Why do I need to know t’as la ref?

Because if you look a bit confused, you might be asked this.

What does it mean?

T’as la ref – roughly pronounced tah lah ref – technically means ‘do you have the reference?’ In reality, it’s a way of asking someone if they are following what you are saying.

In English, one might say ‘got it?’ or ‘you following?’

This phrase is very colloquial and primarily used by young French people. You might hear it after someone makes a joke that invokes a niche aspect of French culture, or perhaps the bar is playing a French song and people start to talk about the artist. Your friend might turn to you and say t’as la ref? to ask if you understand the context of the conversation.

As you might expect, this phrase comes up often when discussing music, film, comedy and other conversation topics that are highly referential. 

You can also say j’ai pas la ref to tell your French friends that you are not familiar with the topic of the conversation or that you did not get the joke. A synonym for this would be j’ai pas capté (I did not get it).

It can also be used to say something is ‘an inside joke’. For example, your French friend sends a confusing message in your group chat and everyone else starts laughing. 

They might just respond t’as pas la ref to tell you that the joke is referencing an event or topic you are not privy to.

Use it like this

T’as bien rigolé à sa blague sur le film français. T’as la réf, t’inquiète pas. – You laughed a lot at his joke about the French film. You are following along, don’t worry.

J’ai pas du tout compris son commentaire. Je suppose que j’ai pas la ref.  – I did not understand his comment at all. I guess I’m not familiar with the topic.