Today we’ll look at what I believe to be the single most useful slang verb in the French langauge: Foutre. This verb is basically and intensified version of faire (to make or do). For example, “Qu’est-ce que tu fous”? (What the heck/f* are you doing?). The list of usages of foutre is very long and this lesson provides a nice overview.
foutre – [futʀ]
to make, do – useful slang verb
Foutre – meaning and examples
Conjugation
Foutre (intensified version of faire) is an irregular RE verb. This means that it’s endings are different than other regular RE verbs when conjugated in the present tense.
Je fous I do (or make)
Tu fous You do (singular, familiar)
Il, elle fout He, she does
Nous foutons We do
Vous foutez You do (plural, formal)
Ils, elles foutent They do
Example sentences
For this first example sentence, foutre is being used in the same way as faire (to make, to do). Hence, je ne fais rien aujourd’hui means “I’m not doing anything today”.
Je me sens paresseux et je ne fous rien aujourd’hui !
I feel lazy and am not doing a darn thing today!
The reflexive expression se foutre de means “to not care about” or “to not give a darn/damn/f* about”. This is strong langauge. Be careful. Also, notice, the pronoun en is included and not omitted in this example sentence. Technically, it shouldn’t be there. But, it appears in the expression in street French.
Je m’en fous de ton opinion !
I don’t care about your opinion!
The expression n’en avoir rien à foutre means “to not care about” or “to not give a darn/damn/f* about”. Again, be careful with this expression – it’s strong. Also notice that in this example the ne is omitted as it’s French slang.
De toute façon, j’en ai rien à foutre !
Anyways, I don’t give a f*!
The expression foutre le camp means “get lost”, “beat it”, “scram” or “get out of here”.
Fous le camp ! Tu m’énerves !
Get lost! You’re bothering me!
In the passé composé, j’ai foutu translates to “I put” and is synonymous j’ai mis (passé composé of mettre, to put). Maudit translates to “damn”.
Où est-ce que j’ai foutu les maudites clés ?
Where did I put my darn keys?
The expression se foutre de la gueule means “to mock” and is synonymous with se moquer. Hence, we could also write this sentence, “Est-ce que tu te moques de moi?”.
Est-ce que tu te fous de ma gueule ?
Are you mocking me?
Word of the Day Lessons | Lessons by David Issokson
Related lessons
- Bosser – to work hard
- Profiter – to enjoy
- Se débrouiller: to get by, to manage
- Bavarder – to chat
- Piquer – to sting, bite, jab
- S’en aller – to leave
- Emprunter – to borrow in French
- Répéter – to tepeat
- Se tromper – to mistaken, get wrong
References
