k&k learn french 48 -
oh la vache
Knowing how to make exclamations of surprise, admiration or annoyance is pretty important, whatever the language, and in show 48 we look at a very flexible French expression that can be used in all three situations : "oh la vache".
Listen to our explanation of the phrase :
Literal translation
Oh the cow
Meaning
To express surprise, admiration or annoyance
English equivalent
Postive :
Holy cow
Oh my gosh
Holy cats
Crikey
Oh My God
Wow
Awesome
Negative :
Dammit / damn it
Bloody hell
Oh no
Bugger
I'll be damned
Sod it
French equivalent
Positive :
ça alors
Cool
Super
Negative :
Zut
Mon dieu
Mince
Flûte
Bordel
Sacre bleu
Bon sang
Frog's phrase
Oh la vache! Frog a encore pris trois kilos! Oh!
Translation
Oh my gosh! Frog has gained another three kilos! Wow!
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I love this website! So helpful to find out what YOU say in English! Just one little thing about "sacrebleu". Nobody uses it in France. It is completely outdated. People used it in the Middle-Ages! Also "Mon Dieu" doesn't sound natural at all! We just use it to mimick the bad translations of American series we get here in France where American people say "Oh my God" all the time.
Great one!
About the positive French equivalent, a "new" expression emerged from the young Tektonik generation a couple of years ago; English was has-been, or maybe Quebecois was just so hype, I don't exactly know, but some people started saying "c'est frais !" instead of "c'est cool !". So for the non-French speaker, frais is the exact translation of cool in French, which makes it sound especially stupid to most people... Anyway, I though it worths being mentioned here, for French language's sake!
À plus !