Language/French/Vocabulary/Express-Surprise

Here are typical expressions to express surprise in French:

When something unusual happens, it is common for French to use expressions like in English "Oh my God" or "Madre mía" in Spanish.

French people have their own fun expressions like in the examples below:

• Ça, alors ! (Whoops!)
• Ça, c'est bien ! (How good!)
• C'est impossible ! (It is impossible!)
• C'est magnifique ! (Magnificent!)
• Génial! (Great)
• Impressionnant! (Awesome!)
• Incroyable! (Amazing!)
• Mon Dieu ! (Oh my God)
• Oh la la ! (Oh!)
• Oh la vache ! (holy cow!) - slang
• Putain ! (f**k!) - slang

Among young French people, “putain” is so common, it may even be used as often as the word “oui”. And it packs a serious punch, with the nearest equivalent in English probably being “f**k!”. It can be used to express anger, but can also be used to describe something amazing (“C’est un putain d’artiste!”).

• Ouf ! (Phew!)
• Quel malheur ! (What a disgrace!)
• Comme c’est beau! (How beautiful!)
• Quel travail ! (What work!)
• Quelle chance ! (Lucky!)
• Quoi! Il a fait ça! (What! He did that!)
• Trop bien! (Awesome)

This type of short expressions help us to express our emotions when something happens so that our interlocutor can see our reaction.

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