📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 2 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 1 · Les niveaux de langue
L'argot et le verlan
Module 14 of the free French course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 2 of 30: Verlan reverses a word's syllables: femme becomes meuf, lourd becomes relou, fête becomes teuf. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 2.
The words
French
English
Say it
le verlan
back-slang
luh vehr-LAH(n)
la meuf
the woman (back-slang)
lah MUHF
relou
annoying (back-slang)
ruh-LOO
l'enversmasculine — the article elides to l'
the reverse
lah(n)-VEHR
l'argotmasculine — the article elides to l'
slang
lahr-GOH
la chanson
the song
lah shah(n)-SOH(n)
entendre tout de suite
to hear straight away
ah(n)-tah(n)dr too duh SWEET
laisser où il est
to leave where it belongs
leh-say oo eel EH
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Verlan reverses a word's syllables: femme becomes meuf, lourd becomes relou, fête becomes teuf. The name is verlan itself — l'envers, backwards.
Et aussi · And also
This is a READING skill and nothing else. A non-native using verlan is heard immediately, and usually not kindly. Recognize it in a film or a song, and leave it there.
Attention · Watch out
Verlan is READ, never produced: a learner saying meuf or relou is heard at once. relou is lourd turned round, and the d is gone from the spelling.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le verlan.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 2 in Module 14 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.