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Are you ready to find out all the things you have to know about the basic French word “Ouais”?
Are included a complete explanation of what it is and how to use it in everyday life with an audio example. Together with the useful things we added like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example and more!
In case you are interested, you will find more words guides like this one on this page plus the ultimate list of all our French words tutorials on this page. Enjoy!
It is well known that the French way to say yes is “oui“, but there are many other variations.
“Ouais” is probably the most famous one, it’s a simple “Yes” but more informal, that’s why it’s generally translated as “Yeah“.But, it doesn’t fit every situation, so be careful of the context when you want to use it. Let’s discover some examples!
A relative / a friend / a colleague asks you if your exam went well, you say: “Ouais, facile” (Yeah, easy).
The judge asks you if you were at home during the night of the 17th of July, you say: “Oui” (Yes). But not “Ouais“! Because in a formal situation like this (with a judge, a teacher, a boss…), it sounds very provocative and you might get into trouble.
A rule of thumb: if you say “Vous” to the person instead of “Tu” because you are showing respect, use “Oui” instead of “Ouais“. In every other situation, you will be fine by saying “Ouais“.
In case you need to be even more informal, you can use “Ouep / Ouaip” (Yep) instead. But if not used appropriately, there is a high chance of irritating the person you are talking with.
In English, if someone is super happy about something, he/she might yell: “Yessss!“. In French we would use “Ouais !“, for example “Ouais ! On a gagné !” (Yessss! We won!)
