Note: many of these words have further meanings; these are just the meanings of them that I learned at the time!
colocataire = flatmate, roommate
roue d’engrenage = gear wheel
chipoter = to nitpick
bosser = to work, to slog (familier)
trafiquer = to tamper with, to ameliorate… in a negative or dishonest sense (ex: turning the mileage back on a car)
effaroucher = to alarm, to frighten; farouche = timid, mistrustful
chatouiller = to tickle
grouillant = swarming, seething (ex: des insectes grouillantes)
avoir du cran = to have courage/be courageous
fonceur = someone who is dynamic, a go-getter
velléitaire = indecisive (an important word for me!)
fignoler = to perfect
Expressions:
trouver un Jules = to find a boyfriend (Jules being slang for boyfriend; the only reasoning for this I could find is that it is just a common French name)
ressembler à monsieur Tout-le-monde = literally « look like Mr. Everyman » but it is an expression for saying that someone isn’t original
un caractère de cochon = literally “a pig’s character,” but it actually means that your personality is bad or dirty (ex: someone who’s never satisfied with anything…)
I’ve been saying « ça fait du sens » for the last two weeks, and I was only just corrected for the first time on Saturday night. Apparently mu host mother kept intending to correct me, but it was just so darn cute that she forgot to until now. The proper way to say this is « ça a du sens » or « ça fait sens » (meaning “that makes sense!”)
Also, I finally learned when you use second and when you use deuxième (which are both ways of saying “second”): you can only use second when there’s 2 things, while when you use deuxième there could then be a troisième or quatrième… That’s why you can say both « la seconde Guerre Mondiale » and « la deuxième Guerre Mondiale » (“World War II”), because there are exactly two.
Nouvelles Connaissances 