If you travel to France you’ll surely hear the French slang word mec, a term that rarely finds its way into the mainstream textbooks and courses. Meanings of mec include “guy”, “lad/bloke”, “boyfriend”, “buddy” and “man”. This post will explore mec in detail and provide example sentences with audio.
mec
guy
Mec – guy in French
According to Wiktionary.org, the French slang word mec for “guy” is derived from the word maquereau, which means “pimp” and is related to the Dutch makelaar (broker).
The word mec is used very commonly in conversational French. Here are some examples.
Salut, mec ! Ça va bien ?
Hey buddy! How’s it going?
C’est qui, ce mec ? Pourquoi est-ce qu’il m’appelle tout le temps ?
Who is this guy? Why is he calling me all the time?
Je n’aime pas ce mec, il m’énerve !
I don’t like this guy. He annoys me!
The word mec can also mean “boyfriend” or “male companion”. Here’s an example:
Ce soir, elle sort avec son mec.
She’s going out with her boyfriend tonight.
Type, gars
There are two other common slang terms for “guy” in French: type and gars. The -rs on gars is silent:
type, gars
guy
Here are some example sentenes using type and gars.
Salut les gars, ça va ?
Hi guys! How’s it going?
The next example sentence uses the word ce, which can translate to either “this” or “that”. This is an example of a French demonstrative adjective.
Tu connais ce type ? Il ne vient pas souvent ici.
Do you know this (or that) guy? He doesn’t come here often.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! Now you know how to use the word mec (guy) in French! Now check out our post on the fun French slang adjective nul/nulle, which means “sucks” or “lousy”.
