Short Forms in French – Let’s learn some texting vocabulary!

More than talking these days, people are used to communicating through text messages. Even more than that, people now use short forms of texting. In this article, we will talk about some such short forms in French which are now widely used in France. 

So if ever you text with someone who is French, make sure you know what one is saying. Below mentioned are a few commonly used abbreviations to chat in french. So why wait? Start learning them to make chatting fun in French.

To begin with, we have “à plus tard” which means talk or see you soon. So to mention it in chat you will see people use A+.The next one is bien, often written as B1. Now a frequently used word in French – beaucoup. Imagine how it’s written in texting. It’s bcp. Yes, you read it right. 

Let’s see what a text would look like with these shortcuts.

Sam: ça va? 

Marcus: Je vais b1!

Sam: J’aime bcp ton t shirt dans le photo. 

Marcus: Merci, je dois aller au collège mnt, a+!

Wondering what mnt is in the above conversation? Well its the texting short form for “maintenant”. Now let’s have a look at one more conversation and decode its meaning.

Sam: Tu sais ki a mon livre?

Monica: Jlé ! dsl! 

Sam: Qd pouvez-vous me le donner ?

Monica: we

Did you understand anything in the conversation above? Not much? I couldn’t too when I was a beginner. So here are the full forms of these abbreviations in French. ‘Ki’ means ‘qui’, ‘qd’ is used to say ‘quand’. And ‘we’? Well it’s not the we in English, but means weekend in French.

Moving on..Have you ever chatted online with your significant other? And gotten into a fight? In this conversation in French, see what short forms are used. 

Romeo: Slt, bz

Juliet: Je ne veux pas te parler

Romeo: pk?

Juliet: t très occupé.

Romeo: Mon chérie, dsl, JTM

Well this one is rather hard to decipher. Let me simplify it for you. Here’s a list of short forms used in the conversation above. 

Slt = Salut 

Bz = bisou

Pk = pourquoi?

T = tu es

Dsl = désolé 

JTM = Je t’aime

Now go back and read the conversation. How many of the above do you usually use while talking to your loved ones? I’m sure most of them. Now make use of these short forms in French.

These were some examples of conversations. However, there are some inevitable ones that we use daily while chatting with our friends. Take ‘LOL’ in English. How do you say it in French? Let’s see that and a few more common ones in French in the list below.

c = c’est = it’s

é = et ou est = and or is

g = j’ai = I have

ki = qui = who

keske = qu’est-ce que = what

mdr = mort(e) de rire = LOL

mm = même = even

ms = mais = but

msg = message

qd= quand = when

qq1 = quelqu’un = someone

r1 = rien = nothing

v1 = viens = come

xlt = excellent = great

ya = il y a = there is, there are

We have tried to cover as many abbreviations as possible in this article. Are we missing out on some? Are there some more short forms that you would like to learn? Let us know in the comments below. 

For more such interesting articles on languages, stay tuned to our blog. You can also book à language session with us. Our language lessons happen with foreign teachers and are pretty interactive. We focus on practical learning so the students can speak as they learn. Want to begin your language learning journey? Albert Learning is the place to be.