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On this page, we are going to show you all the things you have to know about the funny French sentence “J’ai la dalle”.
Are included a detailed explanation of what it is and how you can use it in a dialogue with an audio example. Together with the useful things we sprinkled like dialogue example, synonyms, slow pronunciation audio and more!
Oh and before I forget, you can also find more sentences explained like this one on this page plus the directory of all our French words tutorials on this page. Have fun!
Slow pronunciation
Normal pronunciation
It literally means:
The expression “J’ai la dalle” is useful to say “I am starving” in informal contexts. The word “dalle” is slang for “hunger“.
As you may have noticed, in French we don’t use “to be hungry” but “to have hunger” instead. For example, the most basic way to say “I am hungry” is “J’ai faim“. (Literally: I have hunger)
Whenever you are extremely hungry/starving, you can use rather “J’ai la dalle” or “J’ai les crocs” (Which both mean: “I’m starving“). If you just feel a bit hungry, use instead “J’ai un petit creux” (I am a little hungry).
Beware that all these expressions are informal, especially “J’ai la dalle“. For the formal way to express hunger, use “J’ai faim” (I’m hungry).
Dialogue audio
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