The French quote "C'est un truc de malade"

You are in the right place to discover everything you need to know about the basic French idiom “C’est un truc de malade”.

To be clear, this includes a detailed definition of what it is and how to use it in a casual conversation with an audio example. Not to mention the useful stuff we added like synonym, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!

Oh and before I forget, on this page you can find our others idioms explained and the ultimate directory of all our French words pages on this page. Happy learning!

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French to English translation

Pronunciation guide

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

What does it mean exactly?

Definition

The literal meaning is:

  • C’est → It’s
  • Un truc → A thing
  • De → Of
  • Malade → Sick (people)

It means “It’s amazing/crazy” and aims to describe an incredible experience, story, place, person… or anything exceptional. It’s generally used positively, even though not always, just like in English “It’s sick/crazy” can be negative.

This expression was at first very “slangish” and familiar, reserved to very young people. But with time it became so popular that a lot of people from different generations are using it right now! (It’s still familiar though.)

You probably won’t see it in French classes because the “academic” way to say it would be “C’est fou“.

How to use

You are visiting Paris and someone asks you what you think of the city, you can say: “C’est un truc de malade  !” (That’s sick!)

You can also use it in a sentence, for example: “J’ai découvert qu’on va bientôt conquérir la planète Mars. C’est un truc de malade !” (I discovered that we will soon conquer planet Mars. That’s really crazy!)

If what you are talking about happened in the past, use instead “C’était un truc de malade !” (It was sick/really crazy!)

And if it will happen in the future, you can say: “Ça va être un truc de malade !” (It will be sick/really crazy!) 

Synonyms and similarities

  • C’est fou ! (“It’s crazy!“)
  • C’est ouf ! (“It’s crazy!“)
  • C’est un truc de ouf ! (“It’s a crazy thing!“)
  • C’est un truc de fou ! (“It’s a crazy thing!“)
  • C’est vraiment ouf ! (“It’s really crazy!“)
  • C’est carrément ouf ! (“It’s totally crazy!“)
  • C’est génial ! (“That’s genious!“)
  • C’est incroyable ! (“That’s unbelievable!“)
  • C’est la folie ! (“That’s craziness!“)
  • C’était ouf ! (“It was crazy!“)
  • C’était fou ! (“It was crazy!“)

Example in a story with slow French audio

Now, let’s see a complete example of this expression in a story with slow French audio and the English translation below.
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Le nouveau jouet
The new toy
___
Nicolas appela Brigitte et lui demanda si elle était disponible cette semaine.
Nicolas called Brigitte and asked her if she was available this week.
Brigitte lui dit qu’elle était très occupée, mais qu’elle avait un peu de temps jeudi soir.
Brigitte said that she was very busy, but had some free time on Thursday night.
Nicolas:   D’accord, on se voit jeudi alors, j’ai quelque chose à te montrer…
Okay, see you on Thursday then, I have something to show you…
Sa voix était mystérieuse.
His voice was mysterious.
Brigitte:   Est-ce que tout va bien ?
Is everything alright?
Elle était un peu inquiète…
She was a little worried…
Nicolas se mit à rire.
Nicolas started to laugh.
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