The French word "Merde" revealed

Get prepared to find out everything you need to know about the funny word "Merde". It includes a detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it in a casual conversation with an audio example. Plus, we also added super useful stuff like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example and more!

English translation

Translation : Sh*t
Register : Informal - Funny - Swear

Pronunciation example

Slow

Normal

IPA : / mɛʁd /

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Merde meaning

Definition

"Merde" is the common way to say "Shit" in French. It's a very popular swear word used in daily life.

How to use it

"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):

Merde. → Shit
Putain. → Fuck (Literally: whore)
Bordel. → Fuck (Literally: brothel)
Fait chier. → It pisses me off (Literally: (it) makes (me) poop)
Oh merde. → Oh shit
Oh putain. → Oh fuck
Oh bordel. →Oh fuck
Oh fait chier. → Oh, it pisses me off

Super vulgar (x2 combo):

(Oh) Putain de merde. → (Oh) Fucking shit
(Oh) Bordel de merde. → (Oh) Fucking shit
(Oh) Fait chier putain. → (Oh) Fuck, it pisses me off
(Oh) Fait chier bordel. → (Oh) Fuck, it pisses me off
(Oh) Merde, fait chier. → (Oh) Fucking shit
(Oh) Putain, fait chier. → (Oh) Fucking shit

Super mega vulgar (x3 combo):

(Oh) Putain de bordel de merde. → (Oh) Shit fucking bloody hell
(Oh) Bordel de putain de merde. → (Oh) Fucking bloody shit

Infinite vulgarity (x4 combo):

(Oh) Fait chier putain de bordel de merde. → This shit pisses me off bloody fucking hell
(Oh) Fait chier bordel de putain de merde. → This shit pisses me off bloody fucking hell
(Oh) Putain de bordel de merde fait chier. → Bloody fucking hell, this shit pisses me off
(Oh) Bordel de putain de merde fait chier. → Bloody fucking hell, this shit pisses me off

Finally, if you really want to express your frustration in formal contexts without using bad swear words, you can use instead:

Mince. → Darn
Zut. → Heck
Flûte. → Heck (Literally: flute)
Oh mince. → Oh darn
Oh zut. → Oh heck
Oh flûte. → Oh heck (Literally: oh flute)

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.

Fun fact

French pro trick: sometimes you start to say naturally "Merde" (Shit) but before finishing de 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.)

Example in a dialogue with French audio

Dialogue

Désolé, je suis en retard

Sorry, I'm late

C'est trop tard, le train est parti

Too late, the train left

Oh merde !

Oh shit!