Hear the sounds in French (opens with QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player)
You may already know that some animals make different noises in French (frogs go: côa côa; duck go: coin coin), but do you know that objects also make different sounds in French? Even you make different noises in French. Rather than going “achoo” for a sneeze, you say “atchoum” in French. (And yes, please remember to add the “m” when sneezing in Paris!)
Here are ten more sounds that are different in French!
- To make a drinking sound, it’s not “glub, glub” in French but “glou glou.”
- To say “quiet” or “shhh”, it’s: “chut”
- Roosters say: “ Cocorico” not “cock-a-doodle-doo!”
- Clocks: Forget “tick tock” it’s “tic-tac.”
- Doorbells don’t go “ding-dong” but “dring!”
- If you stub your toe, you wouldn’t yell “Ow!” but “Aie.”
- Babies don’t play peek-a-boo, they play “coucou.”
- When something falls, it doesn’t just go “boom” but “bada boum.”
- Car horns don’t go “beep beep” but “tut tut.”
- Fire trucks go “pin-pon,” (but this is because they actually do make a unique sound in France).
Plus here are two silly jokes in French about sounds:
• Quel bruit fait un singe qui sonne a une porte ?
King kong
• Les pompiers fait “pin-pon, pin-pon.” Les policiers fait “pin-pon-pin, pin-pon-pin.” Et les boulangères fait “pain, pain, pain, pain.”
Hahaha, right? Or rather: héhéhé!
Interested in learning more about French culture and traditions while improving your language skills? Call or contact us here to organize a private French lesson in Paris with a French tutor in Paris.
(Photo of the clock at the Musee D’Orsay by Lorena Montrose.)
