjugation to express faire chier in different forms.
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