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French Word of the Day: Choper

The Local France
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French Word of the Day: Choper
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

This French word has a variety of meanings, some more illicit than others.

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Why do I need to know choper?

This versatile French verb is frequently used to talk about a variety of activities that tend to take place in the shadows.

What does it mean?

Choper - roughly pronounced show-pay - technically means ‘to catch’. That can be in the physical sense, like choper la balle, meaning ‘to catch the ball’, but also in a more general or figurative one, as in les flics ont chopé l’assassin - ‘the cops caught the killer’.

It can also be used to describe catching a disease or illness, as well as in more general terms, such as picking up groceries.

Ultimately, the word is quite casual, so you should be careful who you use it with, particularly as the other meaning of choper besides 'to catch' is 'to steal' (often used to describe an instance of pickpocketing).

This usage is less common though, so if your friend used this word to describe having picked up some beer from the grocery store, they probably did not steal it.

However, these days, especially among young French people, the popular way to use choper is to discuss successful attempts to do things you probably wouldn’t tell your mother about. 

The idea of ‘to catch’ is not so different from ‘to pick (somebody) up’, which is what choper usually means when used in festive, nocturnal, or romantic situations. For example, il/elle a chopé une fille/un mec is the way to say ‘he/she picked up a girl/guy’. 

On the other hand, ça fait des mois que je n’ai pas chopé indicates a lack of success: ‘It’s been months since I’ve picked someone up/hooked up with somebody/gotten lucky’.

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As is often the case when discussing this subject, choper can be pretty vague - it implies some sort of romantic liaison, but is relatively ambiguous with regards to what exactly that might have entailed.

Another common euphemistic use of choper has to do with illicit substances - it is used the way English speakers might use  ‘to score’ or ‘to cop’ meaning to buy drugs, as in les riches n’entrent dans la cité que pour choper - ‘rich people only go into housing projects to score’.

You might also hear the verlan (backwards slang) version of choper, which is pécho ('pay-show'), and while it can be applied in most instances where choper can be applied, it is most frequently used to talk about romantic success, as in, Gilles n’est pas encore sorti de sa chambre, je crois qu’il a pécho à la boîte hier soir - ‘Gilles hasn’t come out of his room yet, I think he picked somebody up at the club last night’.

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Use it like this

Juliette n’est pas là aujourd’hui, elle a chopé la crève - Juliette isn’t here today, she caught a cold.

Quelqu’un a chopé mon portefeuille dans le métro - Somebody nicked my wallet on the metro

J'ai chopé quelques bières à Franprix - I grabbed a few beers from Franprix.

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