French Internet Slang phrases and words in English
This is the French nobody teaches you in class — the abbreviations, memes and texting shorthand that fly across French TikTok comments, Discord servers and group chats every second. Master these ten and you'll finally understand why a French friend types 'jpp', 'osef' or 'mdr' at you, and you'll be able to fire back like a native who actually lives online. It's the fastest way to sound like a real French person under 35 instead of a textbook.
10 phrases · meanings & example sentences
“Mdr / ptdr”
The French 'lol'. 'Mdr' = 'mort de rire' (dying of laughter) and 'ptdr' = 'pété de rire' (busting with laughter), which is even stronger. French people almost never type 'lol' — they type 'mdr'. Stack it for emphasis ('mdrrrr') the way English speakers stretch 'loool'. This is the single most useful texting abbreviation in French: you'll see it in every funny exchange, and using it instantly signals you actually chat with French people, not just study them.
- Mdr t'es sérieux ? — Lmao are you serious?
- Ptdr il est tombé en plein milieu. — I'm dying, he fell right in the middle.
- Mdrrrr j'en peux plus. — Loool I can't take it anymore.
“Jpp”
'J'en peux plus' — 'I can't anymore', the universal cry of being overwhelmed, exhausted or laughing too hard. It's emotional shorthand that works for both 'this is too funny' and 'I've completely had it'. Context and tone decide which. It's everywhere on French social media because it captures that very online feeling of being at your limit. Learn it and you can react to almost anything with three letters.
- Jpp de cette semaine, vivement le week-end. — I'm done with this week, bring on the weekend.
- Jpp il a vraiment dit ça mdr. — I can't, he really said that lol.
- Le boulot c'est jpp en ce moment. — Work is unbearable right now.
“Osef”
'On s'en fout' — 'who cares', 'nobody cares', 'whatever'. It's blunt, dismissive and incredibly common online and in speech. You can drop it as a one-word reaction to anything you find pointless. It teaches a very French conversational move: the casual shrug of total indifference. Use it lightly with friends ('osef de la pluie, on sort') — it's cheeky, not cruel, when the tone is right.
- Osef de ce qu'ils pensent. — Who cares what they think.
- Il est en retard ? Osef, on commence sans lui. — He's late? Whatever, we start without him.
- Osef de la météo, on y va. — Forget the weather, we're going.
“Askip”
'À ce qu'il paraît' — 'apparently', 'word on the street is'. It's how French people online introduce gossip, rumours or unverified news. The full phrase got crushed into one snappy word that's now a meme in itself. It's perfect for sharing something juicy while keeping a little distance ('don't quote me on this'). Knowing it lets you follow the way drama and news actually spread through French comment sections.
- Askip ils se sont séparés. — Apparently they broke up.
- Askip le prof est absent demain. — Word is the teacher's away tomorrow.
- Askip c'est lui le meilleur du groupe. — Supposedly he's the best one in the group.
“Cheh”
A gleeful 'serves you right!' borrowed from Arabic. You type 'cheh' when someone gets exactly the comeuppance they deserved, especially after they ignored a warning. It's the schadenfreude word of French internet culture — savage but playful between friends. It's a great example of how North African Arabic feeds modern French slang, and it gives you a perfectly compact way to gloat that English needs a whole sentence for.
- Tu as révisé à la dernière minute et t'as raté ? Cheh. — You crammed last minute and failed? Serves you right.
- Cheh, je t'avais prévenu. — Ha, I warned you.
- Il a glissé juste après s'être moqué de moi, cheh. — He slipped right after mocking me, karma.
“Frère / les gars”
The French equivalent of 'bro' and 'guys' as comment-section vocatives. 'Frère' (often spelled 'frr' or 'frérot') opens a sentence the way 'bro' does in English — half address, half exclamation. 'Les gars' is 'guys/folks' for a group. They're the glue of casual French online banter, and dropping one at the start of a message instantly warms up the tone and makes you sound like part of the crew rather than a polite stranger.
- Frère, t'as vu la vidéo ? — Bro, did you see the video?
- Les gars, on fait quoi ce soir ? — Guys, what are we doing tonight?
- Frr j'te jure c'est pas moi mdr. — Bro I swear it wasn't me lol.
“C'est chaud / trop chaud”
Literally 'it's hot', but online it means 'that's intense / rough / wild / hard'. A tricky exam is 'chaud', a crazy story is 'chaud', a risky plan is 'chaud'. It's one of the most flexible reactions in French — it can express difficulty, danger or sheer disbelief depending on context. Add 'trop' (too) to crank it up. It teaches you how French stretches one simple word across a whole spectrum of 'whoa'.
- L'exam était trop chaud. — The exam was brutal.
- C'est chaud ton histoire, sérieux. — That's a wild story, seriously.
- Conduire par ce temps, c'est chaud. — Driving in this weather is dicey.
“Seum”
From Arabic for 'venom' — to 'have the seum' ('avoir le seum') is to be salty, gutted, bitterly annoyed. It went from rap lyrics to everyday internet staple. You don't just lose a game, you 'have the venom' about it. It's the go-to word for that specific cocktail of frustration and envy, and it's wildly common in comments under anything unfair or unlucky. One short word that captures a very modern mood.
- J'ai le seum, j'ai raté de deux minutes. — I'm gutted, I missed it by two minutes.
- Il a le seum parce qu'on l'a pas invité. — He's salty because we didn't invite him.
- Ça me met le seum cette histoire. — This whole thing makes me bitter.
“Tg / wsh”
Two raw staples: 'tg' = 'ta gueule' (shut up — rude, but very common as joking shorthand between close friends) and 'wsh' = 'wesh' (yo / what's up, the universal French street greeting). Together they show the texture of French online speech: blunt, fast, dropped-vowel. Use 'wsh' freely to open a message; use 'tg' only with people who'll laugh, since it's genuinely strong when meant seriously.
- Wsh ça dit quoi ? — Yo, what's good?
- Tg mdr arrête de mentir. — Shut up lol stop lying.
- Wsh les gars, on se capte où ? — Yo guys, where are we meeting?
“Bg”
'Beau gosse' — 'handsome guy', 'good-looking'. Online it's a compliment thrown around constantly, often friendly rather than romantic: you call your mate a 'bg' for looking sharp or just for being great. There's a female version too ('belle gosse'). It's bright, generous slang that shows the French habit of hyping friends up. Drop it under a photo or a win and you'll sound exactly like a French commenter.
- T'es trop bg sur cette photo. — You look so good in this photo.
- Bien joué le bg ! — Nice one, handsome!
- Regarde-le, le bg, il a tout déchiré. — Look at this legend, he crushed it.
