Voilà ! Six French ‘filler’ words that are good to know

As with any language, French has ‘filler’ words – short phrases or singular words used in oral conversations as a stopgap, to show that you are listening or to simply progress the conversation. 

Though they may seem random at first, they have precise uses that are understood contextually by French people. 

Learning what these words mean will help you understand lots of everyday conversations. 

Generally speaking, these words are informal rather than for a professional setting. 

Below are six such words for you to use in everyday conversations. 

Voilà 

Voilà is difficult to precisely translate in English as it can mean here, there and that depending on context. 

However, as a filler word, it most often used to express agreement or to say ‘there you go’. 

For example, if someone says something you agree with, you can say ‘voilà!’

In conversation, it is also used in the same way as ‘so’. 

Bref

Bref means brief in English and is used when you want to cut a long story short. 

If you realise you are getting distracted and going off topic, then you can stop yourself with a ‘bref’, finishing that train of thought and allowing you to move to the next topic. 

Read more: Five common French words that are in fact company names

Du coup 

Du coup can be used at the start of almost any sentence or proposition in conversation, and again roughly translates as ‘so’. 

From asking someone how they are (du coup, comment ça va ?) to starting a story (du coup, on était dans un bar which means ‘so, we were in a bar’), du coup can be used in a wide variety of cases. 

Genre 

This is the French equivalent of like and is pronounced ‘jorr’. 

It literally means ‘gender’ but also means ‘a kind of’, ‘like’ and as a general filler word with no specific meaning. 

It also means ‘as if’: genre t’as connu Éric Cantona, toi ! (As if you knew Eric Cantona) 

Finally, it is used as an approximation: vous étiez combien ? On était genre cinq (how many of you were there? About five). 

As with ‘like’, it is mostly used by the younger generation and can get on the nerves of some older people. 

Vraiment 

Vraiment means ‘really’ depending on context. 

If you say something and someone responds with vraiment ?, then they are saying ‘oh really?’. It is sometimes used rhetorically and does not require an answer. 

Y'avait vraiment beaucoup de monde means ‘there was really a lot of people’. 

Remember, these are filler words so they may not make grammatical sense. 

T’sais

T'sais is a contraction of ‘tu sais’ which means ‘you know’. 

It is used the same way as ‘you know what I mean’ and an equivalent expression is tu vois. 

Read more: 'C'est pas rien': Why nothing is a powerful word in French