Lupin’s Netflix: French Slang vocabulary With English Translations

Are you always trying to look for new ways to improve your French skills? If you are bored of flipping through textbooks for foreigners, watching French series might just be the way forward. Speaking French also means being able to understand street French as it is spoken in France. Netflix’s Lupin represents a fantastic opportunity to learn the language better: it offers slang words and expressions in French as native speakers actually use them. There is no doubt you won’t find this vocabulary in your French learning text books!

In this week’s post we will look at French slang vocabulary spoken in the second episode.

1-French Vocabulary: 18 Argot Expressions You Hear in the Second Episode

0.44

Prison guard : «Voilà ton nouveau coloc »

Un coloc is the short word (abbreviation) for colocataire : flatmate

In this particular context, he is talking about a prison inmate.

“Here is your new prison inmate”

2.02 

The antique dealer to Assane: « Tu as le collier, on s’en fout du reste »

-S’en foutre: not to care about something, to not give a damn

“ You have the necklace, who cares about the rest”

2.24

 Assane to the antique dealer: «Ça fait 25 ans que je me plante »

Se planter: to crash in slang, to mess something up, to do something wrong

“for 25 years, I’ve been wrong”

2.47 

 Raoul (Assane’s son to his father)  «Tu planques un truc ?»

Planquer: to hide in slang - un truc : a thing ( familiar)

“Are you hiding something?”

5.34

The investigator to Assane: «Va falloir bosser ta technique d’évasion »

Bosser: to work (slang)

“You need to work on your evasion technique”

6.04  Juliette Pellegrini’s mother to her daughter: «C’est une copie qu’ils ont retrouvée, ça doit rendre ton père dingue avec tout ça ! »

The expression rendre dingue : to make /drive someone crazy

« It’s a copy that they have found,all this must be driving your father crazy”

10.19 

Investigator : « Il s’est barré avec son vélo. Chopez-le !»

Se barrer: to slope off, to run away in slang

Choper: to grab, to catch in slang

“ He took off with his bike, grab him!”

10.34 

Investigator : « On ne peut pas laisser ce mec se barrer»

Un mec : a guy in slang

Se barrer: to slope off, get away

“We can’t let this guy get away”

10.41 

Investigator: «Putain, c’est quoi ce bordel ?»

Putain: fuck

Ce bordel: this mess

“Fuck, what’s all this mess?”

14.54 

Assane to the antique dealer: « Je vais me débrouiller autrement »

Se débrouiller: to manage, to cope (familiar)

“I will manage another way”

25.39 

Belkacem to Youcef :« Vas-y, remets-toi au taf et laisse-nous avancer »

Vas-y : go on

Le taf : work (slang)

Avancer: to move on

“Go on,get back to work and let us get on with it”

35.03 

 Juliette Pellegrini’s father to her daughter:   “ Tu viens nous emmerder avec une histoire qui remonte à 25 ans »

Emmerder: to piss off

« You’re pissing me off with a story that goes back 25 years »

35.21 

 Juliette Pellegrini’s father to his daughter: « Je passe mon temps à prendre des coups, tout le monde veut ma peau »

Prendre des coups: to take hits in slang

Vouloir la peau de quelqu’un : to want to get someone ( to kill someone)

« I’m always taking punches, everybody want to get at me” (to kill me)

37.01 

 Assane to Etienne Comet : «Comment ça va mon pote ?»

Mon pote: my mate, my buddy (slang)

«How are you my mate?»

37.02 

Assane to Etienne Comet : “Je crois qu’elle te kiffe »

Kiffer quelqu’un : this word comes grom Arabic meaning hashish and means to love or to be attracted by someone in French

 “I think she likes you”

38.18 

Nurse to Assane :  «Faut tenir le coup Djibril »

Tenir le coup : to hold out, to stick it out

“You must stick it out Djibril”

44.32:

Juliette’s Pellegrini’s mother to Assane  : « Mieux vaut être coupable et libre qu’innocent en prison»

Mieux vaut: it’s better to

 Coupable: guilty

“It’s better to be guilty and free than being innocent in jail”

47.23 :

Benjamin Ferel to Assane : « Excuse-les, ils sont nés avec une cuillère d’argent dans la bouche mais de la merde dans la tête »

‘Etre né avec une cuillère d’argent dans la bouche’ is an idiomatic expression that means to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Meaning:“to come from a rich family”

Avoir de la merde dans la tête means to have shit for brain. Meaning: To be stupid, to be an idiot.

« Excuse-them, they were born with silver spoons in their mouths but they have shit for brains”

(They come from rich families but they are still idiots)

2-How Should You Watch It To Learn French At the Same Time 

So, how should you watch Lupin to get the maximum benefits for your French learning?

As we already know, watching series can be a fun and effective way to learn French. Here is a method which can help you make the most of your Lupin watching.

1. Begin by watching Lupin in French audio WITH english subtitles. This will help you to work out what is being said (and understand what is actually happening). It will also help you get used to the French sounds and words. I would recommend this for beginners.

2. Next, try watching Lupin in French audio with French subtitles. Now you will be associating the written French with the spoken French. This is a very useful technique- you won’t just be improving your listening skills, but also your reading skills.

3. On your third attempt, watch Lupin in French audio without any subtitles. How much are you able to pick up and understand?

Of course, everyone is at different levels in French, and each person learns in different ways- but you can use this as a general guide. Whichever way you choose to do it, it is useful to take notes of new words you hadn’t come across before. Write them down as you hear them and look them up in a dictionary. Deciphering slang expressions can be tricky, in particular for beginners.