English words in the French language?

Surely not, I hear you say. Mais oui ! Here are eight words in English that you'll often hear on the streets of France.

Le week-end
masculine noun
The French have actually used this term since the 1920s. You may also hear partir en week-end to mean going away for the weekend. Note that le week-end has a hyphen!

Un leader
masculine noun
You can talk about un leader sportif or un leader politique. Le leadership is also used.

Un talkie-walkie
masculine noun
Why the inversion? No one knows. And in the plural, you add an 's' to both words: les talkies-walkies.

Cool
adjective
If you like something: C’est cool !

Booké, surbooké
adjective
If you're busy, you could say « Je suis booké ». And if you are very busy, you are surbooké !


To be sure your French is up-to-date and not passé, here are some commonly used English words you'll hear on the street but won't find in the dictionary... yet!

Yes
Don't be surprised if someone replies to your question with « Yes ». It's very popular among younger generations.

News
If you want to catch up with a friend, you can say: « Donne-moi de tes news. »

Checker
Une check-list, un check-point, un check-up are already in the French dictionaries, but you'll have to wait a bit before seeing 'checker'. In the meantime, vous pouvez checker vos e-mails !