Why do I need to know taquiner?
If you're a foreigner in France who enjoy telling jokes, you might have noticed that French people react slightly differently to what the Brits call 'banter'.
Here's the correct French way to casually disarm after being funny on someone's expense.
What does it mean?
Taquiner is French for ‘playing with’ someone, but in a harmless way.
Directly translated to ‘tease', it might be the nicest way of pulling someone's leg in French.
Taquiner is light, playful and should never ruin anyone's day.
Il n'a pas dit ca méchamment, cétait pour te taquiner! – He didn't mean to be mean, he was just messing with you!
Arrête de taquiner ta soeur, Paul – ‘Stop teasing your sister, Paul’
T'inquietè, on taquinait. – Don't worry, we were just kidding.
Synonyms
Similarly to the English expression ‘playing with’ (someone), taquiner can also literally mean ‘play an instrument’.
Il taquine le piano means ‘he plays the piano (a little)’.
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