Internet French
As promised, some keyboard slang (we stole a lot from you)(sue us). I wrote what is accurate at the moment, a few years ago it was quite popular to write lik this m8 but it became pretty unhip (I could tell you that you can type “aussi” (: too, as well) “O6″ but literally no one has done that since 2008) most people write normally and add some of the following words :
Basics :
- jpp (je n’en peux plus) : I can’t stand it anymore, I’m dying from the lols
- osef (on s’en fout) : no one cares
- mdr (mort-e de rire) / ptdr (pété-e de rire) : lol
- cmb / ctb (comme ma bite/comme ta bite) “like my dick/like your dick” : easy punchline to almost anything, ex : ‘the line was so long!’ ‘cmb’ ‘you have a short memory’ (tu as la mémoire courte) ‘ctb’
- cmt (comment) : how / cmb (combien) : how much/many
- slt (salut) / bjr (bonjour) / bsr (bonsoir) : hello
- bn (bonne nuit) : good night
- bcp (beaucoup) : a lot, much, many / tp (trop) : too, too much
- mtnt (maintenant) : now / ajd (aujourd’hui) : today / jms (jamais) : never
- srtt (surtout) : especially, above all / vrmt (vraiment) : really
- jsp (je ne sais pas) : I don’t know / ms (mais) but
- pr (pour) : for / pcq / pq (parce que) : because
- pq / pk (pourquoi) : why
- ss (sans) : without OR (sous) : under / sr (sur) : over, on
- tt (tout) : all, everything OR (tant) : so much, as long
- mn (mon) : my (m) / tn (ton) : your (m) / sn (son) : his/her
- ns (nous) : we OR (nos) : ours / vs (vous) : you (pl) OR (vos) yours (pl) / lr (leur(s)) : their / theirs
- fr (faire) : to do, make
- tmtc (toi-même tu sais) : you know what I’m talking about, private joke
- tkt / tqt (ne t’inquiète pas) : don’t worry
- c (c’est) : it is OR (sais/sait) : know (½/3p sg) / ct (c’était) : it was
- d (des) : some, ex : mange des chips / t (tes) : your (pl for one person)
- h (heure) : time/hour, ex : on se voit à ql h? (at what time do we meet?)
- keske (qu’est-ce que) : what is, ex : qu’est-ce c’est?
- kesta (qu’est-ce que tu as) : what’s up/wrong with you?
- ke / q (que) : that/what, ex : ke ve tu? (what do you want?)
- ql / kel (quel(s)/quelle(s)) : what/which
- askip (à ce qu’il paraît) : from what I’ve heard, apparently…
- oklm (au calme) : relaxed, calm, ex : petite soirée oklm
Borrowing to english or kids :
- go : to leave (j’y go)
- dodo (beddy byes) : to sleep, sleeping (je vais dodo)
- miam (aka “yum”) : to eat (je vais miam)
- lol, the legendary
- chiller : to go somewhere and not do shit
- fat : something big/amazing, ex : cette soirée est trop fat!
Dropping the vowels :
It’s hard to explain but since so many words in french contain “ou”, “an”, “ai” or “on” (…), when we need or want to make verbs (or possessive pronouns as we have already seen) smaller, we drop those letters and the other person guesses what’s missing regarding the context.
A few examples (but you can play with lots of other verbs) :
- vx / vt (veux/veut) : to want, ½/3psg, ex : tu vx d pom? je ss o magasin (do you want apples? I’m at the store) ; (voit) : to see, meet, 3psg
- ss / st (sais/sait) : to know, ½/3psg ; (suis/suit) : to follow, ½/3psg ; (suis/sont) : to be 1psg+3ppl, ex : où st t chats? (where are your cats?)
- cns (connais) : to know someone, 1p sg
- pvs (pouvons) : to can, be able/allowed to, 1p pl
Please note : I have used 1/2/3psg or pl several times in that post, if you have doubts it means that those forms are the conjugated forms - Reminder : je / tu / il-elle-on (singulier) ; nous / vous / ils-elles (pluriel).
