French Word of the Day: Teuf
If you do this every weekend, you might find yourself very tired on Monday mornings.
Why do I need to know teuf ?
Because you’ll want to know what you’re saying yes to if you are invited to one of these.
What does it mean?
Teuf – roughly pronounced tuhf – is French slang for “party” or “large event.”
If someone asks you if you would like to ‘faire la teuf’ they are not asking if you are tough in build, and when you go to look up this word in the dictionary you might not find it. This is because teuf is a great example of French verlan, or slang terms whose syllables are pronounced in a reverse order to the word’s original dictation.
As for teuf, it is the verlan version of the word “fête” - which means party or celebration. With the first syllable being “feh” and the second being “tuh,” the informal version simply inverses them.
While you might assume that verlan would only be used by the younger generation - and it is true that words like teuf are common amongst French youth - the inversion of words to create slang has been around for several decades.
Use it like this
C'était une énorme teuf, et tout le monde était invité. J'étais vraiment triste de le manquer. – It was a huge party and everyone was invited. I was very sad to miss it.
Vous allez faire la teuf ce soir ? Je peux vous rejoindre après avoir terminé mon travail. – Are you guys going to party tonight? I can join after I finish up at work.
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Why do I need to know teuf ?
Because you’ll want to know what you’re saying yes to if you are invited to one of these.
What does it mean?
Teuf – roughly pronounced tuhf – is French slang for “party” or “large event.”
If someone asks you if you would like to ‘faire la teuf’ they are not asking if you are tough in build, and when you go to look up this word in the dictionary you might not find it. This is because teuf is a great example of French verlan, or slang terms whose syllables are pronounced in a reverse order to the word’s original dictation.
As for teuf, it is the verlan version of the word “fête” - which means party or celebration. With the first syllable being “feh” and the second being “tuh,” the informal version simply inverses them.
While you might assume that verlan would only be used by the younger generation - and it is true that words like teuf are common amongst French youth - the inversion of words to create slang has been around for several decades.
Use it like this
C'était une énorme teuf, et tout le monde était invité. J'étais vraiment triste de le manquer. – It was a huge party and everyone was invited. I was very sad to miss it.
Vous allez faire la teuf ce soir ? Je peux vous rejoindre après avoir terminé mon travail. – Are you guys going to party tonight? I can join after I finish up at work.
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