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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the day: Youpi

For everyday pleasures, big and small.

Published: 6 May 2021 12:53 CEST

French word of the day: Youpi

Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know youpi?

Because, although pretty basic, it sounds different to equivalents in other languages. Plus we often teach you swearwords and phrases that express exasperation, but knowing how to express joy in French is key as well.

What does it mean?

Youpi is French for ‘whoopee’ or ‘yippee’, that cry of joy that exists in different variants internationally.

The French youpi is pronounced something like ‘yo-pee’ (or ‘ju-pi’). Some spell it youppi.

Youpi is like ‘weehoo’, ‘yay’ or ‘hoorah’ – it’s just a way to show that you’re excited about something.

It is colloquial, but sweet and no one will think badly of you for saying it at work for example (provided something happens that merits a cry of enthusiasm).

READ ALSO The 10 English words that will make you sound cool in France

Use it like this

On part en vacances demain, youpi ! – We’re going on holiday tomorrow, yippee!

Youpi, j’ai trop hâte de boire un verre en terrasse ! – Yippee, I can’t wait to have a drink out on a terrace!

Je pense qu’il va gagner, youpi ! – I think he’s going to win, yay!

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French word of the Day: Jours ouvrés

Why do I need to know jours ouvrés?

Because you need an accurate time estimate.

What does it mean?

As most French learners will know, jours means days, while in this context ouvrés means ‘working’. Therefore jours ouvrés – roughly pronounced jzoor-ouv-ray – means ‘working days’. You may also see jours ouvrables, which means the same thing.

You’re most likely to come across this in the context of estimates on how long things will take – for example a delivery or the processing of an official task or perhaps the results for a test or exam.

And this is where the calendar comes in – ‘working days’ doesn’t include the weekends, but also excluded are public holidays, of which France has quite a lot. So an estimate for livraison dans les cinq jours ouvrés – might actually take almost two weeks to reach you, if there are weekend days and public holidays in between.

Days on either side of public holidays (known as ‘pont‘ days) are technically working days, but don’t be too surprised if things don’t happen on these days either.

Although ouvrés looks similar to ouvrir (to open) the root of the work is actually ouvrer – an archaic verb meaning to work or to labour.

This word was gradually supplanted by travailler in around the 16th century, but some derivatives of it are still used – most commonly ouvrier (or ouvrière for women) which means a worker – it can be used for all types of salaried workers, but is more commonly used for people who do manual labour or work with their hands.

It’s often used in a political sense too – one of France’s leftist political parties is Lutte ouvrière, which translates as Worker’s struggle.

Use it like this

La livraison est estimée à trois jours ouvrés – Delivery is estimated within three working days

Les résultats seront communiqués sous 48 hours (jours ouvrés) – the results will be sent within 48 hours (on working days)

Not to be confused with

If you want to talk about ‘open days’ – days when institutions including schools, the military or artists workshops open up to the public – in France these are known as portes ouvertes (literally ‘open doors’).

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