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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French phrase of the day: Bel et bien

Spruce up your conversations with this handy bit of alliteration.

Published: 9 August 2021 14:18 CEST
French phrase of the day: Bel et bien
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know bel et bien?

Because it’s useful for quelling rumours.

What does it mean?

Bel et bien is often translated as “well and truly”, since it can be used to add emphasis to a declaration, similar to the word vraiment (really).

For example, in the sentence Ella a bel et bien mérité sa médaille d’or (She totally deserved her gold medal). The word bien can be used in this way on its own, too, as in Ce train va bien jusqu’à Paris ? (Is this train definitely going to Paris?)

However, another possible translation is “in fact”, because it often has a slightly different function, which is to show that something is indeed the case, even though certain people had doubts.

As the online French dictionary Orthodidacte writes, “It is often used to re-establish the truth about something, or to confirm the truth of something.”

Take, for example, this tweet from beIN SPORTS regarding Lionel Messi’s decision to find a new club for the 2021-22 season. “Lionel Messi voulait bel et bien rester au FC Barcelone cette saison !” means “Lionel Messi did in fact want to stay at FC Barcelona this season!”

They used bel et bien because the footballer himself had just announced that he had originally hoped to stay in Barcelona, so the purpose of the phrase is to show that the debate is over, and those who believed he wanted to stay had been proven right.

Taking the phrase apart, the bien is easy to translate – it means “well”. The bel is the masculine form of the adjective beau when it is followed by a word which begins with a vowel (such as the phrase bel appartement – beautiful apartment). In this case bel can be translated as “good”, so the phrase literally means “good and well”, a similar repetition to the English “well and truly”.

Use it like this

L’été a bel et bien commencé – Summer has well and truly begun

Le concert aura bel et bien lieu malgré la pluie – The concert will take place after all, despite the rain

Ils vont bel et bien se marier – They are in fact going to get married

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For members

FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

8 favourite French Words of the Day

This month’s countdown of our favourite French words and phrases features one that sounds like an 80s jangly pop star, another that hardly makes any sense at first glance, and an apparent tax on rabbits that isn't…

Published: 3 May 2024 17:23 CEST
8 favourite French Words of the Day

Every weekday The Local publishes a French word or phrase of the day. We try to focus on colloquialisms, slang, sayings (and a bit of swearing) – you know, the type of French you won’t learn in the classroom, but will hear all the time in the street.

This daily habit means we have a very extensive back catalogue – find it here – and we’ve picked out eight of our recent favourites.

Taxe lapin

The literal translation of une taxe lapin – oon-tax la-pahn – is exactly what you would expect – ‘rabbit tax’.

However, this is not a tax on rabbits, or even on rabbit owners. It is in fact a ‘no-show fee’ or charge levied on people who make appointments and don’t turn up.

Fortunately, we showed up with an explanation, here.

Banco

Banco – bain-koh – is essentially the French word for “bingo!”. It might be colloquial, but politicians have been known to use it when indicating that something someone else has said is correct. 

There’s more, right here.

Radin

Radin – rah-dahn – is a  less-than complimentary French term for a penny-pincher, someone who is or ‘miserly’ with their money. 

We, however, are not in the least stingy with our definition.

Crevard

Speaking of words that definitely aren’t complimentary… Crevard – creh-varr – is a colloquial term that can be used to describe someone who looks ill or exhausted. It’s roughly equivalent to telling someone that they ‘look like death warmed up’.

Find out more, here.

À peine

À peine – ah pen – means ‘with or to pain’ or ‘with or to effort’, and therefore makes no sense in English. But in French conversation, it acts as an adverb meaning ‘hardly’, ‘barely’ or ‘scarcely’.

We make sense of it all, here. 

T’as dead ça

T’as dead ça – tah dead sah – combines the French verb avoir (to have) with the English word ‘dead’. And it’s a good thing, apparently. Because it refers to ‘killing it’ in the positive sense. If you tell someone t’as dead ça, it’s congratulatory, like ‘great job, you killed it!’

Simple comme bonjour

Simple comme bonjour – sahm-pluh com bohn-jor – translates as ‘simple as hello’.

It describes something that is very easy or quick, the French equivalent to ‘easy as ABC’, or ‘a piece of cake’. 

Our explainer is just as straightforward, too. 

J’en ai marre

J’en ai marre – roughly pronounced Johnny Marr – means ‘I’m fed up’.

We discuss this charming phrase in more depth here.

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