Learning French: phrases overheard in France during la canicule

Overhearing phrases and expressions is a great way to widen your ever growing French vocabulary.

Sitting in a café having a coffee and listening to people chatter can help tune your brain into the language you are trying to learn, and hear it spoken naturally between native speakers.

This is particularly the case with French, where the written form can vary greatly to its spoken form.

As in every language, in French there are often many different ways to express the same thing, and this is certainly true during une canicule (heatwave), where discussion of the chaleur (heat) is frequent. 

During the most recent heatwave, almost everywhere we heard new ways to talk about the weather and how it was making people feel. 

Below, we look at some of our favourites.

On cuit à Marseille

Overheard in a boulangerie in Marseille as the temperature creeped towards 40: on cuit à Marseille - we are cooking in Marseille. 

They were not wrong. Marseille faced severe wildfires this summer alongside the blistering heats. 

Ça tire là 

Tire comes from tirer, a verb which has multiple different meanings but we most commonly see it used as “pull” - for example, on a door. 

In this case, it does not have a direct translation, but suggests the idea of intensity, with the heat making things difficult and draining.

C’est n’est pas tenable ! / C’est intenable

Tenable means bearable, so in the negative this means ‘it is just not bearable’ – a more than valid statement when temperatures are consistently above 40C. 

The statement was overheard on the bus from a little old lady who exclaimed it as she pulled out her small electric fan.

Ça pégue !

Ça pégue is a phrase rooted in the south, and refers to something being sticky (and usually sweaty). 

It comes from the verb, péguer, which means to be sticky. 

In this case, someone was talking about the stickiness of their skin on the beach as a result of all the sweat.

Y’a même pas de clim !

The words no one wants to hear during une canicule - ‘there’s not even air con!’ 

This was overheard in a cafe where customers entered hoping to find some respite from the relentless heat, only to be sorely disappointed.

Il fait combien là ?

Sometimes it is better not to know, but il fait combien là ? (what temperature is it now?) was overheard numerous times during the heatwave in France, as people tried to get to grips with just how hot it actually was amid record-breaking highs.

Il fait une chaleur étouffante

Overheard while hiding a l’ombre (in the shade) under some rocks at the beach - “this heat is really stifling”. 

Etouffant (stifling) is often used to talk about the heat, so you may well hear it in every day chit chat as well as during news bulletins. 

Did you overhear any good phrases during the heatwaves? Tell us via feedback@connexionfrance.com