# Filler words



## avalon2004

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone could help me with the following:
In English, we often use 'filler' words/sounds such as- well, umm, hmm, you know, I suppose etc. What are the most frequently used French equivalents to these expressions? I will put them in context to minimise any ambiguity:

_-Well, there's not much hope now._
_- I would like to, umm, say a big thank you to, umm,.._
_- The person who lived next door, you know, she was a beauty._
_- Hmm, things seem to be getting worse._
_- I suppose there's not much we can do._

Thanks.

*Moderator note*: This thread is the result of the merge of several threads.  See also Like - English hesitation filler.  If you are interested in knowing how to translate the term "filler word" into French, please see filler word, fillers.


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## fetchezlavache

'euh' is our most common i think...
quoi
tu vois
ben


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## Benjy

je voudrait, ben, dire un grand merci à hnvehrgag etc..

celle qui habitait juste à coté, tu sais, c'était une belle nana 

ben, il semble que ca aille de pire en pire

etc etc...

edit:grillé par la flv


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## Maldoror

_ -Well, there's not much hope now
_*Eh bien*, je crois qu'il n'y a plus vraiment d'espoir..._
- I would like to, umm, say a big thank you to, umm,..
_J'aimerais bien, *heuuu*, dire un grand merci, *heuuu*.._.
 - The person who lived next door, you know, she was a beauty
_La voisine, elle était vraiment belle, *tu sais*._
 - Hmm, things seem to be getting worse.
_*Hum*, il semblerait que les choses ne s'arrangent pas/empirent_
 - I suppose there's not much we can do.
_On ne peut pas faire grand-chose, *on dirait

*But the funny thing is, you could (almost) use'em all in a different order, they would still match each of sentences.


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## LV4-26

Just to add a few possible variations _bon, ben_ / _enfin_ / _là_. "bon, ben" and "là" seem to be more familiar than those suggested before. I guess "enfin" suggests even more embarassment and clumsiness than "euh".

_-Well, there's not much hope now._
Bon ben, il n'y a plus beaucoup d'espoir maintenant_._
_- I would like to, umm, say a big thank you to, umm,.._
J'aimerais, enfin, dire un grand merci, enfin._.._
_- The person who lived next door, you know, she was a beauty._
In case "you know" would mean "you know which person I'm talking about", then it would go something like _:_
_Tu sais, la voisine, là, elle était vraiment belle_


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## LV4-26

I forgot some. If you go to the South of France, you might hear words like"putain  " and "con" *. It doesn't mean the people are insulting you, those words just work as commas, so to speak.

- _Monseigneur, con, vous viendrez bien nous célébrer une petite messe, putain con._

_*_ to be pronounced "puting" and "kong"
EDIT : This sample sentence is a bit exaggerated. Don't try to address a bishop this way!


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## Gil

If you google for "phatème" you might find interesting fillers.


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## xav

So, a bit of French now.

Common :

Euh...
Ben... _or _Eh ben...
Tu vois ? Vous voyez ?
Tu sais ? Vous savez ?
Comment dire ?
A vrai dire...
Alors... _or _et alors...
..., non ?
..., hein ?

"Djeun" (que ) :

J'veux dire
J'te dis pas
Ziva

Toulousain :

Cong, putaing, putaing cong (not "cong putaing", don't ask me why).


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## geve

My officemate (if that word exist - but her constant chatting seems to indicate that she thinks I'm her roommate anyway) is a whole dictionnary of conversational fillers ; some of which have been covered and some haven't. So for informational purpose, I've listened carefully to what she was saying (for once) and here's the list (all of those have been said at least thrice in 10 minutes) :

the usual *quoi* and *enfin* of course, also *et tout* _(which would normally mean something like "etcetera" but is really used as "quoi" = meaninglessly)_, *en fait* _("in fact"),_ *tu vois c'que j'veux dire* _("you know what I'm saying" - yes, I do know, thank you)_, *je sais pas mais* _("I don't know, but" - well if you don't know, you might as well shut up don't you think ?)_, *j'sais pas comment expliquer* _("I don't know how to say this" - when she's been explaining for the last 5 minutes)_ , *tu crois pas ?* or *j'sais pas c'que t'en penses* _("don't you think ?" / "I don't know what you think of that" - well, I don't really give a damn, actually),_ *le truc c'est que* _("the thing is")_

It seems indeed that she is too shy yet to dare say pollysyllabic words  Hum, I wonder if I should share with her this analysis... 

Anyway, so it seems that not only words can work as conversational fillers, but also whole sentences, that don't really have a meaning but act as transitions or "attention seekers" - another purpose of those conversational fillers ?


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## Nose

What kind of filling words are used in french , where we would use well

ie, well that was not so good, well lets see, well its not my job, its hers


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## Sirène

_Hello Nose,_

_Well let's see = bon/eh bien, voyons ça,_ or _bon/eh bien, voyons voir_


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## Ploupinet

Two expressions quite used are "Tu sais", that stands for "you know" or "Bien", for "well"


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## klodaway

"tu vois" often ends sentences when you narrate a story :

eg. :
-"alors je lui ai donné rendez-vous, tu vois"


klod-


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## KaRiNe_Fr

À la place du traditionnel "peuchère" (toujours utilisé, mais moins qu'il y a 30 ans, évidement  ), on dit souvent "pauvre" ("Oh, pauvre !").


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## star5432

I would like to know if there are everyday, informal words that equate to what English speakers use such as "like" and "you know."  They are basically gap fillers in between sentences (and are generally frowned upon by "proper" speakers.)

For example, a sentence could be: "There were so many people at the concert...*like*....maybe 100!" or "I just didn't like it, *you know*? She made things very uncomfortable."


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## FBC

There are many!
Most common are, "quoi", "tu sais", "tu vois", "heu"...
;-)


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## star5432

merci


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## floise

Hi star5432,

In Québec, the following are used: *t'sé* (tu sais=y'know), *comme* (like), *genre* (like).

floise


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## SwissPete

This has been covered extensively before. Look up *like* in the English-French dictionary above, then scroll down to find previous threads.


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## star5432

It's not the same *like* in the dictionary that I want to use, Swiss Pete (I looked already.)

Thanks floise!


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## Kelly B

*Filler*, however, does the trick: 
'Filler/Gap' words
Filler Words
Filler words
Filler Words


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## csernakakos

Hi all!
I've been using WordReference for many months now but I didn't need to ask anything up until now because I found almost everything in threads. 

I'd like to know what the French say when they run out of thoughts and need to say something just in order to have time to think. I've perceived in English people say _'You know..._', _'I mean....' _and simply _'uhmmm'_... What's the proper expression? 

Thanks for the answer in advance!


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## Quaeitur

Hello and welcome to the posting side of the forum 

At this very second, my colleague is saying repeatedly_ heeeeeeeeeeuuuuu _over the phone. This is a very common sound to make when trying to find one's words.


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## csernakakos

Hello Quaeitur!

Thanks for the answer. I've already known they utter _heeeuuu_, but I'm looking for a bit more complicated one, which would not be a shame to use when sometimes you have to. I try to avoid _heeeuu_, _uhmmm _and the sort.


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## Transfer_02

"si tu vois ce que je veux dire"
"ah quand même"


that sort of thing?


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## Moon Palace

_en fait... 
eh bien... 
alors...
je dirais... 
il me semble que... 
_


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## riantencore

I think a very French equivalent to "uhm" would be "euh."

It's what I've heard many of my professors utter in my time studying French, but, I think it best to verify with native speakers first.


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## csernakakos

Chère Moon Palace,

Merci bien pour votre réponse, ce sont exactement les phases dont j’ai besoin!
Je vais passer un examen de français dans quelques jours. Bien que ça n’inclura pas d’exercice évaluant mes coméptences paroles, il est toujours utile de savoir des phases comme celles-ci.
(Et corrigez-moi aussi, s’il vous plaît. 



Thanks for everyone else, as well!


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## Lacuzon

BOnsoir,

Aussi : Comment dire, eh bien, c'est à dire que...


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## mllc

csernakakos said:


> Chère Moon Palace,
> 
> Merci bien pour votre réponse, ce sont exactement les phases dont j’ai besoin!
> Je vais passer un examen de français dans quelques jours. Bien que ça n’inclura pas d’exercice évaluant mes coméptences paroles, il est toujours utile de savoir des phases comme celles-ci.
> (Et corrigez-moi aussi, s’il vous plaît.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for everyone else, as well!


I just watched a video where the speaker seems to refer to filler words as ”mots de passe.”  I’ve never seen this. I’ve only seen this expression used to refer to a security password.  Does anyone know if this is a new thing?
Les Mots de Passe | Bon ben, voilà quoi... | By Sebastian Marx | Facebook

Moderator note: links to videos are not permitted. Link removed, but video title left in place.


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## Kecha

It's not a usage, Sebastian Marx used it that way because his whole skit is that these 'meaningless' words are a free pass to escape tricky situations : "Quand les Français ont du mal à s'exprimer, ils disent 'voilà' et tout le monde est content".


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