In English it’s cash, money, dough, moolah, bill, bucks, bread, fund, and so many other words, yet it all means the same thing.
No matter what we do or where we go, money talk can’t escape us (or the other way around). So if you find yourself walking on French soil, you’ll invariably come across talk about money. You might as well arm yourself with these French money vocabulary and slang to help you get your thoughts across and vice versa.
Or you could learn this simply because it’s cool to know this stuff too. All up to you, really.
For Starters...
Here's a short video to get you started with this lesson. Check out some standard French words related to money, plus some example sentences.
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French Money Vocabulary (Slang)
| English | French |
| money | Le fric Le pognon Le pèze La galette La braise L’oseille (f) Les ronds (m) Le flouse La thune |
| Loose change | La ferraille (literally, scrapiron) |
| Francs/ Euros | Les balles (f) (as in “ca coute quinze balles” = it costs fifteen euros) |
| 10,000 francs/ euros | Une brique |
| To be broke | Etre fauché, être a sec |
| To not have a bean | Ne pas avoir un radis,e (le radis = radish) Ne pas avoir un rond |
| Filthy rich | Rupin,e* |
| A spiled daddy’s boy | Un fils à papa |
| To be loaded | Etre plein aux as |
| cheapskate | Radin,e |
| A skin-flint | Un grippe-sous |
| To fork out | Casquer |
| To blow | Claquer (la thune) |
| To be had | Se faire avoir |
| To con, to rip off | Se faire Rouler / couillonner** |
| It’s a fake, it’s imitation | C’est du toc |
| Junk, rubbish | De la camelote |
| Expensive | Chéro |
| Free | A l’œil |
| profit | Le bénef (short for “le benefice” = the gain, profit) |
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Please tell me in the comment section if there are French vocabulary topics that you would like to review here at Talk in French.
Very interesting vocabulary! However, remembering these expressions is another matter!
True, you do not need to know everything here. But just find the one you might use from time to time. You need to practice your french on a regular basis with those words in fact.
Thank you!!! I love this site, it is so helpful! There are not a lot of French speakers where I live and my French is getting rusty 🙁 This def. helps me exercise my language muscle!!!
Thank you Joujou. I will reply to your email as well in a couple of hours.
Un défis pour moi est le fait que je suis canadien, et je ne suis pas certain jusqu’a quel point vos commentaires appliquent au Canada ….
Quel commentaire? Je ne suis pas sûr de comprendre