You are in the right place to find out all the things you want to know about the funny French word "Bordel". To be clear, it includes a full guide of what it is and how you can use it in a conversation with an audio example. But that's not all, we also added super useful stuff like dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!
Translation : Dammit
Register : Informal - Funny - Swear
Slow
Normal
IPA : / bɔʁdɛl /
"Bordel" literally means "brothel" and is a common way to say "Fuck" or "Damn" in French. It's a popular swear word used in daily life.
"Merde / Putain / Bordel / Fait chier" are used exactly like "Crap / Fuck / Shit / etc." in English. But we like to make a sentence out of them according to the level of angriness and vulgarity we want.
So the more of "Merde / Putain / Bordel / Fait chier" we use in one sentence and the more pissed we are. And we also often add "Oh" before to make it more dramatic, let's see how it works...
Vulgar (Just one swear word):
Super vulgar (x2 combo):
Super mega vulgar (x3 combo):
Infinite vulgarity (x4 combo):
Finally, if you really want to express your frustration in formal contexts without using bad swear words, you can use instead:
N.B: It's not "formal" per se but "neutral" and so it won't be shocking
N.B.2: some translations above are a bit approximative since there is no direct English equivalent, but it reflects the spirit of each possibility as close as possible from the French version.
French pro trick: sometimes you start to say naturally "Merde" (Shit) but before finishing the first syllable you realize you are in a formal context and that it wouldn't be appropriate.
So, if you just said "Mmm" you can switch to "Mince" which is not vulgar and has the same meaning → Mmmm...ince.
But if you already said "Merrrr", instead of finishing the word "Merde" you say "Mercredi" (Wednesday) instead → Mer...credi. In this case people will know you almost said "Merde" but it's still better than actually saying it.)
Dialogue
Bordel ! Il pleut comme vache qui pisse !
Dammit, it's raining like a peeing cow!
Oh non, ça fait chier !
Oh crap!
Learn French with Audio Stories
Learn French the easy way with our French - English
parallel texts with slow French audio
Start Learning 
