If you weren’t born with a cellphone in your hands, you might find it hard to decode all the various texting abbreviations that exist. From lol to brb, sometimes it can take a while to fully understand your friend’s message. However, if you are fluent in the English SMS language but you are learning French and started texting with a French friend, it’s time you learn the French SMS language. Like in English, texting in French is all about shortening words and saving time. Here are 20 of the most common and frequent texting abbreviations of the French SMS language! See this as a cheat sheet for your next French conversation.
A+
A+ means à plus in French which means see you or see you in a while in English. People usually write this when they are ready to end a conversation. This is quite an easy one to remember because of the plus sign.
Ajd
It is important to remember that texting is all about shortening words that take too long to write fully. If you know basic French words then you might be able to guess what this word means. If you guessed aujourd’hui then you are correct! There are a lot of vowels in this word and if you divide the word in three: au-jour-d’hui you can understand why they kept those three letters to create a shortcut.
Bcp
Like ajd, this abbreviation is a word that has a lot of vowels so if you take them out, you get the three most prominent consonants: bcp. If you deconstruct Beaucoup (which means a lot) you get beau-cou-p (even though you don’t pronounce the last p, it is easier to remember the consonant than the repeating vowels).
D’ac
D’ac is short for d’accord which in English means All right! Or OK! People usually write this when they agree with upcoming plans being made or when someone explains something to them and they understand it. This is a word you will probably see often because it is also used a lot in real life.
Dsl
If you want to apologize to someone or someone is apologizing to you then you need to know what dsl means. It means désolé which in English means sorry. If you thought it might have something to do with computers (like a digital subscriber line) then you must have been quite surprised!
En tk
En tout cas is one of those common French expressions you’ll hear all the time. In English, it can be translated to: anyhow or in any case. The French decided to shorten the cas for k since this three letter word does sound just like the letter k.
Fpc
This is a harder expression to understand and unscramble. Fpc means Fais pas chier which in English means don’t be an ass. Obviously, you are not saying this to someone you don’t know well or an elderly person. This expression is usually something said between friends (especially between teenagers).
Ftg
Ferme ta gueule (shut your mouth) is another three-letter expression that isn’t very easy to understand since ftg doesn’t mean anything. Again, this is not a nice expression. You don’t text this to your parents or your boss at work! At least you know know what it means so if you hear someone say it or see it written down, you’ll know you are dealing with an angry person.
Jam
No, jam does not mean a nice and sweet fruit spread you eat with a piece of bread in the morning. Jam actually means J’en ai marre which can be translated to I’m sick of this or I’m fed up. This expression isn’t as sweet as your morning spread, isn’t it?
Jtm
Now, this is a much nicer expression. If you already know French, you might guess that this abbreviation means je t’aime (again, if you remove the vowels, you end up with the pillar consonants). When you love someone, whether it is to your mom, dad, best friend or boyfriend, you can shower them with jtm’s all the time!
Koi
This is an easy expression to remember and you’ll probably understand it right away. Koi is an abbreviation of quoi. The qu of quoi sounds exactly like a k in French so they decided to shorten this word to write messages even more quickly. Just make sure to remember this is not the real spelling!
Mdr
Everybody knows what lol means. It is one of the most texted word! You probably text this word at least 10 times a day. The French have their own version of laughing out loud and its mdr. Mdr means mort de rire (dying of laughter). If you watch a lot of Youtube videos, you have probably noticed this expression in comments made by French people. Like us, they use this word all the time.
Pcq
There are some words that are just too long to text especially when you’re writing a long text or you’re in a hurry and need to finish your message quickly. Pcq is a great abbreviation to know. It means parce que which means because in English. This is one of those essential abbreviations you need to remember!
Pk
Pk means pourquoi in French which means why in English. The French love to change words with a qu with a k because it takes them less time to write it and can confuse non-French speakers.
P-t
Some might find it confusing that the French use the abbreviation p-t to express the word peut-être (maybe in English) since it would obviously make sense to write it p-e. We might not know why they prefer to use the t and not the e but at least you now know what it means.
Stp /svp
This should be an easy one to know and remember! You have probably seen this abbreviation everywhere since it is not only used for texting. S’il te plait (stp) or s’il vous plait (svp) means please! You usually write stp when you are talking with someone casually, like a friend or close family members and you use svp when you want to be more polite and formal.
Tfk
What are you doing? This is what this very short abbreviation means in English. The French decided to use the first letter of the three words: Tu fais quoi but of course, changed the q for a k since they can’t seem to stop doing this for their texting expressions and abbreviations.
Tjrs
Again, this is quite an easy abbreviation to unscramble if you know basic French. Just add a few vowels and you’ll see this incomprehensive word totally makes sense! Tjrs means toujours (always). You’ll be using this abbreviation whenever you can! Anything to save four letters, right?
Tsé
This is an expression that French people probably say and text at least 100 times a day. It means tu sais in French which translates to you know in English. They often use it when proving a point or when they are trying to remind someone about something.
Tlm
Tlm means tellement which means so or a lot in English. When you remove the vowels, the three most prominent consonants are the t, l, and m. When you want to express that something is so cool or so interesting, replace it with tlm!
Do you use other texting abbreviations?
