Today we’ll cover a really fun French adverb: Vachment, which means really, so and very. Vachement is comprised of vache (cow) and the adverb ending -ment. So, what we’re really saying is “cowly”! Vachement first appeared in 1906 with the meaning “in a mean way” and then again in 1930 with the meanings utterly or totally. The meaning evolved to “hugely” over time.
vachement
really, so, very
Pronunciation [vaʃmɑ̃]
Vachement – really, so and very
Example sentences
For these first two example sentences, vachement can translate to “really”, “so” and “very”. French synonyms could be très (very), vraiment (really) and si (so).
Dis donc, tu parles vachement bien français ! Où est-ce que tu as appris ?
Hey! You speak French really well! Where did you learn?
Il est vachement cool, ton patron !
Your boss is really cool!
In this next example, vachement translates to “a lot” and is a synonym for beaucoup (a lot).
J’ai vachement aimé ce film !
I liked this movie a lot
As a one-word exclamation, “vachement !” translates loosely to “You can say that again!”.
Le français est une langue très difficile. – Oui, vachement!
French is a very difficult language. – Yeah! You can say that again!
Conclusion
Et voilà ! You know now know how to use the adverb vachement in French! Now check out our lesson covering the expression parler comme une vache espagnole (to speak a language very poorly).
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